2015 was the year that I, along with a few good friends, decided to set up a book group. We all have busy lives, but we thought a book group would be a great way of making reading a top priority, while also expanding our literary tastes. For me, it has certainly achieved both of […]

Not everyone’s a reader, my husband included. But I, on the other hand, have been collecting books since I was a child. Over the past 30 or so years I have amassed a pretty big collection, and hats off to my husband for allowing me to turn our small fourth bedroom into my own personal […]

At the beginning of the year, one of my many resolutions was to try and read at least one book a month. Little did I know that resolution would be completely thrown out the window when I picked up Donna Tartt’s epic new novel The Goldfinch…but hand on heart, it was completely worth breaking my […]

A survey published this week found that mothers have on average just 17 minutes of ‘me time’ a day. Apparently these moments of peace are spent reading a book, having a (hot!) cup of tea, or watching soaps on TV. Reading will always win hands down for me, with a hand-crafted coffee running in close […]

I really didn’t need an extra book to add to the leaning tower of Pisa next to my bed…but when in the library the other day with Little I, I couldn’t resist picking up Sweeth Tooth, the new novel by Ian McEwan that was on display. Dangerously I read the inside front cover, and the […]

I read a lot of Stephen King as a teenager, but it’s been a good 15 years since I picked up anything by him. Yet something about 11.22.63 really intrigued me. Maybe it was the sheer weight of it – 740 pages no less! But I think it was the premise: if you had the […]

Today is World Book Day, and I know many children have gone into school dressed as their favourite book character. Speaking personally, I have always loved a strong, unconventional heroine…and last night I finished reading ‘The Help’ by Kathryn Stockett, which just happens to contain one of the most loveable, inspirational female characters that I […]

I love a good whodunit. In my child-free years I used to devour a crime novel in one sitting, but regrettably those reading days are over. Nevertheless, I love it when I come across a writer who keeps you guessing until almost the last page. Towards the end of last year I did a wee […]

You will have been hard pressed not to have noticed the buzz surrounding Christos Tsiolkas’ novel The Slap throughout the second half of 2011. It won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, as well as being made into a TV drama that was recently aired on BBC4. Set in […]

As a child I loved scratch ‘n sniff things. They were usually pleasant girly fragrances such as strawberry shortcake, roses, freshly baked bread, etc. I’m not sure if smells such as a stinky pond, smelly old shoes, garlic and farts would have appealed quite so much…and so the conservative me wonders if The Smelly Book […]