Cosy, Eerie, and Splendid, a writer’s blog
November Tea and a Book: The Loney, by Andrew Michael Hurley
For a while now I've struggled with attention span while reading, and I had a particularly hard time with my horror recommendations last month. After that I enjoyed a "cleanse" of sorts with The Bookshop on the Shore, a sweet romance about a London nanny who takes...
Spooky Film Recs 2021 — the Horror of Grief and Alienation
The final category of this year's horror collection is my favorite -- Grief and Alienation. For me, the most gut-wrenching horror is not about terror. It's about loss. My standard disclaimer: I prefer horror about people and relationships, with stories that emphasize...
Spooky Film Recs 2021 — Survival Horror
This collection of films features protagonists with a strong will to live. The characters must dig deep and use their brains and brawn to negotiate the horror landscape. Ultimately, their stories are more about survival than transformation. A reminder: I prefer horror...
Spooky Film Recs 2021 — Sci Fi Horror
'Tis the season for horror! Gather around, children -- today's offerings feature pandemics, ecological calamities, medical misdemeanors, and alien incursions. What fun! FULL DISCLOSURE: I crave horror about people and relationships, with stories that emphasize the...
Spooky Reads for 2021
This year it's been far too easy to put a book down. Many of us have suffered from diminished attention span during the pandemic, of course, and accepting this has made it easier to let go of books that aren't working for me. Lately I've found it particularly...
September Tea and a Book: Mrs. Rochester’s Ghost, by Lindsay Marcott
It's barely been a minute since my last "tea and a book" post, but I just read a novel and need to tell you about it. If you know me at all, you know I'm obsessed with the Brontë sisters, particularly Charlotte, and that Jane Eyre is on my top ten list of favorite...
August Tea and a Book & a GIVEAWAY: Ophelia Swam, by Kelley Swain
During our many summers in Oxford, I spent a lot of time in Blackwell's Bookshop -- browsing, reading, drinking tea, and sometimes even writing. It's probably my favorite bookstore in the world because it is enormous, exhaustively stocked, and yet somehow intimate and...
Green Man / Green Knight
I've seen The Green Knight. It's a dark film, often bizarre and at times inscrutable. You'll find little of the pageantry or romance we often associate with Arthurian films. You'll also find little in the way of schmaltz or Hollywood sparkle. This adaptation is gritty...
July Tea and a Mountain Getaway
How I love to walk a wooded path! Last week Steve and I celebrated our 30th anniversary with three nights in Park City, Utah. We had great weather for our hiking and ultimately managed about 30 miles and 209 floors climbed. Though we did run into other hikers and...
The Right Writing Retreat
Writing is hard work, especially when you must squeeze it in alongside the daily commitments of employment, relationships, domestic engineering, childrearing and pet wrangling. Sometimes the only way to get anything done is to abandon these commitments altogether! If...
June Tea and a Book — Timeless, by Moira Croghan
Timeless is a celebration of Mackinac Island and its cottage architecture. The book includes historical context and gorgeous exterior and interior design photography -- perfect for fine coffee tables everywhere! That said, I must also tell you that this post is much...
May Tea and a Book: All Things Cease to Appear, by Elizabeth Brundage
Recently I began to watch the Netflix original film, Things Heard and Seen, which seemed exactly my kind of spooky with its tale of a young couple settling into an old house with a tragic history. I appreciated how it offered a slow burn of horror rather than an...
Smultronställe in St. Cross Churchyard, Oxford
In my previous post featuring the work of Eva Ibbotson, I enthused about a Swedish word found in one of her novels: smultronställe is a noun meaning that special place treasured or yet to be discovered. It could be an idyllic opening in the forest, a quiet beach, a...
April Tea and a Book: Eva Ibbotson
I first encountered Eva Ibbotson in the YA section of our local Borders bookstore in the early 2000s -- back when I was teaching high school English (and Borders still existed). I began with A Countess Below Stairs and so enjoyed this story of a Russian countess...
March Tea and a Book: Stella Gibbons
I am such a fan of Stella Gibbons, so it seems strange that I've only read four of her novels. You can see them above, except for The Woods in Winter, a strange yet endearing story I read on my kindle. Today I want to share Westwood, a story I struggled with and yet...
