World book Night
Wednesday was World Book Night, which saw hundreds of thousands of books being given away by volunteers all over the country. One Tree Books acts as a picking up point for the registered givers to collect their chosen title. Our involvement does sound rather like turkeys supporting Christmas but there are good reasons why we do it. It not only gets more people reading – it gets people talking about reading. Research suggests that it leads to increased sales of the books given away and more significantly of other books by those authors. If nothing else it reminds the techies that books can be paper as well.
This week I read The Murder Room by Tony Parsons. This is his first foray into the crime area having made his name with Man and Boy back in 2007. This, (M&B), sparked a whole new genre of books by men about men but for women, and there are hints of that in this (the tough, amateur boxer, detective is a loving single parent with a cute dog). Having said that, The Murder Room is a well-plotted whodunit with clues (that I missed) and is well worth a read. (out now £9.99)
I have just started the harrowing Kadian Journal by Thomas Harding – more on that next week.