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Diane Banks
- Sep 19
- 2 min
The Diary of a Provincial Lady by EM Delafield
Penguin Modern Classics, 2013 I’ve been meaning to pick up this twentieth century classic for years and, in line with expectations, it...
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Diane Banks
- Sep 18
- 3 min
TikTok Boom by Chris Stokel-Walker
Canbury Press, 2021 It’s been difficult to ignore the rise of TikTok over the last couple of years, though for many its significance...
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Diane Banks
- Jul 27
- 2 min
Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
Bloomsbury Books, 2021 This international bestselling debut is pitched around a pivotal scene in the book, whereby babysitter Emira...
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Diane Banks
- Jun 27
- 3 min
Caesar in Kent by Francis T Vine
Unspecified, 1886 I came upon this volume in my capacity as a trustee of the Eden Valley Museum, a social history museum in Edenbridge,...
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Diane Banks
- Jun 20
- 2 min
Mrs de Winter by Susan Hill
Vintage, 1999 (Sinclair Stevenson, 1993) Rebecca has recently been in my mind following last year’s Netflix adaptation, starring Lily...
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Diane Banks
- Jun 7
- 4 min
Tarzan Economics by Will Page
Simon & Schuster, April 2021 This book is positioned by its publishers as a “how-to” business book – and by the author on the book’s...
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Diane Banks
- May 19
- 3 min
The Shooting Party by Isabel Colegate
Hamish Hamilton, 1980; Penguin Classics, 2007 I ordered this modern classic, which I’ve never read, for two reasons: (i) there are an...
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Diane Banks
- Apr 27
- 4 min
The Whitney Women and the Museum they Made by Flora Miller Biddle
Arcade Publishing, 1999 I’d visited the Whitney Museum a couple of times at its old Madison Avenue location, and was pleased to find...
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Diane Banks
- Apr 5
- 3 min
The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley
HarperCollins, 2019 I’m not a big reader of crime fiction, as I generally don’t care whodunnit. I find the Gone Girls and Girl on a...
44 views0 comments
Diane Banks
- Mar 29
- 4 min
Capitalism in America: a History by Alan Greenspan & Adrian Wooldridge
Allen Lane, 2018 I read half of this two years ago, in advance of chairing a most enjoyable dinner with Economist political editor Adrian...
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Diane Banks
- Mar 16
- 4 min
Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
Gollancz, 2011 (and limited Orion author party edition, 2014) For a number of years, in the days when we did such things, every February...
26 views0 comments
Diane Banks
- Mar 1
- 4 min
Social Class in the 21st Century by Mike Savage
Plus The British Worker by Ferdinand Zweig & The Rise of the Meritocracy 1870-2033 by Michael Young Pelican Books 2015, 1952 & 1961 This...
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Diane Banks
- Feb 11
- 3 min
Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield
Doubleday, 2018 Having enjoyed Diane Setterfield’s hugely successful debut The Thirteenth Tale back in 2006 (subsequently adapted by...
44 views0 comments
Diane Banks
- Dec 29, 2020
- 7 min
A Notable Woman by Jean Lucey Pratt (ed Simon Garfield)
Canongate, 2015 (pb 2016) This diary of an ostensibly unremarkable woman is the most extraordinary book I’ve read this year. Prolific...
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Diane Banks
- Nov 23, 2020
- 4 min
The Card by Arnold Bennett
Public Domain Books (originally Methuen, February 1911) I have a penchant for that particular genre of turn-of-the-(twentieth)-century...
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Diane Banks
- Oct 25, 2020
- 3 min
For the Record by David Cameron
William Collins, October 2020 A year after publication, three years since it was supposed to be published, a month after the paperback,...
374 views0 comments
Diane Banks
- Aug 3, 2020
- 3 min
The Brideship Wife by Leslie Howard
Simon & Schuster Canada, May 2020 This debut set in 19th century British Columba intrigued me as I’ve spent some time researching the...
36 views0 comments
Diane Banks
- Jul 12, 2020
- 4 min
Hagar of Homerton by Alice Dudeney
C Arthur Pearson, 1898 I first came across Alice Dudeney whilst working with Damian Collins on his biography of Sir Philip Sassoon five...
42 views0 comments
Diane Banks
- Jul 5, 2020
- 4 min
Dressed for War: the Story of Audrey Withers, Vogue Editor Extraordinaire by Julie Summers
Simon & Schuster, February 2020 This is another excellent biography of a woman who was pivotal to history but whose contribution has been...
105 views0 comments