Look who’s talking – strange narrators in fiction
Not long ago, I read a book that was written from the viewpoint of a foetus. Now, I’ve just finished…
We need to talk about boys (and books)
We are currently experiencing a social revolution in which women are standing up and refusing to tolerate the bad behaviour…
The problem with literature’s fascination with bad mothers
It is nice to laugh at bad mothers on film. In the movie, ‘Bad Moms’, exhausted, fraught and irreverent mothers…
The beauty of a book in which nothing ‘happens’
Most journalism students learn to write a news story as if describing an event to a friend. Start with the…
Forget neutral, my bookcase is going to be big, full and messy
The interior design idea was offered up innocently enough. “Lauren keeps the look neutral by stacking books back to front.”…
Do you like the same books as me? Talking books with kindred spirits
It is usually the bookshelf that gives it away. That was how I often discover that a new friend is…
My New Year’s resolution is to make more conscious book choices
In the past I have always taken a scatter gun approach to choosing books, picking up one at a second-hand…
What makes the perfect holiday read?
IT’S the time of year when everyone is preparing for their Christmas break, planning festive menus and get-togethers, and packing…
The big appeal of short stories
Can you think of a blockbuster book of short stories? No, me neither. In this form of writing, there is…
Remembrance of video stores past
There were many people who sighed in relief when the video shops shut down. My husband was one of them…
