So I am now, officially, a camper. And can I just take a moment to praise the gods and the weather wizard for the glorious sunshine that Latitude Festival experienced. At first I wasn’t sure if my bronzed skin was a layer of grime or a tan, but I can now assure you that it […]
To celebrate the publication of the very perfect ‘More Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops’, the lovely Jen Campbell has written a letter … Dear Children In My Bookshop, You are quite excellent. In fact, you are the best part of my job. (Little girl points to a cupboard beneath one of our bookcases) Little […]
Because you’re lovely, for the next two weeks the Kindle version of ‘FREAKS!‘ is being offered for FREE over on Amazon. Details of ‘FREAKS!’, for those who don’t know: Written by Caroline Smailes and Nik Perring, illustrated by Darren Craske, the weirdest stories you will ever read. A bizarre collection of short stories, each featuring a character […]
I have a daughter, I adore her. A couple of years ago I took her to a birthday party. The parent was playing a Jessie J CD as the children roller-skated. I can still remember the wave of disquiet spreading across a bunch of mums as Jessie J swore in a song and it boomed […]
After reading ‘A Fucked Up Life in Books‘ I bought a book journal and that simple act has totally altered how I read. In the last few weeks I’ve given myself permission to give up on books, I’ve started folding over page corners when I’ve found a quote I want to note in my journal, […]
I am thrilled, proud and a little bit tearful to be welcoming my friend Matt Hill to my blog. His debut, ‘The Folded Man’ is published TODAY. ‘The Folded Man’ was named runner-up in the fiercely competitive 2012 Dundee International Book Prize by a judging panel including Stephen Fry and Philip Pullman. Of the novel, […]
I am absolutely thrilled to welcome the super-talented Sue Welfare to my blog today. She’s talking about what it is that makes us all love stories. Over to you, Sue: What’s it all about…? I should never have been a writer. I’m the kind of person who likes, if not order exactly, then at least […]
To celebrate the launch of the very wonderful ‘The Foster Husband’ by Pippa Wright, I’ve got 3 COPIES to give away and all details can be found after my (gushing) thoughts on the novel: Kate left her seaside home town of Lyme Regis for the bright lights of London when she was eighteen, and never […]
From a parent’s viewpoint, a child being bullied is possibly the first time when you can’t simply ‘make it better’. It appears after years of kissing fingers, placing plasters over cuts, calming tears after nightmares. Your instinct is to tell them to ignore the bullies, then you change and suggest they stand up to them […]
One of the reasons why I love paper books is because of what I leave in them after or during reading them. My bookmark will be a train ticket, a note from my child, a postcard, a boarding pass, a receipt – I like that I can link the book to a specific moment in […]