Essentially, a collection of short pieces about the books in the author’s life. Books that Susan Hill has read and written, and published, along with authors and others she has met–all these and more are discussed. She recalls when she read them and what meaning they gave her. As would be expected, she writes about authors I love (Virginia Woolf), some I have never heard of (F M Mayor), and some I’ve heard of and want to read but have yet to do so (V S Naipaul). Her enthusiasm is infectious and insight interesting. She culminates in a list of The Final Forty of her favourite titles. Can’t recall now why it’s 40, and not 52, as the book’s premise is not to buy books for a year and plunder her own extensive collection in her home to read. As enjoyable as it is, I can’t help but think this book could have been much more. For example, she discusses the books in her home, even bookshelves, but her house and her life are only remotely referred to. She refers indirectly to events in her life but does not elaborate on them as much as I would like with their impact on the authors and books she discusses. I was left wanting for more, which is not always a bad thing. There are some great passages, including one about the sheer pleasure of holding and reading a book. If you’re a bibliophile, you will enjoy reading this book.
Howards End is on the Landing by Susan Hill
Howards End is on the Landing by Susan Hill (Profile Books; 2010)

In this section:
- A Journey in Ladakh by Andrew Harvey
- A Life for Animals by Christine Townend
- About A Son by David Whitehouse
- Age of Anger by Pankaj Mishra
- All About Love by bell hooks
- Animal Ethics: the basics by Tony Milligan
- Azadi by Arundhati Roy
- Beastly by Keggie Carew
- Beef by Andrew Rimas and Evan D.G. Fraser
- Bleating Hearts by Mark Hawthorne
- Blueprint for Revolution by Srdja Popovic
- Bury the Chains by Adam Hochschild
- Call of the Cats by Andrew Bloomfield
- Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk
- Empathy by Roman Krznaric
- Even Vegans Die by Carol J Adams, Patti Breitman and Virginia Messina
- Howards End is on the Landing by Susan Hill
- Keep Talking: A Broadcasting Life by David Dimbleby
- King Leopold’s Ghost
- Laika by Nick Abadzis
- Love Notes by Philip McKibbin
- Love Soup by Anna Thomas
- Makers and Manners by Andrew Holden
- Model Animal Welfare Act by Janice Cox and Sabine Lennkh
- Mortality by Christopher Hitchens
- Moti: An Indian Elephant
- Nim Chimpsky by Elizabeth Hess
- No Time to Lose by Pema Chodron
- On Editing by Helen Corner-Bryant and Kathryn Price
- On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder
- Orlando by Virginia Woolf
- Pets in America by Katherine C. Grier
- Pig Tales by Marie Darrieussecq
- Please Take Me Home by Clare Campbell
- Ruth Plant by Jenny Remfrey
- Second Nature by Jonathan Balcombe
- Soondar Mooni by E. O. Shebbeare
- Story Craft by Jack Hart
- Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica
- The Animal Ethics Reader and Social Creatures
- The Animals’ Vegan Manifesto by Sue Coe
- The Chernobyl Privileges by Alex Lockwood
- The Elephant Conspiracy by Peter Hain
- The End of Eddy by Edouard Louis
- The Face on Your Plate by Jeffrey Masson
- The Four Loves by C S Lewis
- The Great Cat & Dog Massacre by Hilda Kean
- The Great Derangement by Amitav Ghosh
- The Honor Code by Kwame Anthony Appiah
- The Inner Life of Cats by Thomas McNamee
- The Lion in the Living Room by Abigail Tucker
- The New Wild by Fred Pearce
- The Old Ways by Robert Macfarlane
- The Pig in Thin Air by Alex Lockwood
- The Plot Against America by Philip Roth
- The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Scarlett & Sophie Rickard
- The Whale Warriors by Peter Heller
- The White Bone by Barbara Gowdy
- The Wildings by Nilanjana Roy
- Tiger Work by Ben Okri
- To the River by Olivia Laing
- Topsy by Michael Daly
- Walking With Ghosts by Gabriel Byrne
- Zooicide: Seeing Cruelty, Demanding Abolition by Sue Coe and Stephen Eisenman