I always love looking back through my ‘Book Notebook’ to see what books read in the previous year really stand out as memorable and wonderful. Interestingly, my 2018 favourites have been mainly non-fiction, so I’ve not done a Top Ten List, but instead am giving you ‘Best of Category’ recommendations. Read more
The Brilliant C.J. Sansom
With the plethora of murder mystery novels now available, some writers really try to be different in order to stand out from the crowd. Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann is highly unusual – the murder is solved by a flock of sheep, one of whom is called Miss Maple. Read more
A New Year’s Resolution
Evelyn Waugh & ‘Brideshead Revisited’
King Henry VIII & ‘Green Groweth the Holly’
Everyone knows about King Henry VIII’s six wives and his destruction of the English monasteries, but did you know that the King was also a poet? And quite an accomplished one too. This is his poem, Green Groweth the Holly: Read more
King Henry VIII & ‘Green Groweth the Holly’ Copy
Everyone knows about King Henry VIII’s six wives and his destruction of the English monasteries, but did you know that the King was also a poet? And quite an accomplished one too. This is his poem, Green Groweth the Holly: Read more
King Henry VIII & ‘Green Groweth the Holly’ Copy
Everyone knows about King Henry VIII’s six wives and his destruction of the English monasteries, but did you know that the King was also a poet? And quite an accomplished one too. This is his poem, Green Groweth the Holly: Read more
A Literary Christmas
Charles Dickens’ character, Scrooge thinks giving gifts is all humbug, but I love the idea of exchanging gifts at Christmas and almost always give books and other literary treasures. Read more
A Mary Wollstonecraft Statue
Did you know that more than 90% of the statues around London feature men? Some of those are writers – Shakespeare, Churchill, Wilde, Johnson, Keats, Betjeman, etc? Read more
Do people insist on telling you the ending?
I was intrigued to read recently of a stabbing in Antarctica, the first such attack ever recorded on that continent. And it was all because of books. Read more
Claude Monet and the Painting of the Water Lilies
Two of my favourite rooms in the entire world are those in the Orangerie Museum in Paris which hold Monet’s waterlily paintings. They are oval in shape and in each room four stunning paintings are displayed. Read more
Poem of the Month, December 2018 – ‘Jabberwocky’
Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll
’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: Read more
Companion Guide – Charles Dickens & ‘A Christmas Carol’
Every Christmas the historic Morgan Library in New York, puts on display one of its greatest treasures – the original manuscript of A Christmas Carol which Dickens had bound in red morocco leather as a gift for his publisher. Read more
A Christmas Carol Charles Dickens
Every Christmas the historic Morgan Library in New York, puts on display one of its greatest treasures – the original manuscript of A Christmas Carol which Dickens had bound in red morocco leather as a gift for his publisher. Read more
Great Reading Continues
Early this year I launched my Year of Great Reading course, and many of you have been receiving a Literary Readers Guide each month as part of your annual subscription. Many thanks for all the wonderful comments showing how much you have been enjoying it. Read more
