Feb 16 minFacts or fiction: 10 autobiographies I’d recommend. “Autobiography is usually honest but never truthful.” So wrote Robert A. Heinlein in his novel Friday, and I’m inclined to agree. I’ve re...
Dec 31, 20207 minMy Book of the Year 20202020. The weirdest year ever. The world turned upside down. But for a moment let's try to ignore Covid-19, Brexit and politics as much as...
Sep 16, 20204 minReading your way out of a Reading SlumpHi again bibliophiles! Today’s blog is about Reading Slumps – what they are, how to recognise them and how to ease yourself out of them… ...
Dec 27, 20195 minMy book of the year awards 20192019. What a big year. Crikey – so much happened! There was · A level results for youngest daughter and her going off for her first year ...
Sep 29, 20195 minIn which I disappeared into a book…Losing yourself in a book. We’ve all done it. Entering the world, becoming the character, forgetting yourself. It’s a wonderful and somet...
Jul 27, 20194 min100 books I think you should readIn my last blog I asked What is a Classic? and I considered that possibly the best we could do would be to cumulate all our “100 books yo...
Jul 19, 20194 minWhat is a classic?I saw a fascinating-looking book the other day which I'd have bought if I'd not been on a book buying ban. It was called 'Why read the cl...
Apr 23, 20197 minHay on Wye – a town of booksLet me take you down to the borders of Wales and England, to a small and beautiful town nestling in the hills on the edge of the Brecon B...
Mar 12, 20194 minHow many books should we keep?30 books, Marie? Really? Well of course we all now know that’s not what she said. Or at least I hope we know that. What she said was ““I ...
Feb 18, 20194 minThe Magic Re-reading FormulaDo books you have previously read call to you? Or do you just want to keep discovering new books and new authors? Today I am considering ...
Jan 10, 20194 minReading the WorldHow diverse are your bookshelves? I'm constantly asking myself that question, challenging my assumptions - for why read if not to experie...
Dec 26, 20182 minMy Book of the Year Awards - 20182018. There it goes. Whoosh. Bye! While others were obsessed with Brexit, I was busy reading (and doing other stuff). Mostly reading thou...
Nov 29, 20183 minA la recherche du bookshop perduIn memory of my favourite bookshop... I still feel a sense of loss whenever I walk past a particular shop-front in my town. All the frivo...
Nov 6, 20184 minVoices in my head (phones)Do you listen to podcasts? What about audio books? Me, I’m a relative latecomer to these worlds of wonder. Until about a year ago, I pret...
Oct 7, 20183 minA literary lunchtime walkI’m lucky enough to work in the heart of Bloomsbury – Virginia Woolf territory – in London, so spend virtually every weekday there. Withi...
Sep 7, 20188 minThe books that raised meA little while ago I squeezed a longer article into bookstagram format, so here I am going to unpack it a little. The post was called The...
Mar 14, 20183 minWhat is it about reading?Why read fiction? Hmmm? Of all the ways to pass your short time on this planet, why stick your head in the midst of a few hundred pages o...
Mar 14, 20183 minMy top 100 booksGood day lovely people. Today I am bringing you a list of my top hundred favourite books. These aren't necessarily the greatest books eve...