Tag: literary criticism

#NonficNov Nonfiction November: Be The Expert

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Nonfiction November continues and this week’s discussion prompt is Be The Expert/Ask the Expert/Become the Expert, hosted by Katie at Doing Dewey.

As Katie explains, there are three ways to join in this week:

  • Be The Expert – share 3 or more books on a single topic that you have read and can recommend
  • Ask The Expert – put the call out for good nonfiction on a specific topic that you have been dying to read
  • Become The Expert – create your own list of books on a topic that you’d like to read

20180510_094523I’m not sure I’d be so bold as to classify myself as an ‘expert’ but, as regular followers of my blog will know, I’ve certainly read a lot about the author John Buchan. So it will come as no surprise that this is the subject I’m focusing on today.

I’ve read plenty of his fiction as part of my Buchan of the Month reading project but here are a few nonfiction gems from my Buchan bookshelf (pictured left).

Links from the titles will take you to my review or the book description on Goodreads.

Biographies
Beyond The Thirty-Nine Steps: A Life of John Buchan by Ursula Buchan – published earlier this year and written by his granddaughter
John Buchan: A Biography by Janet Adam Smith – the first biography of Buchan, published in 1965, written at the request of his family
John Buchan: The Presbyterian Cavalier by Andrew Lownie

Literary Criticism
The Interpreter’s House: A Critical Assessment of the Work of John Buchan by David Daniell – the first full-length analysis of Buchan’s writing
Reassessing John Buchan: Beyond The Thirty-Nine Steps edited by Kate MacDonald – a collection of essays by Buchan scholars and enthusiasts
Modern John Buchan: A Critical Introduction by Nathan Waddell – scholarly reflections from a modern perspective on Buchan’s books

Memoirs
John Buchan: By His Wife and Friends by Susan Tweedsmuir
Unforgettable, Unforgotten by Anna Buchan (Buchan’s sister, who wrote novels under the pseudonym O Douglas)
John Buchan: A Memoir by William Buchan (second son of John Buchan and father of Ursula Buchan)
John Buchan and His World by Janet Adam Smith – full of fascinating photographs
Memory Hold-The-Door by John Buchan – the author’s own memoir which he described with customary self-deprecation as ‘not an ordinary autobiography or any attempt to tell the unimportant story of my life’

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Blog Tour: The Once and Future Queen by Nicole Evelina

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Welcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for The Once and Future Queen by Nicole Evelina.  Subtitled Guinevere in Arthurian Legend, the book traces the evolution of the character of Guinevere in Arthurian legend from her Celtic roots to the present day, showing how the character changed along with the period’s views of women. It’s described as ‘a must-read book for Arthurian enthusiasts of every knowledge level’.

Click to here to read Nicole’s interview with Amy at Passages to the Past.

WinFor US residents, there is a giveaway with a chance to win one of two paperback copies of The Once and Future Queen.  To view the giveaway terms and conditions and enter, visit the tour page here.  Entries close at 11:59pm EST on February 28th 2018.  Scroll down to the bottom of the page to find the entry form.

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The Once and Future QueenAbout the Book

Guinevere’s journey from literary sinner to feminist icon took over one thousand years…and it’s not over yet.

Literature tells us painfully little about Guinevere, mostly focusing on her sin and betrayal of Arthur and Camelot. As a result, she is often seen as a one-dimensional character. But there is more to her story. By examining popular works of more than 20 authors over the last one thousand years, The Once and Future Queen shows how Guinevere reflects attitudes toward women during the time in which her story was written, changing to suit the expectations of her audience. Beginning in Celtic times and continuing through the present day, this book synthesizes academic criticism and popular opinion into a highly readable, approachable work that fills a gap in Arthurian material available to the general public.

Format: eBook, paperback (281 pp.)  Publisher: Lawson Gartner

Published: 21st November 201           Genre: Literary Criticism, History

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk  ǀ  Amazon.com ǀ Barnes and Noble ǀ  Indiebound ǀ Kobo
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find The Once and Future Queen on Goodreads

Nicole EvelinaAbout the Author

Nicole Evelina is a multi-award-winning historical fiction, romantic comedy and non-fiction writer, whose four novels have collectively won over 20 awards, including two Book of the Year designations (Daughter of Destiny by Chanticleer Reviews and Camelot’s Queen by Author’s Circle).  Nicole is currently working on Mistress of Legend (2018), the final book in her Guinevere’s Tale trilogy.

As an armchair historian, Nicole researches her books extensively, consulting with biographers, historical societies and travelling to locations when possible. For example, she travelled to England twice to research the Guinevere’s Tale trilogy, where she consulted with internationally acclaimed author and historian Geoffrey Ashe, as well as Arthurian/Glastonbury expert Jaime George, the man who helped Marion Zimmer Bradley research The Mists of Avalon.

Nicole is a member of and book reviewer for The Historical Novel Society, as well as a member of the Historical Fiction Writers of America, International Arthurian Society – North American Branch, Romantic Novelists Association, Novelists, Inc., the St. Louis Writer’s Guild, Alliance of Independent Authors, the Independent Book Publishers Association and the Midwest Publisher’s Association.

Connect with Nicole

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