Secret passion
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett I was a bit of a nerdy child and spent a lot of time with books. I think I went through all the books in the house (a really shocking amount – to the …
Tag: favourite books
Fruit of the press
Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck I first read it during my English Literature degree and fell in love with it. The ebb and flow of misery and optimism keeps me enthralled even now, 5 years later. I love how the pace …
My favourite book?
It’s World Book Day. Across the UK, primary school children headed off to school this morning dressed as characters from their favourite books. Some wore lovingly crafted hand-made costumes, the product of hours of activity on the part of inventive …
Magic in the time of Napoleon
Jonathon Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke Set at the time of the Napoleonic Wars, magic is widely acknowledged but rarely practiced. The story is about two magicians; one who is confident of his powers and one who is …
Dirt under my fingernails, rooting for a good read
Charleston Kedding: History of Kitchen Gardening by Susan Campbell This is a fascinating and eminently readable account of the development of British the stately home kitchen garden. It covers everything from 17th century plant hunters, architectural changes driven by gardening, the sociology of …
Dirt under my fingernails, rooting for a good read Read more »
Of books, man and horses
Seabiscuit by Lauren Hillenbrand It’s much more than a book about a racehorse (the horse doesn’t even appear until a good third of the way through!), but about the humans around the horse and the impact a runty horse had …
One from my top ten books
I’ve just finished (again) The Once and Future King by T.H. White – a real favourite. A retelling of the Arthurian legends, heavily (and unashamedly) based on Mallory, a classical tragedy told with feeling but never mawkish. The style is …
My favourite read
The ghost of Thomas Kempe by Penelope Lively Favourite book as a child: I must have read this book over and over as an older child / young teen – I was desperate for my own poltergeist and it is …
(One of) My favourite book(s)
Walkers by Graham Masterton I love a good creepy horror story and this is one of the scariest I’ve read. The protagonist is looking to buy a dilapidated country club, which was used as a psychiatric asylum sixty years previously. The asylum …
Celebrating World Book Day
Celebrating World Book Day today, a few of us thought we would share our favourite reads with you. The player of games by Iain M. Banks An unforgiving yet darkly comic vision of the far future. The most brilliant game player in …
