Madelaine - the book thief / Hampshire Reading Detectives

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Postscrpt to a previous find

12 January 2010 I visited a local printer this afternoon and noticed on the side a newly published book by Jean Crossley whose book A Daughter of Winchester I wrote about in a previous blog. I was quite surprised and asked if it... Read more or Comment

The uses of a detective

12 January 2010 I was standing in the library the other day when I met a friend. She was with her son and searching for some Hampshire poetry for the son to write about for his English homework. Straight away I was able... Read more or Comment

A Daughter of Winchester Find!

1 December 2009 A neighbour recently loaned me a book which she thought would interest me because of a local history project I am working on. Actually the book turned out to have nothing at all about my part of Winchester but it... Read more or Comment

And here is one we missed Find!

6 November 2009 Reading through book reviews on the net recently I discovered 120 1152x882 Normal 0 Timothy's Book: Notes of an English Country TortoiseThe reviewer obviously enjoyed this book which has obviously only been recently published as 'an elegant little hardback' 'This... Read more or Comment (1 comments)

Reading the countryside Find!

31 October 2009 It seems strange to be highlighting for Reading Detectives some books with few words, but the cartoon books of Norman Thelwell grew so much out of the Hampshire Countryside that I feel they need to be included here. Although Thelwell... Read more or Comment

Magical writing for children Find!

30 September 2009 Judith Heneghan wrote her first book The Magician's Apprentice as her dissertation piece for the MA Writing for Children run at the University of Winchester. Later renamed Stonecipher this adventure story has in it everything I loved in stories as a... Read more or Comment

Inspired by the Tichborne Claimant Find!

30 September 2009 Last night I attended a talk in Winchester's Pilgrims' School hall by author Robert Goddard. Although I knew that Robert was born in Fareham and had at one time lived near Winchester I hadn't really considered that any of his... Read more or Comment (1 comments)

Gypsy Girl Trilogy Find!

30 September 2009 Children's writer Elizabeth Arnold has lived for a number of years in the New Forest and it was witnessing the lives of the Romany families, who travel through and camp in the Forest, that gave her the idea for her Gypsy... Read more or Comment

Coffee with Date and Walnut Loaf Find!

30 September 2009 When I first met Elizabeth Bewick I didn't know that she was a poet. I was beginning an Oral History project about the area of Winchester where I live and Elizabeth was the first person to put herself forward as... Read more or Comment

Two blokes and a shed Find!

28 September 2009 On a walk this morning my companions and I stopped to look across at the local allotments - pick out the best, see who wasn't working on theirs, and check out who had covered their leeks.While discussing the various advantages... Read more or Comment

In the shadow of the Cathedral Find!

28 September 2009 By the very nature of a residency, a writer will be influenced by the place in which that residency is situated. I have read some wonderful collections of poetry created out of Writer in Residence Projects, notably Silk which resulted... Read more or Comment

Betjeman explores hidden corners of Hampshire Find!

18 September 2009 The name of John Betjeman is hardly expected in association with the county of Hampshire - that honour lies more with Oxfordshire (or of course Slough!) but in his collection of topographical and architectural writings First and Last Loves there... Read more or Comment (1 comments)

A272: An Ode to a Road (by Andy)

14 September 2009 [The following is written by Andy, Madelaine's other half, for reasons that will become evident.] There are, sadly, few guides to individual British A-roads. In fact I can think of only one other, a 1980s BBC Bristol TV series called... Read more or Comment (2 comments)

An Ode to a Road Find!

6 September 2009 A272 An Ode to a Road, is a book about ... a road... the A272 ... which runs through Sussex and then Hampshire to Winchester and beyond. It isn't a travel book as such, or a book of topographical writing...... Read more or Comment

The story of a house Find!

6 September 2009 The village of Hinton Ampner Lies eight miles east of Winchester in an unspoilt sweep of chalk countryside. The village is tiny, just a cluster of houses a pub, a small but beautiful parish church and a manor house. Hinton... Read more or Comment

Future Princes of Winchester Find!

30 August 2009 I think I have always been aware that The Prince in Waiting trilogy by John Christopher (Samuel Youd) was set in and around a future Winchester, but as I am not a great Science Fiction fan I hadn't ever given... Read more or Comment

The Marlows, their maker and stealing a corner of Dorset Find!

14 August 2009 The author Antonia Forest spent all of her writing career living in Bournemouth. Now I know Bournemouth isn't in Hampshire NOW, but it was until 1974, and as Antonia Forest wrote eleven of her 13 books before 1974 I am... Read more or Comment

Poetry in the pub

14 August 2009 Once a month, several local residents get together in the pub and read poetry, short stories and other 'pieces' to each other. Mostly they are inspired by the area of Winchester in which we live - Hyde - but they... Read more or Comment

Winchester the whole day through Find!

10 August 2009 Patrick Gale was born in 1962 on the Isle of Wight (which was once a part of Hampshire but is no longer) but grew up and was educated in Winchester; first at Pilgrims School and later at Winchester College. Gale's... Read more or Comment

Odo's Hanging is missing Find!

7 August 2009 Don't you just hate it when you go looking for a book on your shelves and it isn't there? It isn't where it should be and it isn't anywhere else either. I had been thinking about the book Odo's Hanging by... Read more or Comment (1 comments)

Some Hampshire road signs read Jane Austen Country Find!

5 August 2009 I'm off to Chawton today to visit the Jane Austen House Museum, and here I have to come clean and mention that I have actually worked for the Museum for the last twelve months. July saw the 200th anniversary of... Read more or Comment

Finds

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