I am a child of the 80s. We made our own fun back then – none of this X-box, Snapchat or Facebook malarkey. We had our own imaginations to keep us going. If that makes me sound like an old gimmer then fair enough, I probably am. Unsurprisingly = most of my fun came from reading and for a time in the mid-80s I was fascinated by the “Choose your own adventure” stories…
Parallel Lines
5 March 2014 by Leave a Comment
It’s a sad but inevitable fact that the number of Holocaust survivors with us is dwindling each year. Just a week ago Alice Herz-Sommer, the subject of this year’s Oscar winning short documentary “The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life” passed away at the age of 110. It is now more important than ever that as many people as possible read the testimony of survivors…
Top Ten: 2013 Reads (so far…)
28 June 2013 by 2 Comments
Last week I wrote about my Top Ten Films of 2013 (so far), now it’s time for my Top Ten Reads. Unlike the films list this one isn’t confined to books released this year. I hardly ever read books in the year that they are first published, partly because of the cost of hardback books compared to their paperback counterparts…
Top Ten: World Book Night Books
26 April 2013 by Leave a Comment
This week saw the UK celebrate its 3rd annual World Book Night and the US its 2nd. 23rd April was chosen as the date as it is the UNESCO World Book Day, the anniversary of Shakespeare’s death (and probable birthdate) and the anniversary of the death of Miguel de Cervantes…
My Animals and Other Family
17 January 2013 by Leave a Comment
Last year will not go down in history as a triumph for the BBC which is a real shame. For all the scandals and cover-ups and disasters I still think it’s one of Britain’s greatest institutions. One of its saving graces from 2012 however was the coverage of the London Olympics and one of the stars of the Olympic presentation team was Clare Balding….
The Summer Book Buying Spree
22 July 2011 by 3 Comments
It’s holiday time and for many of us and that means a chance to relax by a pool or on a beach with a cold drink and a book or ten! Unless you’ve bought hundreds of books that you’ve never got around to reading (yep, I’ve done that) then you’ll need to buy some to […]