Book Towns
In 1961 a man called Richard Booth opened a second hand bookshop in the unused fire station in a little Welsh town named Hay-on-Wye. He hoped to fill the town with book shops and he even crowned himself King of Hay and in 1977 proclaimed Hay an independent kingdom. He bought the ruined castle on a hill overlooking the town, and got a great deal of publicity for his eccentric ways. Read more
Children of the Nazis
In 2016 the Baillie Gifford Prize for a non-fiction book was awarded to East West Street by Philippe Sands. I read it recently after my sister had recommended it (thanks Rache) and found it absolutely fascinating. Philippe Sands is a lawyer and was invited to lecture on international law in the Ukrainian city of Lviv. Read more
My Little Free Library
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
John McCrae & 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
David Lodge
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
Edward Lear & 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
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
The Life and Writings of Astrid Lindgren
Memoirs to Read
I have read some excellent memoirs recently and can recommend them all: 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, March 2018 – ‘Naming of Parts’
Naming of Parts by Henry Reed
Henry Reed (1914 – 1986) was a journalist, radio dramatist and poet. He’s not particularly well known today, but I have always loved his war poem Naming of Parts:
Today we have naming of parts. Yesterday,
We had daily cleaning. And tomorrow morning,
We shall have what to do after firing. But today,
Today we have naming of parts. Japonica
Glistens like coral in all the neighbouring gardens,
And today we have naming of parts. Read more
Literary Travels
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