Blog

Welcome to House With No Name. I write about everything from books and films to education, family and France.

Friday book review – Blood Red Road by Moira Young

Published by Emma Lee-Potter in on Friday 13th January 2012

I’m a huge fan of the Costa Book Awards. They’ve helped me discover loads of fantastic books over the years and when the organisers asked me to be a judge for the 2011 first novel of the year prize I was so excited I could hardly speak. The five 2011 category winners (novel, first novel, poetry, biography and children’s book) were announced last week and I can’t wait to discover the ...keep reading

Christenings – and my son’s promise to his godmother

Published by Emma Lee-Potter in on Thursday 12th January 2012

We’re not even halfway through January and my son’s stressed about exams, my daughter’s up against an essay deadline and my husband’s in Malaysia. But my spirits rise when two thank-you letters arrive in the post. Coincidentally, they’re from each of my god-daughters – Kitty, a sophisticated 24-year-old Londoner, and Maddie, 11, whose gymnastic talents are a joy to behold. They live at opposite ends of the country and I ...keep reading

Star charts for teenagers

Published by Emma Lee-Potter in on Wednesday 11th January 2012

The shelves of my local bookshop are groaning with parenting guides. They range from Potty Training in One Week (I’m not at all convinced!) to Divas and Dictators: The Secrets to Having a Much Better Behaved Child. When my children were little I bought lots of titles like these, before chucking them (the books, I mean) aside and realising I was better off muddling through the parenting minefield without their advice. The one ...keep reading

Choosing speed over style – my Rocket Dog plimsolls

Published by Emma Lee-Potter in on Tuesday 10th January 2012

“My wellies and I seldom part company, to the deep embarrassment of my daughter.” The moment I read these words in a delightful new blog called Charwood Farm (the tale of a family who’ve swapped life in London for a leaky caravan and a three-acre field in Devon), they struck a chord with me. Why? Because for the last six months I’ve worn the sparkly black Rocket Dog plimsolls I ...keep reading

Victoria Derbyshire and Radio 5 Live’s move up north

Published by Emma Lee-Potter in on Monday 9th January 2012

What is Victoria Derbyshire thinking of? After giving her boss a hard time on her BBC Radio 5 Live programme about not “properly moving” up north, it turns out that she has only broadcast 60 per cent of her shows from Salford since the station relocated there. Most journalists would give their eye-teeth for a job like hers. Her two-hour show, a mix of news, comment and interviews, goes out ...keep reading

The Iron Lady – a tough film to watch

Published by Emma Lee-Potter in on Sunday 8th January 2012

The Iron Lady should come with a health warning. Yes, Meryl Streep gives the performance of a lifetime as Lady Thatcher (all other contenders for the Oscar might as well give up now) but if one of your loved ones has dementia it’s a very tough film to watch. “That was a bit hard to cope with,” whispered my husband as he left the cinema at top speed. I looked ...keep reading

Stella McCartney and the mysteries of make-up

Published by Emma Lee-Potter in on Saturday 7th January 2012

The February issue of Vogue lands on the doormat with a huge thump and it’s a corker. It boasts a fascinating tribute to the painter Lucian Freud by friends and acquaintances and a report on what happened when 17 Vogue editors met in Tokyo. But the most enthralling piece of all is an interview with Stella McCartney, who comes across as engaging, family-minded and refreshingly down-to-earth. One of the most ...keep reading

Friday book review – Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

Published by Emma Lee-Potter in on Friday 6th January 2012

A whole year has whizzed by since I reviewed the six books on the 2011 Romantic Novel of the Year shortlist. But I vividly remember reading The Last Letter from Your Lover by Jojo Moyes for the first time and predicting in a flash that it would win. Her heartrending tale of passion, adultery and lost love was “everything a romantic novel should be,” I wrote in my review, and ...keep reading

When children struggle with reading

Published by Emma Lee-Potter in on Thursday 5th January 2012

“If you could effect one major policy change in the governing of your country, what would it be?” That was one of the questions the writer and academic Norman Geras asked me in a profile for his excellent Norm’s Blog a few months back. Every Friday he puts interviewees on the spot by asking them to answer a pithy list of questions, from their favourite novels to their most treasured ...keep reading

Laura Marling, Saunton Sands and the last day of the holidays

Published by Emma Lee-Potter in on Wednesday 4th January 2012

It’s the last day of the holidays and everyone’s feeling grumpy. So grumpy that you could cut the air with a knife. My son’s revising polymers (I’m not sure what they even are) and my daughter’s trying to write an essay on nineteenth century French philosophy. Our Cumbrian Christmas (above) seems another world away. Tomorrow my son will be back at school and my daughter will catch the Oxford Tube ...keep reading

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