I cannot travel on a train without a book. I used to commute 3 hours a day, 5 days a week. This meant I read about 2 books a week. The last time I was on a train, I looked down the compartment and nobody was reading a physical book. Perhaps some were reading on their phones but their expressions suggested otherwise. For me, a book is a refuge and a time machine.
(more…)Tag: writing
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My early reading life
On Friday afternoons at Middle Street School, our headmaster would smoke his pipe and do a general knowledge quiz with us.
I liked the sweet smell of his pipe smoke (this was the 1970s) and of success: I was good at quizzes.
“It’s not fair, Miss. Alex has got books!” complained a classmate to our teacher.
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Interview with William Horwood on Skallagrigg
William Horwood is probably best known for his Duncton Wood books. But for me, his novel Skallagrigg, based on his experiences as a father of a child with cerebral palsy, is his masterpiece.
(more…)It gets the most regular and deepest and most moving correspondence. It was the book I was most pleased to write. Skallagrigg is different; I feel it’s an important subject.
Alex White writes 