Why we can’t look away from a fall from grace
A promising young swimmer is about to achieve his dreams of sporting glory, but just as his fingers are about to take hold of the prize, it slides out of…
Therapy does not have to be by the book
Fiction can serve a lot of different purposes. It can entertain us, inform us, uplift us and move us. But can it counsel us as well? According to writers, researchers…
The complex sibling relationship in life and fiction
I hate conflict so much that I’ll accept a cold, undercooked meal garnished with a strand of the chef’s hair rather than complain. I let other drivers cut me off…
Aussie kids need Aussie books, too
As I flew into Heathrow Airport for the first time, I felt like I had arrived home. Here I was, in the land of the Famous Five, The Secret Garden…
Truth is, business needs more fiction
The titles of traditional business books are enough to make me want to have a cup of tea, a piece of toast and a little lie down. Smarter Faster Better;…
Rereading a book can be twice as nice
My husband knows almost every line from The Blues Brothers. And nothing would make him happier than to watch it again. I, on the other hand, hate watching a movie…
In praise of trashy novels
More than 130 million Mills & Boon books are sold around the world every year, equating to four books every second. These books are not just popular, they are a…
The Natural Way of Things – misogyny out loud
Sometimes it is not the spoken but the whispered threat that is the most menacing. So it is with sexism. While important issues such as the gender pay gap and…
The rise of the literary groupie
Some people swoon over Ryan Gosling in The Notebook. Others prefer Brad Pitt in Thelma and Louise. A twist of Mick Jagger’s hips drives some people wild. Others can’t get…
Which book character are you?
Most readers of Cinderella like to identify with the modest, honest and hard-working title character. Realistically, they probably have as much in common with the Ugly Stepsisters. It is one…
A reading room with a view
When I was a child, I used to enjoy drawing ground plan of my dream house. In it, I included a ballroom, a cinema, a pool and a tennis court.…
Why is it so hard to leave a book half-read?
Having grown up as part of a relatively large Catholic family, I refuse to leave any food on my plate, such is my memory of competitively hungry siblings and the…
A mother’s gift of books
Jewishness is passed down the generations by women. In my family, while scant attention was paid to our Jewish roots, another gift was handed from grandmother, to mother, to daughter…
Naughty can be nice in kids’ books
One farmer is fat, another is boozy and the third is a pot-bellied dwarf. Then there is the grandmother described as ‘an old hag’ and likened to a witch. This…
Anyone who says they’re too busy to read is kidding themselves
Mark Zuckerberg reads a new book every two weeks. Bill Gates considers himself a great reader and Barack Obama packed six books when he went on his summer holiday last…
Charlotte Gray shines a light on the children of the Holocaust
It is very difficult to empathise with people we have never met, who lived a long time ago, in a country on the other side of the world. It is…
Children’s books have no age limit
They used to speak of their passion in hushed tones. After all, they thought, what fully-grown adult would freely admit to their love of young adult literature? More recently, the…
The trouble with book reviews
Never has it been easier to write a review. Eat at a restaurant where the service is sluggish and you can post a scathing diatribe before the dishes have been…
Review: The Sellout by Paul Beatty
Some books are so unlike any others that it takes a while to understand what is happening when you start reading them. Their characters are unfamiliar and the situations unrecognisable,…
Don’t judge a book by its cover … but by its reader
It is easy for a reader to deliver a damning verdict on a book. Whether it is a debut novel or the masterpiece of a genius, the dismissal can be…
Please, Don’t Tell Me Reading is a Waste of Time
Conversation at polite dinner parties is constrained by an implicit set of rules. No talking religion, no talking politics and no talking sex. In the future, I might have to…
A Tale of Two Bookshops
To me, it seemed like the worst of times. A big, bright, multinational bookstore had opened up directly across the road from my favourite independent bookseller. Book lovers were miffed.…
Is it worth reading ‘difficult’ books?
There are two types of people in the world: one who loves a challenge, and one who likes nothing less. I’ve always thought that I was in the latter category,…
The Lure of Shared Sadness
Sadness is something we shun. We shrink from the grieving as if their condition was contagious, and we implore the depressed to ‘cheer up’. In fear of the spectre of…
Children’s books have no age limit
They used to speak of their passion in hushed tones. After all, they thought, what fully-grown adult would freely admit to their love of young adult literature? More recently, the…
