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Yes, you read it right....Simon Toyne AND Kate Mosse....we really are spoiling you! a most delicious supper with a glass of wine some home made chocolates and a few surprises await you on June 26th at the glorious barn in Ditchling - but hurry, hurry, tickets going FAST.
Brighton Dome Ticket Office (01273) 709709
In person from: The Mint House, Hurstpierpoint or The Post Office, Ditchling
See y'all at the barn
Laura & Mel X
Hi Book Lovers,
The Peter James event at Danny House is SOLD OUT - but fear not, we have some very exciting authors coming to the barn in Ditchling soon.... Kate Mosse (no, not that Kate Moss, THE Kate Mosse) Simon Toyne, Harriet Laine and Dorothy Koomson are all booked in for you and we'll be telling y'all the dates very soon!
A glass of wine, a gorgeous supper and some home made treats await you in the beautiful barn in Ditchling.
We look forward to seeing you there
Laura & Mel x
"The place to be for book lovers and foodies alike" The Argus
"What a great idea. This is superb." BBC Radio Sussex
"The place to go to meet like minded people" The Mid Sussex Times
"Love it, love , love it." The Latest
Tickets are £20 and include supper and a glass of wine. Available from The Mint House, Hurstpierpoint, The Post Office, Ditchling and Brighton Dome Ticket Office (01273) 709709
Peter James has to be one of the best loved authors of Sussex Do join us for prosecco, canapes, chat and a reading from his brand new book
Dead Man's Time on 7.30pm Thursday May 16th at the beautiful Danny House in Hassocks, Sussex.
Tickets from The Mint House, Hurstpierpoint, The Post Office, Ditchling, & Brighton Dome Ticket Office on (01273) 709709
Looking forward to seeing y'all there!
Laura & Mel x
"A great place to meet like minded people over a delicious supper, a free glass of wine and chat with two best selling authors" The Express
"Sounds wonderful! What a great idea" BBC Radio Sussex
"If you love books, love food and enjoy meeting people - this is the place for you." Mid Sussex Times
That's just some of the quotes we've had from very happy people - so what are you waiting for? Grab a ticket and come and join us. We'd be delighted to see you. Our next event is April 10th at the barn in Ditchling. We have Daisy Waugh and Aifric Campbell reading from their fantastic new books.
Tickets are available from The Mint House bookshop in Hurstpierpoint, The Post Office in Ditchling or from Brighton Dome Ticket Office on (01273) 709709
Look forward to seeing you there!
Laura Lockington & Melanie Whitehouse x
We had such a great evening with Lesley Pearse - we spoke of David Bowie, Japanese sex workers,Sushi, the Kray twins and much much more. A pretty all rounded evening, I'd say!
The next event is on April 10th at the barn in Ditchling where we have Daisy Waugh reading for the first time from her new book - Melting the Snow on Hester Street. Daisy is the grandaughter of Evelyn Waugh and the daughter of 'Bron' Waugh - so writing is most definitely in her blood. She's also a journalist for the Sunday Times. Her book is set in the golden age of Hollywood and we meet Charlie Chaplin, Greta Garbo, Douglas Fairbanks and a couple that seem to have everything... Rich. Beautiful. Damned.
Aifric Campbell has written the most thrilling book - On the Floor. It's a dizzy whirl through the world of the stock exchange and Aifric was the first woman trader on the floor, so she writes from experience. Let's find out what a Dead Cat Bounce is.... and we'll talk of bankers and bonuses.
As ususal there will be a warm welcome for you, a glass of wine and a…
Dry those salty tears Book Lovers. Last minute tickets can still be bought for the Sarah Rayner & Lesley Pearse (and she's only number two in the Sunday Times bestseller list!) event at the barn on the 27th February. Call (01273) 709709
Save the date fellow book lovers... Wednesday February 27th for the masters of story telling - Sarah Rayner and Lesley Pearse are coming to Supper Club. They are both gripping reads and we're anticipating a sell out - so get in quick! Tickets available from the usual places. In person from The Mint House in Hurstpierpoint, The Post Office in Ditchling or from Brighton Dome Ticket Office (01273) 709709 The lovely people at The Mint House bookshop are also offering 10% discount on all Supper Club books, so if you want to read them before the event, you can. Do bring them along for the authors to sign! A wonderful feast awaits you as well as a free glass of wine. See y'all there! Laura x
What a fantastic evening! It was a cold and frosty night but we had a full house in teh cosy barn in Ditchling. Though we were all chilled to the bone with scary readings from Julia Crouch (who revealed that a film of her first book CUCKOO published by Headline is in the offing)and we shivered when Tom read from his book SKIN & BONES published by Preface when he describes a massacre in a small village in East Sussex - very much like Ditchling. *Scream* But the tots of quince vodka kept our spirits high! Do join us for our next Book Lovers' Supper Club on February 27th with Sarah Rayner and best selling author Lesley Pearse, who has told me that David Bowie wrote a song about her (faints with excitement) Join us on Facebook - Book Lover's Supper Club or follow us on twitter @bookloverssupper to keep uo with all the news! Laura X http://www.midsussextimes.co.uk/news/local/authors-crouch-and-bale-have-a-taste-for-fear-1-4695867
Tickets going very fast - please make sure you buy early - we don't want any tears! Thriller writers Tom Bale & Julia Crouch *SCREAM* January 16th. Doors open 6.45. The Barn, Ditchling. Nearest train station: Hassocks. Tel (01273) 719719 to buy tickets
BOOK LOVERS' SUPPER CLUB What is it? Well, it has the glorious advantage of doing exactly what it says on the tin.... If you love books, and enjoy good food and wine then this is for you. We hold the event (which is about once every six weeks) in the gorgeous vintage barn in Ditchling, East Sussex. It starts at 6.30 and you arrive and are welcomed with a glass of wine. Grab a seat at the tables and enjoy your Sussex based tapas style supper (the menu changes seasonally) but to give you a taste of the menu from last time we had: High Weald Dairy Sussex Cheese, homemade green tomato chutney, mushroom & walnut pate, courgette & lemon croquette, roasted butternut squash and spicy winter coleslaw, followed by homemade chocolate gingerbread and a nip of damson vodka. We then have a reading from a couple of best selling authors, followed by an interview with them and a chance to ask questions (as well as getting books signed) We have some truly amazing authors lined up for 2013 - so do come and join us, either on Facebook - Book Lovers' Supper Club or on twitter…
Isabel's Skin by Peter Benson published by ALMA What a treat. And the perfect weather to read this gothic tale of misty haunting horror in. Perhaps horror is too strong a word - but certainly low level menace and mystery. Stylish, sharp and memorable. I urge you to give it a go. Especially if you are curled up infront of a fire with a glass of red wine. Enjoy.
April 23rd. World Book Night. And where else would I be other than the local library - offering my services as The Book Docotor. Bored with your bookshelves? Hacked off with your holiday reading? Then come and talk to me.... I've done this a few times now, and it always starts off the same. People are a little shy, then they notice the home made Madelaines and the bottle of Maderia ( a nice Proustian touch I thought) and then pretty soon there's a queue. First up was a charming woman who just lost her sparkle with reading. "I regularly go to Waterstones, but I look at all the covers on the 3 for 2 tables and I end up buying stuff that I just know I'm not going to like" A common problem madaam, and one I can sympathise with. We had a chat about older books and she went off clutching a prescription for some Angela Thirkell, Sylvia Townsend-Warner and Molly Keane. Next up was an Irish girl who only really enjoyed science-fiction and "nothing with monsters in" Marge Piercy it is then... An elderly woman who wanted something modern. A Visit from The…
I don't know what's wrong with me. Every new book that I pick up I feel like hurling across the room. Admittedly I did set myself the onerous task of reading Dance to the Music of Time by Anthony Powell over the holidays. - three hundred characters. Yes. Three hundred. Then there was The Stranger's Child by Alan Hollinghurst. And someone who was raving about it gave me The Rules of Civility....oh dear. Well, let me say that Dance to the Music (12 volumes. Yep, 12) is going to have to dance on without me and Alan Hollinghurst who is a fabulous writer lost me on that one too... As for Rules of Civility - well, I don't feel like being very civil about it to be honest - Dominick Dunne dun it better guv. Honest. Oh yes, and I read Pure which won plaudits and prizes galore and I was like - meugh...I've read better. So it's not that I haven't been reading (frankly that will never happen) but it's just that I haven't been inspired. AT ALL. I even in a moment of desperation picked off the shelves an old Iris Murdoch - The Philosopher's Pupil. Crikey.I gave…
Well, it's been a while and I do apologise... Holidays and life has got in the way and a general dearth of what I call GOOD books. I knew I was in trouble when I was sitting at the airport waiting for a flight to Sicily and I realised that I had no shampoo or conditioner with me but I did have a lemon zester and seven paperbacks. Most of them old books that have recently been re-issued. Holiday reading fills me with panic. Madly dash around the airport books hop - NO. I once relied on that at Heathrow and it was closed - can you imagine the horror? So I bought a load of Stella Gibbons old novels that have just been released. Hmm, well... Oh dear. I mean I know that if you're written a big stonking best seller like Cold Comfort Farm you probably never need to write another book - and really, I wish she hadn't - or that I had lower expectations of them and simply hadn't bought them. 'Nuff said.
However due to the joys of The Harpies (book club) I have certain prescribed books that…
Gosh, I love foodie books. NOT cookery books (though I do of course like 'em) but books that lovingly recall forgotten meals along with memorable friends and relatives. Of course *ahem* I wrote one myself, so I would, wouldn't I? But Anna Del Conte who wrote
Risotto with Nettles raises the bar. The first thing I learnt which really surprised me was that whole towns were built in Italy to capture the sea breezes, purely for drying out pasta. So whole streets had massive fringes of fresh spaghetti drying in the sun. Must have been a wonderful sight... Also, fresh home-made pasta was in such demand and held in such high regard that women in the war would gather together over the kitchen table, often pulled out in a sunny square and make ravioli or tagliatelle to sell - and then with the money buy dried pasta to feed their families. The food is mouth watering in itself but her life story is amazing too. Shot at, nearly thrown in prison, her first job as an au pair in England, her marriage, her career as a cook are spellbinding. And then, there's…
Yes, it's cull time again. I try to be ruthless. Honest. But then sentimentality gets the better of me. Politeness, too. I mean, I KNOW some of these authors and even if I'm never, ever going to read them again, I can't chuck them. And then I'm vexed as to what to actually DO with 'em. Yes, yes, of course I do charity shops...well, to be honest, I do when I can cajole someone with strong arms to carry them there. Then we have the 'library' in the entrance hall where the top post shelf are full of the 7 flats here unwanted books. The theory is of course that you 'borrow' one and replace one. That's the theory. In practice what happens is that it gets chock with unwanted Dan Brown and Jeffrey Archer (NOT mine I hasten to add) Then I take a book bag to book club every month and dish 'em out. Ditto to friends. But even with all that I swear the pesky things are breeding. Then, the other night, it happened. The thing that I'd been dreading and…
It's my own silly fault. I was seduced. Yes, yes, by the 'one click' on Amazon. (I swear it will reduce me to bankruptcy) But those Penguin classics look so, well,
classic. Who can resist them? Also, and I lay my hand on my heart here, I thought that I would have binge of GOOD books. Now don't get me wrong there is absolutely nothing wrong with chick lit - or - women's contemporary fiction as we are all meant to call it now, Indeed, I have written books myself of that genre. But I wanted something a bit more, well, classic... So, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers seemed to fit the bill.
I'd heard of her, and she also wrote The Ballad of the Sad Cafe, so I thought I was on to a winner. But, then, oh dear... the eye started to skip paragraphs, the fidgiting got worse, and in the end I'm sorry to say I gave up. But then, what a fool I was to think that I could appreciate it anyway. Set in small town southern states in the fifties....that ALONE should have…
Of course, it isn't called Keef, but it should be...
Life by Keith Richards published by Phoenix is a whirlwind of read. The question that's always, with unfailing regularity, asked about Keef is - HOW is he still alive? Shouldn't he be dead? Well, yeah, but that's rock 'n roll baby. Actually he answers pretty early on why he's NOT dead. Quality control. Yes, you got it. Quality control. He's never been in the awful position of taking really, really cheap drugs - or as he puts it - 'Mexican shoe scrapings'. Not our Keef. It's TOP DRAWER stuff. And - hold the front page - he's never mainlined. He just banged it straight into a muscle. Phew, well that's OK then...
Keef comes over as rather a sweet old fashioned kinda boy. I think we all knew a Keef when we were younger, he never made a move on you, but somehow you ended up in his arms. Or bed. And there have been many of the
laideez in Keef's life, not least his rather formidable mum, Doris, who once told them all off in a studio in Jamaica for wasting time…
Oh no. Not another bloody vampire book I hear you groan. Well, umm, yes. Sorry about that. The Twilight saga, True Blood and all the others that seemingly breed unchecked on the shelves have been joined by a new trilogy. Well, new to me, that is. Kim Newman (a rather glorious eccentric figure himself and an utterly impeccable film buff) and his
Anno Dracula series. It seemed appropriate reading somehow. It's an English summery weekend in June. The heating's on, I'm wearing a jumper and the dog is warming my feet. Pimms? No thanks, I'll have a hot chocolate with a slug of rum in it. To warm up.
Let me introduce you to the world of London 1888. Queen Victoria has sensationally remarried to the Prince of Darkness himself - the Wallachian Prince known as Count Dracula. His (polluted) bloodline is sweeping London as more and more people are choosing to 'turn'. It's quite fashionable really. Oscar Wilde turned, still hiding his bad teeth behind his hands. Smoked glasses and the gothic look are affected by the fashioables. Of course, all that rubbish put about by Van Helsing about garlic and crucifixes doesn't…
Now, I must admit that the re-working of fairy tales with a modern twist never appeals to me. Too much whimsy and it can border dangerously with magic realism. You know, one minute your protagonist is looking in a mirror and the next minute she's turned into a snake. Oh no. Not for me thanks. So this book - well, I say book, but it's an unbound proof copy in the tiniest print you can imagine, has languished for weeks under a pile of books beside my bed. On the floor, actually, as said bedside table is about to collapse under the weight of far too much printed material (another nudge to buy a Kindle? No, banish that thought) Anyway, the time came when I had run out of reading material and I reluctantly picked it up. The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey published by umm...gosh, I don't know...it doesn't say. I'll google it in a moment and let you know. But my goodness I'm SO glad that I did. I had to finish it one swoop. It's wonderful. It made me realise that I really love anything set in the snow - it's so seductive...and it reminds me of those wonderful…
Aren't librarians nice? And most publishers, too. I was at The Reading Agency Roadshow which was held at Brighton library (an opportunity to pitch new books to libraries) and at the end of the day the generous publishers gave some books away (or perhaps they just didn't want to carry them home - no - banish that unworthy thought) And I was given The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh published by Macmillan. Now, clever,
clever Macmillan have also published a little handbook as well by Mandy Kirby with a forward by Vanessa to accompany it. Double whammy huh? But well worth it. Enchanting. I loved it. The novel is fascinating, but the concept of the Victorian language of flowers bought up to date is charming. Of course, the Victorians didn't actually make up bouquets telling a story (of a love affair - natch) but they were used as talking points on a dinner table, or a conversation piece on an over mantle. Geranium? True friendship. Marigold? Grief. Nasturtium? Impetuous love. Moss? Maternal love. Violet? Modest worth. Periwinkle? Tender recollection. Awww.... Roses of course had many, many meanings depending on the colour. So I…
Don't, what ever you do, read
Redeeming Features by Nicholas Haslam in one sitting. You may be tempted to, but don't. You'll be exhausted. Honestly. It's like going to a giddy cocktail party that you can never leave. One more enticing nibble, maybe another of those prawny things and half a glass of champagne and a quick chat to that fascinating man who's wearing a rather divine paisley shirt tinkling on a piano and you'll make your goodbyes. Two hours later and the room is even more crowded and somehow you're drinking a Manhattan and agreeing to go on holiday in a villa share in rather a marvellous undiscovered island somewhere in the Adriatic.
When you finally tear yourself away, you have to go and lie in a dark room and sip ice cold water for a few hours and then feel that your life up and till now has been rather dull indeed.
It then give you time to wonder if maybe it would have been all so different if a) you had been born a pretty gay boy with a sparkling wit, a good eye for the finer things in life b)…
A clutch of freshly laid eggs were delivered to me yesterday by Mr B who keeps bantams in his garden. The Girls, as they are known, practically have their own web site, so popular are they. They are indeed splendid creatures and have regular spa days
chez Mr B.
I was pretty bird-phobic till I met them, but they have won me over with their endearing habit of 'pock pocking' calls of greeting and being very fond of being stroked till they fall into a pretty feathered coma of contentment in your lap.
Anyway, I got to thinking about all things hen-like in books and a remarkable thing arose: All clearly bonkers people have, at some time, lived in a hen house. In fact and in fiction. I adored the story of Lady Gladys, who had one of the first nose jobs that went a little awry. She had demanded a nose based on a classical bust, and it was duly done but filled with wax, so that she could never sit in front of a fire lest it melt (which apparently it did). She had great beauty and wealth and…
Well, I am quite aware that some of you, well, thousands of you went to Trafalgar Square to hear starry authors (amongst them the perfect poppet that is David Nicholls and the sublime Margaret Atwood) but here in Brighton we made do with Brighton Library. And being Brighton is was... well, it was somewhat
different. We had performance poetry about dog poo, we had pirates, we had a 90 year old woman reading her first book that she'd had published last week into a non-working microphone and a blind woman was emoting in Children's Corner to a group of spellbound kids. There was also Shedman (don't ask, I haven't got a clue.) Oh yes, and there were the Library Whisperers - a group of thin young men in dodgy looking raincoats who accosted you to 'whisper' about their favourite books, but they were all a bit too nervous and congregated in the Green Room eating kit-kats. Our brave author, Andrew Kay read aloud from his favourite book (
My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell) straining to make himself heard over the unprecedented noise and chaos of the library. And jolly well…
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