More about books

My More About Books bookstore where books can be purchased online can be found here or from any 'buy this book online' link. If you buy books linked to this site, I earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops.

For book news, events and recommendations, sign up for my weekly e-newsletter here.

As a writer and editor, I have enjoyed many years meeting and interviewing many fascinating people, and visiting wonderful locations worldwide. Take a look at my website here for an archive of my published articles.

These days I also indulge my passion for books, reading and writing by interviewing authors, hosting events and sharing my reviews and recommendations.

I've organised visits to Woodbridge by Alexander McCall Smith, Margaret Drabble, Victoria Hislop, Griff Rhys Jones, Kate Mosse, Deborah Moggach, Maggie O'Farrell, Michael Morpurgo, Robert Peston, Kate Humble, Max Hastings and many more.

I've interviewed Simon Mayo for the First Light Festival; Simon Garfield, Anna Pavord and Melissa Harrison for The Cut Halesworth; Louise Doughty, Salley Vickers and Esther Freud for Felixstowe Book Festival; Barbara Erskine and Alan Johnson MP for Suffolk Libraries, as well as authors for Lavenham Literary Festival, FolkEast and the HighTide Festival in Aldeburgh.

For more than 10 years I co-hosted a book club on air for BBC Radio Suffolk with the afternoon presenter, Lesley Dolphin. You can listen again to our conversations by following the link below. 

In 2008 I launched an open book club in Woodbridge and we have been meeting each month ever since.

Each week I compile an e-newsletter offering book news, author events, my reviews and recommendations. If you'd like to receive it, please click here.

Thank you for reading
Catherine

What's on

I am always planning new events but at the moment I have nothing quite ready to announce.

Events Archive

Visit my archive pages for details of all events in recent years.

Listening in

For more than 10 years I co-hosted a monthly book club on BBC Radio Suffolk with the presenter Lesley Dolphin. You can listen to past discussions here.

Book Groups

WOODBRIDGE
I've been hosting an open Book Group in Woodbridge for the past 17 years. We used to meet in the town's bookshop but are now gathering in a hall just off the Thoroughfare. Please ​​​​sign up for the weekly e-newsletter here to receive details. 

Alison
by Lizzy Stewart
A graphic novel! It's an increasingly popular genre so what will we make of it? This book has had rave reviews and is described as 'a story as old as the hills' made fresh and new by illustrations which are 'Posy Simmonds meets Edward Bawden'.
Monday, 25 March 2024 - 8:00pm

FRAMLINGHAM
I'm leading a monthly adult book group at the fabulous Ottie and the Bea children's shop in Framlingham. You can find out about how to join in the meeting and sign up here or call in to the shop to learn more and browse the wonderful selection of children's books and gifts. The book we are reading this month is

The Island of Missing Trees
by Elif Shafak
It's Cyprus in 1974. Two teenagers enjoy happy meetings together in a tavern underneath a fig tree, until their differences, war and separation tear them apart. A magical tale of belonging and identity, love and trauma, memory and amnesia, destruction and renewal. What will we make of it?
Wednesday, 17 April 2024 - 7:30pm

Reader recommendations

At the end of each year, members of the Book Group meet together to share their favourite titles and offer ideas for gifts for friends and family, and for new authors to try ourselves. For 2023 the titles that were mentioned are listed here.

Buying books

I've linked the reviews on my website so that you can purchase online if you wish (and I will receive a small commission for each purchase, with a further commission going to all independent bookshops). 

Click here for my page on bookshop.org and do consider using it whenever you wish to buy online. 

Book reviews

My recent recommendations

Here are the books I've been enjoying recently, both fiction and non-fiction titles.

Tara French
A tense thriller sent in West Ireland, with all the flavour of an American western.
Publication date: 7th March 2024
Hardback edition
CL Miller
Cosy crime set in Suffolk with antiques. What could be better!?
Publication date: 29th February 2024
Hardback edition
Charles Duhigg
Recommended non-fiction
Some people are great at facilitating discussions and aiding decisionmaking. What can we learn from them?
Publication date: 22nd February 2024
Hardback edition
Alexia Casale
A cosy crime feel with a very serious and powerful message. Brilliant!
Publication date: 14th March 2024
Hardback edition
Kim Donovan
Recommended non-fiction
The author investigates the murder of her great-great aunt in Great Yarmouth in the 19th century.
Publication date: 22nd February 2024
Jessica Bull
Novelist Jane Austen finds herself the investigator of a murder when her younger brother is implicated in the crime.
Publication date: 25th January 2024
Hardback edition

For children

These are my most recent recommendations for children. Click here to see listings by age.

by Hans Konnecke and illustrated by Ole Konnecke
A wonderful mix of fun illustrations and fascinating facts about musical instruments. Something here for all ages but aimed at 4-8 years.
Publication date: 1st March 2024
Hardback edition
by Charlotte Middleton
A delightful story about a guinea pig with wonderful collage illustrations sharing messages about the environment and cultivation, suitable for...
Publication date: 22nd February 2024
by Jen Carney
A warm, funny, big-hearted book about a boy who's good at drawing who has a dog who isn't good at tricks. And much more.
Publication date: 1st February 2024
by Phil Hickes
A boarding school ghost story adventure - set in Suffolk!
Publication date: 1st February 2024
by Rachel Bright and illustrated by Nadia Shireen
This is a funny, rhyming story about a snail, Gail the Snail in fact, who has always wanted to go to space and how she manages to achieve it. 
Publication date: 18th January 2024
Hardback edition
by Kes Gray
In Daisy's latest exploits, we learn all about space in class projects, and also how it's best not to replicate the solar system on your...
Publication date: 4th January 2024

Look out for

These titles will soon be published but are not yet available in the shops. 

by Susan Smillie
Recommended non-fiction
A solo sailing voyage from Land's End to Greece - inspiring and uplifting. Loved it!
Publication date: 21st March 2024
by Claire Parkin
Publication date: 21st March 2024
by Olivia Ford
Publication date: 28th March 2024
by Matt Gaw
Recommended non-fiction
Publication date: 28th March 2024
by Paula Sutton
Publication date: 4th April 2024
by MJ Robotham
Publication date: 11th April 2024
by David Nicholls
Publication date: 23rd April 2024
by Erica James
Publication date: 25th April 2024
by Clover Stroud
Recommended non-fiction
Publication date: 9th May 2024
by Sarah Crossan
Publication date: 23rd May 2024

News

Sunday 17 March 2024

Make believe

This week I paid a fleeting visit to the London Book Fair and had a rather overwhelming reminder of the vast and vibrant world of publishing.

Amidst the acres of stands, the thousands of attendees and exhibitors, and the intense programme of workshops, talks and seminars, I stumbled across an author whose comments have kept me thinking all week.

Taylor Jenkins Reid is the creator of a number of bestselling novels and has a not insubstantial social media following.

I was going to attend her session out of curiosity and located the venue in good time, intending to rock up at the last minute (if I didn't find something better to do!). However, a good hour before she was due to speak, the queue stretched far into the distance, so I joined it, though felt a little out of place among all the glamorous young women clutching their phones.