It’s my sister’s fault I read this book. Ok, ok (in my head I can hear her protesting) that’s not really true. She bought me the Bedside Companion for Travel Lovers, an extract-a-day-for-a-year anthology of travel writing, or, more accurately, any genre of writing about something travel-related (places, people, transport). The extract for 1 March … More English Hours by Henry James
On the back of my previous blog post on Jane Austen, as promised…a guest post from Hubby. Over to you Hub! I remember reading out loud around the classroom at school. I would always volunteer my services early in the lesson so I could then switch off and avoid the teacher’s ire if, when the … More Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
For any ‘Jane-ites’ out there, yes, I know the 250th anniversary of her birth was actually in December 2025. But as so many organisations are continuing to celebrate the milestone into 2026 (including the British Museum, the Jane Austen Centre), I decided I wasn’t too late to jump on the bandwagon. First, a brief biog. … More Happy 250th Birthday, Miss Austen!
To my knowledge, I’ve only met one South African (well, two, if you count her mother). We were neighbours for a while. I didn’t know her well but shared her company enough to hear reminiscences about school holidays spent camping in the bush, learning bushcraft, hiking and braaing (barbecuing). Swimming in the Irish Sea didn’t … More Kruger’s Alp by Christopher Hope
Earlier this year I visited Ljubljana and Lake Bled on a solo short break, travelling with only a small carry-on rucksack meeting Easyjet’s under-seat size rules. So I had to be strict about what I took and when it came to selecting a book for the journey from my to-read pile – I’m old school, … More Young Shoulders by John Wain
I’ve had lots of bad photographs taken of me over the years. The ones that really upset me are when I’m snapped when I don’t know I’m being taken. Like when I’ve loved every moment of singing at a choir gig but then been sent a close-up shot that shows me open-mouthed, looking like a … More Picture Palace by Paul Theroux
A friend’s daughter wants a Prosecco bottomless brunch to celebrate her eighteenth birthday later this year. (For anyone who doesn’t know this is fixed-price brunch with unlimited drinks for a set time, typically ninety minutes or so). The standard for eighteenth celebrations was much lower in my day. On my eighteenth, I went for a … More The Old Jest by Jennifer Johnston
Spoiler alert! If you don’t want to know the whole plot, then scroll straight to the rating at the bottom of the page. In 1844, a satirical historical novel by William Makepeace Thackeray entitled The Luck of Barry Lyndon was published in Fraser’s Magazine, later republished in 1852 under the title The Memoirs of Barry … More Flesh by David Szalay
When I was a little girl, my mum used to sing me to sleep at night, mostly with popular songs from the 1920s – 1940s. (I know a ridiculous number of songs by Cole Porter, Gene Autry and The Andrews Sisters for someone my age.) One bedtime favourite was ‘Ol’ Man River’ from the musical … More I Married A Communist by Philip Roth
January: a momentous month, synonymous with fresh starts and good intentions, clean slates and new chapters, New Year’s resolutions and the triumph of hope. If, like me, you spent most of December eating too much, drinking too much, and moving too little, you might be spending January in thrall to the triple tyrants of Diet, … More Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
