Gina Collia-Suzuki

Seven reasons for divorce
The 'Treasure Box of Greater Learning for Women' was a short treatise, first published in Japan in 1716, and generally accepted as being the work of Kaibara Ekiken (1630-1714). It contained guidelines concerning the proper instruction of women and included a list of behaviours for which a man ...wo...

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Well-known doer of charitable deeds, loved by the Queen.

Seven reasons for divorce
The 'Treasure Box of Greater Learning for Women' was a short treatise, first published in Japan 1716, and generally accepted as being the work of Kaibara Ekiken (1630-1714). It contained guidelines concerning the proper instruction of women and included a list of behaviours for which a man wou...ld...

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Chapter one preview on Scribd
I am always fiddling with widgets I find on the Internet, and as Scribd has been tweeted about so much on Twitter I thought I'd give it a go. So here we go... the first chapter of 'The Wonderful Demise of Benjamin Arnold Guppy', in a swish little display box for your leisurely perusal. You... can, ...

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My first bookshop love affair
I first came across Arthur Probsthain, Oriental & African bookseller, in 1986. I was in London to visit the British Museum for the first time, and I was sixteen years old. It was a rainy day - somehow London always seems more Londony when it rains - and my heart gave a little flutter when ...I firs...

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I am experiencing sudden raptures
I was quite taken aback by myself today. Ever since my books first came out, I've been so busy working on other projects that I haven't really had much time to sit back and take in what's been going on around me. The books have had great reviews, and I've been very happy about that, in... the few s...

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Doom and gloom, go zoom to the moon!
Anyone who's read any of my previous blog posts knows that I am not a floaty, fluffy, 'it's all sunshine and moonbeams' kinda gal when it comes to this writing malarkey... I'm a realist. I'm all for realism. What I'm not a great fan of is scaremongering codswallop. So, the publishin...g industry's ...

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A new variety of turnip causes controversy
The Rare and Unusual Varieties department of the Sea View Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association has today announced that a new variety of turnip has finally been grown that is fit to carry the Benjamin Arnold Guppy name - the Brassica Benjamina Guppicus. The new variety is s...lightly larger than...

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Pat Guppy is twittering with glee
Pat Enid Guppy has joined Twitter and you can follow her comings and goings right here. Feeling that she is too remote from her numerous (in the millions being a conservative estimate) adoring fans across the globe, she is making this move in an attempt to connect with each and every o...ne of them...

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Great expectations
"Are your books doing as well as you hoped they would?" I have been asked this question so many times, and I haven't once been able to answer it. I have no answer. In order for my books to do as well as I hoped, I'd have had to hope in the first place. I was told by a very dear friend, when I wa...

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I still think of Cedric
On the subject of food again, I don't often talk about the fact that I'm a vegetarian. When the subject does come up, I'm usually asked how I came to be a veggie, and my answer is always the same... 'I once murdered a chicken.' The roots of my vegetarianism lie in the year 1972, in a village in......

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Book signing - Weston-super-Mare
On November 19th, Waterstone's booksellers will be helping to launch late-night shopping at The Sovereign Centre in Weston-super-Mare by holding a book signing event. I've been invited to take part, so I will be there between 3:30 and 8:30pm to sign copies of 'The Wonderful Demise of Be...njamin Ar...

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Food doesn't kill me anymore!
The illness that resulted in my brush with death in 2007, being somewhat mysterious (as I couldn't possibly fall prey to a boring and predictable one), resulted in me developing various unusual food allergies, cutting down the number of foods I was able to eat without breaking out or choki...ng to ...

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A journey back in time
A number of Ukiyo-e series depict men and women going about their daily business throughout the twelve hours of the day. During the Edo period (1603 - 1868), the Japanese clock was divided into twelve units of time, or ‘hours’, with each one named after one of the zodiacal symbols of the lun...

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