My Reading

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 […]

This book was on my shelves with half a dozen others by the same author. I must have read it before but I really don’t remember it. Margaret […]

A short while ago I read the four novels by Jill Paton Walsh about her Cambridge quasi detective Imogen Quy. I loved them, and looking for more by […]

I like a good memoir and I haven’t read one for some time. So, there I was in the London Review Bookshop in Bloomsbury and looking for what […]

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 […]

This is an author I really enjoy reading. There is also a really good BBC Imagine programme about him, should you care to look it up. This is […]

I don’t know, but I would guess that the pain of losing someone close to you is magnified if the death occurs in a huge, very public tragedy. […]

I found this in a bookcase I rarely go to. It was a quick but enjoyable read. There are many examples of people becoming known in a particular […]

I have been trying to work out why I find these books so compulsive and satisfying. These two are numbers 13 and 14 in the whole sequence and […]

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 […]

It is always good to have a book recommended by a friend as this was. I looked up the author and discovered she taught creative writing at the […]

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 […]

I read a review of this book and decided I needed to read something by Patrick Gale. In the blurb, Stephen Fry calls this book ‘tender and funny.’ […]

It took me some time to get into this lengthy book. The ‘lessons’ of the title are the lessons of life, in particular those of the main character, […]

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 […]

This 2002 Booker prize winner is one of the strangest books I have read. The sobriquet Booker prize winner does not always mean it will be a book […]

I think most readers will have heard of this author. This is her third book, following on from The Salt Path and The Wild Silence. The Salt Path […]

When I really engage with a book I always want to find out about the writer (she lives in Oxford) and I want to see what else she […]

The Dance Tree is one of the best books I have read in a long time and I would love you to read it too. The story is […]

A lovely story and a great read. I had never heard of this author and was interested to find out that she is a best selling writer in […]

I have been living a ‘small town life’ of late but very definitely that of a town in the US or Canada. There are of course plenty of […]

It is sometimes simple to say why a book works for you but at other times it is very difficult. This memoir is focused on fishing. I know […]

Why would one read a truly dystopian novel? I have read several books by Margaret Atwood and have enjoyed the work of a skilled writer but I have […]

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 […]

This book has kept its place on my shelves for 3 decades and has never come close to being culled. I must have read it four or five […]

A friend at church gave me ‘The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks’ by Rebecca Skloot. She said that she had ended up with 2 copies and thought I […]

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 […]

I didn’t mean to buy this book. I needed one as a gift. I chose the right book from the buy one get one half price table in […]

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 […]

This is a real life story in the form of a book of letters. It has a quiet charm and illustrates the world and particularly London in the […]

I did not immediately fall in love with this book, as I did with Hamnet, but it grew on me after a chapter or so. It is a […]

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 […]

The author Fay Weldon died recently and I decided to revisit some of her work. I thought about what I remembered of her. ‘Go to work on an […]

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 […]

When a friend pressed this book into my hand, urging me to read it, I had never heard of Claire Keegan. The book was a one night read, […]

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. […]

The bookcase on the landing has many books upon it that I would have bought and read back in the 80s and 90s. Susan Sallis, Erica James, Katie […]

The Second World War Diaries of Housewife 49 When I look at the cover of this book I am always in danger of reading it as Nella’s Last […]

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, […]