Books
Book Review: Good Vibes Baking
Good Vibes Baking: Bakes To Make Your Soul Shine and Your Taste Buds Sing, Sandro Farmhouse, DK, RRP £20. Who doesn’t love The Great British Bake Off? Sandro Farmhouse was the undisputed star of the ever popular TV baking show in 2022. Despite being pipped at the post by Syabira Yusoff, Sandro – a former…
Read MoreThe Good Books, Liz Mistry: ‘Life is too short for struggling on with a book that doesn’t grip me by the throat pretty quickly’
Crime writer Liz Mistry on the joys of Agatha Christie, the best books she has read this year, and why reading in bed is the epitome of relaxation. The first book I remember reading: I think I was born reading. No seriously though, although I’m not sure it’s the first book I read, I…
Read MoreThe Good Books, Callum McSorley: ‘Louise Welsh is a great inspiration to me’
Callum McSorley on the books of his childhood, why he always recommends Neuromancer and being inspired by Louise Welsh. The first book I remember reading: I remember reading Keith Brumpton’s two Rudley Cabot books over and over – a pair of short graphic novels about an explorer rabbit. And The Headless Ghost, one of…
Read MoreThe Good Books, Denzil Meyrick: ‘They say the purpose of fiction is to remove the reader to another place’
Denzil Meyrick on his memories of being read Treasure Island by his grandmother, his favourite three books of the year so far, and being inspired by the the late Angus MacVicar. The first book I remember reading: The first book I remember was Treasure Island, read to me by my grandmother, Margaret McMillan. I…
Read MoreThe Good Books, Caroline Eden: ‘My favourite place to read is on a quiet train, going anywhere’
Caroline Eden finds comfort away from the road in her basement Edinburgh kitchen. In her latest book she cooks recipes from her travels, reflects on past adventures and contemplates the kitchen’s ability to tell human stories. The first book I remember reading: As soon as I was old enough to read on my own…
Read MoreThe Good Books, Marion Todd: ‘Wuthering Heights is entirely miserable, I just didn’t care what happened to the characters’
Marion Todd on being inspired to write crime fiction by Kate Atkinson, why she always recommends Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, and her best three books of the year. The first book I remember reading: The Little Red Hen – a Ladybird book. I still have my dog-eared copy and it’s like an old friend.…
Read MoreThe Good Books, Jenni Daiches: ‘Books have been my companions from earliest memory’
Jenni Daiches on books being her eariest companions, listening to audio books during a period of near blindness, and why she loves Elizabeth Strout and Hilary Mantell. The first book I remember reading: Books have been my companions from earliest memory. I’m not sure how old I was when I read The Little Reindeer…
Read MoreThe Good Books, JD Kirk: ‘If a book hasn’t grabbed me by 100 pages, I ditch it’
Barry Hutchison, aka JD Kirk, on falling in love with Terry Pratchett’s work aged 11, being inspired by Neil Gaiman and why he ditches a book if he’s not grabbed after 100 pages. The first book I remember reading: Wagstaffe the Wind-Up Boy by Jan Needle. I had mostly read comics until that point,…
Read MoreThe Good Books, Alison Murray: ‘I keep trying to read in bed but it doesn’t work for me, I just fall asleep’
Children’s author Alison Murray on falling in love with dogs after reading A Hundred and One Dalmatians, her passion for essays and why she can’t read in bed. The first book I remember reading: A very scarily illustrated compendium of fairy stories that was read to me at bedtime and would give me nightmares.…
Read MoreEdinburgh Book Festival: Salman Rushdie, Alan Cumming, Richard Osman, Dolly Alderton and Matt Haig lead line-up
Salman Rushdie, Alan Cumming, Forbes Masson, Richard Osman, Dolly Alderton and Matt Haig will star at this year’s Edinburgh International Book Festival. New festival director, Jenny Niven, revealed her plans for a reboot of the literary festival, with a series of 1000-capacity interviews at Edinburgh University’s McEwan Hall. It comes following a new partnership with…
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