Booksnob

LATEST ARTICLES ( 257 )

• Reading Outside the Box

  

  I read this illuminating article by one of this year’s Booker Prize winning judges earlier this week and found it an inspiration and a challenge. Read more

  Posted on 12 October 2019 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Atkinson, Atwood and Boyd

  

  Kate Atkinson has been my great discovery this year. Life After Life is an extraordinary, addictive, engrossing and unbearably moving portrayal of Ursula... Read more

  Posted on 22 September 2019 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Sanditon by Jane Austen

  

  Reading unpublished and unfinished works by an author always makes me feel slightly uncomfortable, as if I’ve been rummaging around amidst their private... Read more

  Posted on 05 September 2019 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Summer Holidays

  

  One of the greatest perks of being a teacher is the blissful unfurling of weeks and weeks of freedom ahead when school ends for the summer. Read more

  Posted on 17 August 2019 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Discovering Tove Jansson

  

  Simon has been telling me for years how wonderful Tove Jansson’s writing is, but having only heard of her through the Moomin cartoons, I couldn’t really... Read more

  Posted on 01 July 2019 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Blitz Writing by Inez Holden

  

  There is something so incredibly powerful in reading accounts of WWII written by people who were experiencing it as they wrote. Read more

  Posted on 11 June 2019 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Italian Sojourn

  

  I’ve just got back from a week in Florence, which was wonderful, but not quite in the way I had expected. I’d booked a luxurious hotel in an old monastery (wort... Read more

  Posted on 03 June 2019 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Small Island by Andrea Levy

  

  When I saw the advertisements for the stage version of Andrea Levy’s prize winning novel that I’d obviously never read a few months ago, I was intrigued. Read more

  Posted on 22 May 2019 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Reading Roundup

  

  It’s the school holidays, and this means I’ve actually got time to a) read b) blog about what I’m reading. I’ve been flying through books like nobody’s... Read more

  Posted on 15 April 2019 BOOKS, CULTURE

• A Tour of My Bookshelves

  

  Simon of StuckinaBook fame came to London for a conference last week and stayed over for the night – which meant we could record an impromptu podcast! Read more

  Posted on 23 March 2019 BOOKS, CULTURE

• The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber

  

  My quest to read the huge books I’ve had sitting around for years on my shelves continues, and I am delighted to finally be able to look at the large space The... Read more

  Posted on 19 March 2019 BOOKS, CULTURE

• London Culture

  

  There’s so much to see and do in London at the moment that it feels like a bit of a race to get to everything before it closes. Read more

  Posted on 03 March 2019 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

  

  I’ve been meaning to try Kate Atkinson for years, ever since her first book, Behind the Scenes at the Museum, came out, and everyone was talking about it. Read more

  Posted on 07 February 2019 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Night Walking

  

  One of the things I love the most about living in central London is how I can walk home from wherever the day takes me. I have always been inspired by the way... Read more

  Posted on 22 January 2019 BOOKS, CULTURE

• The Long Weekend by Adrian Tinniswood

  

  I’ve been having a marvellous time over the past couple of weeks slowly reading this delightful book a chapter per day before I go to bed. Read more

  Posted on 19 January 2019 BOOKS, CULTURE

• A Reading Year

  

  This year, I read 60 books. A nice round total. I read a hodgepodge of all sorts of different things, ranging from literary criticism, fat historical volumes an... Read more

  Posted on 31 December 2018 BOOKS, CULTURE

• History Lessons

  

  I went for a walk in the woods by my sister’s house this morning. The sky was a bright, brittle white and the air crisp and cold. Read more

  Posted on 17 December 2018 BOOKS, CULTURE

• The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell

  

  We recently started a staff book club at school, and I’ve enjoyed reading books for it that I either wouldn’t ordinarily have tried, or have been thinking... Read more

  Posted on 01 December 2018 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Home Sweet Home

  

  For those of you who have been following me since I started blogging almost a decade ago now, you’ll know I don’t tend to stay put for very long. Read more

  Posted on 24 November 2018 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Larchfield by Polly Clark

  

  I was recommended this book by the lovely owner of the independent book shop in Grantown-on-Spey I visited on my recent holiday to Scotland. Read more

  Posted on 18 November 2018 BOOKS, CULTURE