Tessa Hadley at England's Lane Books on 21st AprilWe have so many events lined up at the book shop in London in May that I thought I'd share some of the excitement with you as I can hardly believe the quality of the writers we are going to be hosting.Only last week we had one of my very … [Read more...]
A Sunday rant on the digital future for books
Occasionally people will come into England's Lane Books full of awe that a new book shop has opened. 'You're brave,' they say ominously.I just smile because I've heard it so many times before, 'Surely all novels are going to be read on something like a Kindle or iPad soon and the printed matter … [Read more...]
Book review: The Summer Without Men by Siri Hustvedt
Siri Hustvedt is one of my favourite authors; if she chose to write a book about watching paint dry, I'd be riveted. I know not everybody shares my point of view, some think her writing pretentious (Mon Dieu!) but I am always deeply moved by her stories.In her latest novel, The Summer Without Men, … [Read more...]
Book club books
As I was going through the choices for future books for my Babington book club tonight, I thought about the process of choosing these books. People have asked me how I do it, and I really haven't been able to give them a satisfactory answer.I run two book clubs. I started doing my first one at … [Read more...]
The girl’s not for folding
In the book shop the other day when I offered a customer a (free) book mark, she said, 'Thank you, I will take one because whenever I need it I can never find one.' We had a little conversation - as you do - about disappearing bookmarks (I too seem to loose them by the bucket full) when my … [Read more...]
Michael Arditti at England’s Lane Books
Michael Arditti's latest novel, Jubilate, came out last week. It's a beautiful love story, set during a pilgrimage to Lourdes. This small village in south-western France is famous for the Marian apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes that are reported to have occurred to a local girl, Bernadette … [Read more...]
London Life
When we moved to London I didn't expect to have almost nightly sightings of a fox. The first time I saw this much written about urban animal was in our first week in the city. I was walking the terrier out at about ten o'clock. It was high summer and still hot and humid. First I thought it was … [Read more...]
Happy New Year!
I can hardly believe another year has passed.A lot happened to me personally in 2010; much of it just a vaguely laid out plan in December 2009. All Husband and I knew was that we probably wanted to move from the house we'd been living in for the past 15 years. We both wanted to change our working … [Read more...]
Painkillers and life changes
When I walk into the kitchen this morning the first thing I see is an empty packet of ibuprofen, a packet which I only bought two days ago. The first thought I have is how selfish can he get? He took the last of the painkillers for his bad shoulder, leaving me nothing for my bad neck. (Husband and I … [Read more...]
How I love thee…my book shop
I know I go on...but I really am enjoying myself working in England's Lane Books. Though it was a cold day today, and we realised half way through the day the heating was broken, I wasn't the only person who made the shop her own.Some of our customers … [Read more...]