Features

The Surprising Power of Books

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The Novel Cure by Ella and Elderkin

Books are entertainment, information and stories. But how do they affect us? We’ve taken a look at the surprising power of books: Reading is Therapeutic You may have heard of the term ‘bibliotherapy’. If not, it is used to describe the use of books as a therapeutic tool. Now there may seem like some obvious examples of this: self-help books. Self-help books provide a whole realm of benefits – they provide information, coping strategies and positive methods for a variety … Read more

Robert Burns: Poetry, Songs and Values

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Robert Burns (1759-1796), a well-known Scottish poet and lyricist, has given us many much-loved texts: ‘Auld Lang Syne’, ‘A Red, Red Rose’ and ‘A Man’s A Man for A’ That’ to name but a few. Writing in both Scots and English, his poetry and songs are read and studied around the world. He became a Scottish cultural icon and an inspiration to the founders of liberalism and socialism. This Burns’ Night, we’ve gathered a few favourites from Rabbie Burns’ canon … Read more

Festive facts for Christmas!

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There are hundreds of Christmas stories, that have recorded traditions and started them. In preparation for Christmas, we thought we’d share a few literary Christmas facts about the stories we love and the people who wrote them: Christina Rossetti wrote the words to the Christmas carol ‘In the Bleak Midwinter.’ T. S. Eliot’s poem ‘Journey of the Magi’ was originally commissioned to be included in a Christmas card. In Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, Tiny Tim was originally going to be … Read more

World Cup Book Bingo

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The 2018 World Cup is coming to an end and to celebrate the countries in the quarter finals, we have created a World Cup Book Bingo. The books in the table above are translations of works from the eight countries – and in England’s case, two suggestions of titles by authors whose experiences might have been far from your own. CCB’s Belgian title suggestion, The Misfortunates by Demitri Verhurlst, is a semi-autobiographical novel about the author’s ‘shambolic’ upbringing and a … Read more