Booksnob

LATEST ARTICLES ( 302 )

• November

  

  The leaves have turned, the nights have drawn in. The air smells different; peaty and smoky, suffused with the slight mustiness of mouldering leaves. Read more

  Posted on 20 November 2022 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Musings

  

  I’ve been thinking about how I can become a more regular blogger, while moving away from dedicating entire posts to book reviews. Read more

  Posted on 19 October 2022 BOOKS, CULTURE

• In My Grandmother’s Footsteps

  

  I am not a particularly sentimental person, and neither am I a royalist. But I am not ashamed to say I had a cry yesterday when the news of the Queen’s death wa... Read more

  Posted on 10 September 2022 BOOKS, CULTURE

• J B Priestley

  

  Nowadays J B Priestley’s literary legacy largely rests on his play An Inspector Calls. A perennial favourite in the UK, it’s on the school curriculum and... Read more

  Posted on 18 August 2022 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Better Late Than Never

  It’s strange to think it’s a year since I last wrote a blog post – it feels like the time has gone in the blink of an eye. I didn’t mean to disappear for so... Read more

  Posted on 11 August 2022 BOOKS, CULTURE

• All Good Things

  

  Summer flowers, St James’ ParkI am sitting down to write this whilst looking out at blue skies and hearing the usual hubbub of a London summer on the street... Read more

  Posted on 01 August 2021 BOOKS, CULTURE

• You Are What You Read

  If you believe the above maxim, as I do, then I hope you may be interested in volunteering some of your time to contribute to a research project that I’m a... Read more

  Posted on 28 April 2021 BOOKS, CULTURE

• The Half-Crown House by Helen Ashton

  

  The premise of this wonderful, and inexplicably out of print, mid century novel is so far up my street I can’t believe I hadn’t come across it before last week. Read more

  Posted on 19 February 2021 BOOKS, CULTURE

• London’s Notable Women: Amelia Edwards

  

  Amelia Edwards (1831-1892) was a remarkable woman with a great deal of energy, curiosity and a pioneering spirit. A true polymath, she began writing from a... Read more

  Posted on 30 January 2021 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Dramatic Reading

  

  The National in lockdownI didn’t realise how much I love the theatre until I couldn’t go anymore. I took it for granted that I could wander down to the National... Read more

  Posted on 18 January 2021 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Books of 2020

  

  If anything good can be said to have come out of 2020, it’s that I had more time to read. I made a concerted effort to read from my own shelves last year (thoug... Read more

  Posted on 04 January 2021 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Merry Christmas!

  

  Here are some photos of the Christmas lights in London to cheer you up and wish a Merry Christmas to you all. I know it will be a strange Christmas for many of... Read more

  Posted on 24 December 2020 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Reading from My Shelves: October

  Books started: 9Books finished: 6Books abandoned: 2Books kept on the shelf: 6October was a bumper reading month due to my much-needed two weeks of half term. Read more

  Posted on 10 November 2020 BOOKS, CULTURE

• London’s Notable Women: Helen Gwynne-Vaughan

  

  Dame Helen Gwynne Vaughan by Philip de LaszloThe second in my series of women honoured with Blue Plaques in London by English Heritage is Helen Gwynne-Vaughan... Read more

  Posted on 29 October 2020 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Benefits by Zoe Fairbairns

  

  Last week I was on holiday in Devon, and while browing a lovely second hand bookshop in Topsham (a very pretty town on the River Exe estuary – well worth a... Read more

  Posted on 27 October 2020 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Talking About Women

  I’ve been a feminist for as long as I can remember. A slow, simmering anger at the way women are treated as second class citizens in society has bubbled... Read more

  Posted on 11 October 2020 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Reading from My Shelves: September

  Books started: 4Books finished: 3Books abandoned: 0Books kept on the shelf: 2It’s been a slow reading month again here. I am continuing to struggle with... Read more

  Posted on 06 October 2020 BOOKS, CULTURE

• London’s Notable Women: Lilian Lindsay

  

  Lilian Lindsay, by Kathleen WilliamsI have been taking photos of English Heritage’s blue plaques featuring women for quite some time now, meaning to research... Read more

  Posted on 27 September 2020 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Reading from My Shelves: August

  

  Books started: 5Books finished: 4Books abandoned: 0Books kept on the shelf: 4My reading slowed down enormously in August as I spent three weeks on holiday with... Read more

  Posted on 06 September 2020 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Reading from My Shelves: July

  Books started: 12 Books finished: 11 Books abandoned: 1 Books kept on the shelf: 8  The summer holidays are here and as I write, I’m sitting in a cabin perched... Read more

  Posted on 04 August 2020 BOOKS, CULTURE