“Happy Land is a transporting multi-generational novel about the stories that shape up and the dazzling courage it takes to dream” As the year draws to a close, this will be the last blog of 2024. I want to wish everyone and happy and healthy Christmas, and New Year for 2025. Thinking about looking ahead […]
Tag: books
Three Iconic Christmas Books “I have always thought of Christmas-time […] as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time” (Dickens,10) The year has a habit of arriving slowly, then gathering incredible momentum towards its grand finale of December. I want to share three iconic Christmas books from the 1800s, 1900s, and the 2020s. […]
The Instrumentalist by Hannah Constable, Book Review “The colours begin to layer until a landscape forms- green mountains and purple flowers, orange sunlight, bursts of white.” (17, Constable) Welcome to the November blog. November has that cosy marshmallow toasting, deep autumn feel. What better on the darker nights than to recommend a book to read? […]
Quote- “Every leaf speaks bliss to me fluttering from the autumn tree”- Emily Brontё October is the time of year when autumn, really is majestically alive. The days have that crisp embrace when leaving the house and the colourful array of wool scarfs make an appearance for the next six months. As a young writer, […]
“There is material enough in a single flower for the ornament of a score of cathedrals” – John Ruskin. QUOTES What do they mean to life? They are an ever-present symbol of the great words of someone else. As a young writer, I see a quote used at the start of nearly every book I […]
Spending all your left over income on books. After all the household bills have been taken care of any surplus is obviously book money, I mean who needs food, right? Collecting multiple free bookmarks. If a bookmark is being given away for free, you can guarantee a book-lover will happily accept one or three. Using […]
Since writing about book binding and some of the oldest books in the world, it got me thinking about who the first authors were, when were people considered authors, and when did it become a recognised profession? The earliest author, as considered and still debated by historians, is a woman called Enheduanna. She was a […]
I love books and I love reading, although I find it hard to make time for reading. My TBR list is constantly growing and I often have to stop myself from buying more books. At the moment I’m currently reading This Perfect Day by Ira Levin, recommended by a friend who knew I wanted to […]
I always find it fascinating when I pick up a second-hand book and find a previous owner’s inscription, especially when they are dated and you’re holding something that was written decades ago. It’s part of the history of that book as it has been passed through many hands. Often these inscriptions are just names and […]
Books started with scrolls in Ancient Egypt. These scrolls were rolled up manuscripts made out of papyrus, a plant native to Egypt, and date back to 2400 BC. Parchment such as calf skin or deer skin appeared later around 600 – 200 BC. Scrolls were used by early civilizations before the invention of the Codex […]