My Favourite Bookshelf

The Life of Samuel Johnson

Any time we spend with Johnson is time well spent.

The Merchant of Venice

Your first Shakespeare is always special.

Three Men in a Boat

If you feel the world is becoming too serious and the evening news too miserable, pick up this book, which has not been out of print since it was first published in 1889.

Northanger Abbey

Catherine Morland is the most endearing and attractive of all Jane Austen's heroines.

How to Be an Alien

This little book has had the English laughing at themselves for years. Laugh with them!

If Only They Could Talk

Let James Herriot take you to north Yorkshire, where the winters are hard. Read about his life with Siegfried and Tristan and their triumphs and disasters as country vets.

Arms and The Man

All Hollywood romcoms are surpassed by the opening act of this play.

The translations into contemporary English by J.R.R.Tolkien or Simon Armitage will open up the world of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

Still William

I don't think I am alone in going back to the William stories from time to time. He has certainly not been forgotten!

Take a journey to the village of Selborne with Gilbert White.