I love bookshops. Obviously – being a bookaholic. Recently reading ‘The Bookshop Book’, a book all about, er, bookshops, has reminded me of some of my own favourites and I thought I’d share them. Top of the list, of course, is my fabulous local bookshop, Chapter One, in Woodley, Berkshire, which is home to the […]
Christmas is ace. Some people love Christmas because it’s a holiday and an opportunity to spend precious time with rarely seen family members. Some people love it because it’s an occasion during which it is totally socially acceptable to eat your own body weight – twice – as long as you’re eating roast dinner and […]
Whenever my birthday or Christmas approaches my husband gets frustrated because my wishlist consists of books and, er, more books. Here are just some of the reasons why he should be celebrating my bookishness, rather than despairing. 1. Books are super-easy to wrap. 2. Books don’t NEED to be wrapped; they already have such beautiful […]
My initial response to The Austen Project was the mental equivalent of a head-shake and an eye roll. WHY spend time rewriting the classics? Surely the whole point of a classic is that they are, in some ways at least, still relevant in contemporary society and culture? If a book is no longer relevant to […]
‘Sense and Sensibility’ – by Joanna Trollope? Doesn’t sound right, does it? How about ‘Northanger Abbey’ – by Val McDermid? Meet The Austen Project: six well-known authors are ‘reworking’ Jane Austen’s six completed novels. Why? Erm…because they can? This isn’t a new phenomenon by any means, and there are still fewer rewrites of Austen than […]
I have always maintained that it is impossible to own too many books. I still believe this. However, I have recently reached the stage where I can’t see all my books because they’re hidden by…another row of books, which is topped by…a further pile of books. Other books, despairing of ever reaching the precious shelves, […]