Why I really like Why I Really Like This Book

I've recently discovered a blog & a series of podcasts that I love & I think readers of this blog would also love. Kate Macdonald has a blog called Why I Really Like This Book. Kate is a fan of forgotten fiction, as she calls it. The books that used to be well-known, that our grandparents used to read but now, no one does. Every fortnight she records a podcast about her chosen book. You can listen to the podcast from the link on the blog or you can download it to your iPad (& to other devices as well, I'm sure, but I only know about iPads) & listen to it anywhere, anytime.

Kate & I have a lot of authors & books in common. I've listened to about half a dozen of the podcasts & have downloaded a dozen more. You can see from the photo above some of the authors & books Kate has already blogged about. E M Delafield, Angela Thirkell, Stella Gibbons, John Buchan, Barbara Pym. In a way, these authors aren't as forgotten as they used to be. They've all been reprinted in recent years & they're being discovered by a new generation of readers. On the other hand, those of us who love middlebrow fiction are still a small group when you consider the many millions of people reading John Grisham, Janet Evanovich, E L James & now Robert Galbraith. Anything that promotes our favourite authors & keeps the reprints coming is wonderful.

Kate's latest podcast is about When William Came by Saki. I'd already downloaded this book a few months ago when I read Simon's review at Stuck In A Book but, of course, haven't read it. The only Saki I've read is The Unbearable Bassington although I have his Complete Stories on the tbr shelves. Kate recommended four short stories by Saki as an introduction to his style - Tobermory, The Reticence of Lady Anne, Music on the Hill & Esme. They certainly encapsulate Saki's themes of satire & wicked humour. Other books I'm now keen to read are Kipling's Puck of Pook's Hill & John Buchan's The Power-House. I'm sure I'll find more as I look back through the archives of Why I Really Like This Book. On the blog there's also a link to an interview with Kate from Pod Academy where she discusses forgotten fiction & her love of browsing in secondhand bookshops (which is where the interview takes place).