• Books

    My Favourite Books Imagined as Pre-Raphaelite Paintings

    February 28, 2025 - By 

    Sadly, I cannot be considered an ‘art expert’ in any capacity, but luckily for my ego, Taschen’s ‘Basic Art’ series allows me to pretend I am. These slim books which act as crash courses in key artistic movements have equipped me with just enough knowledge to delude myself, quite happily, into thinking I have the art knowledge of a Tate curator. I’ve just finished Taschen’s entry for the Pre-Raphaelites – a group of artists who came together in the 19th century as a ‘brotherhood’ in defiance of the English Royal Academy of Arts. The brotherhood favoured composition styles that pre-dated…

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    Books

    The Unexpected Nature of War in 3 Classic Children’s Stories

    January 31, 2025 - By 

    The three children’s stories that I enjoyed reading the most in recent years shared two things particularly in common. First, the fact that they feature anthropomorphic animals, which perhaps isn’t surprising given that this is pretty standard fare for children’s stories. But the second commonality, which is the fact that in each text, those animals went to war and actively engaged in at least one battle or more, did surprise me – especially when I considered the treatment of warfare in each book. **Spoilers for The Wind in the Willows, Watership Down and Redwall ** In Watership Down, life is…

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    Books - Reviews

    ‘The Wolves of Savernake’, a Shadowy But Subtle Medieval Mystery – REVIEW

    August 18, 2024 - By 

    I bought my copy of The Wolves of Savernake as a ‘blind-date’ book – it was wrapped in brown paper, with only a tag that read “Historical novel where you can delve into the medieval world of Savernake Forest! Intrigue, crime, detective.” I picked it up from the used bookstore at Avebury Stone Circle, which as it turns out, was an incredibly appropriate place to buy this book. Synopsis of The Wolves of Savernake Set in the Wiltshire countryside following the Norman conquest, The Wolves of Savernake follows Ralph Delchard and Gervase Brett, two men commissioned by William the Conqueror to…

  • photo of teacup on top of books
    Books - Reviews

    ‘Jamaica Inn’ Convinced Me – Daphne du Maurier is the Master of Writing Popular, ‘Real’ Literature

    June 26, 2024 - By 

    Margaret Forster once wrote that Daphne du Maurier ‘satisfied all the questionable criteria of popular fiction, and yet satisfied too the exacting requirements of “real literature”, something very few novelists ever do.’ Having read Rebecca a year ago, I knew that du Maurier was particularly talented when it came to creating suspenseful stories, books that have lent themselves to being not only re-read but also re-adpated, again and again, making du Maurier one of the most beloved English language authors I have covered. But it was reading Jamaica Inn this summer that I realised how right Forster was. It’s difficult…

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    Books

    My New Favourite Crime Series: The ‘Detective Kindaichi Mysteries’

    April 10, 2024 - By 

    What is it that you enjoy most about crime fiction? Is it the complexity of the mystery itself, or is it following an eccentric detective as they piece together what happened? Is it the personalities of the suspects themselves, or is it the locations – either far off, exotic shores or something closer to home? My favourite crime novels usually play with all of these elements, and possibly more if it is brave enough to get a little gruesome. Seishi Yokomizo definitely wasn’t afraid to push the envelope when he wrote his series of 77 books following Kosuke Kindaichi, known…

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    Books

    Why ‘Dracula’ Was the First Classic I Fell in Love With

    March 10, 2024 - By 

    I have a funny relationship with classic novels. They make up probably 80% of my bookshelf, and yet I find myself hesitating every time I open the first page of one. It’s because I’ve come to realise that ‘classic’ does not guarantee enjoyment. Yes, it usually does guarantee something well written, insightful and intellectually valuable. But that doesn’t necessarily mean I’m going to enjoy reading it. I can appreciate The Grapes of Wrath and its heartbreaking commentary on American industrialisation, while also knowing that I never want to subject myself to reading the approx. 500 page monstrosity again. When I…

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    Books

    Spring Reading: 5 Books to Kick Start the New Season

    February 11, 2024 - By 

    What does Spring mean to you? To me it means an awakening: animals and plants stir from deep slumbers, and new life emerges. The world looks a little prettier, and its inhabitants are a little more awake. It’s the beginning of a new cycle – a chance to clean things up or start all over again. While we all have rituals to start out the year, whether sticking to newly made resolutions or just tidying up the home a little, one of my favourite ways to kick off a new season is by deciding what I’m going to read for…

  • white building
    Books - Reviews

    Lost Connections: Why A Passage to India Defied My Expectations

    January 28, 2024 - By 

    I don’t feel very connected to my culture. I am the grandchild of Indian immigrants on both sides of my family, and truthfully, I’ve always felt a little more English than Indian. I observe some of the festivals, but barely speak the languages. I consume the food, but not the religion. I know that it’s a little sad not to feel my cultural roots, but I recognise that much of this is by choice – I can blame my parents for not teaching me Hindi growing up, but I can’t really blame them for the fact that I, at 26…

  • Books

    Books To Curl Up and Hibernate with this Autumn

    October 26, 2023 - By 

    What I’m Reading This Fall If a book wants to make it onto my ‘To Read Shelf’ toward the end of the year, I’m going to need it to be either: Bonus points for settings that evoke falling orange leaves and chilly forest walks.  Here’s what I’m reading this autumn: Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees  For English countryside with a good amount of menacing fairy folk, Lud-in-the-Mist is our next stop. Mirlees’ first and only fantasy novel, beloved by the likes of Neil Gaiman and Michael Swanwick, treads the line between charming and spooky – making it perfect this close to…

  • Books

    The Best Fantasy Novel You’ve Never Heard Of – Lud-in-the-Mist Review

    October 22, 2023 - By 

    There was a time where it felt like I couldn’t read a fantasy book without also reading about Lud-in-the-Mist. Whether it was in an introduction, an author biography or the Wikipedia page of the book I was currently reading, there would invariably be a mention of Hope Mirrlees’ only fantasy novel and the influence it had on all fantasy novels that followed...