A shiver runs down my spine whenever a customer says these eight little words. What makes one person laugh can leave another confused, irritated even. My fondest memory is of my younger brother laughing out loud while reading Just William by Richmal Crompton, his dimpled cheeks quivering with delight at a little boy (not unlike himself) who gets up to all kinds of mischief usually accompanied by his scruffy mongrel, Jumble. While my mother would giggle discreetly to herself whenever …
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I read Pachinko by Min Jin Lee last year (see previous post), and when I finished it, I knew it was very good. But I didn’t realise how good. It …
I have never been one for new year’s resolutions. However, in the last few years the idea of beginning as you mean to go on has grown on me. I …
There was a time when I would read a book cover to cover whether I was enjoying it or not. It was as if I was obeying an unwritten rule …
In our final post for 2019, Mary Burnham rounds up her favourites of the year. See you in 2020! It’s that time of year when so many people give books …
As the year comes to an end, I asked our regular bloggers to pick two books for 2019 — their favourite book published this year, and the best book from …
As the year comes to an end, I asked our regular bloggers to pick two books for 2019 — their favourite book published this year, and the best book from …
When Helen Carr of O’Brien Press approached me to write a book in a new children’s series called Great Irish Sports Stars, I was incredibly excited. It was to be …
… and to be entirely appropriate, Manners Maketh the Woman too! No, I am not being supercilious or patronising, but I do bemoan the death of basic manners. In everyday …
Amid a certain amount of consternation, Bernardine Evaristo shared this year’s Booker Prize with Margaret Atwood. It’s the third time in its history that two authors have shared this most …
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