WW2

Train to Nowhere

"We were young and we were keen; Europe was in flames, and we were ready for whatever came."  “I used…

12 hours ago

The East Coker Opera House Murders #1940Club

Based on his published letters,1940 was a busy year for T.S.Eliot. He was based in London and working at Faber…

2 years ago

1940 and the #1940Club

Hope I'm not jumping the gun here but the #1940Club starts next week and I've been gearing up and getting…

2 years ago

The Pineapple Party

Norman Pearson returned towards the end of January, after an absence in Spain and Portugal, bearing two bananas, two oranges…

2 years ago

Literal Nazis and the Retro-transing of History

 Researching Marienbad and the Savoy led me to Erika Mann and all the gossip, scandal, politics, and drama of her…

2 years ago

Our Flag Stays Red – Communists and Snore Detectives at the Savoy

In Our Flag Stays Red (1948) Phil Piratin - the Communist Party MP for Mile End - wrote an account…

2 years ago

Marienbad

Every Christmas growing up my family received a greeting card from the Stingl family.  I knew that my grandmother, mother,…

2 years ago

October , Propaganda, and Mrs. Miniver Buys the Chrysanthemums Herself

The Year Begins in October  Armistead Maupin based his vignettes of gay life in 1970s San Francisco - Tales of…

3 years ago

All for Nothing

Hands down, this is the best book I've read all year: All For Nothing by Walter Kempowski.  It's the bitter…

3 years ago

Evacuee Story Lines #3 Evelyn Waugh

I did, in the first weeks of the war, before I got my commission, suffer severely from 'evacuees'.- Evelyn Waugh in…

3 years ago