I start reading Bookworm in my childhood bedroom, unaware of how perfect the setting is. All around me lies the backdrop of my imagination – the library that raised me – and by the end of the first chapter, I’d laughed and wept and texted three of my friends to find out if they’d read … Continue reading Book Review: Bookworm, Lucy Mangan’s Memoir of Childhood Reading
Words. Words. Words. Beautiful, evocative, and slightly miraculous when you think about them. Here are 11 of my favourites - sure to capture the hearts of anyone bookish.
"Subject your senses – all five of them – to a wide range of different experiences. Challenge your preferences and dare to be uncomfortable. I think that if we always stay inside a narrow comfort zone, this weakens our ability to perceive and understand the world around us. Make your brain work!"
Dot Matrix by Jack Binding - a darkly amusing revenge story with a spooky twist that's perfect as the year creeps into winter.
The Game by Neil Strauss They say "Don't hate the player, hate The Game." But after reading Strauss' Number One Best Seller, it's clear the player's got problems too When I've had a tipple too many, I have a habit of buying everything on my Amazon wishlist. Sometimes I catch it in time to cancel … Continue reading Book Review: OK so I read The Game by Neil Strauss
I’m a little bit fixated on the dynamics between inner and outer worlds at the moment. The concept of duelling of polarities within one entity. The Scots call it 'Caledonian Antisyzygy'. I don't know what you call it when you're from London.
Editors are editors because they want to be - they're not going to berate you for your typos or ding your manuscript over a bad simile. They might, however, pause if they discover any of these really, really, really, irksome traits.
Time Magazine might have thought it popped up by surprise, but in reality Amazon’s first physical bookstore has been a long time coming. Yes, you read that right. Amazon’s first physical bookstore. To be exact, they’ve opened a 5,500-square-foot bookstore, carrying a not-that-impressive 5,000 to 6,000 titles with 15 employees under the direction of Amazon … Continue reading Amazon Killed the Bookstore, Long Live the Bookstore
I would recommend Career of Evil to any crime fan, but if you're looking for the goofy and sly satirical plot of the previous two novels, that's not what you'll find here. This is Robert Galbraith at "his" most fiendish and entertaining.
Spending the weekend out of London to look after the family dog, my plan was also to spend some quality time writing. But despite the perfect timing, the endless hours to myself, I hit the writing wall. So instead of watching Netflix all day, I thought I'd write a blog about it and why spending time not writing is not always a bad thing.
