This is a collection of short stories mainly about Blandings Castle and
Lord Emsworth. There are more to the volume, but I confess, I only read
the Blandings ones. I love the Blanding stories! Lord Emsworth amuses me
no end and his brother, Sir Galahad Threepwood is a hoot. Like Bertie’s
Aunts, Lord Emsworth has Sisters and worse, Nephews. But the bane of his
life is his younger son, Freddie. Fortunately, Freddie marries an
American heiress to a dog bone manufacturer and goes off the the States
to work in her father’s vicinity. This collection includes the, I think,
first Blanding story “The Custody of the Pumpkin” which has Lord Emsworth
adoring his prize pumpkin prior to the advent of the Empress of Blandings
into his life. It also includes the classic “Pig-Hoo-O-O-O-Ey” where Lord
Emsworth really learns how to call a pig. As usual with everything by
Wodehouse, these stories are a delight.

As with the last Brother Cadfael I read, I found this one slow to get
started but ultimately satisfying. I note that they are both from her
later period; perhaps it’s typical. If you’re starting to read this
series, take note: this book should be read after
A Morbid Taste For Bones.

I originally bought this book when it was first published in paper in
1995. It bored me to tears at the time and went the way of some books–to
the used bookstore for resale. However, sensibilities and interests
change. Recently, I was browsing the books at the local yarn shop, picked
this back up, read a few pages and plopped my money down. Then I took it
home and read it cover to cover in nearly one sitting.

Barber attempts to show the development of cloth and clothing and how it
relates to women and society in general from the Paleolithic up to the
late Iron age. Her first postulation is that clothing and cloth
manufacture have always traditionally been done by women because of the
need for flexible work that can be picked up or put down as the demands
of nursing an infant and toddler require. She then traces the development
of cloth from the simple string skirt of fertility rights to the more
elaborate clothing and tapestries of the Hellenic cultures. However,
since very few fragments of cloth are still extant, she relies quite
heavily on the remaining tools and artwork left behind when the cultures
finally failed. The most interesting discussion in the book concerns the
parallel development of vertical warp weighted looms versus horizontal
peg looms and how they created different weaving techniques and
ultimately different uses for the cloth.

The book isn’t for everyone. I am particularly fond of anything that
relates to fiber and textile development and for that I found it
fascinating. She uses myth as evidence a bit too much for me to buy all
her arguments. I also have a hard time completely accepting that women
did the spinning, weaving and sewing because they were tied to their
nursing children and the men went out to hunt and later to farm because
they were not. It seems too clean and simple.

This is yet another Bertie Wooster and Jeeves novel, featuring (once
again) Bertie’s beloved Aunt Dahlia the battleaxe. It’s the same old
story, naturally–the course of true love doth ne’er run smoothly. What
distinguishes this one from the others is the presence of Roberta
“Bobbie” Wickham. Wodehouse heroines are infamous for leading their men
into danger, but Bobbie Wickham is on a whole ‘nother plane. She is an
active force for chaos. Falling in love with Bobbie Wickham is likely to
lose you your job, your pride, your sanity, and your top hat. I’d not
previously seen Bobbie in a full-length novel, and I was glad to renew
the acquaintance.

Samuel Pepys’ diary, gossipy
document that it is, some clever person is serializing it day by day in
web log form, with hyperlinks and footnotes.