During the two long lockdowns that were imposed in the UK during the Covid-19 pandemic, I – like many others in the population – took to going for long walks most days. Limited to the routes I could take, to alleviate the boredom I started listening to podcasts, one of which – Backlisted – became a favourite. Continue reading “Women and independence”
Category: 19th century literature
Christmas feasting
When it comes to food at Christmas, in addition to the foodstuffs usually eaten – mince pies, turkey, Christmas cake – another traditional feature is the amount of food consumed. We expect to spend more money on food, to have our kitchen cupboards and fridges full to bursting and to eat so much that our New Year’s Resolution yet again has to be to go on a diet and start going to the gym. Continue reading “Christmas feasting”
An American Christmas Breakfast
‘”I shall take the cream and the muffins”, added Amy, heroically giving up the articles she most liked.’ (Louisa May Alcott, Little Women)
Every year since I started this blog, I have written a Christmas-themed post: there have been, amongst others, mince pies from Pride and Prejudice, Christmas cake from Jane Eyre and fudge from Dylan Thomas’s A Child’s Christmas in Wales. This year, feeling that I had exhausted my knowledge of Christmas food in English Literature, I decided to look across the Atlantic to America to Louisa Alcott’s Little Women (the new film version of which, directed by Greta Gerwig, is due for release this Christmas). Continue reading “An American Christmas Breakfast”
The Lake District: Poetry and Grasmere Gingerbread
Last month I spent a long weekend in the Lake District, the beautiful area in North West England renowned for its lakes, mountains and literary associations: Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Charles and Mary Lamb, Robert Southey, Beatrix Potter and John Ruskin all lived there at some point in their lives. Continue reading “The Lake District: Poetry and Grasmere Gingerbread”