It’s time. For the sixth year running I bring you my ultimate, easy, budget-adaptable Christmas gift. The one that feels thoughtful and personal yet takes seconds to buy and is easy to wrap and cheap to post. Yes, dear readers, it’s the most popular post of the...
Here are the photographs included in the ebook and physical versions of my book, How Not to be a Supermodel. If you have downloaded the audiobook and for some reason cannot access the PDF then you can view the photos below. If you have arrived at this page and have...
Here’s an extract from my book, How Not to be a Supermodel. It’s taken from a chapter about model castings and the physical/sporting skills I lied about having in order to try and bag some work. Could I play the drums, for example? Sure: Was I a pro-level ice-skater?...
Yes, it's what you've all been waiting for: this year's edition of Books and Chocolate, also known as The Ultimate Easy Christmas Gift. If you're on a tight budget, if you've left everything until the last minute, if you're struggling to think of present ideas but...
Looking for the ultimate easy, not-too-expensive, seemingly-thoughtful Christmas present? I have the answer! I had the answer last year too, so this is an updated 2020 version: it's the books 'n chocolate gift. Comes in unlimited combinations, is widely available and...
AD: not sponsored or paid-for. Contains gifted press samples (chocolate) and affiliate links are marked *. We're revisiting a post that I (kind of) did a few years ago, really, but it's a good one and so it deserves another airing. Because this post may just save your...
A great decorating book to feast upon, if you're something of an interiors aficionado; Farrow & Ball's Recipes for Decorating* by Joa Studholme. It's an absolute visual delight. Whether you're a serial re-painter who loves to experiment with colour or a confused...
This post was supposed to be called My Favourite Books of 2018 but that title felt a bit tardy, so I've sneakily tweaked it so that everything's just a bit more relevant and exciting. I mean, why harp on about the past when you can look forward to the future? Isn't it...
I've just finished reading the Maggie O'Farrell novel After You'd Gone, which completes my epic O'Farrell reading marathon. I've read all of her novels, now - five of them in the last couple of months - and I can safely declare her to be one of my favourite writers. I...
I'm a terrible one for judging a book by its cover. And I mean that literally, not metaphorically - I'm not at all judgemental or presumptuous when it comes to people: just books. Which is why, shamefully, it has taken me so long to come around to reading Captain...
This is a difficult novel to write about, because I'm not sure whether I love it or absolutely detest it. Either way, it makes for interesting conversation - or would do, if anyone I knew had read it! Have you read Eileen? It grabbed my attention because it was on the...
I promised at the end of 2015 that I'd do a round-up of my favourite novels of the year and here I am, over twelve months later, with a slightly different post. It seems odd to go back to what I read in 2015, so the best picks from that year will have to be inserted...