Blog
The Lavender Keeper and other wartime reads…
21 November, 2013
I can’t believe it’s nearly a year since I was enjoying cosying up to Restless– the BBC’s adaptation of William Boyd’s great espionage novel. Since then Hayley Atwell, who played headstrong Eva, has become something of a rising star, and I’ve skipped through fantasy (finally watched a bit of Game of Thrones) and French zombies […]
Wednesday Cover Story: The Hungarian Fountain…
20 November, 2013
You can usually tell if a book if a UK or foreign edition. There are certain styles or designs that you simply wouldn’t see on a UK cover. As diverse as book covers may be, there is something that tells you (aside from the English text) it’s a UK or at least an Anglo-version. Author […]
The Power of the Song…
19 November, 2013
So this week everyone’s talking about the Christmas adverts starting on television. Although they do stir some sort of childhood nostalgia, I think the music accompanying the adverts is what makes it special for me. Last year John Lewis gave us Gabrielle Aplin’s The Power of Love cover and the nation melted. For the rest […]
A Cocktail of Literary Puns…
18 November, 2013
The nights are drawing in, that bitter north wind is finding all the chinks in your coat and at some point in the next month you have to do Christmas shopping for the world and his wife. It’s enough to drive you to drink, isn’t it? Well, my eye was caught the other day by a […]
Friday Fun: Alternative Book Titles…
15 November, 2013
Oh, the little pleasures in life. Hearing a robin sing, kicking up a pile of crunchy autumn leaves, sipping the perfect cup of tea, coming across an accidental renaming of a book title… You know what I mean – when someone refers to a book, say, called The Yellow Dog, when it’s actually The Yellow […]
Christmas is a time for tradition, nostalgia and tear-jerkers…
14 November, 2013
The highly anticipated John Lewis chrimbo advert, featuring a bear that befriends a hare at Christmas, aired on our screens this weekend. It reminded me of one of my all time favourite children’s books and a certain Little Nut-brown Hare, from the charming storybook, Guess How Much I Love You, written by Sam McBratney. I […]
Wednesday Cover Story: Discovering Rushdie
13 November, 2013
Salman Rushdie: great author, figure of controversy, one whom I have been guided to read since early days of study. We finally meet. …And I’m ‘shamed’ (sorry!) to say that it’s down only in part to former post colonial studies and three rounds of Booker awards, and rather more because LOOK AT THESE COVERS! These […]
Bah humbug
12 November, 2013
If you are a sucker for more commercial / soulless Christmas traditions then you probably think your Christmas season has now kicked off. You can pick up caffeinated and no doubt excessively calorific drinks in cups of a certain colour. And a bear and a hare have tried to teach us the true meaning of […]
Book Spying…
11 November, 2013
Whenever I am on public transport I always have a quick look around the carriage to see what everyone is reading. Those people with pesky E-readers deny me the knowledge so I simply assume they are reading Fifty Shades of Grey and would rather not have the knowing glances. There’s often a lot of variety, […]
Fancy a bit of Rioja this weekend?
8 November, 2013
A couple of weekends ago, I decided to up-sticks from the miserable London weather and head off for a girly weekend to Rioja in northern Spain with my best friend, her mum and sister. A ‘Rioja Road Trip’ so to speak. As seasoned (some might even say, expert!) drinkers of the stuff, we felt it […]
Live Theatre: Frankenstein
7 November, 2013
Earlier this week I saw a wonderful bit of theatre at the cinema. Yes, theatre at the cinema. As part of their 50th anniversary the National Theatre are showing Encore screenings of their best productions at cinemas around the UK. I went to see Danny Boyle’s Frankenstein with Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller. Every […]
Wednesday Cover Story: Why mess with a classic…
6 November, 2013
In our weekly office meeting today, we discussed the fact that we will soon be needing a reprint of the wonderful book War in Val D’Orcia, by Iris Origo – a captivating diary in which Iris recounts a year of wartime occupation living on her Tuscan estate, La Foce. She never left her estate, hiding […]
Christmas comes early…
5 November, 2013
Forget Halloween, while much of London was walking the streets bespattered in fake gore last Thursday night, I decided to get a head start on Christmas at the Country Living Christmas Fair. I wandered through the surprisingly large Business Design Centre making mental notes for Christmas presents (80% for me rather than my nearest and […]
Homework-free reading at Richmix
4 November, 2013
I first heard of Rich Mix as the venue for a DocHouse documentary screening (more of that here) and was keen to learn more about the charitable/social enterprise, which offers a range of creative activities for people of all ages and from all backgrounds. It’s the kind of place that reminds me of why […]
Paul Klee at the Tate Modern
1 November, 2013
The Paul Klee exhibition at the Tate Modern from 16th October to the 19th March 2014 is a celebration of the artist’s life and works as has never been seen before. The largest collection of his work ever gathered under one roof, it takes a good couple of hours to get round the 17 rooms […]
A season of plenty good theatre…
31 October, 2013
‘you may convey your pleasures in a spacious plenty’ (Macbeth, IV, 3) Shakespeare’s Globe and its aptly named ‘Season of Plenty’, delivered on its promise. With its three main productions of The Tempest, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Macbeth, alongside the touring company productions of King Lear, Venus & Adonis, As You Like It and […]
Wednesday Cover Story: Illustrated Covers
30 October, 2013
I never thought of myself as a lover of illustrated covers, but now I definitely am. I was trying to find a special birthday present for a friend and found the Folio Society’s website, whose philosophy is that ‘Great books should be outstanding not only in literary content but also in their physical form.’ And […]
This Book Will Save Your Life (or help you cope with wind…)
29 October, 2013
I’ve spotted a trend in the sphere of self-help. Yes, certain perma-tanned men are still going to sell shed-loads of books, CDs etc with varying promises that they can make you a better/slimmer/non-smoking person, but there’s a more cultured option out there. First of all, there’s the new release Art as Therapy by Alain de […]
A Yak’s Lesson on How to Rope a Reader in…
28 October, 2013
For those who complain that they have no time to read a whole novel, I’ve come across a lovely little site called YakTale (great name) – where you can take your pick of short stories (from known and unknown writers) listed with the amount of time it takes to actually read it – anywhere between […]
This weekend, make a care package for a stranger…
25 October, 2013
It’s almost November, and November is a month for caring. Poppy’s adorning coats and lapels , the growing (across the face) trend for moustaches, as the gentlemen-folk of London raise awareness of testicular and prostate cancer, oh comely magazine’s care package project – wait… that’s a new one?! Yup, it’s not quite so renowned (yet!) […]
We’ve come a long way from book burnings…
24 October, 2013
I find myself quite regularly on the 259 bus towards the city centre, which takes you past HM Prison Pentonville. Not being a native speaker, it took me a second to figure out that HM stands for ‘Her Majesty’s’. It made me question why other important institutions like the British Library and Museum and the […]
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