Reading in your Pyjamas

Although Amazon is wonderful in its convenience, for me it's all about real bookshops with beating hearts, and Lutyens and Rubinstein in Notting Hill in particular: it's my hands-down favourite.

 I always dawdle at the front of L&R, browsing the new crop, and getting tips from the (mostly) lady bibliophiles who work in the shop.

Here are a few recent and highly recommended finds. Best enjoyed tucked up in bed or sprawled (elegantly) on the sofa in a pair of POPLIN PJs!

- Why be Happy When You Could be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson 
I won't list the prizes this has won, I'll just say that it's a moving insight into Winterson's understanding of her unconventional childhood and the unconventional adulthood it shaped. I found this memoir challenging because of the absolute nature of Winterson's emotions and my own resistance to her polemical story-telling. Perhaps you don't have to believe every word someone says to enjoy their story...

- The Shaking Woman or A History of My Nerves by Siri Hustvedt
This is a pleasingly esoteric meander through the over-lapping worlds of psychiatry, neurology and psychoanalysis. A blend of personal anecdote and passionate research. Like an into-the-night (pyjama clad?) conversation with a very wise and possibly slightly neurotic friend.

- Alys Always by Harriet Lane 
The claustrophobic London literary and publishing spheres are the setting for Lane's gripping and quietly provocative novel. The eventual chill creeps up on you gradually- Lane is an excellent raconteur! This compelling novel has been foisted upon many of my friends, and they have ALL wolfed it down and loved it!  Hope you will too...

Happy #readinginyourpyjamas!