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The Duchess of Cornwall names her all-time favourite books
An avid reader, The Duchess of Cornwall has long promoted the importance of literacy via her patronages of the National Literacy Trust and BookAid International — among many other bodies — as well as her popular literary hub, The Reading Room. Here, she selects her three favourite books.
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'Russia must be isolated. Utterly walled off,' said the Russian. 'When Putin falls, the new regime will be the same as the old'
Jason Goodwin heads east and meets an exiled Russian with an eye-opening perspective.
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Thomas Hardy's Wessex vs the real-life Dorset: Which bits are real, which dreams, and which are exact to the last stream and stile
Thomas Hardy’s depictions of a fictional Wessex and his own dear Dorset are more accurate than they may at first appear, says Susan Owens.
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Jonathan Self: What I found out when I finally read a book I'd been meaning to read for 40 years
The author finally plucked up the courage to read Montaigne — here's what he made of it.
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In Focus: Gerald Durrell, the 'pioneer with a marvellous sense of humour'
The author, conservationist and avid nature-lover describes his childhood in Corfu with the 'recollections of a child in a kind of earthy paradise,' in his book, My Family and Other Animals, finds Jack Watkins.
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Jonathan Self: The greatest novel of the 20th century? Maybe, but 'Ulysses' still sent me to sleep within three pages
Jonathan Self looks back on some of the great books published exactly a century ago.
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The rare images of J.R.R. Tolkien which caused a sensation at auction
Pamela Chandler's portraits of the great J.R.R. Tolkien went under the hammer recently, almost doubling the estimate set by the auctioneers.
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How M.R. James wove country house architecture into his ghost stories
In his ghost stories, M. R. James had a perceptive eye for architectural detail, as Jeremy Musson explains and Matthew Rice evokes in specially commissioned drawings.
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The 100 greatest cathedrals in Europe, as picked by Simon Jenkins
Simon Jenkins gives himself a daunting task with his latest book, Europe's 100 Best Cathedrals (Viking, £30), which does no less than attempt to both explain and judge the masterpieces of western civilisation. Clive Aslet took a look and found a tome that will set readers 'afire to go on architectural pilgrimage'.
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In Focus: Why the eerie thrives in art and culture
The tradition of ‘eerie’ literature and art, invoking fear, unease and dread, has flourished in the shadows of British landscape culture for centuries, says Robert Macfarlane.
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Anne Glenconner: How rehabilitating Princess Margaret made her a literary phenomenon on the cusp of her tenth decade
Anne Glenconner, the former lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret who has become a publishing phenomenon, speaks to Flora Watkins about finding fame late in life. Main photograph by Hal Shinnie.
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The English villages that are hotbeds of murder, intrigue and endless summer days — at least in the minds of novelists
Comforting yet complex, intriguing and alluring, the village setting is territory to which writers — and readers — will return again and again. Flora Watkins looks at how the customs, characters and communities of the English village have long sparked literary inspiration, from Jane Austen to Midsomer Murders.
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The enduring appeal of Peter Rabbit
Beatrix Potter's most famous creation, Peter Rabbit, remains as popular as ever, despite his genesis being well over a century ago. Jack Watkins investigates the enduring appeal of one of the naughtiest rabbits in children's literature.
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The best gardening books for summer
Our gardens editor Tiffany Daneff picks out her favourite new books on gardening, featuring the likes of Sarah Raven, Arthur Parkinson and her predecessor at Country Life, Kathryn Bradley-Hole.
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In Focus: A photographer's magical celebration of the farmers of Yorkshire
Photographer Valerie Mather has chronicled the lives of farmers in her award-winning images, which are now collected together together in a handsome book: Yorkshire Born & Bred: Farming Life.
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How the Lifebook autobiography service is keeping memories alive for generations to come
Many of us have ageing family members who have lived truly extraordinary lives, but have never had a chance to record them properly. Lifebook seeks to put that right by helping people write autobiographies and preserve their tales forever.
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In Focus: Thomas Geve, the boy who drew Auschwitz
After being liberated from a Nazi death camp, a Jewish boy sketched more than 80 profoundly moving drawings detailing his incarceration. Charlie Inglefield explains how he came to co-author a book of Thomas Geve’s powerful words and pictures.
