I had my first child and my first puppy in close proximity of each other. The puppy was a female mongrel of eight weeks, the child a female toddler of sixteen months. And the novel I was working on at the time was about twelve months old. That is, I’d been writing it for the [...]
First of all, let me emphasise that this truly is a noble book. Really, I mean it. I’m not being facetious. Even though I’m about to embark upon a few critical thoughts, I still fervently maintain that this is a noble book. And for that reason alone, I say Hats off to the author, Heather Morris. [...]
After Neil Armstrong’s death in 2012, his family made the touching statement: “Next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink.” Isn’t that’s a lovely piece of advice? Not just in memory of Neil Armstrong, the first man [...]
Island of mists and mellow fruitfulness ... That's by Keats, not me, and it's about England, not Corfu, and the first word has been hijacked. Just to be clear. I don’t normally write about holidays, other than in my good old diary. But there was something about this latest holiday from which my daughter and [...]
I recently read an interview with a writer who said that she far preferred fictional love stories to real life. The longer I live, the more I agree with that sentiment. I guess that’s why some people write, and some people read, and some people do both. And some people are really, really lucky, and [...]
I once had a boyfriend who had a very simplistic philosophy on life. According to him (let’s call him Joe Bloggs), what could anyone want more in life than good food, good wine and good sex? Our relationship did not last long. But although it’s true that Joe was a rather simple sort, he was [...]
I’ve been thinking lately, as we all do. But I’ve been thinking specifically about what makes a great book, as opposed to merely a mediocre book. I won’t bother conjecturing about what makes a bad book, even though lots of those get published as well and sometimes even acclaimed as bestsellers. In my opinion, the [...]
