Category Literature

Say what you want about things like Fifty Shades of Grey, Twilight, Harry Potter and A Song of Ice and Fire, but they all have something in common. The writers have all achieved something in these series, and that’s that they’ve created very vivid, very real worlds. You not only feel for the characters, but you feel the love that they were written with, and they feel as real to you as the last person you spoke to.Read On...

Mary Wesley was an amazing woman and a wonderful writer. She was born on the 24th June 1912 and died 30 December 2002. Although she’d been a writer for most of her life she wasn’t published until she was 70 years old. And that only happened because a friend persuaded her that her writing was good. She had no confidence in her writing abilities. The book was called, Jumping the Queue, it became a best seller. I feel she has some valuable life lesson to share with us.Read On...

Before we begin it should be noted that this list does not contain a single mention of Romeo and Juliet–a self-described tragedy–or indeed 50 Shades of Grey – a different kind of tragedy altogether. The former is a terrible relationship model and the latter doesn’t even count as a model; it’s an abusive mess that you should most certainly be running from, preferably at high speeds. This list will contain books with a bit of oomph, and some will not be for the faint-hearted, but they do not idolise abuse or dubious consent. Because, and I’m letting you in on a well-kept secret here; that’s not love.

1. The PowerBook, Jeanette Winterson

Set primarily in cyberspace, this is an interesting and though-provoking read...

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"It is a truth universally acknowledged that when one part of your life starts going okay, another falls spectacularly to pieces," says Bridget Jones. Bridget's diary began as a column in the Independent and went on to parody the classic novel Pride and Prejudice, and has since become a book, film and franchise. So, what can these fictional women do for their readers today?Read On...

e-Publishing. It’s a nebulous thing. You excitedly inform people you’ve published and they expect a book, something you can buy in a shop. Not being able to hold the finished product makes it feel “less real”—or, “less like a traditionally published book,” at least. Staring at your computer screen to read a story can give you headaches, it’s not exactly portable…

And this is where smartphones come in. Or, as we tend to call them now, “phones.”

Having a Kindle or a Nook is all very well, but these are specialised devices that cost a lot of money and can only be used for one thing. There are plenty of people, too, who like the feel of the real, physical book—who see their full shelves as a badge of honour. Paper books never run out of charge, and are just as portable as a Kindle...

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I’ve started volunteering in a charity bookshop and, consequently, I’m seeing a lot more of awful books nowadays. Some are so bad I actually buy them to prove they’re real to disbelieving friends. “So, she took the characters from Alice in Wonderland and turned them into serious, tormented Private Detectives?” “Wait, so it’s Pride and Prejudice if Mr. Darcy was a vampire?” After falling prey to a few terrible books, and having seen customers make the same mistakes as me, I’ve started to compile this handy guide for readers of lucky dip books; it’s designed to stop you wasting too much time on bad books.Read On...

I believe Neverwhere is an excellent story–how could it be anything less to convince Avon Publishing House, BBC Television and BBC Radio. Have they done the story justice?Read On...

When I won the Sophie Lancaster writing competition I won one thousand pounds for my high school to spend on what ever I wanted. The first thing I asked for was a Creative Writing class so that other people could share my passion and perhaps give others the chance to find a hidden talent. The woman who taught this class was an ex-pupil of my English teacher who was studying Creative Writing at university. She taught me some amazing tips on how to ease the hair pulling, mind aching, teeth grinding stress that is writer's block. There is nothing worse than when you're on a creative high and your brain is buzzing a million miles an hour, then it just hits a brick wall and nothing happens.Read On...

George R.R. Martin, J. K. Rowling- great authors. But how do their books affect lesser-known authors?Read On...

In the Family is Christina James’ first foray into fiction. She is an established non-fiction author, published under a separate name. If you don’t usually read crime thrillers, I urge you to read this. In the Family is a unique hybrid of commercial and literary fiction. It is not a big and brash whodunit, nor is it a pastiche of Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple. It is nothing short of spectacular. Read On...