As my final year as an undergraduate at university comes to a close, I’ve begun to think over my time here and what I’ve managed to accomplish over the past ...
The dangers of reporting the news from the frontline have become all too apparent (though perhaps the term frontline is inappropriate, since many of today’s conflicts appear, to the outsider, ...
Last year, J. K. Rowling revealed that she had been tempted to terminate Ron Weasley towards the end of the final book. Would it have been an act of great ...
Whenever I get a book, the first thing I do is read the blurb on the back, assuring me how great the book is and what a good choice I’ve ...
If you know of a friend who’s writing a novel, you may just want to ask if you’re in it at all. If they say yes, then you might need ...
In the last few weeks, there have been a lot of column inches in the review sections of weekend papers dedicated to the new US bestseller The Art of Fielding, Chad ...
As I write this, there’s many a final year English student in a library in every university town, panicking about their upcoming dissertations. For many of us, January means sales, ...
Well, it may be 2012 already but many of the recent weekend papers took the opportunity to look back at the bestselling books of 2011. I always find it good fun ...
Exeter is a wonderful place to study: it’s a beautiful city with plenty of history, an ever-expanding shopping centre and only a 15 minute train ride to some of Devon’s ...
I was intrigued to read this week that Oxfam was expanding the number of shops it runs in France to include ones that sell second-hand clothes. Apparently, the French are ...
In the Chinese Lunar Calendar, 2011 has been the Year of the Rabbit, whilst the United Nations designated it the International Year of Forests and the International Year of Chemistry; ...
Never judge a book by its cover, as the old saying goes. Well, I’ve been thinking a bit about book covers recently. It’s partly down to my last blog with ...
When Natalie Portman walks into a room, I can only imagine the number of heads that turn: undeniably beautiful, she’s an Oscar-winning actress, a graduate of the prestigious Harvard University, ...
If you’re a regular user of your local library – that is, if you’re lucky enough still to have one – you’ll be familiar with the way the libraries categorise ...
Have you ever been seduced by a downright villain? I know I have. From Satan to Sauron, Dracula to Draco Malfoy, literary miscreants have been stealing the limelight and beguiling ...
Having read some of the reviews, I’m looking forward to reading Craig Brown’s new book, One on One, where in short essays of only 1001 words, he tells of strange ...
As the end of the year approaches, booksellers will be looking forward to increased sales as people start buying awkward presents for awkward relations—a book, perhaps? In recent years, some ...
Before we begin, I ought to make this clear: I am an Essex girl. Recently, there’s been a great surge of interest in my home county, with reality TV shows ...
For many of us, the perfect autumnal night-in is to be curled up on the sofa, swaddled in blankets and the comfiest of clothes with a hot drink in one ...
Despite very rarely winning anything, I am a competitive person. Although my days of playing team sports at school are now a distant memory, rather than mellowing with age, my ...
