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WHAT BOOK would children’s author Francesca Simon take to a desert island? Francesca Simon is reading Last Train From Liguria by Christine Dwyer Hickey She would take The Eustace Diamonds by Anthony Trollope to a desert island American author said Mary Poppins by P L Travers gave her the reading bug By Daily Mail Reporter Published: 22:01 GMT, 28 January … Read more
Children’s books by black British authors will be given to every primary school in England to increase diversity in literature Collection of stories by black authors, Happy Here, will be published in August It will be given to every English primary school to increase ‘diversity of voices’ It features writers Yomi Sode, Clare Weze, Dean … Read more
BIOGRAPHY SHE COME BY IT NATURAL by Sarah Smarsh (Pushkin £9.99, 187pp) For almost all her career, Dolly Parton’s most famous asset hasn’t been her prodigious musical talent, but her astounding cleavage. ‘She’s the Queen of Country,’ a smirking Terry Wogan told viewers of his chat show in 1983, ‘and the best chest in the … Read more
WHAT BOOK would author Richard Flanagan take to a desert island? Author Richard Flanagan is currently reading James Rebanks’ English Pastoral He would take Anna Karenina to a desert island as he re-reads it every few years Richard’s own father was a reciter of poetry and it gave him the reading bug By Daily Mail Reporter Published: … Read more
WHAT BOOK would historical novelist Kate Mosse take to a desert island? Kate Mosse is currently re-reading all Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple novels She said she would take T S Eliot’s Four Quartets with her to a desert island The novelist said Marcel Proust’s Remembrance Of Things Past left her cold By Daily Mail Reporter … Read more
SEED TO DUST: A GARDENER’S STORY by Marc Hamer (Harvill Secker £14.99, 416pp) For more than two decades, Marc Hamer has tended a garden that he doesn’t own. Now he has published what feels more or less like his private gardening journal, in sections with titles such as Pruning Roses, Swifts Arrive and Solstice. But … Read more
BOOK OF THE WEEK DEVILS, LUSTS AND STRANGE DESIRES by Richard Bradford (Bloomsbury £20, 272pp) By the end of the introduction — let alone the end of the book — I loathed Patricia Highsmith. In this centenary year of her birth, her satisfyingly ruthless biographer Richard Bradford sets out the essence of her character and … Read more
WHAT BOOK would author Meg Rosoff take to a desert island? Meg Rosoff has recently read Hilary Mantel’s The Mirror And The Light She would take James Thurber’s essay, The Dog That Bit People to a desert island American author said Lord Of The Flies by William Golding left her cold By Daily Mail Reporter Published: 22:01 GMT, 7 January … Read more
Fearne Cotton reveals how she unravelled in a moving new book that explores how pretending to be a ‘shinier’ version of ourselves can be damaging Fearne Cotton was just 15 when she first began working for Disney Club in 1996 British presenter has spoken about her experience of pretending to be bubbly She explores how … Read more
Earlier this week, I noted quite how many self-help guides are very similar, their short-cuts to wisdom and happiness weirdly interchangeable. In 1952, Norman Vincent Peale wrote the best-selling self-help book The Power Of Positive Thinking, and, nearly 70 years on, it seems that everyone entering the market has to emphasise positivity. To demonstrate this, … Read more