MemberTheIdleWoman

Profile Picture
6,021 Books 10 Collections 884 Reviews
Collections
Tags
!!to read (3,916), historical fiction (1,260), women to read (914), fantasy & magical realism (769), history (765), contemporary fiction (608), classic fiction (593), art (573), England (550), 20th Century (528), Antiquity (397), 19th Century (291), exhibition catalogue (288), biography (281), Italy (275), France (268), bite-sized books (260), Rome (245), sci-fi (238), Netgalley (232), Renaissance (229), 17th Century (212), medieval (202), 16th Century (195), Penguin Classics (187), drawings (175), 18th Century (164), painting (160), auction catalogue (156), short stories (155), letters & memoirs (154), USA (138), museum collections (126), social history (110), art history & theory (110), Russia (107), London (102), historical texts (98), Penguin Modern Classics (96), Greece (94), productivity & wellbeing (92), myths & legends (92), philosophy (90), travel (89), guidebooks (89), journalism & essays (86), poetry & plays (85), Japan (85), Penguin Little Black Classics (82), sciences (80), 15th Century (78), children's (78), 21st Century (76), thrillers (73), Vikings & Anglo-Saxons (71), Venice (70), Germany (67), Florence (66), Persia & Mesopotamia (65), !Netgalley (65), America (65), Tor.com (61), crime (58), politics (57), Britain (55), China (55), !ClearOut (50), Netherlands & Flanders (50), Virago Modern Classics (50), Spain (50), Middle East (50), British Library Crime Classics (48), Vintage Classics (47), !!!to review (45), !!!to reread (44), food & drink (41), Egypt (40), Regency (40), gender (39), prints (38), Tudor (38), Kindle Single (37), Phoenix 60p Paperbacks (36), Pushkin Press (36), Troy (33), architecture (32), Northern European art (31), romance (30), feminism (28), Scotland (28), 12th Century (28), Summer Without Men 2018 (27), fairy tales (27), Penguin Mini Modern Classics (27), Byzantium (26), theatre & film (25), psychology (25), Africa (24), !to read (23), Baroque (23), sculpture (22), religion (22), 14th Century (21), music (21), Italian literature (20), Victorian (20), mind nourishing (19), Naples (18), craftsmanship (18), opera (18), archaeology (16), Penguin Monarchs (16), private collections (16), literary criticism (16), New York (15), Poland (15), Penguin 60s Classics (14), reference (14), Penguin Specials (14), swashbuckling (14), Ireland (13), Sicily (13), Wales (13), neuroscience (13), biology (13), India (12), Singles Classics (12), Late Michelangelo (12), iconography (12), novella (12), Australia (12), medicine (12), Stuart (12), Pushkin Vertigo (11), Shakespeare (10), quizzes & puzzles (10), Vintage Shorts (10), Biblical fiction (10), Denmark (10), Bite Sized Women Novelists (10), Fantasy Masterworks (10), SF Masterworks (9), Hungary (9), Czech (9), Canada (9), Modern Library Classics (8), castrati (8), costume (8), essays (8), Bite Sized Russia 2 (8), review copy (8), Bite Sized Poetry 2 (8), photography (7), Cornwall (7), Portugal (7), Oxford (7), Sweden (7), art world & market (7), 13th Century (7), Europe (7), Bite Sized Classics (7), prehistory (7), aphorisms (6), Turkey (6), illustration (6), Romania (6), Paris (6), Leonardo (6), Iceland (6), Austria (6), Iran (6), humour (6), Afghanistan (6), Bello Books (6), esoterica (6), Bite Sized Love Poems (6), Bite Sized Steinem (6), Bite Sized Horror (6), Bloomsbury Object Lessons (6), AmazonClassics (5), physics (5), Faber Finds (5), South & Central America (5), languages (5), Penguin Great Ideas (5), Bite Sized Life (5), Ottoman (5), Milan (5), young adult (5), nautical (5), Bite Sized Arts (5), Ukraine (5), London Library: Found on the Shelves (5), Fairlight Moderns (5), Four Short Stories by Mitsuyo Kakuta (4), comics & graphic novels (4), grimdark (4), Mantua (4), Bite Sized Histories (4), Central Asia (4), Bite Sized Social Issues (4), Modernist (4), 10th Century (4), Bite Sized Adventure (4), Very Short Introductions (4), race (4), Bite Sized Women and the World (4), Penguin Essentials (4), Canongate Myths (4), New Zealand (4), economics (4), Peirene Press (3), 11th Century (3), Norway (3), Oxford World's Classics (3), Korea (3), Belgium (3), Iraq (3), Bite Sized Speculative Fiction (3), Penguin Great Loves (3), Bite Sized France (3), Bite Sized Memoirs (3), did not finish (3), Wild Cards (3), School of Life Essays (3), Archipelago (3), geography (3), classical fiction (3), Bite Sized Epics (3), Icons (3), Arabia (3), Berlin (3), Bite Sized Science (3), Finland (3), Romantic (3), New York Review Books Classics (3), fashion (2), dealers' catalogues (2), maps (2), Fitzcarraldo Editions (2), finance (2), Scandinavia (2), Morocco (2), Mexico (2), Persephone Classics (2), Malaysia (2), Corfu (2), running (2), South Africa (2), Nigeria (2), Neoplatonism (2), Rococo (2), 07th Century (2), 09th Century (2), Arezzo (2), botany (2), Genoa (2), Qatar (2), Hesperus Classics (2), Argentina (2), Pelican History of Art (2), Thailand (1), Botswana (1), Raeburn (My Study) (1), Bolivia (1), Bite Sized Fiction (1), Sudan (1), Great Lives (1), Pre-Raphaelites (1), Warsaw (1), West Indies (1), Ladybird Books (1), technology (1), Krakow (1), dolls house (1), Palestine (1), Bite Size Fiction (1), Raeburn (1), Bite Sized Biography (1), Wellcome Collection (1), Pakistan (1), Stockholm (1), Verona (1), Vietnam (1), conservation (1), Cuba (1), Pocket Penguin Classics (1), Slovenia (1), Tunisia (1), zoology (1), Amazon Original Stories (1), Rome. (1), Rwanda (1), Saudi Arabia (1), Wordsworth Classics (1), frescoes (1), Burma (1), Symbolist (1), modern art (1), Ghana (1)
See All Tags 
Clouds
Tag Cloud, Author Cloud, Tag Mirror
Media
Groups
Joined
Feb 21, 2012
About Me
Here is a guide to my rating criteria. I also employ half stars if I can't quite decide where something belongs:

5 stars - So well-written that I can lose myself completely in the world, with an engrossing plot and fully-realised characters who feel almost real to me within the context of that world. Yet its excellent formal qualities are accompanied by real 'heart', so that I become emotionally involved with it. Whatever genre it belongs to, it transcends the conventions of that genre and becomes something greater and more unique. Usually a book like this leaves a kind of aftertaste - whether that be glowing happiness or bittersweet sadness - which can linger in my mind for days.

4 stars - A book of fine merit, which nevertheless falls just short of perfection for me. That might be because, for all its very good formal qualities, it never quite manages to engage me emotionally. Alternatively it might be a firm favourite but, despite my fondness for it, I can recognise some occasional weaknesses in the plot or writing. If it belongs to a particular genre, it might be an excellent example of that genre but never quite transcends it.

3 stars - A book which I mostly enjoyed while reading it, but there might be aspects of the writing, plot or characterisation which I feel detract from my overall enjoyment. If it belongs to a particular genre, it is a solid example of that genre but I may feel that it pales in comparison to other books by the author which I've read.

2 stars - Dull, derivative or contrived, with serious weaknesses in writing, plot or characterisation. It might simply be that I don't gel with the particular writer or genre so it still might be worth you giving it a go if you think it would suit.

1 star - Objectively, excruciatingly awful. Don't waste your life on this. (There are unlikely to be many of these.)
Location
London, England
Homepage
http://theidlewoman.net
Memberships
Also On
Favorite Authors
Local Favorites

Bookstores: Hay Cinema Bookshop, Hay-on-Wye Booksellers, Oxfam Kensington, Strand Bookstore, The Eagle Bookshop

Member Connections

Friends
Interesting Library
Contacts