Book news, reviews and recommendations
Before I write anything else I should apologise to Jackie at Farm Lane Books for stealing her idea. It was so strikingly simple that I wanted to do the same. I hope she won’t mind. The long list for one of my favourite awards, the Baileys (née Orange) Women’s Prize for Fiction, will be announced […]
My wish list for the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction 2014 Read More »
Recently James Daunt announced that Waterstones had finally turned the corner of the long and winding road leading back to a healthy business. Operating losses have been halved – no mean feat in the economic climate that has stymied business since 2008. I know there are many out there who see Waterstones’ ubiquitous High Street
Why we need a healthy Waterstones Read More »
I finished Friday’s review of Helen Dunmore’s superb new novel The Lie with a longstanding gripe of mine: despite her extraordinary talent and versatility – she’s an award-winning poet, a children’s author, and her fiction ranges from profound and thoughtful novels such as The Siege to psychological thrillers such as Burning Bright – I have
#ReadWomen2014: A good idea and why we need it Read More »
Today is Blue Monday, the day when we’re all at our lowest here in the UK, apparently: the weather is grim, there are several months to get through before spring, the post-Christmas credit card bills are in, and the New Year’s resolutions are probably broken. Traditionally in the book trade it’s the time of year
Reading is Good for you Read More »
Where would the film industry be without books? And how many screenwriters manage to do justice to the ones they adapt? Tough task, I know, and that’s why I tend to avoid movies based on favourite books – never seen The Kite Runner, for instance. Although it can work the other way – I didn’t
Orlando: Film or book? Read More »
I seem to be spending reading time across the water this week, more by accident than design it has to be said. After Michèle Forbes’ Belfast-set Ghost Moth earlier in the week Donal Ryan’s second novel, The Thing About December, took me south of the border to rural Ireland, my expectations ratcheted up by the
The Thing about December by Donal Ryan: Greed and what it does to the soul Read More »
I still keep a hard copy list of all the books I read – old-fashioned, I know, not to mention a wee bit anoraky, but I feel the need to do it. After entering the first book I finished this year I checked what the last decade’s first books had been, partly out of curiosity
The First Book of the Year Read More »
A very happy New Year to you all! I’m afraid this is going to be a ‘what I did on my holidays’ post although there will be a mention of books. H and I took off from Bristol on Christmas Eve for Amsterdam after a slight delay, blissfully unaware of the mayhem that was playing
Five Days in Amsterdam and One book Read More »
So the clocks have changed in looking forward land, but it’s probably raining in April in the UK anyway so no reason to leave that sofa and quite a few reasons to stay on it. Earlier this year (that’s 2013) Sarah Moss took me on one of several visits to Iceland with her lovely memoir
Books to Look Out for in April 2014 Read More »
Nearly spring here in looking forward land, and the days are getting longer but there’s still plenty to keep you comfortably curled up on the sofa. Let’s start with a bit of non-fiction which will get you out and about if only in your head. The subtitle of cookery writer Mina Holland’s The Edible Atlas
Books to Look Out for in March 2014 Read More »
February is often such a dull, grey month here in the UK that you might just as well stay in and read as venture outside. Lots of new novels to keep you entertained if that’s your choice. As with yesterday’s post, a click on the title should take you to Waterstones for a more detailed
Reasons to be Cheerful (2): Books to look out for in February 2014 Read More »