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
With COVID knocking our usual travel plans on the head (jetting off to Greece) Hubby and I spent a week exploring the Northumberland and East Yorkshire coastline. We ended our trip in Whitby, which seemed the perfect excuse to brush the dust off my copy of Dracula. As you might know, Whitby is where the … More Dracula by Bram Stoker
Six years ago I visited the Bodies Revealed exhibition when it came to Liverpool. In case you haven’t heard of it, this is an exhibition of real human bodies that have been preserved using silicone rubber, a process known as plastination. The bodies are dissected and put in dynamic poses so you get the chance … More Flights by Olga Tokarczuk (translated by Jennifer Croft)
I’ve been meaning for ages to visit capital cities in Scandinavia and the Baltic States, and with Brexit looming I decided this summer was the perfect time to turn talk into action. So in June hubby and I set off on our own little travel adventure, taking in Copenhagen, Oslo, Bergen, Helsinki, Tallinn, Riga and … More Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
Liz Jensen is an author I admire, so when in a recent piece for creative writing journal Mslexia she urged subscribers to read Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Adventure of the Speckled Band, I determined to do exactly that. As you might guess it‘s a Sherlock Holmes adventure, the first I’ve ever read, though I’d … More The Adventure of the Speckled Band by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
I never read this classic as a child and was prompted to rectify the omission by an extract in the Autumn 2011 edition of The Reader magazine. That, and the fact it was Christmas. Looking back, I’m not sure what train of thought led me associate pirates and a desert island treasure hunt with a ‘Christmassy’ read – unless it … More Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
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