“A town without a bookshop selling new books is like a town without a soul.” Dartmouth publisher, Richard Webb’s, comment on hearing of the closure of the Harbour Bookshop, founded by Christopher Milne, who provided the inspiration for the Winnie the Pooh stories.    

It sounds as appropriate now as it did then: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WhhSBgd3KI

Kathryn Stockett’s characterisation in The Help is so good that it barely matters that I am almost half way through and have no idea where the story is going yet. If you haven’t chosen your read for your summer holiday yet, look no further.  

Not the Provence, but a short Sunday afternoon stroll to see the lavender in bloom.

Songs into which the band has needlessly inserted a random children’s choir, especially when the children can’t really sing in time or in tune, as in The Wombat’s Let’s Dance to Joy Division.

The recipient of a first novel award, I am particularly interested in debut novels. The Guardian have adopted a new approach in compiling the longlist for their Guardian first book award. Whilst publishers were allowed to submit their favourites for adjudication, the final spot will be left up to members of the public. Readers, bloggers and booksellers have…
» Continue Reading

At this time of year, I always make a few additions to my reading list so that I am ready with an opinion when the Booker panel whittle the longlist down to the final six. The Man Booker Prize is changing. The last few years have seen some interesting choices finding their place onto the longlist…
» Continue Reading

With one month to go until the deadline for votes for the nation’s favourite reads, the organisers of World Book Night have published the top ten as it currently stands. 1. To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee 2. Pride & Prejudice Jane Austen 3. The Book Thief Markus Zusak 4. American Gods Neil Gaiman 5. Jane Eyre Charlotte…
» Continue Reading

There are many ways to end a song: the crafted ending (think Stairway to Heaven); the fade out (think David Bowie’s Space Oddity); the fade-out-fade-in (Strawberry Fields); the climactic noise (Foo Fighters, The Pretender). And there’s the false ending: George Michael’s Faith;  Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel’s Come Up and Make Me Smile, to name but two. There are many ways…
» Continue Reading