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LATEST ARTICLES ( 372 )

• ‘The Greatest Feminist Novel of the Decade’

  

  When I first started Mimi by Lucy Ellman, I was expecting something completely different. We’re in Manhatten on Christmas Eve, and noted plastic surgeon,... Read more

  Posted on 21 February 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Hollywood Dreaming

  

  Elsa Emerson dreams of nothing but becoming a famous actress. When this beguiling novel opens, it is 1929 and she is a small girl, living in rural Wisconsin wit... Read more

  Posted on 19 February 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Quiet

  

  It’s a pity that Susan Cain didn’t publish her book, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking about a decade ago; it might have saved m... Read more

  Posted on 17 February 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Winner and Mini Reviews

  

  And the winner of William Boyd’s Waiting for Sunrise is: Ruthiella!I was very unscientific – I wrote all the names on slips of paper and pulled one out of a bag. Read more

  Posted on 14 February 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Giving Things Away

  

  Well, I spoke a little too soon. I’ve had a setback with the anxiety after I heard my son get up in the middle of the night on Monday (early Tuesday) and come... Read more

  Posted on 07 February 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Wolf Hall

  

  Here’s a fun game: try saying the title of this novel three times out loud, quickly. Still, for an unpronounceable book, it’s done pretty well; it must be one o... Read more

  Posted on 04 February 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Recovering

  Well, my friends, what I learned these past couple of weeks is that anxiety is a hostage situation. I’ve often written about anxiety on this site, partly for th... Read more

  Posted on 01 February 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• The Old Devils

  I am so sorry about the impromptu break that I’ve taken here at the Reading Room. This has been an absolutely horrible week for me, health-wise. Read more

  Posted on 25 January 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• The (Non)Sense of an Ending

  

  Okay, so now I’ve finally read Julian Barnes’ Booker-winning novella, The Sense of an Ending, and understand what the fuss is all about. Read more

  Posted on 18 January 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Findings

  

  Given that the essay can be a performative little genre, the variety hall act of the literary world, I am compelled to grant enormous kudos to Kathleen Jamie fo... Read more

  Posted on 15 January 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Tigers In Red Weather

  

  I had a naughty, clandestine little affair with this book, reading it when I felt I really ought to be giving my attention to other things, and these turned... Read more

  Posted on 13 January 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• I’m ‘Lost in the Stacks’!

  You can find me over at Danielle’s blog, A Work in Progress today. I was thrilled when Danielle invited me to take part in her ‘Lost in the Stacks: Home Edition... Read more

  Posted on 12 January 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Ebooks: Publishing Shoots Itself in the Foot

  I get very tired of misleading headlines in the media, which continues to be biased against the conventional book. On the BBC website the other day there was... Read more

  Posted on 08 January 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• How Easy Am I To Please?

  

  On my last post, the lovely Ruthiella left a comment wondering whether it was easier to buy presents for book lovers, because there would always be, after all,... Read more

  Posted on 06 January 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Reading Plans 2013

  

  For several years now, my reading plans have been minimal. I’ve wanted to be able to follow my instinct, without being weighed down by lists that tell me what... Read more

  Posted on 03 January 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• What Sanity Looks Like

  My blogging friend, the wonderful Pete from Couch Trip, is a trained psychotherapist, and given the soft spot I have for a bit of psychobabble, I read his... Read more

  Posted on 01 January 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• 2012 in Retrospect

  What a messy year 2012 has been! I am glad to see the back of it. Chaos and change and unexpected events have been its top notes, struggling through the mud of... Read more

  Posted on 30 December 2012 BOOKS, CULTURE

• What To Look For In Winter

  

  This is Candia McWilliam in the late 1980s when she was at the height of her success as a literary novelist.This is Candia McWilliam today, after years of... Read more

  Posted on 28 December 2012 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Rook

  

  For all of us in the Northern hemisphere, plunged into the bleak midwinter, what happens if you try to imagine summer? In my mind’s eye, I find a series of... Read more

  Posted on 14 December 2012 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Wednesday Mishmash

  

  I should really be writing a proper review of Rook by Jane Rusbridge, which is a beautiful novel, slowly and delicately unfolding like a paper flower in water. Read more

  Posted on 12 December 2012 BOOKS, CULTURE