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This week I went to see the film 'Belfast', written and directed by Kenneth Branagh, which has been nominated for seven Oscars - and well deserved in my opinion!

I found it to be a very affecting film. It's important not to forget the terrifying ordeals experienced by so many people through the Troubles, particularly as communities throughout the world are living through such horrors today. 

There was also, though, a powerful sense of community with the bonds of family, friends and neighbours presented with humour and sensitivity. And the artistry of the production, the camera shots, the scene setting, the acting, clothes and music, all made for this to be an uplifting and memorable mix of joy, hope, horror and sadness. What's more the story was told from the perspective of a child, inspired by the nine-year-old Kenneth Branagh. This made it even more poignant and telling as he and his friends sought to make sense of the bewildering and frightening actions of the adults they had grown up trusting.

Another story of childhood was released last week. Justin Webb, the presenter of the BBC Radio 4 Today programme has published a memoir called 'The Gift of a Radio'. In this very entertaining and nostalgic book he nevertheless acknowledges that he didn't have a happy time growing up. Indeed his experiences are at times quite unsettling to read. But again he writes with a sensitivity and humour, and the lesson he has learned, which he shares with the reader, is that we are all multi-faceted and we need to treat each other with kindness, understanding and compassion. He hopes, he says, that we can nurture “our ability to look at ourselves and others without condemnation".

And I was interested to read the latest children's book by the presenter and writer Danny Wallace. Called 'The Luckiest Kid in the World', it explores how commercialism today relies on finding the common denominator, the thing which everyone wants. In pursuing this, though, we all risk losing what is special, unusual or creative, and "no one thinks differently or tries different things or is ever truly excited about anything ever again". And it is through the experiences of Joe Smith, "an average kid", that the reader is reassured that "however ordinary we are, we are each of us so very special".

Thank you for reading!

The past couple of years have cemented the value of books in our modern society.

Sales of both print and e-books have grown hugely as we've been offered an abundance of quality writing on all sorts of subjects. Books have enabled us to escape from our current circumstances either as a diversion from the dire news stories, or as stimulation from the monotony of a lockdown.

This week I've come across a couple of conversations exploring what we choose to read and what it delivers to us.

In the Guardian recently there was an editorial about the uncanny nack of novelists to 'predict' the future. There are the often quoted HG Wells and George Orwell, of course, but in more recent times there have been a number of novelists who delivered plots centred on a pandemic just before it became a reality.

These tales arise, Margaret Atwood claims, because writers ask the right questions and investigate 'what would happen if...'

"This is one of the great things fiction can do," the article continues, "pay a particular kind of attention. It is a kind of eavesdropping, and looking under the surface of things...Though novelists are not seers, we would do well not to underestimate their grasp on what is to come."

Meanwhile on BBC Radio 4 the wonderful author and screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce (who I was delighted to interview last year) delivered a brilliant programme about the value of children's books. Called Wonderlands, he argues that comfort reading is essential reading - these stories create our 'interior happy places', they build resilience, all of which lasts far beyond our childhood.

Keep reading!

In the 14 years we've been gathering as the Browsers Book Group, the first meeting of the year has always been popular, and it's been particularly encouraging to see that this is once more the case. The interest has been so great, in fact, that there's only room for a couple more to join us!

If you had hoped to come along please let me know before 10am tomorrow and I'll send you the details of this month's meeting. I'm afraid only those people who have registered with me by email will be allowed entry due to the high numbers and the restrictions in our current situation. But if you're unlucky this time, there's always next month! I'll have details of February's title next week and if you'd like to look back on all the past titles we've discussed click here.

Of course if we were still meeting on Zoom we wouldn't have this restriction on numbers! There are pros and cons with everything aren't there?!

Although online meetings were very different from chatting in person, everyone who took part agreed that we got to know each other a little better through the common experience of lockdown - and with our names clearly printed underneath our faces!

Now that we're meeting in person again, I thought perhaps we might build on this by sharing something of ourselves through our reading experience. This is what I've called Read Me Like a Book.

You may have seen a similar format in the Guardian each Saturday as The Books That Made Me, or as an item on the BBC2 book club programme Between the Covers. We'll see how much we can find out about each other when we answer questions such as 'my earliest reading memory', for example, or 'the last book that made me laugh', 'the book I'll never give away', or 'the book I read every year'. What would your answers say about you?

Thank you for reading.

I don't know whether it's an age thing or the times we're living in but my recall these days isn't great! And I don't think I'm that unusual.

There have been various articles on the subject, speculating that the fact our routines and social occasions have been disrupted means that we have fewer significant moments by which to anchor our memories.

Surely the extraordinary nature of our experiences would cement them in our minds, you'd think, but even the early unprecedented days of lockdown seem distant and unfamiliar. Yet there was so much that we all wanted to take from that time, we said.

It's just as well that some people do keep a record of their thoughts and activities, then.

Last week a book was published recalling the days of a junior doctor working on the frontline of the Covid-19 pandemic. It's written by the novelist Roopa Farooki who changed career in her 30s after having written eight books. Despite her challenging days, and coming home to four children, she wrote of her experiences after each shift. In an article in the Guardian she talks about how she came to write her memoir. It's a compelling and thought-provoking piece and I'm eager to read the book, but this week's recommended titles are a story as a journal, and how to write a memoir. Perhaps we'll all be inspired to record our experiences.

The end of the month is fast approaching, so it's time to think about book group. We'll be meeting at the hall in Woodbridge, so if you'd like to come along please reply to this email to let me know and I'll send you the details. We will still be monitoring numbers and taking precautions to keep everyone safe and comfortable, so I do need to hear from you before the night, please. And, if you'd like to put yourself forward for the 'Read me like a book' session we're introducing this year, let me know in your email!

Thank you for reading.

This month is known for dampening spirits. The dark days, gloomy weather and at the moment the demoralising and aggravating news stories.

So I was pleased to hear an inspiring and uplifting life story on Desert Island Discs the other day.

Simon Reeves got into trouble in his school days. He played truant, carried knives, mixed with the wrong crowds, left with no qualifications and was on the verge of suicide, yet the constant support of his family, a meeting with a kindly woman in a job centre and working hard at a menial job led to him turning his life around and having the most extraordinary opportunities.

It's a story of hope and redemption and his book recounts how he is now using his privileged role to inform, educate and entertain tv viewers about situations and populations of which we might be unfamiliar. It's encouraging, stimulating and energising. Just what I need at the moment!

Thank you for reading.