Time for Books



It's the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness....and reading. As the nights draw in we begin to think of cosy nights by the fire with a good book.

Share with us your favourite books, especially any that you have read this year, as we will soon be looking for recommendations for our Book of the Year.

I really enjoyed a previous contender, The Crimson Rooms by Katherine McMahon. Like many of those who recommended it, I would have loved there to have been a sequel and the good news is that Katherine McMahon has begun working on one.

We wish you a happy autumn of reading and look forward to hearing from you about your favourite books.

A world of stories

With the school summer holidays comes the Summer Reading Challenge and  libraries all over the country are buzzing with children keen to read books to complete their storylab card and

gain a medal.

Read all about it on our front page!

These books are modern favourites and we thought it would be fun to talk about books which take us back to our childhood.

Share with us books you have loved - old or new. There are many excellent new books for children, many of which can be enjoyed by adults.

So remember the lazy hazy days of your youth, maybe try some new titles, and tell us what you would recommend to our young book lovers.

A Summer of Sports

The UEFA European Football Championship.....Wimbledon.......the Olympics.....Formula One................... 

there will be sports galore this summer.

There are many novels with sporting themes, as well as non-fiction titles, so we thought we'd look at books about any kind of sport.
Try our link to The British Sports Book Awards website on the Read and Relax page to find the best non-fiction sports books of 2012.

Nick Hornby's novel, High Fidelity, became a bestseller for its view of men and their interests, including football.

The Boys Rule! series are adventure books,  many of which have a sport theme.

The Complete Book of the Olympics covers it's history and quirky facts.

What is your favourite sport?

What will you be watching? and have you read any type of book with a sporting theme?

Join in and tell us of any that you can recommend.

A Right Royal Read

As we are approaching the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, our thoughts turned to royals in fiction.

 There are many historical novels which explore the lives of past kings and queens - do you enjoy reading these? Share your favourites with us.

The present Queen Elizabeth features in the books above.

She is 'the Uncommon Reader' in Alan Bennett's story.

In 'Springtime at Burracombe' it is 1953 and approaching the Queen's Coronation and in 'Remembering the Bones' there is to be an 80th birthday lunch at Buckingham Palace for ninety-nine Commonwealth subjects born on the same day as the Queen - but one of them has an accident on the way.

Have you read any other novels which include the Queen?