On Not Reading Proust
A couple of weeks ago I drove north to Redcar to put flowers on my father’s grave, the first time since my mother died last year. My father died when I was nine and my family moved away when I was twenty-three. I’ve only been back a handful of times since and I think that […]
Memory Lane
The first book I remember buying in a book shop, or, more likely, having bought for me, is THE BORROWERS by Mary Norton. My memory is hazy – but I see the dark wood shelves (and paneling, too?) of the old W.H.Smith’s on Redcar High Street – which probably means I was staying at my […]
The romance of Abebooks
I love to browse in bookshops. One favourite is Scarthin books in Cromford, nr Matlock, which sells both new and second-hand. I used to go there so often with my small daughter that she got it muddled up with the library and used to call it ‘the library shop.’ Another is Heffer’s book shop in […]
F is for Fan
You know how it is sometimes with a new friend. You really get on, you see a lot of each other, and then, you’re not sure why, you can’t seem to get round to ringing her, she doesn’t ring you either, and you can’t put your finger on it, but the spark’s gone. Maybe after […]
Flannery O’Connor
I’ve at last finished THE HABIT OF BEING, a selection of her letters. It took me weeks. There are 600 pages, I only have a certain amount of time and energy for this kind of reading, and it took me a while to get into them. In particular it was hard for me as a […]
More Guilty Pleasures
I’ve got more books on writing than I can bring myself to tell you. There’s some justification. They’ve been essential tools in learning how to write. And then too writing is a solitary occupation and it’s good to have a few old friends handy on shelf to turn to when I grind to a halt. […]
World’s Classics
Last Saturday I went to a book sale in the Methodist Hall in the next village. It was in aid of an African charity and the books had been donated (I’d given a bagful myself). Pricing was simple. Hardbacks £1, paperbacks 50p. Thus it was that I acquired World’s Classics editions of JANE EYRE, THE […]
Series characters
First: my book group chose A FAR CRY FROM KENSINGTON and I am pleased because that is the one I really wanted and I am looking forward to rereading it.So, series characters, or should I say detectives, as I’m thinking mostly of crime fiction here. On the whole I like them. If you are reading […]
Book Group
Next week it is my turn to offer the books for the group to choose from and this always involves some pleasurable musing. It is a bit like assembling a cheese board. Everything should be good of its kind and there should be a variety. It’s good to choose something recent and this time it […]
The end is nigh . . .
. . . I hope. The end of my novel that is. Another couple of weeks should do it. I have yet to decide on that very last sentence and it has set me thinking about how to end a novel. It’s almost as hard as starting one, even though the crime writer has the […]