L.H. Johnson's Blog, page 18

Guest Post: Rachel Playforth on The Melling School series by Margaret Biggs

[I am so thrilled to bring you this guest post today on the Melling books from the lovely Rachel Playforth. Rachel is a poet, editor, crossword setter and librarian. She has poems in the recent anthologies:  Night Feeds and Morning Songs by Ana Sampson (Hachette UK) and These Are The Hands – Poems from the Heart ofContinue reading "Guest Post: Rachel Playforth on The Melling School series by Margaret Biggs"

The 1933 Girl’s Own Annual

(What are heatwaves made for if not to enjoy books that are eighty-eight years old?) If you’ve never come across a Girl’s Own Annual, you’re missing out. They were yearly bindups of the Girl’s Own paper – a publication that ran from 1880 – 1956 – and included work from authors as legendary as NoelContinue reading "The 1933 Girl’s Own Annual"

The Admirable Crichton by J M Barrie

The Admirable Crichton by J.M. Barrie My rating: 5 of 5 stars I came across the film first. The Admirable Crichton (1957) caught my eye because of the mention of Kenneth More – an actor who I’d enjoyed in some other films of that period, despite his rather wonderful ability in them to be nothingContinue reading "The Admirable Crichton by J M Barrie"

The Abbey Girls Go Back To School by Elsie J. Oxenham

The Abbey Girls Go Back To School by Elsie J. Oxenham My rating: 2 of 5 stars I keep trying with EJO and she keeps testing me and yet, I keep coming back. Why I cannot quit this series, I do not know. I keep putting them all in a bag to go to theContinue reading "The Abbey Girls Go Back To School by Elsie J. Oxenham"

Happy birthday How To Be Brave

My debut children’s book ‘How To Be Brave’ is out in the UK with Pushkin today. It’s quite the day. Thank you to everybody who’s got us this far – I am very grateful to you all. Purchase links: Book Nook (Hove), Amazon, Bookshop.Org, Hive, Waterstones.

A Company Of Swans by Eva Ibbotson

A Company of Swans by Eva Ibbotson My rating: 5 of 5 stars I think sometimes Eva Ibbotson can be so perfect that you can’t quite figure out how she can be better, and then she writes: “At which point there entered a deus ex machina.It entered in an unexpected form: that of a lean,Continue reading "A Company Of Swans by Eva Ibbotson"

The Yearbook by Holly Bourne

The Yearbook by Holly Bourne My rating: 5 of 5 stars I have such time for what Holly Bourne does. I like how smart and fearless and honest her writing is. I really like how she’s unafraid of giving people complex endings. Life isn’t neat. Things don’t cleanly web together. We knot, we fray, weContinue reading "The Yearbook by Holly Bourne"

On slow book collecting

I’ve been thinking a lot about the art of book collecting. It is an art, I think, for it comes with its own peculiarities, rhythms and language, and one can spend a thousand years studying it and yet still somehow not quite understand the twists of fate and circumstance that bring a book into yourContinue reading "On slow book collecting"

Peggy’s Last Term by Ethel Talbot

Peggy’s Last Term by Ethel Talbot My rating: 5 of 5 stars I recently finished a substantial bit of writing (finished, I say, in that way that Substantial Drafts Are Never Finished Oh God Oh God) and I decided to celebrate by sleeping for three weeks and then reading Peggy’s Last Term by Ethel Talbot.Continue reading "Peggy’s Last Term by Ethel Talbot"

How To Be Brave is out in one month!

Publishing is so strange. Everything seems to take forever – there’s things you can’t talk about to people for aaaaaaages, and then all of a sudden, you’re writing a post telling everybody that your debut children’s book is out in precisely one month (July 1st for the UK; July 6th for the US). Strange, yes,Continue reading "How To Be Brave is out in one month!"