‘Wilfred and Eileen’ by Jonathan Smith One word for this book: delightful. I wasn’t inspired by any of the books in the pile under my bedside table and so I contacted Persephone Books to explain my predicament and the challenge I set myself and they confirmed they indeed had published a few books from the …
I had the loveliest of Sundays… I hope you did too! The Hay Festival is one of the most famous literary festivals in the world, it take place in the town of ‘Hay on Wye’ and it welcomes 250,000 visitors each year. A chap called Richard Booth is credited with transforming the town into a …
Careless people by Sarah Churchwell What can I say about this book… I did enjoy it. It’s interesting like a good documentary is interesting… I wouldn’t say it’s edge of your seat gripping but it does keep your attention. It’s a slow read though. Sarah Churchwell attempts to tell the story behind ‘The Great Gatsby” …
It should be music Friday… but I woke up with a splitting migraine so let’s talk quietly about books instead. My latest read was “The Paris Wife by Paula McLain I have non idea what made me buy this book, like many it collected dust under my bedside table for months, years maybe, but it …
The mermaid and Mrs Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar. After the disappointment of my last book I needed something to get me back onto the reading wagon… I’m really lagging behind and I’m not sure I’m going to make it to 48 at this snail pace. I’ve read 8 and there are 40 to go… …
“Annihilation” Jeff VanderMeer For a while I had completely lost my reading mojo. And I mean completely. I didn’t read one single line of any books when I was on holiday last week and that must have been a first for me since I was six and first learnt to read… I blame this book. …
“Regeneration” by Pat Barker. Why oh why did I wait so long to read this book? I can only say it’s because at the time it was published its popularity had put me off; or maybe it’s because I’m not too keen on ‘war’ books. Growing up mum had force fed me with the sad …
“Never Let Me Go” by Kazuo Ishiguro. I’m not going to say too much about this book because I really think you should read it. Everybody should read it. Older generations should read it, teenagers should read it and discuss it in school. Beautiful. Powerful. Chilling. The writing is measured and perfectly poised, but don’t …
Everything is Illuminated (by Jonathan Safran Foer) Ok, first a couple of points: I think that Jonathan Safran Foer is a brilliant writer. I really do. I loved his latest book ‘Here I am’ and also ‘Extremely loud and incredibly close’ is one on my favourites… He has a fabulous subtle, self deprecating sense of …
There’s nothing wrong with reading children’s books in fact when the kids were younger I tried reading books before passing them to them so we could talk about it, or I could answer their questions if they had any. That kind of stopped when No 1 went through his Lee Child phase (20 book …
while you're ahead... 