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Sometimes what we need to read is a book that we know will have a happy ending — one that gives us ordinary
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For nearly 20 years I ran a second-hand bookshop in Warrington in North-West England.
It was over 2,000 sq ft, and by the time I closed it, there were about 40,000 books on every subject imaginable. Since I learned to read at the age of three and a half, I’ve never been without books in my life, and it was a dream job while it worked.
Sadly, once the internet took off and the net book agreement ceased, customers dropped off, and even selling online – which I did for a while – wasn’t enough to pay the rent and rates of such a large place.
I am now retired, with a couple of thousand books of my own, and reading is still a joy, especially when I discover new authors.
When you find a book with reviews such as “charming”, “exquisite”, “joyous”, and “a smile of a book”,
Timothy Gandy is retiring at the age of fifty-five; he has been with the same graphic design firm for
I must confess to knowing next to nothing about the Vietnam war; nothing, in fact, save that it involved
“It is a sad fact that if a young woman is unlucky enough to come into the world without expectation,
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Pat Allchorne on The Joys of Ageing
19 May, 2025
Yes, you read that correctly! If I had £1 for every time I heard someone say: “don’t get old”, I’d