Headline news? The Metro reported yesterday that English teachers are ditching Austen and Shakespeare in an attempt to claw back the interest of 11 to 14 year old boys, who are abandoning reading. It is hardly a great revelation that Austen does not appeal. Neither would I suggest The Lord of the Rings as an alternative. It is,…
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Following publication, save for a day’s frenzied introduction to media-related activities, the sole advice that I received was that  it was now my job ‘to flounce about like a writer.’ No further instructions or specifics were forthcoming. Feeling these were things I should instinctively know how to do, I was too embarrassed to enquire how said flouncing should manifest itself in…
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Although I am aware that the census form is not an application for a  job, admission to the afterlife, or even for new friends. I know that I am not going to be judged by anyone – other than a computer. But I am appalled about the narrowness of the fields by which I am asked to define myself and,…
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The advent of World Book Night finds me in mourning. Earlier this week I finished David Nicholl’s One Day, one of the 25 titles that will be given away tonight, and I remain devastated. The friend who recommended it told me that she hadn’t read a book since. What she failed to mention is that she hasn’t been…
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In the run-up to World Book Day, whilst Sebastian Faulks may have stolen the prime Saturday night slot, BB4 have aired a wonderful series called the Beauty of Books. It has tracked the development of books, from individual commissions  symbolic of wealth and power, to e-books, via the explosion of Penguin paperbacks. Starting with the Bible, where the story of books begins, they…
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If a novel set in London in 1883 seems an unlikley choice to receive the first app treatment by French digital entertainment company Byook, think again. The Guiness World Records consistently lists Sherlock Holmes as the ‘most portrayed movie character.’ Robert Downey Jr. and, in recent stroke of genius modern-day take,  Benedict Cumberbatch join over 70 actors in a line-up including Basil Rathbone, Jeremy Brett…
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On 5th March 2011, one million books are being given away as part of an initiative to ignite a passion for reading and to encourage a generation of new readers. The short-list of selected books is varied and contains some surprises, but I don’t think that all will appeal to reluctant readers, perhaps those who like…
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As a writer with no teenagers of my own whose experiences I can draw on, I am an eavesdropper on public transport, in parks and cafes. I keep notebooks with transcripts of actual conversations. This example was overheard on the  Epsom train. ‘You know that guy? He was so scary’ ‘Definitely’ ‘Literally (laughs)’ ‘If someone else goes, “don’t…
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For every author who has struggled in torment over the first line of a novel, take heed: Maggie O’Farrell had me hooked with a single word. I had just battled my way through another Rachel Cusk, a writer who I feel I ought to read, but whose characters are, almost without exception, thoroughly unlikeable, and who…
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