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Books
Review: The White Queen – Philippa Gregory
Philippa Gregory likes to explore how powerful women work their magic in the hypocritical world of the court. For The White Queen she selects a woman who is rarely studied but who lived an extraordinary life: Elizabeth Woodville, the mother of the Princes in the Tower. Edward of York (Edward IV) has usurped the throne … Continue reading
Review: The Queen’s Fool – Philippa Gregory
Hannah Verde is a Spanish refugee, with an unusual gift: the power of the Sight. Her mother was burnt at the stake for being a Jew, and Hannah and her father have escaped to England, seeking sanctuary by posing as Christians. Working as printers, they encounter customers of a high social class, including Robert Dudley … Continue reading
Review: The Apple – Michel Faber
The Apple is Michel Faber’s follow up to The Crimson Petal and the White, a collection of short stories which, as an addition to his tour de force, is disappointing. Faber assures us that these stories can be standalone or read as supplementary to Crimson Petal. In reality, they will only mean anything to readers … Continue reading
Review: The Somnambulist – Essie Fox
Some say Millais’ painting The Somnambulist represents Wilkie Collins’ 1860 hit The Woman in White. Others think it was painted to celebrate a famous opera called La Sonnambula. Whatever its origins, its Gothic aura is key to the plot and tone of Essie Fox’s novel, which revolves around themes of death, despair, madness and the … Continue reading
Get Parents Reading Aloud
“One In Five Parents Cannot Read Aloud” [London Evening Standard Thursday 9th June 2011] From the Evening Standard’s Get London Reading campaign: One in five London parents has such poor literacy skills they cannot read a bedtime story to their children. The National Literacy Trust report that 370,000 mothers and fathers are not confident enough … Continue reading
Review: Canada by Richard Ford
“First, I’ll tell you about the robbery our parents committed. Then about the murders, which happened later.” Now that’s a hook. That’s what made me want to read on. Sensational? Yes. Direct? Certainly. An Elmore Leonard crime novel? Definitely not. Canada is the story of 15-year-old Dell Parsons’s life in the aftermath of an ill-planned … Continue reading
Review: Teeline Gold
Is your writing pad mightier than your iPad? Your pen faster than your keys? Perhaps for speedy note taking in hostile terrain, the old-fashioned approach might just work for you: shorthand lives on. If you’re new to shorthand, this is the book for you. With plenty of dictation practice, Teeline Gold takes the novice through … Continue reading
Book Review: Solaris Rising
Solaris Rising: The New Solaris Book of Science Fiction [Paperback] I have fond memories of sci-fi shorts. Not the ones sported by Zapp Brannigan in Futurama. I mean short stories. I used to read a lot of sci-fi as a kid, it was one thing our local library was good for. So visiting my current … Continue reading
Review: The Woman in Black – Susan Hill
You may have been disappointed by the film, but Susan Hill’s riveting novella is a Christmas story to rival Dickens, and it’s as scary as they come. The Kipps family are celebrating Christmas by telling ghost stories around the fire, when their solicitor father, Arthur, plucks up courage to share an otherworldly encounter which he … Continue reading
Review: My Last Duchess – Daisy Goodwin
Cora Cash is an American Emma Woodhouse of the fin de siècle. Clever, spirited and rich, she is used to having her way and, despite her experience as a celebrity heiress, in matters of the human heart she is utterly naïve. When her husband-to-be, the Duke of Wareham, chivalrously saves her after a fall from … Continue reading
Review: BBC Review: Radio 4 Book of the Week – Tubes by Andrew Blum
BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week Tubes: Behind the Scenes at the Internet Written by Andrew Blum. In April 2011, a seventy-five year old woman deprived Armenia of its Internet access when she sliced through a buried cable with her garden spade. That January, Egyptian authorities simply switched off 70% of the country’s Internet … Continue reading
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