Most of my working life has been spent in the book world, first as a bookseller then as a freelance writer and reviews editor for two magazines (first Waterstone’s Books Quarterly then We Love This Book), and I can’t think of a nicer place to be. In this blog I talk about some of the books I’ve recently read, alert readers to titles that they might not find themselves in the glare of the publicity spotlight and take an occasional look back at novels I found it hard to shut up about when I first read them.
In case you’ve stumbled upon A Life in Books and are wondering whether it’s worth spending any time here, a guide to my reading taste might be useful. I read widely but particularly enjoy literary fiction and searching out interesting debuts. Favourite authors range from Siri Hustvedt, Helen Dunmore and Kate Atkinson to Haruki Murakami, Kent Haruf and Colm Tóibín.
Susan
Publishers:
I’m more than happy to look at review copies but may not have time to cover everything sent to me. I only write about books I’ve enjoyed – life’s too short to spend time on anything else! Please use the Contact Me page if you would like to get in touch with me. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.
As a mark of the awesomeness of your blog, I’ve nominated you for a Liebster award. You can read more about it here: http://annegoodwin.weebly.com/1/post/2014/04/10-blogs-to-celebrate-my-liebster-nominees.html
Please feel free to take part as much or as little as you like.
All the best, Anne
Many thanks, Anne. I’m touched and honoured by your nomination. I will, indeed, take part and will let you know once my Liebster post is up.
I’ve nominated you for a Very Inspiring Blog award – I don’t know if you have time to respond to this, but it’s just a small way of saying thank you for your always interesting posts!
Thank you so much, Marina. Delighted to be nominated! I’m just back from holiday so it’s lovely to have such a compliment to help ease me back into real life.
Hi Susan, I’ve nominated you for a Very Inspiring Blogger Award. Feel free to check it out here, but please don’t feel obliged to continue the process – it’s up to you.
http://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2014/07/06/very-inspiring-bloggers/
Thanks so much for this, Jacqui. Lovely news to come back to after my hols!
Hi Susan, I’ve nominated you for a Liebster Award! You can find out more details here: http://theperfectionistpen.wordpress.com/2014/09/04/the-liebster-award/ but please don’t feel obliged to take part 🙂
Thanks so much, Gemma. Very flattered to be nominated!
Siri Hustvedt alone is reason enough for a follow!
Thank you – always delighted to make the acquaintance of another Hustvedt fan!
Hi Susan, I’ve tagged you in the TBR Book Pile meme. It’s just a bit of fun so don’t feel obliged. The link’s here: https://thewritesofwoman.wordpress.com/2015/11/12/tbr-book-tag/
Naomi
Thank you – a shame shared is a shame halved!
“a shame shared is a shame halved.” – had me chuckle. a witty quote to remember.
Thank you!
Pingback: Liebster Award – postconsumerbookclub
Thanks so much for this. Very flattered! I’ve a lot on my blogging plate at the moment, I’m afraid, so it may take me a little while to get around to your questions.
Hi Susan,
i’ve recently signed up to follow you, having read your recommendations many times via Twitter. Not really sure how social media all works…. anyway, interested to see that you are reading three books at the moment and wondered how you did this? I tend to keep different books in different rooms and consider my main book to be the one I’m reading before going to sleep. Depending on how tired I am, this can often keep going for quite a while, but not as long as the one in the kitchen drawer or the emergency one in the bag. I’d love to know how it works when reading is ‘work’ rather than a guilty pleasure!
Hi Nicola, and thanks for signing up. I hope you enjoy my posts. That’s an interesting question: I usually have one book I’m reviewing which I’ll be reading attentively and taking notes, one book for evenings and bedtime and one non-fiction book of which I usually read a chapter a day. I’m quite a methodical reader! When I was working in magazines, quite a lot of reading involved skimming just to make sure a book was worth including which was often very frustrating. Your kitchen drawer comment made me laugh. I’ve reached a stage in life where things may well end up in the kitchen drawer, purely through absentmindedness
Thanks Susan. From your list of favourite authors I’m looking forward to reading your posts – and I must investigate Kent Haruf.
You absolutely must!
Pingback: Plainsong by Kent Haruf | A Life In Books
Pingback: Liebster Award -
I discovered the great Kent Haruf in the last few months. Have rad 4 of his books. They are so good. He reminds me of the great American writer William Maxwell in terms of being able to portray ordinary peoples complex lives
That’s such a good comparison. So Long, See You Tomorrow is a favourite of mine. I’m glad you came across Haruf.