Books

You would think by now that’s there not a lot of imaginative newness that can be brought to bear on the story of Santa; after all, his story is well documented, to the point of exhaustive detail, and you could rightly assume that’s all the festive mythmakers wrote. But, as Continue Reading

If you’ve ever taken an extended overseas holiday, chances are you’ve experienced the interesting existential remove that happens when you are plucked from your everyday life and find yourself looking back at your life and into your soul in ways you simply don’t do when the priorities of the day Continue Reading

While I am huge fan of novels aimed at adult Christmas tragics such as yours truly, there’s something innately pure and escapist about losing yourself in books aimed at children. They draw me back to a simpler time when Christmas meant, quite apart from freedom from school bullies, the chance Continue Reading

Christmas is often described as a magical time of year but the word is more commonly used to suggest atmosphere and sensibility than actual supernatural influencing of time and events. But in Once Upon a December by Amy E. Reichert, Yule time is literally magical, a place where an alleyway Continue Reading

If romantic comedies were your only yardstick, it would be all too easy to believe that true love, the kind made of meet-cutes, playful flirting and sweet connections, is as chaste and celibate as they come. But the fact is we fall in love with our minds and bodies, often Continue Reading

There is something innately warm and comforting dear old Winnie-the-Pooh at any time of the year but somehow it is at Christmas, when everything is supposed to be epitome of warmth and comfortable, that spending time with him feels most special. Even more so when in Winnie-the-Pooh: A Pudding for Continue Reading

While we all like to think that life is endlessly possible and lustrously malleable, the truth is, often to quite accidentally, that we end up in craterous ruts of our own making. We don’t mean to send our life down some dead-end road to nowhere but one badly handled sliding Continue Reading

One of the things that makes Christmas such an attractive time of the year is the compelling idea that it might be when someone finds their forever home. Maybe it’s because many people seem happier at this time of year, or the world simply looks more attractive garlanded in lights Continue Reading

Mary Berry is one of the undisputed doyennes of British food cooking, writing and presenting, an amazingly talented person who has achieved a considerable amount in her 87 years on earth. But is she role model material? You get the feeling that Mary herself would demur any suggestion that you Continue Reading