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No matter how prepared I think I am, there always seems to be too much to do and too little time in the lead up to Christmas. So it certainly doesn't feel appropriate to be whiling away the hours reading. But I never feel quite right if I haven't got a good book on the go.

So I was pleased to discover that Tessa Hadley's latest book is a novella (see below). I could enjoy the story in one sitting, as a perfect escape on a grey afternoon and found I returned to the Christmas preparations renewed! 

It was interesting, then, to read a newspaper article extolling the virtues of short stories, and novellas. The journalist was hoping this might become 'a thing'.

It's commonly accepted that fewer people enjoy short stories than full length novels (in 2020 a YouGov poll found that just 14 per cent of people in the UK declared short stories their favourite form of fiction), but there's a lot to be said for this more concise form, not least the fact that a short story can be enjoyed in a lunch break or a commute, an evening in front of the fire, or in a snatched hour or two between commitments over the festive period itself.

This year there have been a number of novelists publishing short story collections - Elly Griffiths, Lee Child, Stephen King, George Saunders, Eliza Clark, and the interconnected stories of Elizabeth Strout. 

We bemoan the short attention span of society generally but there's also something to be celebrated in brevity, and the skill of creating a world in few words. And isn't the winter the perfect time for a short story? What about the extraordinary 'Small Things Like These' by Claire Keegan, the ghost stories of MR James with the wind swirling outside, or Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol', of course. I think I'll be picking up a few more short stories in the next few weeks.

Thank you for reading.

I can't quite believe that it's only a week since the event with Angela Harding at The Riverside on 1 December. And I've already had to play catch up in opening the doors on my advent calendar (Angela Harding Midwinter Robin).

But I have decorated the Christmas tree and quite a few cards have gone in the post, so I'm in that dangerous position of thinking I'm making good progress in the preparations - until I find that I'm not. The days seem to vanish at this time of year, don't they?

And the weather this weekend has been disruptive. I've been thankful not to experience the terrific gales and flooding that we've seen on the west of the UK, but I've still been hunkered down at home rather than meeting friends and family as planned.  

Hopefully this week we'll have calmer conditions and we'll all be able to get on with business as usual. Though in my reading this week (see 'Exhausted' below), there was a salutory reminder that frantic activity isn't always a good thing.

So if we feel pressured to keep buying, cooking, eating, drinking, working, perhaps we should pause for a moment, get off the treadmill and take stock. 

Winter weather sometimes causes us to stop and reprioritise, but we can do that for ourselves too. 

Thank you for reading.

PS Sorry for the delay but you can take a look at this year's reading recommendations from members of the Woodbridge Book Group here.

The last book group meeting of the year took place last week and we won't be gathering together now until the end of January. But our discussion has given us lots of reading matter to pursue until we meet again. 

There were a dozen recommendations enthusiastically and eloquently shared by members of the group, and I'll be listing these on my website next week (sorry for the delay, this week has run away from me!).

We've also picked up the book we'll all be reading together in time for the discussion on Monday 27 January - it is called 'The Valley at the Centre of the World' by Malachy Tallack. It will be interesting, as always, to see what we each make of that.

At our last meeting it was good to look back on the titles we've read in 2024 and, in voting for our favourite, we found that they all had something memorable and thought-provoking to contribute.

But the overall winner? It was a resounding vote for 'Horse' by Geraldine Brooks, the book we've just finished reading. Good to end the year on a high!

Thank you for reading.
 

It was great to see so many people at The Riverside Woodbridge last Sunday when we gathered together to meet Matt the Cartoonist. And he was such a treat! 

Despite more than 30 years at the top of his game, he seems a very humble, unassuming and warm individual who has a rather infectious laugh and twinkling eyes. He clearly likes to tell a story and has a great memory for the punchlines of his cartoons from years gone by.

There was lots of laughter and I think everyone left feeling so much lighter and happier through spending time listening to Matt.

So next Sunday we will be at The Riverside again. This time meeting to hear the printmaker Angela Harding talk to us about her life and work - the places she's been and the people she's met.

Angela creates stunning pictures, but she also gets into a few scrapes as she explores the countryside for inspiration, and she tells some good stories. She's great fun!

If you haven't got your ticket, please scroll down for more details or go to The Riverside website here.

I can assure you this is another author event which will prove the perfect tonic for a dark, cold wintry day! And we'll have lots of ideas for Christmas gifts too with Angela Harding merchandise, stationery and advent calendars on sale on the day.

It's always interesting to hear from writers and artists about their lives and what prompts their creativity. But this week I've been aware of the encroaching threat of artificial intelligence (AI). Will they all soon be made redundant?!

I was listening to the 'Off Air...with Jane and Fi' podcast and was taken aback by one of their experiments. These two broadcasters had decided to test the reach of AI, for their own curiousity, and had typed in a request for a children's story. They read out the result on their programme - AI had answered all of their very particular and idiosyncratic requirements and had created a story which was engaging and humorous, and had done so in very little time. What does this mean for storytelling in the future?

This struck a chord because I had also interviewed an illustrator recently. She had shared with me how digitalisation had changed the way she worked, but AI may have even more impact. She had responded by taking time out of her working week to return to traditional methods of making art, for her own creative well being. It had caused her to view the future with more optimism.

"It’s part of the human condition to imagine, to create art. If we relinquish that to machines, what are we left with?” she said. “There will always be space for work that celebrates the maker’s touch."

So I hope you'll join me in meeting Angela Harding next week to cherish her stunning artwork and her engaging and entertaining storytelling!

Thank you for reading.
 

When I'm about to write an article, or find a theme for these newsletter messages, I need to have an opportunity for my mind to wander. And I have discovered that inspiration often strikes when I'm driving. (These are easy-to-navigate journeys with relatively light traffic and when I'm not carrying any passengers, you understand.) It's regularly proved a very productive time - I solve all sorts of problems while I'm moving along. The trick is remembering them all when I get to the destination.

But I haven't had reason to get in the car in the past few days so have looked to other means of triggering my thought processes. And I've found that knitting can do the trick!

For the past couple of years I've been knitting socks. They're small projects which are very satisfying, easily transportable with no complicated instructions to follow so I've taken them with me when I know I'll be somewhere with a lot of downtime (or when I'm watching television which doesn't require full concentration).

I've found, though, that without other stimulus, the rhythm of the needles and the progress of the project helps me think. And it seems I'm not alone.

The Olympic diver Tom Daley has attracted a lot of attention for knitting on poolside as he waits for his turn in various competitions and an exhibition of the garments he's created has just opened in Japan.

However I'm finding that knitting is also quite a thing for authors. The crime writer Josephine Tey even called her writing her 'weekly knitting'.

I remember some time ago that a children's book was about a knitted character called Milo Armadillo and the author-illustrator Jan Fearnley had written a knitting pattern so that you could make your own Milo Armadillo - which I did!

I've recently been introduced to the author MJ Robotham with her fictional memoir 'The Scandalous Life of Ruby Deveraux' and found that on Instagram @robothammandy she has posted lots of images of knitted dolls she has created, often modelled on booksellers or her publishing team, and garments themed around the characters of her novels. 

And Barbara Kingsolver, the author of 'The Poisonwood Bible' and more recently 'Demon Copperhead', has published a knitting pattern for mittens reflecting her book 'The Lacuna'.

But a friend recently sent me a link to an episode on BBC Radio Four series Shedunnit which was about crime writers who were also knitters (and many of their sleuths were knitters too!). The programme included an interview with a designer who has created a new book of knitting patterns inspired by the writing of Margery Allingham, but unfortunately it's sold out so I can't report back on it yet. I don't need any more projects though - still a few more socks to knit!

Thank you for reading.