The Haunted House by Charles Dickens, with pieces by E. Gaskell and W. Collins (1859)

I thought I would get into the Halloween spirit and spend a lazy Sunday reading a spooky book, all wrapped up indoors against the October elements. I can’t say that The Haunted House, originally published for the weekly periodical All the Year Round as one of Dickens’ Christmas stories, really spooked me, but it was…

The Civil Rights Movement – A Photographic History, 1954-68, by Steven Kasher

As part of Black History Month, this week’s Random Book of the Week is a photographic history of the Civil Rights Movement in America, a period of history that held such fascination for me as a student that I wrote an impossibly-pretentiously-titled university dissertation on it (‘The Civil Rights Movement and The Cult of the…

Savage Girls and Wild Boys by Michael Newton

This unusual book may rate as one of my more peculiar charity shop finds, with thanks to British Heart Foundation Bromley. Savage Girls and Wild Boys tells the sad stories of children who have grown up outside the framework of the family/care unit, either brought up by animals in the wilderness, or locked in solitary…

The Fairy Flute by Rose Fyleman (1921)

This week’s Random Book of the Week is a 1920s poetry collection for children, all about the little fairies that might live at the bottom of our gardens. Through writing about the ‘fairy folk’ for children, Rose Fyleman became one of the most successful children’s writers of her generation. This collection (there were others, including…

The Sack of Bath by Adam Fergusson (1973)

Another great book from the Persephone canon,  about the destruction of Bath’s unique architecture in the swinging 60s and 70s. I never thought I could be so moved by a book about architecture and its ruination but it proves that Persephone is full of literary surprises – and that I am a soppy git. The Sack of Bath was…

The Secret Museum by Molly Oldfield

First off, I must give a North London Shout Out to my fellow nerd Laura Blower (aka Blow Town – we like to give each other potential rap names, should the need for a swift career change ever arise), who has form for generously giving me nerd-tastic books. For my last birthday Laura bought me the excellent A…

The Humour of Charles Lamb

This week’s Random Book of the Week is false advertising but enjoyable nonetheless. Look at this picture: does this chap seem like a humorous man to you? Poor sod. To be fair, Charles Lamb didn’t have a particularly enjoyable life (have a look here if you want to know why) so I suggest cutting him…

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch

I’d describe Rivers of London, the first in a three-book series of the same name, as The Bill meets Harry Potter. It tells the story of DC Peter Grant, a young policeman who is recruited to the Metropolitan Police Service division that deals with magic and the supernatural and becomes the first English apprentice wizard…

It’ll All Come Right/In Absence by Joshua Whitehouse, illustrated by Charles Hunniball

There’s not a great deal I can say about this week’s Random Book(s) Of The Week. I found them, in one of those moments of glorious serendipity which are sadly too rare, hidden in an ancient copy of Milton poems in a charity shop in my homeland of Edmonton. I paid a quid for the…