Are you reading the same books as we have in our collection?

If so, would you like to tell us about their contents? At Sheffield Hallam University we are storing information about the books in our catalogue.  The wealth of data collected includes genre, subject, plot summaries, and details of references to other books, writers and artists within the novels. We are calling this ‘enhanced cataloguing’. This will form a … Continue reading →

Envisioning the library of the future: online survey

This survey by the Arts Council England may be of interest to UK readers. They say: In this survey we are interested in what people think the purpose of public libraries should be, and what people value about public libraries. We would like to know the views of people who currently use public libraries, and … Continue reading →

‘Company Parade’ by Storm Jameson (1934)

Review by Jane V: Set in London immediately after WW1, the novel, the first of a trilogy, centres on Hervey, the only girl in a group of pre-war graduates who are trying to regroup after the war.  (Hence the title.)  Returned from the front, the men are disillusioned and isolated.   Society has changed and it … Continue reading →

‘If only the Huns could have shot straight…’: ‘Peter Jackson, Cigar Merchant’ by Gilbert Frankau (1919)

Review by John S: When I selected this book – it seemed comparatively short – a colleague told me that it is in part autobiographical. Peter Jackson was written between 1917 and 1919 and published shortly after the war. It was one of the early Great War novels and one of the first literary treatments … Continue reading →

‘The Upas Tree’ by Florence Barclay (1912)

Review by Sylvia D The plot can be summarised as follows: Budding author Ronald West is married to lovely heiress Helen.  He has decided it is imperative he travel to Central Africa to carry out research for his new novel.  He is so obsessed with this idea that his wife decides not to tell him … Continue reading →

Memories of Sheffield Libraries

Places at our next community event are booking up fast! As part of Sheffield’s festival of words, Off the Shelf, we will be at Ecclesall Library on the 19th October at 2pm. Community historian Mary Grover will present memories of reading 1945-65, gathered in the oral history project ‘Reading Sheffield’. I’ll be bringing along books … Continue reading →

A Golden Age detective novel to pass the time: ‘Jumping Jenny’ by Anthony Berkeley (1933)

Review by Clare G: This is a good example of a ‘passes the time’ detective novel from the Golden Age. It is typically knowing and self-referential, having a fictitious crime novelist – Roger Sheringham –  as its main character, and a setting in which the cast attend a themed fancy-dress party, each coming as an … Continue reading →

An unwelcome end to the war? ‘Peace Breaks Out’ by Angela Thirkell (1946)

Review by Clare G: This book sits in the midst of a series of interlinked stories set in the fictional Barsetshire – a locale self-consciously borrowed by Thirkell from Anthony Trollope. The complex family and social relationships between the characters can prove challenging to follow and most of the cast are presented as mildly amusing … Continue reading →

‘Jane’s Parlour’ by O. Douglas (1937)

Review by Helen C: This is a domestic tale of country gentlefolk, between the Wars, and their families, friends and acquaintances, mostly in their beloved Scottish Borders, but occasionally in London.  Jane’s Parlour is the cosy sanctum whither Katharyn, wife, mother of 5 and writer, retreats for peace and re-invigoration;  though mentioned sparingly, it serves … Continue reading →

‘The Sorrows of Satan: or, The strange experience of one Geoffrey Tempest, millionaire: a romance’ by Marie Corelli (1895)

Review by John S: Satan in the form of the dashing Prince Lucio Rimânez is abroad in this late Victorian novel by Marie Corelli. Prince Lucio affects to befriend the conceited Geoffrey Tempest, a struggling author, bringing him riches, critical acclaim (after his reviewers are bribed), a beautiful wife in Lady Sibyl, and of course … Continue reading →