THE BOOK THAT CHANGED THE WAY I THINK<\/p>\n The concept of how small pattern of our lives is a gripping one – and I loved the way The Midnight Library<\/span> by Matt Haig treats the whole \u2018sliding doors\u2019 notion. It was deceptively simple, but the concept very profound.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n I read War And Peace<\/em> by Leo Tolstoy during lockdown, along with my son. We had a book group for two! It needed long stretches of tranquil time and near solitude to read it, but it was sanity-saving to be so absorbed by a work of literature. Most importantly, it is the best book I have ever read. Flawless in every way and I with some of the most memorable characters in literature<\/p>\n<\/div>\n I often get asked for writing tips, and my answer is to give people On Writing<\/em> by Stephen King. I have bought literally dozens of copies. For me, it is the writer\u2019s bible and gives the best (and only) advice worth giving. It\u2019s both funny and shocking sometimes – and<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" THE LAST BOOK THAT MADE ME LAUGH I always feel guilty that I don\u2019t read every issue of Private Eye from cover to cover (my husband, Ian, is the editor), […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32730,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author",""],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.victoriahislop.co.uk\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.victoriahislop.co.uk\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.victoriahislop.co.uk\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.victoriahislop.co.uk\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.victoriahislop.co.uk\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32716"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.victoriahislop.co.uk\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32716\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32736,"href":"https:\/\/www.victoriahislop.co.uk\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32716\/revisions\/32736"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.victoriahislop.co.uk\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.victoriahislop.co.uk\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.victoriahislop.co.uk\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.victoriahislop.co.uk\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.victoriahislop.co.uk\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/9780241248782-321x493.jpg\")
THE LAST BOOK THAT MADE ME CRY
\nI was washed away by myown tears when I finished My Name Is Lucy Barton<\/em> by Elizabeth Strout. The combination oft her protagonist\u2019s memories and revelations was heart-rending and yet I never once felt I was being manipulated simply for the sake of sentimentality. The writing was brilliant and spare and I was completely caught up inside the woman\u2019s life and, indeed, her mother\u2019s.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.victoriahislop.co.uk\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/war-and-peace-321x486.webp\")
THE BOOK THAT GOT ME THROUGH A DIFFICULT TIME<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.victoriahislop.co.uk\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/on-writing-9780743211536_xlg-321x489.jpg\")
THE BOOK I MOST OFTEN GIVE TO OTHERS<\/p>\n