I live in Hoylake, on the north-western tip of the Wirral peninsula. I used to spend an hour or more on trains each week travelling to work and if possible would read for the entire journey, which is how this blog came into being. I changed jobs a few years ago and don't travel to work by train anymore but I'm sticking with reading and blogging. Old habits die hard.
During junior school I became obsessed with Enid Blyton’s Famous Five novels. My classmate, John, was equally obsessed and we started competing to see who could collect all 21 books in the series. This was more of a challenge than it might sound. Neither of us had enough spare money to buy the entire collection … More Spies by Michael Frayn
Tunisia, September 1991. A younger, blonder version of me is sitting on a wall within the ruins of ancient Carthage. The photograph is exactly how I remember it: the foundations of a once-great city, a few pillars still defiantly erect, a few trees reasserting themselves, date palms and olives, not enough to provide shade from … More The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker
In my first year at university I went on a double date with an old school friend to see Mary O’Malley’s comedy play Once a Catholic. My friend and I had attended an all-girl grammar school run by nuns; my boyfriend, too, was RC – we met when I was invited to sing with his … More Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope
The Hillsborough tragedy was the biggest sporting disaster in British history. At the start of the 1989 FA cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest, police opened an exit gate into already-full ‘pens’ at the Leppings Lane end, which resulted in a fatal crush. Hubby’s brother, then 18, was at the match, though thankfully he … More Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
At the time of writing Hubby and I are in Greece. Year after year we holiday here and one of the reasons we keep coming back is the food. We both absolutely love Greek food! My favourite dish is Afelia, which consists of chunks of pork marinated in red wine overnight, then cooked until the … More The Kids by Hannah Lowe
I was only three or four, I think, when I learned adults could not necessarily be relied upon to keep their promises. At that time my mother’s youngest sister and her husband were the only members of the family to own a car. They visited every Sunday and I’d perch on the window ledge, waiting … More The Promise by Damon Galgut
When I was a toddler a large dog attacked me, or rather a large dog ran from a neighbour’s garden and charged me to the ground. My Mum yelled at the neighbour, the neighbour yelled at the dog, I sprawled on the pavement bawling my head off, and the dog took the little doll I’d … More Learning to Talk: short stories by Hilary Mantel
My job requires me to travel anywhere in Britain and in the last three years it’s taken me to places I’d never visited before, such as Southampton. Southampton, like my home city of Liverpool, built its wealth from its port. I was anticipating a grand waterfront, not necessarily buildings as iconic as the Liver Building … More English Journey by J B Priestley
translated from French by Anna Moschovakis My two granddads fought in World War One, my maternal granddad in Belgium, my paternal granddad in Iraq (where he died; there’s a Memorial at Basra commemorating him and the other 40,000 casualties of the Mesopotamia campaign). A generation on, my dad fought in World War Two in North … More At Night All Blood is Black by David Diop
My father was an alcoholic, albeit a functioning one. He would come home from work on a Friday and drink a bottle of whisky. He’d drink another two bottles on Saturday and a half-bottle on Sunday. He generally wouldn’t go to bed no matter how much my mother pleaded or cajoled, preferring to stay up … More Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
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