Howard Phillips Lovecraft never lived to see his name cemented among the literary giants of the twentieth century. Dead of cancer before his 47th birthday, his existence was so obscure that even his estranged wife was unaware of his death for more than eight years. His short stories – now recognised as ground-breaking developments in the […]Read More
For years now, I have had a loose new year’s resolution to get better at reading diversely. Back in 2012, I read an article by a woman who had read a book from every country in the world (193 according to the United Nations, plus two sovereign states). At the time, I counted that I […]Read More
Millions of us have embraced reading as a way to cope in These Unprecedented Times. But with reading piles acquiring social media clout (all the books I read this year!), for some (writers and journalists in particular), reading has become an act of performance, an endless routine in ‘brand maintenance.’ We’ve been instilled with the […]Read More
The start of a new year can mean many different things, with some people viewing it as a chance for a new start. Personally I love the start of a new year because it brings with it a year of new books to get excited for. With so many books coming out this year, from […]Read More
Sally Rooney, author of Normal People, will be releasing her third novel in September. Rooney’s UK publisher Faber announced on Tuesday that the novel will be titled Beautiful World, Where Are You. It will follow the story of friends Alice and Eileen, as they navigate their twenties and an uncertain political and economic climate. Faber […]Read More
At sixteen, I was often late for class. Weighed down by a satchel, heavy with tomes from fantasy writer George R.R. Martin, I lumbered up each step. I brought two along just in case I read the first gargantuan book in a day. Then, I wasn’t just a reader: I was the Reader. I was […]Read More
“I am a member of a cancer elite,” says Christopher Hitchens on 60 Minutes, curling the corner of his lips with his trademark charm, rousing his interviewer to laughter, “I’d rather look down on people with lesser cancers.” Within this particular witticism, one among many in his entire career on the page as a writer and […]Read More
Mitch Albom is a best selling author in the US and has spent many weeks at the top of their bestsellers list. Yet, in the UK, he has little to no name recognition. Having stumbled across his books in Waterstones before Covid, I’ve had several of them on my reading list for a while. Some […]Read More
As a child, I listened to retellings of the Ancient Greek myths on my cassette player over and over again. When I was a few years older, I was hooked on the Percy Jackson audiobooks. This year, I purchased the audiobook of Stephen Fry’s Mythos, which tells the stories of the Greek gods, to listen […]Read More
If there’s one positive to come out of a global pandemic (and admittedly, there are few), it’s that – like many across the nation – I’ve had plenty of spare time to rediscover my love of reading, and catch up on some of the books I’ve been meaning to read for years. 2020 was also […]Read More
Retired Lothian and Borders Deputy Police Chief Constable and crime writer assembles missing pieces of the Ruxton Case on its 85th anniversary with previously unseen documents. Dr Buck Ruxton and the Murders that Revolutionised Forensic Investigation September 1935 saw “the absolute height of Agatha Christie’s fame and the golden age of crime fiction and crime writers” […]Read More
As of 1st January 2021, the U.S. copyright has expired on a myriad of novels, films, and songs that were produced in 1925, allowing anyone to use them free of charge and setting the stage for potential new adaptations and reworkings. Among the works that have now officially entered the public domain are classic titles such […]Read More
The arts are far more entwined than many will ever realise – artists of all forms know this. As a music student I couldn’t help but wonder how influential music was to 2019 Booker Prize winner Bernardine Evaristo. Born in South London, she is currently professor of creative writing at Brunel University London and President […]Read More
I started working in an independent bookshop the day after the second national lockdown was lifted. The White House Bookshop is in Burnham Market, on the north Norfolk coast. It sits halfway around a large green, looking over to a coffee shop, the fishmonger, and an independent deli. It’s about as idyllic as you could […]Read More
If they haven’t already, many a bibliophile will be lighting their fires, settling in an armchair and dusting off their copies of A Christmas Carol, the literary quintessence of the holiday season. Finally, like Michael Bublé, it can come off the shelf and into the spotlight. For some of us, however, Dickens is not our […]Read More
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