books | The Womens Room

Fashion & BeautyDecember 18, 2017

Last Minute Present Suggestions: The Vanity Fair Diaries and Vogue

By Amanda

Just in case you are searching around for last minute present ideas, I can thoroughly recommend the gossipy, fast-paced, style-nostalgia trip through the eighties and early nineties that is The Vanity Fair Diaries, written by Tina Brown. It’s a detailed… Read More

Art & CultureSeptember 5, 2017

Things to Love in September

By Jane

The Return of Katherine Hamnett 1980s fashion icon Katharine Hamnett, is back and not before time, as we are in dire need of some activist fashion that comes from the heart, rather than some not so subtle marketing ploy. Her… Read More

Home & GardenJuly 14, 2017

Summer Reading: Our Best Books For The Beach

By Amanda

Summer holidays are around the corner so it seemed a good idea to round up some good reads for the beach or back garden. For anyone who hasn’t yet read Sarah Perry’s The Essex Serpent, above, so cleverly displayed in… Read More

Fashion & Beauty, Out & AboutMay 5, 2017

The Love-Child Shoe from Grenson and Persephone Books

By Amanda

As if to torture me on my year of buying nothing new, Grenson has collaborated with Persephone Books to create a delightful printed Derby that is the perfect smart summer shoe. Not only is it available in the softest of… Read More

Health & Happiness, Health & Happiness, We Are ReadingApril 13, 2017

Vera & John – An Everyday Story of Family Life

By Jane

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

Art & CultureFebruary 27, 2017

Kids Author Liz Pichon On Enjoying Success Later In Life

By Amanda

I knew I was going love children’s book author and illustrator Liz Pichon when I found out her favourite kids TV programmes had been The Double Deckers and The Banana Splits. They were mine too. She also loved Vision On,… Read More

Home & Garden, Home & Garden, We Are ReadingOctober 17, 2016

Gathered by Mary Norden and Polly Wreford

By Jane

I met Mary Norden at a couple of years ago at a friends dinner party and could tell she was a kindred spirit. Mad about flowers, a dog lover, a textile collector, passionate about colour and pattern and inspired by… Read More

Fashion, We Are ReadingOctober 4, 2016

The New Garconne, How To Be A Modern Gentlewoman, by Navaz Batliwalla

By Amanda

The author of The New Garconne, Navaz Batliwalla, writes one of my favourite fashion blogs, Disneyrollergirl, so news that she was writing a book was greeted with excitement here at TWR Towers. Navaz has a clear sighted and pragmatic approach… Read More

Home & GardenNovember 5, 2015

10 Years of Womens Fiction

By Jane

This week I went along to the ‘Best of the Best” event at the Piccadilly Theatre to mark the 20th Anniversary of the Baileys Womens Prize for Fiction. Presented by Kate Mosse Co-Founder and Chair of the Women’s Prize for… Read More

Home & GardenSeptember 28, 2015

Books and box sets: M Train and Narcos

By Jane

Last weeks Autumn Equinox marked the official end of the summer and as the nights draw in our thoughts turn to books and box sets, as we anticipate cosy nights by the fire. The highly anticipated sequel to one of… Read More

Middle Aged MumJuly 27, 2015

Middleagedmum.com: How to raise an adult

By Jane

The new book taking the US by storm at the moment “How to Raise an Adult: Break Free of the Overparenting Trap and Prepare Your Kid for Success” by Julie Lythcott-Haims looks at how US (and UK) helicopter parenting is… Read More

Health & HappinessJuly 24, 2015

How to be a grown up: books to help you cope with mid-life

By Amanda

Before we started TWR, there was very little written help on what it was like moving from your 30s and 40s into ‘middle’ age, or what ever we’re calling that feeling of realising you are a proper grown up. Where… Read More

Home & Garden, We Are ReadingJuly 21, 2015

Companion To Scented Plants by Stephen Lacey

By Amanda

While on holiday I re did a bit of my garden and wanted to put in only plants that flowered and smelled fabulous. This book was on the review pile and became my sole reference for what to plant. It… Read More

Out & About, UncategorizedJune 8, 2015

Summer Reading: Fay Weldon

By Jane

Amanda is away this week so I’m in charge! And will be theming the weeks posts around the summer as it seems it’s arrived here in London. This weekend I was mostly hanging out in my hood catching up with… Read More

Novels & Biogs, We Are ReadingApril 5, 2015

The Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkins

By Amanda

This is thrill of a read, perfect for crime and thriller lovers. Based around the narrative of Rachel, who is mostly miserable, a drinker and suffering the lingering affects of her divorce. She witnesses a visual snapshot while on a… Read More

Home & GardenMarch 4, 2015

Readers Kitchens: Abigail Ahern

By Amanda

I know! No Readers Kitchens articles for ages and then two in less than a week! I was fortunate enough to meet hot interior guru Abigail Ahern last week, when she kindly let me poke about her beautifully stylish kitchen… Read More

Fashion & BeautyJanuary 30, 2015

Denim Dudes by Amy Leverton

By Jane

We are loving the look of this new street style book, ‘Denim Dudes’ by ex-colleague and friend Amy Leverton. It explores the very best of denim styling from over 80 different denim obsessives and shows how a wide range of… Read More

Novels & Biogs, We Are ReadingJanuary 29, 2015

The Ruby Slippers by Keir Alexander

By Amanda

This is a sweet, sad and thoughtful novel to fill a bleak January or February. Set in New York, it weaves a list of characters around a mildly mild plot to sell a pair of the Ruby Slippers made famous… Read More

Out & AboutNovember 17, 2014

Buy This: Dog About Town

By Jane

I confess I am slightly biased (ok a lot) about this book as Louise Glazebrook is a friend of mine, but if you have a dog (or are thinking of getting one) and live in the city or even a… Read More

UncategorizedNovember 13, 2014

Simple Pleasures: In praise of twilight

By Jane

October and November are my favourite months of the year, after the summer I am more than ready to pull on socks and boots and head out into the leaves and mud with the dog to enjoy cold and hopefully … Read More

Art & CultureOctober 28, 2014

Books for the Christmas List

By Jane

I know it seems like Christmas is ages away which it is – as we haven’t even had Halloween yet – but if you are anything like me you will already have started writing a list of books you would… Read More

Fashion & BeautySeptember 12, 2014

Women in Clothes

By Jane

Women in Clothes is new book which looks at what women wear and what we are trying to say to the outside world with our clothes. 642 women submitted comments to the project answering questions such as “what are you… Read More

Novels & Biogs, We Are ReadingAugust 25, 2014

The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters

By Jane

Set in 1922 , in a genteel Camberwell villa, bereft of brothers, husband and servants due to the war, Mrs Wary and her daughter Frances are obliged to take in lodgers to make ends meet. Enter Lilian and Leonard Barber,… Read More

Home & Garden, We Are ReadingJuly 27, 2014

Tout Hache by Theurry De Vissant, Lucile Gargasson, Ahmed Yahi

By Jane

Lets be honest here, absolutely nobody really needs a new cook book. But sometimes one comes a long that entices you in (with me it’s usually the beautiful design) and Tout Hache has done just that, both with its stylish … Read More

Art & Culture, Health & Happiness, We Are ReadingJune 24, 2014

Summer reading: what’s on your list?

By Jane

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

Art, Culture & Craft, We Are ReadingJune 12, 2013

The Hand-stitched Home by Caroline Zoob

By Amanda

If you love those country-style floral embroideries you come across on vintage tea cosies and napkins, this book is for you. Caroline Zoob spent ten years living in Virginia and Leonard Wolf’s Monks House and the experience has influenced her… Read More

Art & CultureJune 5, 2012

The British Library: really quite nice once you are inside

By Amanda

Until last week I had never been inside the British Library. I have passed by it on the bus and hurled verbal abuse at its ugliness (topically, Prince Charles was very rude about it) but had never ventured inside. Well… Read More