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

01 Dec 2018

Susannah Newsletter, Poem of the Month, Poems 2 Comments Permalink

Lewis Carroll & Jabberwocky

Susannah 1 December 2018 2 Comments

Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: Read more

01 Dec 2018

Susannah Authors, Newsletter 27 Comments Permalink

A Mary Wollstonecraft Statue

Susannah 1 December 2018 27 Comments

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

01 Dec 2018

Susannah Books, Newsletter 4 Comments Permalink

Do people insist on telling you the ending?

Susannah 1 December 2018 4 Comments

Towards the end of 2018, I was intrigued to read of a stabbing in Antarctica, the first such attack ever recorded on that continent. And it was all because of books. Read more

01 Dec 2018

Susannah Books, Newsletter, Recommended Reading 4 Comments Permalink

Claude Monet and the Painting of the Water Lilies

Susannah 1 December 2018 4 Comments

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

01 Nov 2018

Susannah Authors, Newsletter 8 Comments Permalink

Childhood Reading

Susannah 1 November 2018 8 Comments

Every so often you read a book that makes you just long to sit down with its author and have a lengthy chat. That’s how I felt when I finished reading Lucy Mangan’s wonderful Bookworm: A Memoir of Childhood Reading. Read more

01 Nov 2018

Susannah Authors, Newsletter, Poems, Poets 16 Comments Permalink

Poem of the Month, November 2018 – Nursery Rhymes

Susannah 1 November 2018 16 Comments

I have been reciting nursery rhymes to my gorgeous granddaughter, Arabella (this is her above, enjoying a book), and it’s made me think about the intriguing origins of some of them. So instead of one poem this month, I am going to tell you about some of these often rather disturbing rhymes so familiar from childhood. Read more

01 Nov 2018

Susannah Authors, Newsletter 2 Comments Permalink

More about Louisa May Alcott

Susannah 1 November 2018 2 Comments

Did you know that this year Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women turns 150? She was a remarkable woman, who didn’t really want to become famous for a book about girls (she preferred boys, or writing Gothic thrillers), and yet her novel about four sisters growing up in the American Civil War has been much loved by generations of readers. Read more

01 Oct 2018

Susannah Newsletter, Reading 4 Comments Permalink

Reading Gives the Green Light

Susannah 1 October 2018 4 Comments

Reading gives the green light to so much pleasure and learning, so I therefore find it entirely appropriate that literary figures can be featured on traffic lights. Read more