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About Me

Eleanor. Literature and film enthusiast. Mostly (but not exclusively) interested in books by and/or about women, and 1930s/40s cinema. I read a lot, watch a lot, and write a little.
Currently Reading: Villette // Charlotte Bronte

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The Story of a Modern Woman

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thespiritofthepage

I was going to wait until it was officially Decemb

I was going to wait until it was officially December to start Christmassy posting but I can’t sorry 🫣 This is the front page of The London Society Christmas Number for 1866 🎅
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#victorian #1800s #victorianchristmas #classicalliterature #victorianliterature #bookstagram #studygram #booksbooksbooks #readersofig #reading #festivereads

🎄🎄🎄 is it too early for this? Probably no

🎄🎄🎄 is it too early for this? Probably not. Who cares? Anyway, obviously A Christmas Carol gets a lot of love every year but I’m taking a moment to appreciate Dickens’s other Christmas stories too ✨ this year I’m rereading A Christmas Carol and the Chimes, and am yet to start this lovely new (to me) edition of The Cricket on the Hearth 🤎
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#bookstagram #charlesdickens #achristmascarol #thecricketonthehearth #thechimes #victorian #christmas

It was absolutely freezing today which as far as I

It was absolutely freezing today which as far as I’m concerned means it’s Wuthering Heights season again hehe ❄️ It’s probably a bit silly that this highly disturbing literal-antithesis-of-cosiness book with its unwelcoming setting and (arguably) irredeemable characters is such a comfort read for me, but here we are 😂 and here’s an edition that is too nice for me to annotate/scribble all over, from Pulp! The Classics 🤎 I’m going to try and find out if, on my next read, I feel a bit less sorry for Edgar? He probably doesn’t need my sympathy but we’ll see x
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#wutheringheights #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #winter #classics #emilybronte #haworth #thebrontesisters #cosy #cozy #darkacademia #igreads #heathcliff #darkacademiavibes #garden #coffee #woodburner #pulptheclassics #literature #classics #bookishreels #classicliterature #victorian #victorianliterature

🕯️✨ From my trip a couple of months ago to

🕯️✨ From my trip a couple of months ago to the Brontë Parsonage museum. This is the dining room where Emily, Charlotte, and Anne did most of their writing. Imagine being a fly on that wall 🤎
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Bronte Paraonage, Haworth, Museum, Gallery, Literature, Victorian, Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë, Anne Brontë, Bookstagram, Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, Agnes Grey, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Shirley, The Professor, Villette, 1800s, Academia
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#classicliterature #museum #darkacademia #bookworm #bookbloggersofinstagram #bookblogger #victorianliterature

Some of my currently reading/tbr pile. I’m glad

Some of my currently reading/tbr pile. I’m glad the shop assistant in my local Waterstones persuaded me to buy Orbital because I saw yesterday evening that it had won the Booker Prize 2024, so congratulations to Samantha Harvey! 🤎 I’m not delusional enough to think I will have finished any of these by the end of the year because it’s nearly time to start my annual Christmas reads - I’m not letting December pass without some Dickens 🫣 🕯️✨
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#bookerprize #orbital #samanthaharvey #bookstagram #igreads #tbr #tbrpile #currentlyreading #bookblogger #bookworms #bookworm #bookish #studygram #readersofinstagram #readersofig #instabooks #sachanaspini #bookerprize2024

Woman Reading - Henri Matisse (1895) . . . . . . .

Woman Reading - Henri Matisse (1895)
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#bookstagram #readingwomen #henrimatisse #matisse #artstagram #bookstagram #reading #mood #book #bookworm #1800s #art #painting #oilpainting #calm #booksbooksbooks #bookworm #readersofinstagram #igreads #readingwoman #artist #artgallery #artlover #bookblogger #bookbloggersofinstagram

🍁🍂🤎🕯️ Feels like I’ve been so busy

🍁🍂🤎🕯️ Feels like I’ve been so busy with work and being a mum and rushing to and from various commitments lately, so here is a little snapshot of a properly slow (and rainy, though perhaps you can’t tell from this reel) day I was lucky enough to enjoy recently! It’s not madly cold here yet but it feels like we’re shifting from autumn to winter which to me is prime Emily Brontë season, hence the poetry collection 📚
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#booklover #bookstagram #reading #darkaesthetic #readersofig #bookworm #bookishreel #rainyday #november #autumnvibes #studygram

I’ve just found myself having an imaginary row a

I’ve just found myself having an imaginary row about British food and went looking for “In Defence Of English Cooking” by George Orwell to support my arguments - I was sure I had it somewhere - but it’s not actually in this collection. As it is I’ve managed to read it online over at the Orwell Foundation anyway, but I couldn’t help read a couple of the shorter essays in this little collection too. I haven’t read much Orwell for a very long time and I’ve missed him! 🤎📚
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#booksbooksbooks #bookstagram #bookworm #penguinclassics #penguinpublishing #bookworm #georgeorwell #literature #essays #essaycollection #indefenceofenglishcooking #bookish #bookishfeatures #readersofig #book #currentlyreading #bookstagrammer #readersofinstagram #readersofig #igreads #wwii #darkacademia #darkacademiaaesthetic #readers

🕯️✨ Here are a couple of (to me) books. 📚📚📚 Aurora Floyd by Sensation novelist queen Mary Elizabeth Braddon, and underneath, The Life of Charlotte Bronte by Elizabeth Gaskell, in slightly better shape than my other one. I truly have no idea where this year has gone and despite a very good start to 2024, my reading has very much fallen off a cliff over the past couple of months 😂 I would really like to reread Aurora Floyd though, so it’s firmly on my list for next year ☺️🤎
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#bookstagram #bookstagrammer #literature #bibliophile #sensationfiction #fiction #victorian #charlottebronte #booksbooksbooks #readersofig #reading #tbrpile #maryelizabethbraddon #antiquebooks #bookcollector #explorepage #bookworm #bookwormsofinstagram #flatlay #darkacademia #studygram #shelfie #classicliterature #readingtime #classicbooks #darkacademiaaesthetic #bookbloggersofinstagram #bookblogger

🍁✨🕯️🎃 “…oftentimes these minister

🍁✨🕯️🎃 “…oftentimes these ministers of darkness tell us truths in little things, to betray us into deeds of greatest consequence.”
.
.
My usual October reads tend towards Gothic and Victorian ghost stories, but I think Macbeth is a good shout for Halloween too 🎃 I bought this copy of Tales from Shakespeare a couple of months ago from Armchair Books. Charles and Mary Lamb were brother and sister and collaborated to produce this collection of stories from Shakespeare’s plays “for the use of young persons”. Each story has been condensed so as to only take up a few pages, so they’re obviously missing a lot of subplots and definitely some of the more grown up themes, but they made an effort to retain Shakespeare’s language where possible.
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#bookstagram #explore #shakespeare #talesfromshakespeare #charlesandmarylamb #bibliophile #bookworm #halloween #macbeth #vintage #antiquebooks #bookcollector #readersofinstagram #readersofig #reading #booksbooksbooks #williamshakespeare #bookishreels #autumn #bookishvibes #library #shelfie #1800s #illustrations

🕯️✨ “She had never been a feminist but sh

🕯️✨ “She had never been a feminist but she thought she would have been if she could have lived her life over again.”
.
.
I have just finished my first Ruth Rendell ☺️ The first chapters were really, really engaging - it begins with a scorned husband burying a tin containing a pair of hands, and the construction work that leads to that gruesome discovery decades later. I found this a bit slow going after those first few pages - lots of characters were introduced at once and it took me a little while to keep up with who was who, but it was definitely worth sticking it out! Lots of ruminating on life and death and aging, lots of questions about the choices we’re all but forced to make in such relatively early phases of our lives. I found myself so invested in Michael’s story in particular, but Rosemary’s too was equal parts heartbreaking and uplifting. To avoid giving any spoilers I’m saying nothing about Alan except: 😡
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#bookstagram #crime #thriller #ruthrendell #bookstagrammers #readersofig #currentlyreading #booklover #bookworm #bookworms #readersofinstagram #cozy #cosy #bookphotography #bookblogger #bookreview #tbr #tbrpile #crimefiction #explorepage #bibliophile

🕯️✨ Welcome to one of my more niche hobbies

🕯️✨ Welcome to one of my more niche hobbies: collecting Victorian/Edwardian autographs, particularly from the music hall and theatre stars of the age. Picking up where my greatx3 aunt left off ig ☺️ Some of these names seem to have been all but lost over the years but there are a few in my collection that have definitely stood the test of time. Saved my favourite, Seymour Hicks, till last; I read a copy of his autobiography 24 Years of an Actor’s Life a few years ago and found him really quite endearing. I especially liked how he wrote of his wife Ellaline Terriss (herself a famous actress) with such affection 🤎
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#edwardian #victorian #autograph #collector #rotaryphotos #cabinetcard #1900s #1800s #basilgill #seymourhicks #ellalineterriss #edwardianactress #edwardianactors #darkacademia #darkacademiaaesthetic #cosy #cozy #autumn #fallvibes #explore #readersofinstagram #bookstagrammer #autobiography #bookworm #booksbooksbooks #bookishreels #history #theatre #silentfilm #filmhistory

Load More… Follow on Instagram

thespiritofthepage

thespiritofthepage

I was going to wait until it was officially Decemb

I was going to wait until it was officially December to start Christmassy posting but I can’t sorry 🫣 This is the front page of The London Society Christmas Number for 1866 🎅
.
.
.
.
#victorian #1800s #victorianchristmas #classicalliterature #victorianliterature #bookstagram #studygram #booksbooksbooks #readersofig #reading #festivereads

🎄🎄🎄 is it too early for this? Probably no

🎄🎄🎄 is it too early for this? Probably not. Who cares? Anyway, obviously A Christmas Carol gets a lot of love every year but I’m taking a moment to appreciate Dickens’s other Christmas stories too ✨ this year I’m rereading A Christmas Carol and the Chimes, and am yet to start this lovely new (to me) edition of The Cricket on the Hearth 🤎
.
.
.
.
#bookstagram #charlesdickens #achristmascarol #thecricketonthehearth #thechimes #victorian #christmas

It was absolutely freezing today which as far as I

It was absolutely freezing today which as far as I’m concerned means it’s Wuthering Heights season again hehe ❄️ It’s probably a bit silly that this highly disturbing literal-antithesis-of-cosiness book with its unwelcoming setting and (arguably) irredeemable characters is such a comfort read for me, but here we are 😂 and here’s an edition that is too nice for me to annotate/scribble all over, from Pulp! The Classics 🤎 I’m going to try and find out if, on my next read, I feel a bit less sorry for Edgar? He probably doesn’t need my sympathy but we’ll see x
.
.
.
.
.
.
#wutheringheights #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #winter #classics #emilybronte #haworth #thebrontesisters #cosy #cozy #darkacademia #igreads #heathcliff #darkacademiavibes #garden #coffee #woodburner #pulptheclassics #literature #classics #bookishreels #classicliterature #victorian #victorianliterature

🕯️✨ From my trip a couple of months ago to

🕯️✨ From my trip a couple of months ago to the Brontë Parsonage museum. This is the dining room where Emily, Charlotte, and Anne did most of their writing. Imagine being a fly on that wall 🤎
.
.
.
.
.
.
Bronte Paraonage, Haworth, Museum, Gallery, Literature, Victorian, Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë, Anne Brontë, Bookstagram, Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, Agnes Grey, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Shirley, The Professor, Villette, 1800s, Academia
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#classicliterature #museum #darkacademia #bookworm #bookbloggersofinstagram #bookblogger #victorianliterature

Some of my currently reading/tbr pile. I’m glad

Some of my currently reading/tbr pile. I’m glad the shop assistant in my local Waterstones persuaded me to buy Orbital because I saw yesterday evening that it had won the Booker Prize 2024, so congratulations to Samantha Harvey! 🤎 I’m not delusional enough to think I will have finished any of these by the end of the year because it’s nearly time to start my annual Christmas reads - I’m not letting December pass without some Dickens 🫣 🕯️✨
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
#bookerprize #orbital #samanthaharvey #bookstagram #igreads #tbr #tbrpile #currentlyreading #bookblogger #bookworms #bookworm #bookish #studygram #readersofinstagram #readersofig #instabooks #sachanaspini #bookerprize2024

Woman Reading - Henri Matisse (1895) . . . . . . .

Woman Reading - Henri Matisse (1895)
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#bookstagram #readingwomen #henrimatisse #matisse #artstagram #bookstagram #reading #mood #book #bookworm #1800s #art #painting #oilpainting #calm #booksbooksbooks #bookworm #readersofinstagram #igreads #readingwoman #artist #artgallery #artlover #bookblogger #bookbloggersofinstagram

🍁🍂🤎🕯️ Feels like I’ve been so busy

🍁🍂🤎🕯️ Feels like I’ve been so busy with work and being a mum and rushing to and from various commitments lately, so here is a little snapshot of a properly slow (and rainy, though perhaps you can’t tell from this reel) day I was lucky enough to enjoy recently! It’s not madly cold here yet but it feels like we’re shifting from autumn to winter which to me is prime Emily Brontë season, hence the poetry collection 📚
.
.
.
.
.
#booklover #bookstagram #reading #darkaesthetic #readersofig #bookworm #bookishreel #rainyday #november #autumnvibes #studygram

I’ve just found myself having an imaginary row a

I’ve just found myself having an imaginary row about British food and went looking for “In Defence Of English Cooking” by George Orwell to support my arguments - I was sure I had it somewhere - but it’s not actually in this collection. As it is I’ve managed to read it online over at the Orwell Foundation anyway, but I couldn’t help read a couple of the shorter essays in this little collection too. I haven’t read much Orwell for a very long time and I’ve missed him! 🤎📚
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
#booksbooksbooks #bookstagram #bookworm #penguinclassics #penguinpublishing #bookworm #georgeorwell #literature #essays #essaycollection #indefenceofenglishcooking #bookish #bookishfeatures #readersofig #book #currentlyreading #bookstagrammer #readersofinstagram #readersofig #igreads #wwii #darkacademia #darkacademiaaesthetic #readers

🕯️✨ Here are a couple of (to me) books. 📚📚📚 Aurora Floyd by Sensation novelist queen Mary Elizabeth Braddon, and underneath, The Life of Charlotte Bronte by Elizabeth Gaskell, in slightly better shape than my other one. I truly have no idea where this year has gone and despite a very good start to 2024, my reading has very much fallen off a cliff over the past couple of months 😂 I would really like to reread Aurora Floyd though, so it’s firmly on my list for next year ☺️🤎
.
.
.
.
.
.
#bookstagram #bookstagrammer #literature #bibliophile #sensationfiction #fiction #victorian #charlottebronte #booksbooksbooks #readersofig #reading #tbrpile #maryelizabethbraddon #antiquebooks #bookcollector #explorepage #bookworm #bookwormsofinstagram #flatlay #darkacademia #studygram #shelfie #classicliterature #readingtime #classicbooks #darkacademiaaesthetic #bookbloggersofinstagram #bookblogger

🍁✨🕯️🎃 “…oftentimes these minister

🍁✨🕯️🎃 “…oftentimes these ministers of darkness tell us truths in little things, to betray us into deeds of greatest consequence.”
.
.
My usual October reads tend towards Gothic and Victorian ghost stories, but I think Macbeth is a good shout for Halloween too 🎃 I bought this copy of Tales from Shakespeare a couple of months ago from Armchair Books. Charles and Mary Lamb were brother and sister and collaborated to produce this collection of stories from Shakespeare’s plays “for the use of young persons”. Each story has been condensed so as to only take up a few pages, so they’re obviously missing a lot of subplots and definitely some of the more grown up themes, but they made an effort to retain Shakespeare’s language where possible.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
#bookstagram #explore #shakespeare #talesfromshakespeare #charlesandmarylamb #bibliophile #bookworm #halloween #macbeth #vintage #antiquebooks #bookcollector #readersofinstagram #readersofig #reading #booksbooksbooks #williamshakespeare #bookishreels #autumn #bookishvibes #library #shelfie #1800s #illustrations

🕯️✨ “She had never been a feminist but sh

🕯️✨ “She had never been a feminist but she thought she would have been if she could have lived her life over again.”
.
.
I have just finished my first Ruth Rendell ☺️ The first chapters were really, really engaging - it begins with a scorned husband burying a tin containing a pair of hands, and the construction work that leads to that gruesome discovery decades later. I found this a bit slow going after those first few pages - lots of characters were introduced at once and it took me a little while to keep up with who was who, but it was definitely worth sticking it out! Lots of ruminating on life and death and aging, lots of questions about the choices we’re all but forced to make in such relatively early phases of our lives. I found myself so invested in Michael’s story in particular, but Rosemary’s too was equal parts heartbreaking and uplifting. To avoid giving any spoilers I’m saying nothing about Alan except: 😡
.
.
.
.
.
.
#bookstagram #crime #thriller #ruthrendell #bookstagrammers #readersofig #currentlyreading #booklover #bookworm #bookworms #readersofinstagram #cozy #cosy #bookphotography #bookblogger #bookreview #tbr #tbrpile #crimefiction #explorepage #bibliophile

🕯️✨ Welcome to one of my more niche hobbies

🕯️✨ Welcome to one of my more niche hobbies: collecting Victorian/Edwardian autographs, particularly from the music hall and theatre stars of the age. Picking up where my greatx3 aunt left off ig ☺️ Some of these names seem to have been all but lost over the years but there are a few in my collection that have definitely stood the test of time. Saved my favourite, Seymour Hicks, till last; I read a copy of his autobiography 24 Years of an Actor’s Life a few years ago and found him really quite endearing. I especially liked how he wrote of his wife Ellaline Terriss (herself a famous actress) with such affection 🤎
.
.
.
.
.
.
#edwardian #victorian #autograph #collector #rotaryphotos #cabinetcard #1900s #1800s #basilgill #seymourhicks #ellalineterriss #edwardianactress #edwardianactors #darkacademia #darkacademiaaesthetic #cosy #cozy #autumn #fallvibes #explore #readersofinstagram #bookstagrammer #autobiography #bookworm #booksbooksbooks #bookishreels #history #theatre #silentfilm #filmhistory

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