Raynor Reads Stuff

Category: General musings

  • How Michael Morpurgo writes tough stuff for kids

    I may have mentioned before that I love children’s literature and I still read many children’s books. Among my favourite children’s authors is Michael Morpurgo. Now here is an author who knows how to spin a good yarn but what I really admire about his books is that there is no shying away from very…

  • January reading round up

    I set myself a couple of reading and writing goals for 2023. Nope, they weren’t New Year’s resolutions because I gave up on those a very long time ago; they’re just goals for the year. Among them were to read 200 books and attempt to write reviews for every book I have read, to read…

  • What is it with the Japanese and cats?

    I am a big fan of Japanese literature. Last year, among Japanese authors I enjoyed reading included Natsuko Imamura, Meiko Kawakami, Natsu Miyashita, Durian Sukigawa, Emi Yagi, Seishi Yokomizo and Banana Yoshimoto. And then, of course, there is one of my favourite authors and probably Japan’s biggest literary export Haruki Murakami. I have at least…

  • 2023 reading goals

    Happy New Year. May 2023 bring you health and happiness and lots and lots of new reading matter. It’s New Year’s Day and so I’m considering my reading goals for the next 12 months. As I mentioned the other day, I was extremely lucky to receive a literary abundance for Christmas ( here’s the link)…

  • Raynor’s reading round-up

    It’s the final day of 2022 and I’m going to take a quick look back at my reading year. This year I’ve been a little more organised about my reading by keeping a notebook with a list of all the books that I’ve read so I know I have consumed 177 books this year. There…

  • A very merry Christmas for this booklover

    It’s that time between Christmas and New Year when no-one knows what day of the week it is and I start itching to take the decorations down and get everything back to normal. I hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas and was well and truly spoilt – well as much as the fiscal climate allows.…

  • Why I still read children’s books

  • A literary trip around the world

    This huge chunk of gorgeousness was a present to myself on my 40th birthday in 2005. Yes, I know that makes me as old as the hills but that’s neither here nor there. I bought it because I love travelling and photography – there are some stunning pictures inside. It cost me £40, which seemed…

  • What you will find in this blog

    Hello and welcome. My name is Debby Raynor and I’ve blogged on and off for many years but this is a new venture for me – a blog about books. If something has words on it or in it, I will read it. That ranges from adult fiction and non-fiction to children’s books, newspapers and…