A wonderful writer
The summer holidays are nearly over and it’s time to plan a visit to the London Library. Looking at my pile of library books, I realised that I hadn’t got very far into Sylvia Townsend Warner’s The Corner That Held Them. I’d got distracted and had forgotten about it. I decided it was worth trying […]
It’s a luxurious feeling . . .
. . . when you discover a new writer – and find that they have written a whole series of books. This is what’s happened to me with Laurie R. King and her novels featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes. I read The Beekeeper’s Apprentice while I was on holiday, and I’ve read the second, […]
A moving moment . . .
For me the most moving moment in Middlemarch is not the climax of the novel, when Dorothea and Will are united. To tell the truth, I am not terribly interested in this romance, and find Will rather tiresome – all that shaking his ringlets and what about that flirting with Rosamund Vincy? I am far […]
More on Middlemarch
Mr Casaubon’s Key to all Mythologies must be the most famous unpublished (indeed, unfinished) book in all of literature. In previous rereadings of Middlemarch, I’ve tended to skip over details of this work, but this time I was determined to read the novel from cover to cover. I was fascinated to discover that there is a […]
A Beach Read
I am not really one for the beach, but when one is on holiday en famille, it’s sometimes necessary and I prepare for an expedition. So: sun block, yes, beach towels, yes, beach umbrella, yes, book . . . ah, that’s not so easy. I won’t be taking my e-reader as it’s too likely to […]
There ought to be a word for it
and now there is, because I have just invented one (with the help of my husband, whose German is much better than mine). It’s Leerbuchregalangst, the fear of being without anything to read (rendered literally: fear of the empty book shelf). One of the most difficult times in my life was in my twenties when […]
Martin Edwards Crimewriter
Something that I didn’t expect when I started writing crime fiction was that other crime writers would be such good fun and so convivial. I’ve made some excellent friends and Martin Edwards is one of them. He knows a huge amount about Golden Age crime fiction – an interest we share – as well as […]
How Pleasant to Meet Miss Pym
Every week book shops are closing, so I feared the worst last week in Tunbridge Wells when I saw that the windows of Hall’s book shop were painted white and the bookshelves outside were gone. I was delighted though when I got a bit closer and saw a notice that announced that the shop was […]
It’s a crime . . .
We have lived in Sheffield for twenty years and until yesterday I have managed to avoid going to Meadowhall, Sheffield’s vast out of town shopping centre, except one occasion when I had to take our elder daughter to get some shoes not available elsewhere. Yesterday it was a similar story and I went with our […]
Summer Reading
The school holidays have started. I don’t expect to do much writing, but I plan to do plenty of reading. First on the list is my book group’s big read, Middlemarch, and I am so much looking forward to it. It’s a long time since I have reread it from cover to cover, and I’ll […]