If you have read Kate Mosse’s first bestseller Labyrinth which sold in its millions, and the subsequent books: Sepulchre and Citadel, you will be quite familiar with the […]
This was a birthday gift recently, in hard back. I had looked up when the paperback would be released and found that it wouldn’t be until next year, […]
Phyllis Dorothy James White is indeed an elegant writer of detective stories. I have dipped into her work before and enjoyed it, particularly the many stories about the […]
Some people are so much larger than life that they seem to be fictional. TE Lawrence, Lawrence of Arabia, comes to mind, and, in the same mould, Patrick […]
My granddaughter and I were enjoying a wander around Barnes and Noble. I was telling her how much I had liked being in Florence the previous year and […]
The Sunday Times offered a review on a new book by Joseph O’Connor: The Ghosts of Rome and then Daunt’s bookshop advertised a talk with the author. I […]
I finished reading this book a few weeks ago but I have hesitated about writing about it. It’s difficult to say why, maybe because the distance the novel […]
This was the author’s first adult novel, published in 1977 and it was shortlisted for the Booker prize, not a bad start, but of course she had already […]
I try hard to avoid heavy, expensive hardback books but a round, wooden table artfully styled with small, beautifully produced hardbacks, well, that’s another matter … and very […]
On a lovely London Day just before Christmas we were killing time in Waterstones Piccadilly before going to see a matinee of The Mousetrap. Unusually for me, we […]
It is the well-known title for many a university thesis or dissertation: Did Shakespeare write the works that are today attributed to him? And, of course, if he […]
For the first time ever I found a book I wanted in Waterstone’s bargain box. Hardback, heavy, 500 pages and costing £3.00. This is the second Amor Towles […]
The art history based introduction to the book I have just read: Florence- Ordeal by Water. Kathrine Kressmann Taylor, was written by Vanessa Nicolson and was very informative. […]
‘I cannot believe you haven’t read this! Why haven’t you read it?’ Thus said my daughter to me, after discovering that I had not read Richard Osman’s huge […]
Whichever bookshop I am in, here or on my visit to New York City recently, I have been assaulted by huge displays of Intermezzo by Sally Rooney. Not […]
This was an interesting read, not quite an autobiography, maybe somewhere in between a memoir and a travelogue. Through familial contacts and a mixture of circumstance and serendipitous […]
Elif Shafak has a new book out: ‘There are rivers in the sky,’ and so she is absolutely everywhere. She obviously has a very good publicity agent as […]
When I had read ‘Lessons’ by Ian McEwan I decided I had to read more by this acclaimed writer. ‘Enduring Love’ is a fascinating if rather disturbing read. […]
Sometimes I like a reading break away from fiction and this book presented itself. I may have mentioned before that Petroc is my favourite Radio 3 presenter! His […]
I have great admiration for Tracy Chevalier. In my opinion she is an accomplished writer. As with most people I think, the first novel of hers that I […]
I have written about today’s riches of Irish writers, some to my taste and others definitely not but Maeve Binchy was writing of a different Ireland, somewhat contemporary […]
Anita Shreve is one of those East Coast American writers who often seem to be facing out over the Atlantic, very, very taken with historical and political events […]
Most readers will be familiar with the novel Chocolat from about the year 2000 and the delightful film that followed later starring Juliette Binoche, Johnny Depp and Judi […]
I have read several books by Salley Vickers including ‘The Cleaner of Chartres’, ‘Miss Garnet’s Angel’ and ‘Mr Golightly’s Holiday.’ I enjoyed them all: imaginative, well constructed stories. […]
I read this book immediately after reading ‘Hotel du Lac’ by Anita Brookner. The difference in style hits you quite full in the face and added to my […]
All of these were really impulse buys and 2 of the three were successful so that is pretty good I think. In Daunts beautiful bookshop in Marylebone High […]
I sometimes enjoy reading a book about books and book lovers. This is a wide church of course. There are very different members of this club. I came […]
I first heard of this book, and indeed this writer, at a U3A session. Coincidentally the author was then a guest of Michael Berkeley on Radio 3s Private […]
It is always good to receive news from Slightly Foxed. The book that caught my eye this time was called ‘My Salinger Year’ written by Joanna Rakoff. It […]
This is a minor Daphne du Maurier fest about 2 of her novels: Rebecca and Frenchman’s Creek. I will leave Jamaica Inn and My Cousin Rachel for another […]
And now for something totally different. You may know the author Alan Garner from his children’s book ‘The Owl Service’ which was important to several generations and subsequently […]
Along with Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women books and the Heidi stories, Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild looms large in my childhood reading. Goodness knows how many times […]
This was a strange read but one that I am still thinking about sometime after finishing it. If I hadn’t been told otherwise I could have believed that […]
If you know anything about Stella Gibbons, then it is probably her first novel: Cold Comfort Farm. In this book Aunt Ada Doom famously saw ‘something nasty in […]
This book is apparently a follow up to a first publication venture called ‘The Secret Life of Cows’ which I have not read. I might though, because I […]
This is essentially a diary written by the author whilst living in London for a year, on what she calls a sabbatical from her marriage, left behind in […]
This is a small review for a small book, that is worth reading nevertheless. I came upon this little hard back whilst doing some clearing out and reorganising. […]
I enjoy reading books about the natural world, the countryside, the landscape etc and I very much enjoyed this one. It is however different in several ways. This […]
I had never heard of the poet George Barker but I was sent on a Barker odyssey recently by my favourite Sunday Times columnist India Knight. ‘Read Notes […]
During the long siege of Sarajevo between 1992 to 1996, a cellist stood at his apartment window. He looked down at the bakery on the opposite side of […]
This is a gentle book and an almost perfect one. I suppose it focuses on the extraordinary goings on of very ordinary people. The main character, Anna, tells […]
You know when Amazon says: we think you’d like this one! Well, sometimes I ignore and refrain and well, other times I press the button. Evie Woods is […]
This is one of those books that I’ve always been aware of but only recently managed to get around to reading. The adjective that immediately comes to mind […]
As I walked into the kitchen, Petroc Trelawney, my favourite Radio 3 presenter was talking about a book called An Equal Music, by Vikram Seth. However, he didn’t […]
I have read 2 books by James Rebanks, the husband of the above author. ‘The Shepherd’s Life’ and ‘English Pastoral’ are both excellent reads, written in a cogent […]
When you are selling many copies of your books, they are applauded by literary columnists and your readers wait avidly for the next instalment, it seems very brave […]
These are the second and third parts of ‘The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry’ trilogy, a story that is about to leap into life on a cinema screen […]
I studied this story, one part of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, for A level and I remember we were all surprised and more than a little uncomfortable with how […]
So there I was on a transatlantic flight last autumn, scrolling through the list of films from which I could choose. Nothing particularly grabbed my attention until I […]
I have always been fascinated by closed societies: monasteries and convents, boarding schools and to some extent universities, although one gets the feeling that most of the latter […]
I stayed in bed this morning beyond what anyone would consider a respectable time on an ordinary Thursday in February, because I just had to finish the book […]
A suitable story for Valentine’s Day maybe. I do understand that Geraldine McCaughrean did not originally pen this story. It was written in 1897 by Edmond Rostand completely […]
Rebus means enigmatic puzzle. Whether Ian Rankin gave his main character this name for this reason I don’t know but it definitely works. I have a list of […]
I have written before about Doctor Ruth Galloway, the most delightful and beautifully written character in the detective novels by Elly Griffiths, all set on the Norfolk coast. […]
Many slim Amazon packages come through my letterbox, mostly containing books. When I opened this particular one however I was slightly puzzled. I didn’t remember ordering this book, […]
