Yes, it’s been a long time since I wrote about books, so there are three books that I’ve read in the time that has passed. I remember when I started reading Dick Francis. I was amazed that a single writer could have written so many books about horses and the racing world. Longshot is one […]
My Grandfather – R.I.P.
On Friday, I decide to spend the night at my grandfather’s place. He sleeps at 8 o’ clock or so, so when I get there around 10, he is asleep. At 10:20, I hear him getting out of bed. He shuffles past my room and goes to the kitchen. I hear the balcony door creak […]
Musée des Beaux Arts
I’ve been thinking of this all morning. Loss and suffering exist in astonishingly closed cabins, shut off from the world. Here is Musée des Beaux Arts by Auden. A classic. About suffering they were never wrong, The old Masters: how well they understood Its human position: how it takes place While someone else is eating […]
Collections
I once met a lady who collected Santa Clauses. She had over a thousand Santa Clauses, over half of which she had made using anything, from oil-cans to coconuts. She painted Santa Claus on glass bottles, or made a crochet Santa around a plastic bottle. She used the cover of a cheese-tin, a shankha, cane […]
Oxford Bookstore 2002
We know we belong to the previous generation when we complain about the way children waste time. “How much we used to play!” A friend and I lamented about how students at school spend more time at their laptops than at anything else. They are a generation growing up with email and Facebook; they’re attached […]
I love book-sales!
I never buy books. Never. I have too many books at home that I have not read. But what can I do when I find 70% (yes, SEVENTY PER CENT) off on a Michael Morpurgo collection? The Landmark sale is here!
The Goldsmith’s Daughter
Yes, The Goldsmith’s Daughter is the story of a girl restricted by her gender in a barbaric civilisation that is in conflict with another world with different beliefs. It is set in a moment in history when the Aztec civilisation must deal with Spanish invaders. The Aztecs need to accept that their emperor is, apparently, […]
Baby Krishna
Finally, here are a few photographs of the baby that everyone loved so much. It’s a doll, yes, a doll, made by my French mother. It’s not a real baby, no. We dressed it (her) as Baby Krishna for our performance in December – here are a few pictures!
Kelemen Quartet
What will I remember about this concert of the Kelemen Quartet’s a few years from now? The fact that it was the first time I watched a lady in a sari play the cello ? Maybe not. The music was so beautiful that I forgot within a few moments that people are usually so conscious […]
War Horse
There’s something about Michael Morpurgo that haunts me. I remember being blown away by Kensuke’s Kingdom. I’ve read and reread so many of his books. Running Wild, The White Horse of Zennor, Adolphus Tips, and of course War Horse. They come to mind immediately. This was not the first time I read War Horse.I was […]
THREE HUNDRED POSTS!
Yes, this is the three-hundredth post on my blog. It feels like just a few days ago that I signed my nine-page-contract for The Story-Catcher and asked two friends to witness it. It feels like just a few days ago that I read the proofs and sent them back to my editor. It feels like […]
5 Writers of Fiction Who Have Hugely Influenced Me
Today, in a class about the role of literature in society, I began to think. Of course I love reading. Naturally a lot of my favourite writers have influenced my writing. I know I consciously started using adverbs more after reading Georgette Heyer. But then, I also began to wonder, which writers made me who […]
A Doll’s House
I love how time changes the way I read a play. I read A Doll’s House. Again. I imagined how it would be on stage. I cringed, yes. I closed my eyes, yes. But I enjoyed it. I read it cover to cover without needing a break. I did not worry about how good or bad […]
Airs Above the Ground
I remember quite enjoying Airs Above the Ground by Mary Stewart. Maybe I didn’t like it as much as The Ivy Tree or Madam, Will You Talk? but I did enjoy it. This time, I enjoyed the beginning. The Spanish Riding School, the levade, Timothy in his awkward state between adolescence and adulthood… I smiled […]
Day One: Colour your Thoughts
At the British Library workshop for the 5-7 age-group today, I read out a story about a black dog. Mr Hope is afraid of the black dog because it’s as big as a tiger. Mrs Hope is afraid of the black dog because it is as big as an elephant. Adeline Hope is afraid of the […]
Another Foggy Day
It was not a cold morning, so when I reached school, I was more than a little surprised to see that it resembled a hill-station once more. Once again, there was no school. I stepped out of the warm bus and was astounded to see that when I breathed, there was steam coming out of […]
Colour your Ideas
My first workshop as part of the Creepy House Reading Challenge is this Sunday! A workshop for the little ones (age 5-7), I call it … Read Aloud and Colour your Thoughts! Sunday 12th January, 2014. 11:00 am – noon Stories are always more fun when they have pictures. When they have more pictures, they […]
The White Horse of Zennor and Other Stories
I love short stories! I wrote in my diary not very long ago, I think short stories are far more exciting to write because they capture a spark of imagination that lasts right through the moment of the story. A full-length novel… It begins with the spark, but for me involves more laborious imagination and […]
All Because of Jackson
There’s a bubble of contentment within me whenever I read Dick King-Smith, and All Because of Jackson is no different. Filled with delightful pictures and dreams, All Because of Jackson is the story of a rabbit. Of course, with Dick King-Smith, it has to be about an animal. An animal that is perfectly ordinary, but […]
Moon Pie
Every page of Simon Mason’s Moon Pie rang true. On the book-cover, I remember reading that someone called it an ‘ultra-modern’ story. I was not sure what to expect. I certainly did not expect this kind of brutal honesty. It made me shake my head and cry. Eleven-year-old Martha is puzzled by her father’s strange […]