Books I put off reading
For all manner of reasons
Hello friends! A midweek post from me - whatever next? But it’s the first of May, the weather feels like July, and there are some cracking books published this month: The Names, Consider Yourself Kissed, One Golden Summer, When the Cranes Fly South, Dream State, Cat Fight… Truly, we are spoiled rotten. What better reason for a bonus book post?
Today’s missive comes courtesy of a conversation with my friend Kat (author, journalist, good egg), who messaged me that she was going on holiday and now might be the time she finally reads Wolf Hall. She was put off by the hype but “It’s time will come,” she said, optimistically. It started me thinking about the books I have put off reading. I am, still, incidentally, putting off Don Quixote, despite Elif Shafak telling me it is the best novel ever written - she says, interview-dropping with shameless abandon - and War and Peace.
Obviously, I want to hear about the unread ghosts that haunt you. What have you been putting off reading - and why?
Before I embark on this writing adventure, some out-and-about updates - for I do leave my desk on occasion. I had a lovely Sunday chairing at Winchester Books Festival. Pollyanna Wilkinson dispensed brilliant, practical gardening advice with wit and charm - her book How to Design a Garden is my new bible; and Judy Murray was a revelation.
I was uncharacteristically nervous (I get nervous about a plenty of things, but chatting to authors isn’t usually one of them) because Judy is such a remarkable, some might say formidable woman. But she was generous, very funny, and honest about her years in tennis (if she knew then what she does now, she would not have embarked upon the journey, and she plans to teach her grandchildren to dance badly rather than play tennis well), and how Anton du Beke (her Strictly Come Dancing partner) gave her the idea to write a novel, The Wild Card. I wonder if he inspired her second, a murder mystery, Game, Set and Murder, with a victim so noxious I predict a Murder on the Orient Express ending. There was also that interview with Elif Shafak, whose heart and brain are the size of an ocean and who left me awed.
If you’re a fan of an author event, I’m jaunting to Cookham on 14th June, for afternoon tea with Gill Hornby - we’ll be discussing her new novel, The Elopement - tickets; in Waterstones Putney on 14th July, with Georgina Moore and Fran Littlewood - who will be telling us all about their new novels, River of Stars and The Favourite - tickets. And I am very excited to be doing an event in June with lady novelist and excellent woman
, whose new novel The Treasures is pure joy - keep your eyes peeled on that front.And so onwards to confession time.
Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel
I KNOW. But hear me out.
For access all areas, including the library of my mind, a paid subscription remains a bargain!