Category Archives: Books

The pleasure of the familiar

There are people who never re-read books.  People who have yards and yards of shelving filled with books that they will never read again, stories that they will never lose themselves in again, characters who will never be greeted as … Continue reading

Posted in Reading | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

A Shameless Plug!

As some of you may know, I run a tiny publishing company called Fidra Books which specialises in rescuing neglected children’s classics. It’s a labour of love which will never make me rich but I do love it and I … Continue reading

Posted in Reading | Comments Off on A Shameless Plug!

Bookshop Visit: Malvern Book Co-op. ‘There is music in the air…’

Over New Year, we went down to Worcestershire to see family and friends.  I love Edinburgh but I miss England sometimes – the rain, the hedgerows, the accents – and every so often I do hanker after returning.  We had … Continue reading

Posted in Bookshops | Comments Off on Bookshop Visit: Malvern Book Co-op. ‘There is music in the air…’

The Year After by Martin Davies and The Great Silence by Juliet Nicolson

A period to which I’d never given much thought, and one which is glossed over in the main, is that immediately after the end of World War One.  There’s a great deal of writing, both fiction and non-fiction about the … Continue reading

Posted in Shelf Notes | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

“It is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it.” Oscar Wilde

Having owned a bookshop for five years, I’ve had to read a lot of books. They haven’t always been books I’ve wanted to read but I’ve needed to plough through nonetheless because I needed to be able to talk intelligently … Continue reading

Posted in Reading | Comments Off on “It is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it.” Oscar Wilde