Whilst I was ‘playing’ with my books today (i.e. moving them around in their piles or on their shelves, looking at covers, blurbs etc), I found a pair of old Penguin books catalogues from 1955 and 1958. I think I got them via a book swap some time ago, put them aside and forgot all Read More
Month: July 2009
It’s a mug’s game!
Most of us probably have a shelf full of unmatched mugs. I’m no different, but I am gradually managing to replace all the odd ones with these lovely Penguin ones which do look lovely together. They make quite a large range of titles and styles now … which to go for next? If I only Read More
Griff in Abingdon – Tickets on sale now!
I’m doing my bit to help publicise a local event on behalf of Mostly Books, as it all came together at rather short notice. On Thursday August 13th, at 7.30pm in the Guildhall, we’re delighted to welcome Griff Rhys Jones – comedian, author, presenter, sailor and heritage champion. Griff’s latest TV series started on the Read More
Hard to grasp the plot in this confused novel
White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi A few years ago, Helen Oyeyemi was hailed as one of the future stars of UK contemporary literature, having written her first novel The Icarus Girl to great acclaim whilst studying for her A-levels. Now she’s in her twenties and this is her third … There’s a lot Read More
Book Two of the Chaos Walking Trilogy
The Ask & the Answer by Patrick Ness Warning: If you haven’t read the first book in this trilogy The Knife of Never Letting Go, (reviewed here) – don’t read this, rush out and get a copy Book One, then read the second. Book two starts immediately where the first left off; teenagers Todd and Read More
A novel of archaeology, food, pandemics and ghosts
Cold Earth by Sarah Moss This novel, published by Granta, is lovely to behold. What you can’t see are the beautiful turquoise blue page edges, and the glossy white fibrils of grassy roots insinuating their way through the bones of the skeleton curled up underneath the title. Luckily I enjoyed reading the book as much Read More
Moviewatch – Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince
Yesterday was our first available day to go and see the new Harry Potter film. I checked out the times, and asked my daughter “Shall we go for the quarter past one showing, or go earlier?” … So there we were at the cinema for the 10am showing along with just ten other people in Read More
Art for art’s sake?
The Bellini Madonna by Elizabeth Lowry There have been many novels about the search for missing art masterpieces, but few so convoluted as this. It’s written totally in the first person as a confession by Thomas Lynch, a randy old professor of art history who is an expert on the renaissance masters, Bellini in particular. Read More
In praise of secondhand bookshops
I’ve just come back from a week in Northumbria. It is a lovely county, full of outstanding castles, glorious beaches, fantastic fish, wonderful gardens, pretty villages, rolling hills and beautiful countryside. It wasn’t overcrowded either, and you are within easy driving distance of both Newcastle and Edinburgh for rainy day entertainment. In Northumbria, the town Read More
The Meme of 4
I haven’t done a meme for ages, so this one from Margaret at Booksplease seems fun. It’s an adaptable meme as long you do it all in fours … 4 Places I’ve lived in:1. Purley, Surrey – Prime suburbia where I was born. 2. South Kensington, London – I went to Imperial College, part of Read More
In life, everything counts …
Addition by Toni Jordan This is another very unconventional love story, (see also Something Beginning With a few posts down). Grace has a form of OCD that makes her count everything and ritualise her life in numbers. This makes doing anything out of the ordinary worrying, and Grace is no longer able to work as Read More
We’ll weather the weather, whatever the weather ?…
Turbulence by Giles Foden Do you remember the old poem ? Whether the weather be mild or whether the weather be not, Whether the weather be cold or whether the weather be hot, We’ll weather the weather whatever the weather, Whether we like it or not. This definitely wasn’t the case in the planning for Read More
Moviewatch – Clint growls – a lot!
Gran Torino starring the one and only Clint Eastwood Newly out on DVD, we watched this on Saturday. I’ve always loved Clint and his films, from those where he was young and so handsome to his later ones where he is grizzled but still steely underneath. He’s been in the business for over five decades Read More
A young woman’s A to Z
Something Beginning With by Sarah Salway At first glance you might write this book off as chicklit with a gimmick – for it is written in an A to Z format with entries under key words and phrases. The longest entries are no more than a couple of pages, and they’re all cross-referenced with an Read More
Another brilliant dystopia in this coming of age novel
The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness This novel for early teens+ was short-listed for the 2009 Carnegie Medal, and won the vote of the boys shadowing the award at the school where I work. I have to say it was a fantastic read for adults too, being multi-layered and thought-provoking – putting Read More
