Archive for the ‘Books’ Category

Burns’ Night

Posted by Susan Tomes on 26 January 2021 under Books, Inspirations  •  2 Comments

Last night, on Burns’ Night, my book group met on Zoom to read Robert Burns’ poem ‘Tam O’Shanter’. Several members of the group had grown up taking part in annual Burns recitations on January 25, with prizes given for the best or most dramatic performances. They recalled the sound effects and props used by winning […]

Fatima, and an excerpt from ‘J is for Job (not a proper)’

Posted by Susan Tomes on 13 October 2020 under Books, Concerts, Daily Life, Musings  •  2 Comments

In response to yesterday’s outrage about an HM Government ad showing ‘Fatima’, a young ballet dancer as an example of someone who might switch to ‘working in cyber’, I’m posting an excerpt from ‘J is for Job (not a proper)’, from my book A Musician’s Alphabet (Faber, 2006). It seems to have new relevance at […]

A fine insult learned from a piper

Posted by Susan Tomes on 28 January 2020 under Books, Inspirations, Teaching  •  Leave a comment

I have been reading an enthralling book, ‘A Hundred Years in the Highlands‘, written in 1921 by Osgood Mackenzie. He was the founder and owner of the famous gardens at Inverewe. Osgood Mackenzie was an elderly man when he wrote the book and could recall childhood incidents from the 1850s, as well as many tales […]

The range of topics at the EdBookFest

Posted by Susan Tomes on 11 August 2019 under Books  •  Leave a comment

For the past couple of days I’ve been at the Edinburgh Book Festival  (one of the world’s major literary festivals) listening to other writers’ talks –  that is, when I could hear them over the noise of the thunder, lightning and rain battering on the canvas roof (in August). Last night we were at a […]

Edinburgh International Book Festival event

Posted by Susan Tomes on 28 July 2019 under Books  •  5 Comments

As August approaches, Edinburgh is suddenly full of posters advertising the thousands of Festival and Fringe events about to be unleashed upon us. You can feel the city is about to overflow with visitors. One of the most popular of the several festivals which co-exist in the city in August is the Book Festival which […]