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Diane Banks

In July 2020, in an attempt to bring my reading rate in line with my book-buying rate, because books are first and foremost a starting point for debate, and because reading is inherently a social activity, I committed to writing a few words about every book I read.

Thoughts and comments welcome.

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Lily by Rose Tremain

Jan 23, 2022
4 min

Lily by Rose Tremain

Chatto & Windus, 2021 My interest in Thomas Coram’s Foundling Hospital - which opened in 1741 and was operational in some form until the...

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The Weekend by Charlotte Wood

Jan 9, 2022
3 min

The Weekend by Charlotte Wood

Paperback 2021, Weidenfeld & Nicolson (first published in Australia 2019, Allen & Unwin) This was a well-timed read in that it’s set over...

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Silverview by John le Carré

Jan 2, 2022
1 min

Silverview by John le Carré

Penguin, October 2021 I first encountered John le Carré, aka David Cornwell, on a conference call shortly after starting at Hodder &...

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The Radical Potter: Josiah Wedgwood and the Transformation of Britain by Tristram Hunt

Dec 27, 2021
5 min

The Radical Potter: Josiah Wedgwood and the Transformation of Britain by Tristram Hunt

Allen Lane Books, September 2021 A biography is shaped by the identity, interests and experiences of its author as much as by its...

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Break the Internet: In Pursuit of Influence by Olivia Yallop

Dec 12, 2021
4 min

Break the Internet: In Pursuit of Influence by Olivia Yallop

Scribe, November 2021 I’ve written recently about how so-called “influencer culture” should be seen as a microcosm of wider trends and...

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