January 10, 2014

I ran across an unusual blog the other day. Written by Moira Redmond, a British journalist, it focusses entirely, as its name suggests, on clothes in books, and their importance (or not) to the story being told. I find this interesting, because when I write, I’m never sure how much description of clothing to include….

December 20, 2013

On October 14, Neil Gaiman gave a lecture for the Reading Agency, at the Barbican in London. Neil Gaiman is the author of over 30 books, mostly fiction, including many for children and graphic novels. The Reading Agency’s annual lecture series was initiated in 2012 as a platform for leading writers and thinkers to share…

December 1, 2013

I’m English, so naturally I love books, and I love gardening (although I must admit that my gardening is of the if-it-lives-it-lives variety). Still, I pore over gardening catalogues in between reading other books, so I was particularly pleased recently when I had the chance to meet Marta McDowell. She’s the author of Beatrix Potter’s…

November 17, 2013

I’ve recently been enjoying the books of Scottish author Catriona McPherson . Her first series was the Dandy Gilver mysteries, featuring an aristocratic lady sleuth in Scotland and the books take place after the First World War. Unlike Charles Todd (author of the Ian Routledge mystery novels) and Jacqueline Winspear (The Maisie Dobbs novels) which…

February 19, 2013

I was lucky enough to meet Richard Ford, author, among other works, of the Frank Bascombe series ( The Sportswriter, Independence Day and The Lay of the Land ) and, most recently, Canada, at the Darien Library about 10 days ago. He turned out to be a fascinating speaker, so as he was signing my…

December 4, 2012

Everyone’s doing it. Producing lists of things to give people for the holidays. I myself have been plugging Tangerine Tango, the cute little book of writing by women in which some of my deathless prose (and a poem) appears. But I keep running across other great things a book-lover or writer might enjoy receiving. So…

December 1, 2012

My friend Sally Allen at Hamlet Hub Westport keeps coming out with great posts about books, reading and writing. Here’s last week’s, which I thought was a propos, since it’s time to be thinking about what to get our book-loving friends for Christmas or Hanukkah. here’s the beginning of the article – click on the…

November 24, 2012

  The Bookshop Band is a quirky British band who write songs about books which they play at author events in bookshops throughout England and Wales. For example, they’ve written songs about The Paris Wife by Paula McLain, Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness, by Alexandra Fuller, and Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime walk by…

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