Health & Happiness
Vera & John – An Everyday Story of Family Life
Jason Wilde is a London based photographer who’s work is influenced by growing up in the city and the small dramas of family life. He looks at the shifting social landscapes reflected in the people that inhabit its diverse communities.… Read More
The No Spend Year, by Michelle McGagh
I’ve just ordered this book by Guardian journalist Michelle McGagh having heard her on Women’s Hour this week. I’m going to go the whole year without buying any new clothes, which I reckon will be hard enough but Michelle went… Read More
Run, Ride, Sink or Swim, by Lucy Fry
I read this book slightly accidentally and absolutely never expected to like it as much as I have done. I met the author Lucy Fry this week for Project Perfume (more on this later) and said I’d look at her… Read More
Summer reading: what’s on your list?
Amanda and I are about to go on holiday (not together, that would be weird) so will be taking the first two weeks of July off from work and the blog.
I am off to Spain on a family holiday… Read More
Toast & Marmalade by Emma Bridgewater
I’m only guessing, but I bet a good deal of our readers have a bit of Emma Bridgewater pottery in the cupboard. Emma’s ceramics started off as the coolest thing in the world to eat your supper off at one… Read More
Managing Your Mother In Law by Kay Rink
We are coming up to that time of year, when things can get a bit tricky between the women of the family!
Christmas has the potential to bring out the worst in everyone, so if you are a little worried… Read More
The Granny Alphabet by Tim Walker
Tim Walkers new book The Granny Alphabet is a tribute to his own Grandma Kathleen and Gamma Louis and features 26 images of older women, with accompanying poems by Kit Hesketh-Harvey and illustrations by Vogue illustrator Lawrence Mynott.
A lovely… Read More
Lean In: Women Work & the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg
Sheryl Sandberg joined Google when it was a start-up and went on to become COO at Facebook. Clearly a clever, ambitious, women, she also professes to be good negotiator and a strong networker. She also puts her success down to… Read More
Living the Good Life by Martha Stewart
Martha has written a book about ageing. Just launched, it tells us how to stay healthy and happy, Martha-style, by eating well, keeping fit and remembering that family and friends are more important than a stress-y job. I
It’s an… Read More
Lost Lanes by Jack Thurston
This a glorious book, a total treat for anyone who cycles or who dreams of packing up a picnic lunch and heading out into the countryside for an adventure. It details 36 bike rides around Kent, Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire, the… Read More
A Dog Walker’s Guide to Surrey, by Benson (a dog)
We are fortunate today to have as our guest blogger Benson, a handsome golden retriever who has just written a useful guide to dog walking around Surrey. He was helped by his human owner, Jane Eyles.
” It’s a tough… Read More
The School of Life: book series
The School of Life think we need self-help books like never before, so in conjunction with Pan Macmillan, they have launched a series of six guides for everyday living: intelligent, rigorous, well-written self-help books, put together by some of the… Read More
The Elegant Art of Falling Apart by Jessica Jones
Just when Jessica Jones thought she had it all – a job she liked and a man who loved her, in a city she adored, – she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
With the help of friends and family, she… Read More
Branded Beauty by Mark Tungate
Recently I had to get up to ‘expert’ speed on the beauty industry as part of the day job. I found this newly released book by Mark Tungate really useful. I love to read Mark’s writing, he’s an old colleague… Read More
Call the Midwife by Jennifer Worth
Call the Midwife is shaping up to be one of those memorable tv programmes that makes you feel good and weep at the same time. A wonderful insight into the lives of women in the East End in the 50’s,… Read More
The Glass Half Full; A breast cancer blog revisited by Elizabeth Glasson
Written by a ‘local mum’, this is an moving and honest account of what it’s like to have breast cancer. Insightful and often funny and uplifting, this book is a helpful and informative guide for anyone diagnosed with, or helping… Read More
How To Leave Twitter, My Time as Queen of the Universe by Grace Dent
It’s by Grace Dent, one of our favourite tweeters and writers. It must be good. Out 21st July… Read More
The Second Half of your Life by Jill Shaw Ruddock
Etcetera by Sibella Court
The Anti-Ageing Beauty Bible by Sarah Stacey & Josephine Fairley
I am a bit late to the party that is the Beauty Bible organisation that Josephine Fairley and Sarah Stacey have run for the last 15 years (that’s how long they’ve been working together). When we received a copy of… Read More
I Remember Nothing by Nora Ephron
When I heard Nora Ephron had written another book my first thoughts were ‘About time!’. It’s been nearly two years since she wrote I Feel Bad About My Neck, a reflection on growing older and how cheesed off she was… Read More
The Natural Wedding Book by Louise Moon
After admiring the lovely wedding photos on our friend myvintagevows blog this summer, we rather liked the look of this more home spun, charm-rich wedding idea, not that either Jane or I are thinking of abandoning our MADs for new… Read More
Crazy Age – Thoughts on Being Old by Jane Miller
When one reaches middle age, all sorts of realities start to hit home. The fact that we growing older can start to cause a certain amount of anguish in those rare moments alone, when one contemplates the not so distant… Read More
Dressing Your Truth by Carol Tuttle
Carol Tuttle
I was once told by someone (can’t remember who) that Self Help books were a little like cocaine, the first hit is always the best, after that you’re always trying to recreate the joy of the first exposure.… Read More
The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan
It’s not often you find me sobbing on the Piccadilly Line on the way to work, but I’ve been reading The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan. I know that doesn’t sound like a good recommendation for a book, but it… Read More
Living with Max by Sandy Lewis
In a shameless plug for family success, we would urge you to read Sandy and Max Lewis in the Sunday Times today. We’ve written about Sandy and Max before when we featured Sandy’s book Living With Max, which is a… Read More
Sheds on the Seashore by Kathryn Ferry
Sheds on the Seashore by Kathryn Ferry, traces the history of British beach huts, right back to the first wheeled bathing machines of the mid-eighteenth century. It also takes a contemporary tour around the English coast, to explore the iconic … Read More
50 is the New Fifty, apparently
Suzanne Braun Levine has just released a new book in the States called 50 is the new Fifty, which encourages the thought that life is just terrific for women in their fifties and sixties so long as they don’t waste… Read More
Life’s Too F..ing Short by Janet Street Porter
Ms Street Porter is a marmite sandwich, you either love her or hate her and we quite often swing between the two emotions, but we do admire her strong point of view and she is definitely redefining what it is… Read More
Just Me by Sheila Hancock
Being stylish isn’t always about looking fabulous, sometimes it’s about being fabulous too. Sheila Hancock is certainly well turned out at 75 with great poise, but it is her wonderfully no-bullshit, I’m-far-from-perfect-but-I’m-trying attitude that makes her such a wise bird.… Read More