I have always loved poetry and the sound of my own voice, so when I was asked to read a poem as part of a national poetry reading event I didn’t hesitate to agree. It was supposed to happen on my birthday in September, and I was tempted by the thought that there would be […]Read Post ›
I just found this book on my shelf after many years and was enchanted all over again by the sweetness of the cover. The illustrator is Margery Gill. The back cover is no less delightful. I received this book for Christmas when I was ten. I remember choosing it with the woman who gave it […]Read Post ›
Couldn’t put it down. Better than the first Thursday Club, because it doesn’t spend so much time explaining who is who. I love Joyce and her self deprecating asides. Lovely Bogdan, the token Pole, has a smaller role to play here, but still twinkles blue eyes and tattoos when necessary. Chris, the fat policeman who […]Read Post ›
Another great book by AK Turner. I feel I should have read the first in the series first but, never mind. I enjoyed the twists and turns that Cassie Raven, mortuary assistant, suffers in her search for the truth about her parents. Most of all of course I loved the fact that our heroine’s grandmother […]Read Post ›
A few days ago I wrote about my minuscule part in The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, a play written as an allegory to the witch-huntery of communists and sympathisers in McCarthy’s America. A powerful play, when properly performed, thought provoking and disturbing. Witch-hunting is nothing new. Rumour, the spread of gossip, the false reporting, conspiracy […]Read Post ›
For all those mentioned in the programme. If you remember, get in touch! Looking through some stuff the other day I came across this newspaper cutting, lovingly preserved by my father, and the memories of one of my most embarrassing moments came flooding back. As you may have realised, acting is not one of my […]Read Post ›
What a great mystery – you get two books for the price of one, and though the parallels are (not so) subtly spelt out for you, there is more than enough whodunnitness to keep you interested. Anthony Horowitz writes the way I would like to write- wittily, observantly, intelligently. He’s clever and fun, and is […]Read Post ›
21st May 2022 A few weeks ago I received this invitation to attend a book launch and exhibition of ceramics, both by the artist Elizabeth Stanhope, as she is known in English speaking circles. I have written about her before, when I was writing a profile of her for the Polish Ball, to which she […]Read Post ›
I received this book last Friday. Every spare moment this weekend was spent reading it – I finally finished it this morning. A fascinating insight into the mind and mores of a man whose life and experiences could not be more different from my own. Time, place, customs and the law all played their part […]Read Post ›
This really is a book I couldn’t put down. Three days when I was supposed to be doing other things, I carried it about with me, depite it being a heavy hardback. Clever plotting, interesting characters, and i learnt a lot about american law, to boot! Not a lot of it was very edifying, but […]Read Post ›
Life Through Basia's Eyes 