When I was a child, and resisting sleep because I was scared of ghosts – I grew up in a formerly haunted house, but that’s a whole other story – my mother would tell me, as her mother had told her, that good people are in Heaven with God and don’t want to leave, and … More Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
My project for over the Christmas holidays was to sort through my old photographs. It was fun to do but also a little sad. Girls at school, girls at Guide camp, a barbeque on the beach with the boys from the Catholic Youth Service, the fun of the fair with a church music group, an … More A Horse Walks Into A Bar by David Grossman (translated from the Hebrew by Jessica Cohen)
I once aspired to be a novelist, or thought I did. With hindsight it was obvious I lacked commitment to the cause when instead of sitting my bum on a seat and picking up a pen, or my computer keyboard, or whatever, I decided to embark on a two-year MA in Creative Writing to give … More Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
One of my best friends at school was Jenny. Jenny was dotty about animals. Now it’s fair to say I was brought up in an animal-friendly household. We always had pets: mainly cats or, if dad got his way, a dog. For a short time we had goldfish and at one point my sister had … More H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald
The quality of mercy is not strain’d, It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest; It blesseth him that gives and him that takes: The Merchant of Venice, Act 4 Scene 1 At the time of writing I’m not long back from Stratford-upon-Avon and a … More The Quality of Mercy by Barry Unsworth
Like most bibliophiles I’m a sucker for a second hand bookshop. The kind where ‘antiquarian’ or ‘vintage’ books rub alongside contemporary offerings, maybe with a smattering of old maps, prints, and postcards thrown in for good measure. The kind with a faint air of fustiness but never of neglect, and where everything is ordered, though … More Doctor Copernicus by John Banville
When I was five I had a my first boyfriend. I’d play at his house and he’d play at mine, and in summer we’d play by the River Alt. This was when kids allowed to wander wherever provided you weren’t alone and home in time for tea. He liked the caramel wafer biscuits they sold … More Bluebeard’s Egg and Other Stories by Margaret Atwood
During World War II US troops were stationed in Liverpool at a barracks not far from where my granddad, Martin Nesbitt, lived. The story goes that one day Martin, too old to be conscripted, boarded a tram full of US soldiers. In one part of the car were white GIs and in another, keeping apart, … More The Sellout by Paul Beatty
Hoylake Community Cinema ‘pops-up’ one Friday evening every month in the local community centre. The films cater for all styles, tastes and genres, taking in everything from black on white classics (It’s a Wonderful Life), docu-films (He Named Me Malala), contemporary sci-fi (Ex-Machina), and foreign language films (Mustang). So when the Diving Bell and the … More The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby
I caught this morning morning’s minion, king- dom of daylight’s dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding Of the rolling level underneath him steady air, and striding High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing In his ecstacy! Then off, off forth on swing, As a skate’s heel sweeps smooth on a … More Under the Eye of the Clock by Christopher Nolan
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