Books
Are home library services available to you?
- Tuesday, 07 May 2013
Do you love reading but can’t get to your local library?
Do you want someone to bring and collect books for you?
Many libraries across the country provide home library services and may be able to help by arranging to deliver and collect books for you.
Volunteer with Beanstalk to help a child read, grow and succeed
- Friday, 03 May 2013
‘I feel valued and useful. It’s a great way to spend spare time. I’m amazed at what can be achieved in a few hours.’ Beanstalk reading helper
Beanstalk is a national children’s literacy charity, formerly known as Volunteer Reading Help, that provides one-to-one literacy support to children in primary schools across England. Our vision is a nation of confident children who can read and grow up to lead successful lives.
We recruit, vet, train and support volunteers from the local community to work with children who have fallen behind with their reading. Beanstalk's support makes a lasting difference to children’s lives.
Reading groups chosen for The Bell Jar 50th anniversary celebration project
- Monday, 18 March 2013
The Reading Agency and publishers Faber and Faber have selected five lucky reading groups to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of the publication of Sylvia Plath’s modern classic, The Bell Jar.
‘Rampant Readers’ from Leicester; Bath-based ‘Reading in the Bath’ reading group, the all-male ‘Hertfordshire Book Group’; young Reading Activists from Portsmouth’s Beddow Library and young readers from Rugby School in Warwickshire will now review and blog about the book throughout 2013. They will be given sets of Faber's special 50th anniversary edition of Plath’s acclaimed novel, which follows New York fashion magazine intern Esther Greenwood’sdreams of becoming a writer and her struggles with work; difficult relationships and a society which refuses to take women's aspirations seriously, setting her life sliding out of control.
Robert Tanitch reviews two biographies by Rupert Everett
- Monday, 18 March 2013
You may have seen Everett in the film, My Best Friend’s Wedding? He was born in 1959 and educated at Ampleforth College. He began his career at the Glasgow Citizens Theatre. I first saw him in Julian Mitchell’s Another Country at Greenwich before it transferred to the West End and was very impressed with his performance until he arrogantly took his curtain call with his hands in his pockets. Some members of the audience stopped clapping immediately.
Robert Tanitch reviews a new book on theatre
- Thursday, 28 February 2013
PLAYED IN BRITAIN Modern Theatre in 100 Plays by Kate Dorney & Frances Gray (Bloomsbury £24.99). One of the pleasures of my theatregoing life has been the research I have been able to do at the V&A’s excellent Theatre Museum with its wonderful collection of programmes, scripts, photographs, reviews, sets and costumes.
The 100 plays in this book are chosen from 1945 to 2010, from JB Priestley’s An Inspector Calls to Laura Wade’s Posh, and including works by such playwrights as Bennett, Bond, Frayn, Friel, Hare, Kushner, Leigh, Miller, Osborne, Pinter, Stoppard, Williams, etc, etc.
Retirement - an inescapable descent into hopeless senility or a new phase for happiness and personal development?
- Monday, 25 February 2013
The Psychology of Retirement Coping with the Transition from Work
By Derek Milne
Whether it's spending more time with family or travelling to far-flung places, many of us look forward to retirement and a respite from working life. So why is it that, for up to a quarter of us, retirement turns out to be a stressful event for which we are often ill-prepared? And can we better equip ourselves in order to enjoy this new phase of life?
In his clearly-written and thought-provoking new book, recently retired clinical psychologist, Derek Milne, helps to explain the issues facing those in retirement and presents practical solutions to deal with the sometime traumatic aspects of having a lot more time on our hands.
Have you heard of the 'other Mitford Sister'?
- Friday, 15 February 2013
Pamela Jackson nee Mitford’s claim to fame appears to be to have been to lead a simple domestic life.
Her relationships with her sisters could be summed up by those classic lines from Carry on up Pompeii ‘Infamy, infamy, they’ve all got it in for me’
Let your genie out!
- Monday, 11 February 2013
“Let Your Genie Out” by Shirley Crichton, is an inspiring and thought-provoking book that offers easy-to-follow guidance, tools and strategies in an engaging, light-hearted and easy-to-read style.
This book provides the opportunity for you to discover how to let your own genie out, truly enjoy your life and become the fullest expression of the unique person you are here to be.
“Let Your Genie Out” offers an appeal to a variety of readers, from those who feel like life is passing them by; to those who want simple solutions to their problems in life, or simply those who want to be happier.
Robert Tanitch reviews Neil McKenna’s vivid account of a famous Victorian scandal
- Thursday, 31 January 2013
FANNY & STELLA The Young Men who Shocked Victorian England by Neil McKenna (Faber £16.99). Fanny and Stella were Frederick Park and Ernest Boulton and they liked to dress up as women; not only on stage, when they performed little music hall sketches, but also on their visits to the theatre as member of the audience and in the thoroughfares of London. They were arrested in 1870 and sent for trial. But is it a crime to dress up as a woman? Well, if you go to Burlington Arcade it may be. These part-time actresses were also part-time prostitutes. Their Behaviour was louche and liable to frighten the horses.
More Articles...
- No! I don't need reading glasses!
- Understanding Stroke - For Patients, Carers And Health Professionals By Rosemary Sassoon
- Robert Tanitch's latest round up of books Jan 2013
- Over a third of Brits can’t live without a good book
- Robert Tanitch's round up of books on James Bond
- Robert Tanitch round up of books on Tales, Myths and Quotations
- Robert Tanitch round up of books on Shakespeare and the theatre
- Robert Tanitch's round up of books: Biographies
- Robert Tanitch round up of books on Film
