‘Authors I’ve read – Sarah Waters’

           I am a huge fan of the writer Sarah Waters.   When the BBC series ‘Tipping the Velvet’ first appeared on our screens, I rushed out and got the book.  I was not disappointed!  The next book ‘The Fingersmith’ is a real twisty adventure ingeniously plotted (extremely far-fetched) but so clever – I found

Titus Groan: A gold ring for Titus

I am galloping through this book, now on page 150 which is about halfway through ‘Titus Groan’.  The writing though is about 100 pages behind.  In this chapter his mother names him.  It also gives us another look at the Countess’s relationship with Slagg, Prunesquallor and her new-born  son.  Peake gives us a descriptive glimpse into Titus’s

‘Titus Groan: The 76th Countess of Groan’

Peake excites our anticipation  of seeing the Countess, by allowing us a look through the keyhole into the room of white cats.  The black door of her room has a white cat emblazoned on it and on the landing outside, pictures of birds adorn the walls. The interior of the room is not as orderly though.  Bird seed is piled up,

Authors I’ve read: Daphne Du Maurier ‘Rebecca

  I’ve read such a lot of Daphne Du Maurier books – some good and some better,  If I had to rate them, number one would surely be Rebecca.  The  first line sets the mood  of the book, as we are whisked away back in time to the mysterious Manderley and the equally mysterious Max De Winter. 

‘Titus Groan – Fuchsia

  I’m speeding on with my re reading of Titus Groan.  I’m now on page 110.  Steerpike has escaped the locked room and is now on the roof of the castle, Lord Titus has fallen from the book of Law onto the floor with no injury and Flay has struck Swelter around the face with his

‘Titus Groan: Dr through the spyhole’

Several clues to the next characters of the castle are given in this chapter.  Flay approaches one of the portraits in the octagonal room, pushes the frame to one side, to reveal a round hole in the panelling;-   From his vantage point he was able to get a clear view of three doors in a

‘Steerpike – the high shouldered (soon to be high handed) one’

When we first encounter Steerpike the kitchen boy, he is trying to escape from Swelter’s kitchen.  Using Flay’s footsteps as a marker to get  into the upper world of the castle, he seems well – just a boy.  He is seventeen years old with high shoulders, smouldering eyes and obviously intelligent.  From this first meeting,

‘Authors I’ve Read: Patrick Hamilton’

I read 3 Patrick Hamilton books last year and reviewed them all on my ‘Echostains’ blog.  I could transfer them to ‘Bookstains’, but I believe duplicate posts are missed by Google, I will put the links to my reviews here;- THE SLAVES OF SOLITUDE I had watched ‘Twenty thousand streets under the sun’ when it came

‘Titus Groan: Swelter – poetry in slow motion’

 Deep in the bowels of the castle,  Flay looks on furtively at  the drunken revelry  going on around him.  The celebration of the birth of the heir to Gormenghast is well underway now. The kitchen has celebrated all day and it really shows.  Peake is at his most descriptive here: you can almost feel the heat raging from

‘About ‘Bookstains’

    Bookstains is the sister site of my other blog ‘Echostains’.  As Echostains is about communication through art (the stain being the art – the communication being the echo), ‘Bookstains’ is my communication with books.   When you put your hot coffee cup on a wooden surface – it will make a stain.  When you put a