I am now the proud owner of a Little Free Library and have been so enjoying it. It stands outside my house and locals have been stopping to look and take away a book to read. Read more
Are you a Promiscuous Reader?
Are you a promiscuous reader? Do you double-date, or even triple-date, with books? Or are you strictly a one-book-at-a-time reader? Read more
David Lodge
I recently enjoyed an audio version of Thinks by David Lodge – a rather quirky, unusual novel about academics who have an affair. I have been enjoying David Lodge’s books for years. His Nice Work, a modern version of Elizabeth Gaskell’s superb North and South, is a funny and excellent read (there’s also a TV version available on DVD), and Changing Places is a delight too. Read more
Poem of the Month, May 2018 – ‘In Flanders Fields’
In Flanders Fields by John McCrae
The name John McCrae might not immediately ring any bells with you, but I bet you know his poem. Everyone knows his poem! In Flanders Fields is one of the most famous poems of WWI, and is remembered by all who buy poppies to commemorate the war. Read more
Companion Guide – Karen Blixen & ‘Out Of Africa’
When the movie of Out of Africa screened in the 1980s I, like so many others, fell in love with Robert Redford and Meryl Streep and the fabulous scenery of Africa. The film showed flocks of pink flamingos rising into the air, magnificent maned lions prowling across the grasslands, giraffe (“gentle amblers of the great plains”) loping along with easy elegance, and spectacular flights over the hills. Read more
The Life and Writings of Astrid Lindgren
In preparation for my Scandinavian literary tour in July, I have been delving into the life and writings of Astrid Lindgren. She was a remarkable woman. In the 1920s she had an illegitimate baby and had to place him in foster care for some years. Read more
Birthdays and Books
Birthdays often bring some nice books as presents, but they also bring a reminder that there is less and less reading time left in your life. This depressing prospect has now been quantified, using average life expectancies for men and women: Read more
Sydney Writers Walk
Do you know why Agatha Christie visited Australia? What did Sir Arthur Conan Doyle do here that was so controversial? What did D.H. Lawrence do at the zoo? And what did Rudyard Kipling have to say about Sydneysiders? The Writers Walk at Circular Quay consists of 60 brass plaques set into the pavement between the Opera House and the Rocks. These plaques commemorate the visits of various writers to Sydney, some from other parts of Australia and others from much further afield. Read more
Poem of the Month, April 2018 – ‘The Owl and the Pussycat’
The Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear
I
The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea-green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five-pound note. Read more
Companion Guide – Anthony Trollope & ‘Dr Thorne’
One summer evening in 1852 Anthony Trollope found himself in the cathedral city of Salisbury on post office business. He stood for some time on Harnham Bridge looking at the distant spire of the cathedral and there he conceived the idea of writing novels about clergymen, showing them not so much in their clerical roles, but as ordinary men, as beset by greed, ambitions, lust and envy as other men. Read more
A Shelf-Catering Holiday
The Diary of a Bookseller
I do love reading books set in bookshops. Recently I very much enjoyed The Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell. It recounts the joys and pains of running a second-hand bookstore and is full of amusing anecdotes. I do not much share Shaun’s reading tastes, and almost every book he himself read or recommended, or even sold, seemed to have been written by a man and I was tempted to send him a good list of books by women. But his book was funny and sad at the same time, and it did make you ponder the troubled future of bookshops. He describes how one day he shoots a kindle, then sticks the damaged kindle on the bookshop wall, as a warning to his customers of what e-books are doing to shops like his. Read more
Literary Travels
If you would like to join me on my literary travels, I have a few places left on tours next year. Read more
Have You Ever Seen a Fore-edged Book?
Have you ever seen a fore-edged book? Generally I feel that a book is a wonderfully complete object in itself, needing no decoration but an attractive cover. However, fore-edged books do transform books into unusual works of art, in the painterly sense of the word, as well as in the literary sense. Read more
