literature

Title: Love, Nina: Despatches from Family Life Author: Nina Stibbe What I think so far: In 1982, Nina Stibbe moved from Leicester to London to become nanny to Mary-Kay Wilmers's children. Working (somewhat informally, it has to be…

Belated happy new year to you all! I hope you've got plenty of books ready to read in 2019 - I know I have. And I hope that at least some of these books are being read for pleasure - because mine are not. When I opted to do English…

"Heathcliff// it's me Cathy, I've come home // I'm so // cold, won't you let me in your // window". We all know the lyrics to the Kate Bush song, the mournful masterpiece taking its name and inspiration from a masterpiece of literature,…

Title: The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman Author: Laurence Sterne What Do I Think Of It?: What do you get when you cross Jonathan Swift with Daniel Defoe and throw in a splash of Carrollesque surrealism? You get …

Around this time last year, I was writing a Christmas list and looking for something a bit more imaginative to put on it (something that gets harder with each year). I decided I would ask for a subscription to a renowned literary journal.…

The winner of this year’s Nobel Literature Prize is the Japanese-born British author, Kazuo Ishiguro. Already a highly acclaimed author, Ishiguro was described by the Swedish Body as an author "who, in novels of great emotional force, has…

Maya Angelou: legendary feminist author, poet and spokeswoman against racism. Beyoncé Knowles-Carter: the most influential singer-songwriter of the modern day and advocate of black and women’s rights. It is without doubt that these two…

Since her first major dramatic success (Colder Than Here, which premiered at the Soho Court Theatre in 2005), Laura Wade has gone from strength to strength in the world of theatre and film. If you aren’t already a fan of her introspective…

Set in the Victorian age of new scientific discovery and experimentation, H. G. Wells’ novel is introspective and thought-provoking. It was received in a similar way to Stevenson’s Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - the two books were published about…

When applying to universities, I swayed away from studying English Literature. It wasn’t that I didn’t think the study of literature was valid in society, or that I didn’t enjoy it - I was just put off from it. I had been made to feel by…

Title: The Mabinogion Author: Anonymous What I think so far: I had seen a documentary on this book which inspired me to read it (it has been hailed as the basis for the majority of UK fantasy literature post-thirteenth-century) and…

The Pursuit Of Love is one of those books which can be reread again and again but never loses the charm and wit that draws readers to it in the first place. This quality is mostly due to the bubbly, eccentric and loveable Linda Radlett, the…

I was thirteen when I first read Wuthering Heights. Less than 50 pages in, I fell irreproachably in love with the novel. Something about its romanticism, Gothic conventions and wayward narrative structure drew me in and I can safely say…

Vladimir Nabokov’s 1955 novel Lolita chronicles the sexual relationship between a 12 year old girl, Dolores Haze, otherwise known as Lolita, and her 38 year old step-father, Humbert Humbert. For many already familiar with the story or being…

Welcome back. I'm trying to quit smoking, and I'm using literature, philosophy and the President of the United States to do it. Let's continue. Addiction, as we have seen, is tied to emptiness – a hunger. Smoking belies satisfaction and…