Category: Musings

  • Being told what to read…

    I have read the suggestion that one should avoid reading newly published books and focus on those at least 10 years old. The premise being that if they are still around then, well, they must be worth reading. It is so expensive to publish a book that it is more and more common for print […]

  • What do I want in a story?

    Having just read Margaret Forster’s book ‘Is there anything you want?’ (and written about it,) I have been thinking around this tricky question … and also wondering if the answer has changed with age. There was a book I was reading recently that suddenly involved a situation in my life of which I didn’t want […]

  • Learning from Fiction

    If a book provides me with a good story and also teaches me something, then that  is a 5 star rating. Fiction is of course just that; made up, possibly without a shred of reality. However, most of my reading has a historical background and it is that that sends me to delve further. The […]

  • Clingy Words

    Matthew Parris in the Times wrote that some words have partners that they cling to. ‘Scantily’ is always followed by ‘clad’ … well, I think I agree with that. However, he goes on to say that ‘motley’ always goes with ‘crew.’ I’m not sure I’m with him there. I think I have spoken of a […]

  • Keat’s House

    I have visited Keat’s House in Hampstead, London but I didn’t know there was a similar place by the Spanish Steps in the middle of Rome. A delightful small house, modestly elegant, at the base of the steps, hidden in plain sight. Apart from anything else, this little museum is an oasis of calm and […]

  • Rebus

    I certainly didn’t intend to see any of the BBC’s strangulation of Ian Rankin’s Rebus programmes but I did, not once but twice, catch the last ten minutes of two episodes. Don’t be tempted by it. However skilled the actor, he is certainly not John Rebus. OM goodness the books are so,so much better and […]

  • Sally Rooney in Hebrew?

    Going sideways from the previous musing, in amongst the media hype and TV adaptations of books by Sally Rooney, I was fascinated to see she had refused to allow her work to be translated into Hebrew and thus for sale in Israel. Authors are usually delighted for their work to be sent around the world […]

  • Irish Writers

    Why are there so many well-known and successful Irish writers, particularly over the last decade I pondered. In a recent (excellent) article I read about Colm Toibin, he acknowledges the energy and power that seem to resonate through Irish fiction and indeed somewhat dominates the Booker long list. Anne Enright and Anna Burns come to […]

  • The Waiting Game

    In Heffers bookshop in Cambridge a few days ago I was tempted by 2 large, heavy, new hardbacks. The first is this state of the nation novel by Andrew O’Hagan: ‘Caledonian Road’ which every reviewer is indeed reviewing and I long to read. I have walked down said road in north London and I wouldn’t […]

  • Reading Aloud

    Do you like reading aloud I wonder? Do you like listening to someone reading aloud? Many have quite strong feelings about this, one way or the other. I don’t as yet indulge in audiobooks although I know many who do, but I used to enjoy listening to books read aloud on Radio 4. Stephen Fry […]