Early December ideas for gifts! Having mentioned Martin
Edwards’ new book this week, now I have more.
One of the best things I did this year was sign up to Strong
Words, an excellent newsletter and magazine edited by Ed Needham. This
means that every Sunday I get an email called the Strong Words Sunday Book Club,
which discusses a surprising number of books, mostly new, and has some
discussion of what is going on in the book world. As far as I am aware, Ed does
it all single-handed – his is a distinctive and very enjoyable voice, entirely
subjective. He invites comments and emails from readers, and features them in
the newsletter, with his responses.
In addition, there is a very slick colour magazine produced
during the year – it used to be a physical mag, but is just switching to
digital only, used to be 6 x times a year but I think going up to 8. It will
have a theme, and cover literally dozens of books. and no, I don’t know how he
does it all.
Now, we all get too many emails and have calls on our
money, and we have too much to read already, but I can honestly say that I love
to get my newsletter every week, and the magazine is a joy, and the whole thing
is worth every penny.
And thus I know that many of my readers would love it too –
for themselves or for their friends, because I think we are all kindred
spirits, and kindred spirits with Ed.
To sample the joys of Strong Words, go and visit the
website here:
-and click on the link for ‘previous
emails’ and see what kind of thing you might be getting.
Or you could just take my word for it. I wasn’t sure I
wholly understood it when I was looking, but decided to take a risk, and have
never regretted it.
You can see a few sample covers of the magazine here:
Webscribe
– Shop & Subscription Portal
And the newsletter says:
If you're not a subscriber and would like to be, head to the subscription site here.
And you could write to Ed at info@strong-words.co.uk. Tell
him I sent you. Honestly, we are all of one heart. The discussions and back and
forth in the newsletter remind me of the best comments here at Clothes in
Books, which you all know is quite the compliment.
And then there is
NEMO’s
Almanac
the literary quiz booklet that I very much love. I did a post on it last year, and I think quite a few of you went and had a look – but some of you may have missed it, or dithered at the time. It is another joy of my year, like Strong Words, and yet again this year I am guest setter for a round of quotations to identify. And – top tip – if you are a very keen reader of my blog, you will have a start on a few of the quotations in my round. (Stockings, a subject ever close to my heart and legs).
The easiest way to find out more (and subscribe) is to read my post and then visit the website
LITERARY QUIZ | NEMO'S ALMANAC
Editor Ian Patterson will be delighted to hear from
you, and again: Tell him I sent you.
And one more potential present: another book this time.
The Murder Game: Play, Puzzles and the Golden Age by John Curran
published 2025
John Curran is a leading expert on Agatha Christie, and on
Golden Age fiction in general, and a key player at the annual Bodies From the
Library Conference, which is where I mostly know him from: he has been featured on the
blog a few times.
In this book he is looking at puzzle elements in traditional
crime fiction – as I think you might guess – and he categorizes and analyses those
elements, and if you are a keen fan you are guaranteed to sink into it and
enjoy it. It is enormous fun, and very clever and knowledgeable.
This is a very short description, but I won’t expand on it
because two of my blogging friends can offer you a lot more about the book, and
answer all your questions.
Head over to a blogpost by Kate Jackson:
The
Murder Game: Play, Puzzles, & the Golden Age (2025) by John Curran –
crossexaminingcrime
And also a podcast by Jim Noy, who interviews John
about the book.
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