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If it's Thursday it must be Foyle's
I know it's Saturday but it's taken me two days to come down from the high that was Thursday and write something even remotely coherent.In the midst of a week's leave from the day job I have had a great week of books and all things bookish but I must tell you about the trip to Foyle's.
Speaking at Foyles?
Probably one of those things to tick off my list of "Things It Would Be Very Exciting To Do In My Life". Foyles was my second home back in the 1970's and a revamp hasn't deprived it of that je ne sais quois for me anyway. It still possesses the atmosphere that I'm sure many other big bookshops would like to buy by the bottle.
I had the most fantastic day but things didn't get off to a great start at Exeter Station when I arrived to find that trains had been cancelled and mine was running an hour late.I have now proved categorically that it is perfectly possible to get from Exeter to London via Glasgow but you must get off the train at Bristol and run from platform one to platform thirteen and the London train in ninety seconds.
As I ambled around Foyles (this is it I was just too distracted to take a decent picture) and up to the Gallery for the Publisher's Publicity Circle lunch suddenly I glimpsed rows of chairs and a queue of lovely bright young things at which point it dawned on me that I was likely to be the oldest person in the room (true I think). Nothing ventured and all that so I took a quick turn around Algebra and Geometry and in I went.
Danuta Kean (journalist) Mark Thwaite (The Book Depository) Philip Jones (The Bookseller Magazine) and I then did our spiels and answered questions.The combination seemed to provide a fair and represenatative spectrum of the blogosphere all from differing perspectives.
I focused on my background, how this blog started, why I do it and what I try to acheive herein. I'd given a lot of thought to my self-imposed blogethics (I'm sure there's an official Code of these somewhere) but basically it's about honesty, trust and transparency.Developing a warm voice that people felt they could trust all takes time and patience to establish and is something to value and never take for granted once you have it.
I'd done a shocking and sobering calculation of total knowable book expenditure in the last year, all based on the fact that publishers couldn't be expected to send review copies until I'd set out my stall and my writing for a while and they could also be assured that I'm not going to sell them on eBay. I knew if I wanted to tackle contemporary fiction for a start I was going to have to buy the books in hardback on publication in the first instance.
No wonder I go to work, it's up to £2000.
But though it's great to get free books it changes nothing and is no guarantee of a blog post.I must love the book first and be inspired to write about it and share it, it's a responsibility and one I take seriously.
It was good to meet so many of the people who do send me books and a whole lot more who want to, so some exciting times coming up here on dgr scribbles.Camilla at Macmillan, who sent me my first review books during my Bookerthon last year and also from Macmillan, a real Geras daughter, Jenny.This has to be the next best thing to meeting Adele herself.
Also a treat to meet Mark Thwaite of Ready Steady Book, BritLitBlogs and The Book Depository.I condense many of the reviews on here down to 150 words for The Book Depository website and that is a wonderful exercise in getting down to the barest bones of the thing and I love doing them.
It seems a cliche to say it but the language of bookaholics is a universal one and Mark and I put the whole vocabulary through its paces.He just exudes book enthusiasm and has translated it all into an indispensable and respected web presence. Mark's impressions of the day here and I will echo his thanks to Jessica and the PPC for organising the lunch and inviting me.
Saturday, September 01, 2007 | Permalink