I share my thoughts on the true story of Chris McCandless, a young man who walked deep into the Alaskan wilderness to seek adventure but never returned.
biography
NONFICTION NOVEMBER: My Year in Nonfiction
A month-long celebration of reading, reviewing and discussing non-fiction.
BOOK REVIEW: The Brontë Family: Passionate Literary Geniuses
An immensely enjoyable biography of the Brontë sister’s unconventional lives, astounding literary talents and tragic deaths.
Hay Happenings #6
My sixth and final day at Hay Festival 2018.
Hay Happenings #5
Snap happy at Hay!
THOUGHTS ON: The Assassin’s Cloak: An Anthology Of The World’s Greatest Diarists
A dip-in doorstop filled with risqué anecdotes, humorous stories, unintended hilarity and intriguing revelations.
BOOK REVIEW: The Little Book of Feminist Saints
Its publication date scheduled to coincide with International Women’s Day, Julia Pierpont’s The Little Book of Feminist Saints is a joyous celebration of one hundred women who achieved something of significance during their lives.
THOUGHTS ON: George Orwell: A Life in Letters
For almost forty years George Orwell wrote and received the letters collected here, which have been edited by Peter Davison.
BOOK REVIEW: The Extraordinary Life of A A Milne
While The Extraordinary Life of A A Milne will undoubtedly delight fans, it should also appeal to anyone with even a passing interest in the author and his famous teddy bear.
BOOK REVIEW: House of Fiction: From Pemberley to Brideshead, Great British Houses in Literature and Life
Phyllis Richardson is the author of several books on architecture and design, and in this, her latest compendium, she writes knowledgeably about the great fictional British houses we have come to know intimately over the last four hundred or so years.
THOUGHTS ON: Me Again: Uncollected Writings Of Stevie Smith
Florence Margaret Smith (1902-1971), known to friends and readers as Stevie Smith, was a highly witty English writer, most famous for her perceptive, clever little poems.
THOUGHTS ON: Tove Jansson Life, Art, Words: The Authorised Biography
Tove Jansson, author of the Moomins and one of the great idiosyncratic talents of the 20th century, must surely have found her ideal biographer in Boel Westin.