November book chat!

Hi everyone!

Thank you so much for your contributions to our October Book Chat last month.
I certainly picked up some more recommendations for my already-teetering bedside reading pile!

The dark, cold nights are in full swing now (although hopefully some of you have managed to brighten them a little with bonfires or fireworks), so there’s no better time to settle down with a gripping novel or some thought-provoking non-fiction.

I’m currently revisiting Taste: My Life in Food by Hollywood actor-turned-London resident Stanley Tucci. It’s a memoir of sorts, with stories from his childhood in a big Italian-American family to theatres and film sets around the world, interwoven with his lifelong love affair with dining well. There are even recipes dotted throughout: I have lost count of the number of courgettes I have bought to make his most celebrated pasta dish, spaghetti alla Nerano. He’s a wonderful writer, and I also thoroughly recommend his TV series, ‘Searching for Italy’, if you’d like to escape the gloomy British autumn!

Here are a few more recommendations for November reading:

• ‘Cosy’ murder mysteries: If you’re enjoying that trend, pick up The Appeal by Janice Hallett — a very cleverly structured whodunnit set in the world of amateur dramatics.
• Sliding-doors fiction: For something that plays with fate and identity, try The Names by Florence Knapp – an extraordinary story that asks the question, “What’s in a name?”
• Love story with a twist: The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley pairs a civil servant in near-future London with a Victorian Arctic explorer. You’ll have to read the book to find out how…
• Historical fiction: Head to Tudor England in Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall or to ancient Pompeii in The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper. Both ‘wolf’ titles, both the start of trilogies, but very different stories!

We’d love to know what you’re currently enjoying or hear about your favourite autumn/winter reads.
See you in the chat, and we’ll be back with a festive post next month.

Happy reading!

This post has gone a bit quiet, so let’s breathe some life into it: and honestly, is there a better month for reading than November? I doubt it!

Some of you might already know that I’m a member of the National Trust, and one of my favourite things about it is the fantastic second-hand bookshops hidden inside many of their houses. Last week I visited Dyffryn Gardens and went on a little treasure hunt for a new read.

Here’s my son proudly guarding my bounty:


Besides a couple of Christmassy books for him, I picked up a lovely Christmas anthology from the BBC and a collection of festive stories featuring authors like Tolstoy, Richard Ford, and Charles Dickens. It’s finally cold enough to light my fireplace, so I’ll be diving into these this week. I’ll let you know what I think later this month. I am so ready for Christmas! 🎄✨

LanaBeckwith I absolutely love Stanley’s show on Prime and like him, I have Italian ancestors, so it really hits close to home. He even visited the region (and town) my family is from! And just like you, I ended up recreating some of his recipes. So I’m definitely considering getting Taste!! Thank you for the recommendation.

By the way, Isabel Allende (one of my favourite authors!) has a similar book called Aphrodite, and I truly enjoyed it. I think you would like it.

Okay, enough about my book haul: what’s on your reading list right now? I’m always up for new recommendations! 😊

A couple for me this month so far:

I love classics and a book that's been on my "To Read" list for a loooooong time is On the Road by Jack Kerouac - a novel that during my youth had almost legendary status as many of my heroes cited it as influential on their lives and a must read. It only took my 40 years to get a copy - was it worth it? Of course:



Also on my radar for a shorter time was Mark Haddon's quite brilliant The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, a mystery tale about a 15 year old boy described as a mathematician with some behavioural diffifculties, which the blurb explains to be asperger's syndrome. This is absolutely wonderfully written and one that I recommend reading if you haven't already,


I have to second all the love fro Stanley Tucci too - love his writing, love the TV shows, and love the way he's unashamedly old-school class and charm!
Arise Sir Tucci....

I started reading Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms this week - a secondhand book I bought from one of my favourite bookshops in the Peak District.
It had this lovely little note on the inside cover - i'd love to know who Derek and Shirley were, and what the occasion was!
There was also an old till receipt from a Boots chemist in London dated from 1991!

Have you ever found anything interesting in a secondhand book? Or maybe you've added a similar note, or dates to your own books?