In July, Hubby and I spent a week in the city of Cork, Ireland’s second-city (though with a population of only 300,000 it feels more like a large town). I love exploring new places. Aside from the joy to be had from the main sights, there’s the thrill of simply wandering around a strange city, … More Fools of Fortune by William Trevor
If you follow my blog you’ll probably realise that I mostly read prize-winning books. That’s not because I think prize winners are the only books worth reading (sometimes I don’t even rate them all that highly). No, I read the prize winners because I get to read books that I wouldn’t otherwise pick up – … More Heart Lamp Selected Stories by Banu Mushtaq translated by Deepa Bashti
A couple of months ago (at the time of writing) Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer made a speech about how Britain risks becoming an “island of strangers, not a nation that walks forward together” due to uncontrolled immigration. He later said he deeply regretted his choice of words, but it got me thinking about the … More American Pastoral by Philip Roth
The ancient Greeks had a theory about soul-mates. It was said the first humans were spherical and twice the size of present-day humans, and were cut in half by Zeus as a punishment for misbehaviour – literally cut down to size – splitting their souls between two bodies. A variation of the same myth said … More Normal People by Sally Rooney
A couple of months ago I was in Madrid with my friend, Cath. It was a joy to visit Spain with her not least because she’s a fluent Spanish-speaker and knows a lot about the culture. In the Prado we lingered over the museum’s most famous artwork Las Meninas (the Ladies-in Waiting) by Velazquez, which … More Orbital by Samantha Harvey
“False information can be just as useful, influential, as telling, transforming or as damaging as true information…how could you tell what was genuine and what was the product of a clever, devious and determined mind?” Barely a day goes by, it seems, without talk of fake news and disinformation, and services such BBC Verify exist … More Restless by William Boyd
Liverpudlians of a certain age will remember Blacker’s department store. Spread over six floors on the corner of Elliot Street and Great Charlotte Street, it was Liverpool’s answer to New York’s Macy’s. As a child, I adored the place. There was ‘Blackie’ the rocking horse that you could ride while the mums shopped – it … More The Dressmaker by Beryl Bainbridge
“Fear not: for, behold, I bring you tidings of great joy. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” Age 6, I … More The Christmas Mystery by Jostein Gaarder
In September, Hubby and I spent a fortnight back-packing in Europe to celebrate my early retirement. Our whistle-stop tour took in Budapest, Bratislava, Vienna, Saltzberg, Munich, Frankfurt and Cologne and provided many memorable moments, some planned (Oktoberfest – or Blackpool on acid as I now call it) and some unplanned (floods in Central Europe). And … More Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck (translated by Michael Hofmann)
A few years ago, finding a scrap of paper on which my father had written his mother’s maiden name, I resolved to find out what had happened to my father’s parents. Evenings would now be spent on genealogy sites searching online records. I requested copies of birth, marriage and death certificates from the GRO, military … More Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
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