01 Apr 2019

Susannah Authors, Books, Newsletter, Reading 7 Comments Permalink

Historical Novels

Susannah 1 April 2019 7 Comments

At one of my talks I was recently asked about historical novels. A woman’s nephew, a student at high school, had been asked to choose an historical novel and he didn’t really know what the term meant. Read more

01 Apr 2019

Susannah Newsletter, Poem of the Month, Poems, Poets 16 Comments Permalink

Philip Larkin & ‘This Be the Verse’

Susannah 1 April 2019 16 Comments

Warning: You’d better skip this item if bad language is not your thing. Read more

01 Mar 2019

Susannah Newsletter, Poem of the Month, Poems, Poets No Comments Permalink

Christina Rossetti & A Birthday

Susannah 1 March 2019 No Comments

Christina Rossetti (1830 – 1894) never married, (though she was briefly engaged to the artist James Collinson) and yet she wrote some beautiful love poems. Read more

01 Mar 2019

Susannah Books, Newsletter, Reading 8 Comments Permalink

Manhattan Beach

Susannah 1 March 2019 8 Comments

I recently enjoyed the historical novel Manhattan Beach by the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Jennifer Egan. Set in New York during the Depression and WWII, it described a heroine who becomes a navy diver at a time when professional diving was still in its infancy.

It was a surprising, unpredictable novel – I was never quite sure where it would take me, but I was gripped throughout. It’s a tale of migrants, Read more

01 Mar 2019

Susannah Books, Newsletter, Reading 6 Comments Permalink

UNESCO Worldwide Cities of Literature

Susannah 1 March 2019 6 Comments

Have you heard about the UNESCO World Cities of Literature scheme? This was a programme launched in 2004 to promote the “social, economic and cultural development” Read more

01 Mar 2019

Susannah Newsletter, Paintings, Talks No Comments Permalink

The Pre-Raphaelite Masterpieces

Susannah 1 March 2019 No Comments

Have you been to see the fabulous Pre-Raphaelite Masterpieces in Canberra yet? With glorious paintings from the Tate, it brings together many works that have been inspired by literature. Read more

01 Feb 2019

Susannah Newsletter 4 Comments Permalink

Have you ever heard of the Charleston plates?

Susannah 1 February 2019 4 Comments

Have you ever heard of the Charleston plates or the ‘Famous Women Dinner Service’? I hadn’t until recently, and was intrigued when I did. Read more

01 Feb 2019

Susannah Newsletter, Poem of the Month, Poems, Poets 3 Comments Permalink

Matthew Arnold & Dover Beach

Susannah 1 February 2019 3 Comments

I have always adored Matthew Arnold’s lyric poem Dover Beach. It was written in 1851 when he was on honeymoon with his bride Fanny Lucy (always affectionately known as ‘Flu’) and was first published in 1867. Read more

01 Feb 2019

Susannah Books, Newsletter 16 Comments Permalink

The Tattooist of Auschwitz

Susannah 1 February 2019 16 Comments

I recently read and was moved by Heather Morris’s book The Tattooist of Auschwitz. It tells a remarkable story of a young Jewish man, Lale Eisenberg, from Slovakia who spent two and a half years in Auschwitz-Birkenau, Read more

01 Feb 2019

Susannah Books, Newsletter, Poets, Reading 22 Comments Permalink

Holiday Reading

Susannah 1 February 2019 22 Comments

When I’m heading off on a summer holiday the very first thing I pack is the pile of books I want to read. On a recent trip with my husband I was horrified to discover that the book he was taking with him was A Natural History of Latin. Read more

01 Jan 2019

Susannah Newsletter, Reading 5 Comments Permalink

A New Year’s Resolution

Susannah 1 January 2019 5 Comments

According to Wikipedia, the ancient Babylonians made New Year’s resolutions, promising their gods that they would pay their debts and return objects they had borrowed. So … we are following a time-honoured practice Read more

01 Jan 2019

Susannah Authors, Books, Newsletter, Reading, Recommended Reading 41 Comments Permalink

The Brilliant C.J. Sansom

Susannah 1 January 2019 41 Comments

30 April 2024: With sadness I read today’s news report that C.J. Sansom has passed away. He has been ill with cancer for some years, and sadly he died, aged only 71, on 27 April 2024. Such good authors should not be allowed to die. I will miss the splendid fictional world and character he created and I thank him posthumously for the joy he has given me.

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

01 Jan 2019

Susannah Newsletter, Poem of the Month, Poems, Poets 6 Comments Permalink

King Henry VIII & ‘Green Groweth the Holly’

Susannah 1 January 2019 6 Comments

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

01 Jan 2019

Susannah Authors, Books, Newsletter, Reading, Recommended Reading 23 Comments Permalink

My 2018 Favourites

Susannah 1 January 2019 23 Comments

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

01 Dec 2018

Susannah Books, Events, Newsletter 5 Comments Permalink

Georgette Heyer: A Perpetual Delight

Susannah 1 December 2018 5 Comments

In my teens, I read and enjoyed the Regency novels of Georgette Heyer. I then decided I’d outgrown them and moved on to other novelists, and it was only in my mid-30s that I was persuaded by a friend to listen to them on unabridged audio versions. Read more