Tag: books
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What a Blessing it is to Love Books – and Gardens
The cover on my 1992 Virago editionbears a detail from Vase aux Anemones, 1942, by Marevn (Maria Morobieff) This week I have been busy in the garden, trying to restore some kind of order by pulling up weeds, which always reminds me of Persephone, because in the version of the myth I read as a…
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Chained Books – Power or Protection?
“In most old libraries the books are chained to the shelves to prevent them from being damaged by people. In the Library of Unseen University, it’s more or less the other way around.” So says novelist Terry Pratchett in Sourcery, and I’m inclined to think if it’s good enough for Discworld, then it’s good enough for…
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Mother’s Day with Milly-Molly-Mandy
Well, it’s Mother’s Day, and I’ve had a bouquet of roses, some rose petal handcream, a beautiful bar of soap – and The Daughters also left messages on Facebook about two of their favourite childhood books, Joyce Lankester Brisley’s Milly-Molly-Mandy, and My Naughty Little Sister, by Dorothy Edwards, reminding me how I used to read…
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A Very Uncommon Queen
This knitted Queen, from Knit Your Own Royal Wedding, by Fiona Goble, looks such fun I may make one Well, it’s the 60th anniversary of the Queen’s accession to the throne, so here are some reading suggestions for those who want to escape the brouhaha which surrounds the event. Firstly there’s Sue Townsend’s ‘The Queen and…
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Christmas Comfort with Mr Pickwick
Christmas Eve at Mr Wardle’s, byHablot Knight Browne,known as Phiz. How can I have got this far through December without mentioning Charles Dickens? Dickens loved Christmas, and as the 200th anniversary of his birth approaches our image of the traditional, family festival is still shaped by his writings. So here’s a passage from The Pickwick…
The Book Trunk 