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David Nicholls at the Oxford Literary Festival
8th April 2011 | 0 comments | 1 person likes this
“If you’re after a brilliantly-written love story that never slides into sentimentality David Nicholls’s One Day is just the ticket. Nicholls trained as an actor before switching to writing - his first novel, Starter for Ten, was made into a film starring James McAvoy and Rebecca Hall and he wrote the recent TV adaptation of Tess of the D’Urbervilles. His third novel is a funny ‘“will they, won’t they?’” romance...
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Jojo Moyes wins Romantic Novel of the Year award
10th March 2011 | 2 comments | 1 person likes this
One book stood out a mile on the shortlist for the 2011 Romantic Novel of the Year award. The Last Letter from Your Lover by Jojo Moyes is, as I wrote in the Daily Express last week, “everything a romantic novel should be.” By the time I got to the last few pages of Moyes’s heartrending tale of passion, adultery and lost love, I was a complete wreck. Tears poured...
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Jamie Oliver, Turkey Twizzlers and teaching
23rd February 2011 | 4 comments | 1 person likes this
After his mission to eradicate Turkey Twizzlers from school menus, Jamie Oliver is now switching his attention to what children learn in the classroom.
Next week sees the start of Jamie’s Dream School, a seven-part Channel 4 series where the TV chef recruits a host of celebrities to teach 20 disillusioned teenagers who left school with few qualifications.The science teacher is fertility expert Lord Winston (who’s already hit the headlines for... -
“Never trust a man with two mobile phones”
11th February 2011 | 0 comments | 1 person likes this
I once had to spend a month lying on my right-hand side after an eye operation. I couldn’t read, use the internet or watch TV but funnily enough, the days flew by – mainly thanks to the novelist Marian Keyes.
To pass the time, my daughter downloaded hours of audiobooks for me to listen to. And that’s when I discovered the wonderful Keyes. I stopped worrying about my eye as I... -
Poet Jo Shapcott wins 2010 Costa Book of the Year
26th January 2011 | 1 comments | 1 person likes this
“We were captivated by the poetry in this special, original, compassionate, uplifting and accessible book that readers will go back to again and again.”
That’s how Andrew Neil summed up the 2010 Costa Book of the Year judges’ admiration for this year’s winning book - Jo Shapcott’s Of Mutability. His praise was richly deserved but even so, Shapcott’s triumph took the literary world by surprise. For a start, it’s the second... -
The school-run politicians
17th January 2011 | 1 comments | 2 people like this
Soon after the coalition government was formed David Cameron and Nick Clegg announced their intention to delay morning cabinet meetings so they could help with the school run.
Now, six months on, the deputy prime minister has outlined government plans for a “properly flexible” system of shared parental leave in the UK by 2015.This is fine in theory but it highlights just how far removed politicians are from the reality of... -
My favourite books of 2010
6th January 2011 | 1 comments | 2 people like this
January is always a dreary month – but it’s even worse than usual this year. VAT’s gone up, it’s freezing cold outside and most of my time is spent chivvying my teenage son to revise for his impending exams. If you’re fed up with January and dread the thought of yet more snow, then the most cheering answer to the winter blues is to draw the curtains, light the fire and...
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A modern family Christmas – India Knight’s insightful new novel
2nd December 2010 | 1 comments | 2 people like this
On the last day of November every year I hang a faded purple velvet advent calendar up in the kitchen and fill the 24 pockets with sweets. My daughter’s at university now and at 16 my son thinks advent calendars are babyish, but I’m still doing it. And he’ll gobble up the sweets before he leaves for the school bus every morning.
I’m not particularly keen on tradition most of the... -
Cocktails, handbags and designer heels – celebrating the RNA’s 50th birthday
4th November 2010 | 0 comments | 1 person likes this
Which romantic novelist helped Jews to escape from Nazi Germany? What did WAG mean back in 1974? Who was the first man to win the Romantic Novel of the Year award?
These are just some of the thorny questions posed in Fabulous at Fifty, an enthralling history that’s just been published to celebrate the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s 50th anniversary. From Barbara Cartland through to chick-lit, the book scrutinises the fans, the... -
Not the sort of Wagner you see on X Factor
26th October 2010 | 0 comments | 1 person likes this
Every Saturday night during the X Factor season, my teenage daughter and I used to sit glued to the latest dizzying instalment. Forget Strictly Come Dancing, X Factor has the lot – glamour, drama, dazzling white teeth (apparently Simon Cowell always insists the young hopefuls get their gnashers whitened), rival judges at each other’s throats and crazy choreography.
But now my daughter’s gone to university it just isn’t the same any...
CONTRIBUTOR
Emma Lee-Potter
Emma Lee-Potter is a journalist and author of four novels. She has two teenage children and spends her spare time worrying about the ramshackle farmhouse she bought in the south of France. The wreck has half a roof, assorted wildlife and an alarming damp problem but her friends assure her it all be perfect by 2020. She writes a weekly blog for Easy Living magazine.
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