Travels with Agatha Christie
David Suchet: Travels with Agatha Christie (Constable 2025) David Suchet is best known for portrayingAgatha Christie’s famous detective Hercule Poirot for 25 years, but he has also had a number of other roles: in his youth he played Inspector Japp alongside Peter Ustinov’s Poirot. In his opinion, an actor should not own a role, everyone should be given the opportunity to play the character, so he wishes future Poirots all the best. He is a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company and was knighted in 2022. He has two grown-up children and currently lives in London with his wife. In the summer of 2024, he was given the opportunity to travel around the world in the footsteps of Agatha Christie, the author who participate in the international tour of the British Empire in 1922. David Suchet completed the then 10-month tour in 57 days, during which he traveled to 6…
The style of Esme Young
Esme Young: Behind the Seams (Bonnier Books 2022) Most people know fashion designer Esme Young from the show The Great British Sewing Bee, which ran for the 12th time this year in the United Kingdom with unbroken success. In the show, hobby seamstresses introduce themselves and compare their skills to decide who is the best in Great Britain that year. In each show, they have to demonstrate their skills in three tasks: sewing from a pattern, altering, and making a custom-made garment. A two-person jury evaluates their work: Esme Young and Patrick Grant. However, Esme Young already had a significant career behind her when she joined the show. She had been interested in clothes since childhood and was able to truly express herself through her drawings. She made her first garment at the age of seven. She studied at a boarding school at a young age, and later graduated as…
Seaside romance
Haley Pham: Just Friends (Atria Books 2026) Blair and Declan have been inseparable since childhood. They knew each other better than they knew themselves. They waited until the end of high school to confess their feelings for each other, but unfortunately their story took a negative turn and they ended up breaking up with anger and sadness. Now, four years later, Blair returns to her seaside hometown of Seabrook to help her mother to care for her aunt Lottie. In order to do something and earn a little money, Blair takes a job at a coffee shop – only to discover that it is run by none other than Declan. The boy she loved the most in the world and whose loss she still hasn’t gotten over. Will they have a second chance? What is more important to them: the past or the future? I don’t like romantic stories, but…
Newbery Medal Winner Books
The John Newbery Medal has celebrated the finest works of American children’s literature since 1922. Named after 18th century British bookseller John Newbery, the Newbery Medal, or Newbery for short, was introduced in 1921 by Frederic G. Melcher, editor of Publisher’s Weekly magazine, to encourage original, creative storytelling in children’s literature. He wanted to emphasize that children’s books deserved the same recognition as poetry, plays, and novels. He wanted to help librarians who spend their lives trying to give the best books to the children The Newbery Medal was the world’s first children’s book award, and it is still awarded annually. In 1922, the first was won by Hendrik Willem van Loon for his book The Story of Mankind, and in 2026, Renée Watson received the award for her novel All the Blues in the Sky.
Vacation and murder
Agatha Christie: Evil under the Sun (first published in 1941) Poirot is usually associated with the novels Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile, but there are also many other stories about his investigations. The Mysterious Affair at Styles, was published in 1920 and soon brought fame to the author and also to her fictional detective. Hercule Poirot investigates in a total of 33 novels and 7 short story collections. Since The Mysterious Affair at Styles, there have been many movie, theater, cartoon and graphic novel adaptations. There was even a video game made about the Belgian detective, and his most famous movie actor is David Suchet. Adaptation of the stories is still happening in the form of movies and series. Thanks to Sophie Hannah, we can see the world’s most famous detective investigating again in book pages. Poirot needs a break and hopes to spend his…
Superhero squirrel
Kate DiCamillo: Flora and Ulysses (Walker Books 2014) It all started with a vacuum cleaner. One late summer afternoon, Flora was reading her favorite comic book in her room – contrary to her promise to her mother that she would “work to turn her face away from the idiotic high jinks of comics and toward the bright light of true literature”. Her mother is a writer, she writes romance novels – Flora therefore says she should not say anything about “idiotic high jinks”. Returning to the vacuum cleaner – the device in question sucks up a squirrel, which is only saved by Flora’s intervention, but the accident does not pass without consequences: the squirrel gains superpowers. This is the beginning of a special story that will have a great impact not only on Flora’s life, but also on the lives of her family and friends. I have never read anything…
Classics – Wuthering Heights
Emily Bronte: Wuthering Heights (first published in 1847) Everyone knows Wuthering Heights, even those who haven’t read it. Heathcliff and Catherine are such remarkable figures of world literature who have inspired many other artists and have become immortal not only in books but also on the screen. The novel is set in the harsh countryside of the Yorkshire moors in Northern England, where after a few weeks of summer, cold winds dominate the landscape. The environment is not only background, but almost becomes a character in the story. Emily Bronte was born in 1818 as the fifth child of a curate. Of the six siblings, only four survived to adulthood, but three made a lasting impression on the history of world literature. Poverty and poor health conditions took their toll on her health. She died at the age of thirty, but a year before that she had written one of…
Weekend murder
Agatha Christie: The Hollow (originally published in 1946) Agatha Christie’s first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, was published in 1920 and soon brought fame to the author and also to her fictional detective, Poirot. Hercule Poirot investigates in a total of 33 novels and 7 short story collections. Since The Mysterious Affair at Styles, there have been many movie, theater, cartoon and graphic novel adaptations. There was even a video game made about the Belgian detective, and his most famous movie actor is David Suchet. Adaptation of the stories is still happening in the form of movies and series. Thanks to Sophie Hannah, we can see the world’s most famous detective investigating again in book pages. Poirot usually solves crimes with his exceptional mind and understanding of human nature. Here he will need both, as instead of a pleasant invitation to lunch, he is presented with a staged opening…
The most valuable children’s books
Since 1996, AbeBooks has provided a place for independent sellers to sell their new and used books and for buyers looking for rarities. In addition to first editions and dedicated copies, you can also find magazines, photos, maps and letters on the site. The millions of books and other items come from sellers from more than 50 countries. It is a subsidiary of Amazon since 2008 and it has several international sites. At the site, I read about the most valuable children’s books, from which I highlight those that I am familiar with. The Hobbit was first published by Allen & Unwin on 21 September 1937. The story, which marked the beginning of fantasy literature, was initially published in just 1,550 copies. One of these sold for £45,050 on AbeBooks in 2003. More affordable editions are still available on the website, but even these can cost hundreds of pounds. A…
My Bonkers Mum!
Gunnar Helgason: My Bonkers Mum (originally published in 2015 under the title of Mamma Klikk!) You think your mom is a difficult case, just wait until you meet Stella’s… Stella is 12 years old, about to turn 13, and that’s exactly the problem. She wants a perfect 13th birthday party, but she’s afraid her mom will ruin it with some phenomenal idea. She wants to team up with her siblings Palli and Siggi, but they don’t understand what her problem is because they think their mom is funny. Stella wouldn’t leave it to chance anyway, no matter how funny her mom is, she wants to change her to be normal. As I read the book, I realized that there’s nothing wrong with Stella’s mom, she’s very kind and humorous and a real mother tiger. All her fantastic ideas are fueled by pure love. I loved every member of the family,…