Hello All,
Hope you’re doing well? I just had to hop online to share some exciting news with you. The email dropped earlier today, letting me know that I’ve been chosen as a World Book Night Giver (triple whoop)! WBN is a fantastic initiative championing reading and I’ll be on the streets of Derby dishing out one of my favourite books The Quiche of Death by M.C. Beaton, alongside copies of my own novel, Screaming Snowflakes. WBN is not till 23 April, so there’s plenty of time to get a really cool event sorted. Last year I was at The Good Green Café in Derby and interviewed by BBC Radio Derby and The Derby Telegraph. I’m in the middle of sorting out details for another fab event which I’ll be hosting for WBN, so keep your eyes peeled – there will be books, cake and copious coffee involved!
Sticking with the reading theme, it’ll be Derby Book & Cake Club’s second meeting soon, which I can’t wait for. I mentioned this as I’m currently in middle of reading Terry Hayes’s ‘I Am Pilgrim’ which is currently causing me many a sleepless night and blowing my mind with its riveting plotlines and engaging witty narrator. The principal protagonist is witty, hardened and extremely likeable. I love characters whom you can’t help but get to know as if a real, 3D person. Books that provide perfect descriptive detail (not being spoon-fed, just on the right side of sufficient information) I find are the best, because of the author’s skill in breathing life into their creations. It hits you like a sucker-punch in the jaw every single time. As a writer, I’m always honing my craft and find myself constantly in rapture at the fact that someone written on paper can strike a chord in your day to day life.
I’m reading the bulk of ‘I Am Pilgrim’ on Kindle and am so very glad I have this magical contraption because I can read in transit when on a train, plane or aeroplane, or even curled up in bed. Don’t get me wrong, I love the physicality and scent of a book (you can’t go round smelling a Kindle without fear of being arrested, can you?). But the ease of use and transferability really makes investing in a Kindle worthwhile.
What about you, how do you read? OK, I must dash, I need to grab a quick shower and watch Broadchurch (not a patch on the first series, but watchable all the same).
Ciao for now,
RAxx
PS I hope you’re experiencing more clement weather wherever you are (I was attacked by golf-ball sized hailstones earlier, I kid you not).