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Rules of Civility by Amor Towles
Sceptre, 2011 Why? I've had this on my Kindle for years, and, with Amor Towles the talk of the town following the Paramount+ adaptation...
Diane Banks
Jul 21, 20242 min read
The Camomile Lawn by Mary Wesley
First published by Macmillan, 1984; this edition Vintage paperback Why? I was pretty sure I'd never read it, and as a sucker for...
Diane Banks
Jun 23, 20241 min read
An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears
Vintage (paperback edition), 1998 Why? I bought my copy of this bestselling, critically-acclaimed novel when it came out in paperback in...
Diane Banks
May 27, 20242 min read
Read Write Own by Chris Dixon
Cornerstone Press, 2024 Why? Like many others, I spent a considerable part of lockdown setting up my Coinbase account and MetaMask...
Diane Banks
May 19, 20242 min read
The Hotel by Elizabeth Bowen
First published by Jonathan Cape, 1927; this edition Vintage Classics, 2016 Why? The promise of a tight cast of characters, a glamorous...
Diane Banks
Mar 30, 20242 min read
The New Political Capitalism: How businesses and societies can thrive in a deeply politicized world by Joe Zammit-Lucia
Bloomsbury Business, 2022 Why? I met Joe Zammit-Lucia at a think tank event a couple of months ago and looked up this book as a...
Diane Banks
Mar 10, 20242 min read
Traffic: Genius, Rivalry and Delusion in the Billion-Dollar Race to go Viral by Ben Smith
Penguin Press, 2023 Why? Amidst speculation that BuzzFeed will finally collapse in 2024 - following in the footsteps of its fellow...
Diane Banks
Jan 21, 20242 min read
The Jacaranda Tree by HE Bates
Methuen Publishing, 2006 (first published 1949) Why? I've never read HE Bates, and associating him only with the televised version of The...
Diane Banks
Jan 16, 20241 min read
Henry 'Chips' Channon: The Diaries 1918-1938 edited by Simon Heffer
Hutchinson, 2021 Why? Like any afficionado of early twentieth-century British social and political history, I diligently purchased all...
Diane Banks
Nov 26, 20232 min read
The Rector's Daughter by FM Mayor
First published by The Hogarth Press, 1924; this edition Virago, 1987 Why? Continuing with the theme of twentieth-century novels about...
Diane Banks
Nov 4, 20232 min read
Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson
Hutchinson Heinemann, 2023 Why? I love a bit of glitz and glamour, but that has most definitely been out of vogue in fiction for the last...
Diane Banks
Sep 24, 20231 min read
The Country Girls by Edna O'Brien
Originally published Hutchinson, 1960; this edition Penguin Books 1963 Why? It was on the bookshelf where we were staying on holiday and...
Diane Banks
Sep 3, 20231 min read
Hungry Hill by Daphne du Maurier
Gollancz, 1943; subsequent Penguin paperback Why? Always a pleasure to discover an unread Daphne du Maurier on your own bookshelf. This...
Diane Banks
Aug 28, 20232 min read
Frost in May by Antonia White
Virago Modern Classics, 1978 (reprinted 1971); first published 1933 Why? Whilst discussing mid-twentieth-century novels with a friend, we...
Diane Banks
Jul 16, 20232 min read
Father by Elizabeth von Armin
British Library Women Writers, 2020 (first published 1931) Why? I’m always interested in examinations of women living unconventional...
Diane Banks
Jul 10, 20232 min read
Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively
Penguin Essentials, 2015 (originally published by André Deutsch, 1987) Why? Because it tells the story of a woman living a life...
Diane Banks
Jun 18, 20231 min read
The Go-Between by LP Hartley
Penguin Modern Classics, 2000 (originally published by Hamish Hamilton, 1953) Why? As the twentieth century becomes history, its...
Diane Banks
May 13, 20232 min read
The Chief: The Life of Lord Northcliffe, Britain's Greatest Press Baron by Andrew Roberts
Simon & Schuster, 2022 If Ukraine is the first TikTok war, the Arab Spring the first Twitter war and Vietnam the first TV war, then World...
Diane Banks
Oct 16, 20227 min read
Rule, Nostalgia: A Backwards History of Britain by Hannah Rose Woods
WH Allen, 2022 Using the current culture wars as a starting point, in Rule, Nostalgia, historian Hannah Rose Woods takes us on a...
Diane Banks
Aug 16, 20224 min read
The Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann
Grove Atlantic, 1966 (original); this edition Virago, 2003 Published in 1966 and spanning the years 1945-1965 in the entertainment...
Diane Banks
Jul 31, 20223 min read