Tag: Reading

  • Bias on my bookshelves

    I’ve been reading articles lately about gender bias in book reading and reviewing. It seems that men don’t read books by women, and ‘serious’ (whatever that means) publications are reluctant to review commercial fiction by women. They’ve made me think about my own bias, because if there is one, it definitely runs the other way.…

  • The Devil’s in the details

    Today’s blog was prompted by a discussion I had with friends about reviews and whether they’re actually any help to readers and whether anyone (except paranoid writers) pays any attention to them. Opinions varied with some readers always using reviews to help them decide whether or not to buy/read a book, while others paid no…

  • Who cares?!

    I’ve read several articles this week about the importance of a book’s beginning and how to write a compelling first line. This is interesting to me as a writer because I (naturally) want to captivate readers, and it’s fascinating as a reader because I absolutely agree that the opening of a book is crucial: if I’ve liked…

  • Why I’m no good in a book club

    Maybe people who know me would roll their eyes and mutter, “Of course” at this, but it turns out I’m a bit of a contrary so and so. I love getting book recommendations and finding new books and authors I can fall in love with, but I don’t like being told what to read. This…

  • The Comfort of Old Friends

    I got book vouchers for my birthday in November, and more for Christmas. Whilst the days have been filled with lazy holiday vibes I’ve been checking Twitter recommendations and I now have a well-stuffed Kindle. So why do I find myself dipping back into my battered paperback of Steven Gould’s Jumper, which I must have read 8…

  • Get on with it!

    I’m an impatient reader. I think I’ve mentioned this before – if you haven’t captured me in the first couple of paragraphs I’m off: too many books and far too little time. Which means I love the sampling feature of ebooks – I can have a quick read on-line, or download the start of several…

  • Perseverance

    There was joy and jubilation in the Haye Household this week as my book baby headed off into the big, wide world. Given my long, long journey to publication, and given how much easier it would have been to give up many times along the way, the virtues of perseverance have been uppermost in my mind…

  • To be, or not to be…

    If you’re a reader, you won’t need the initials TBR explained. Our to-be-read piles are discussed with fellow readers in tones of mild to moderate alarm, as though they might one day take over our houses, our lives and eventually the civilised world. But I love my TBR pile. The idea of running out of…

  • It’s all a matter of taste…

    The thing that fascinates me most (maybe – books are endlessly fascinating) is the question of taste. I’ve lost count of the number of award-winning, rave-reviewed books that I’ve thrown across the room. Whatever the award judges found in the book eluded me entirely. Meanwhile, books that I love and praise to the skies and…