Book Bloggers Event at Simon and Schuster UK

I recently attended an event for book bloggers at Simon & Schuster publishers in London. This was a wonderful opportunity to meet four authors, hear them discuss their work and aspects of writing, and to meet members of the Simon & Schuster team and find out about forthcoming new releases from them.

I'd like to say a huge thank you to the S&S team and the authors for this event and for getting book bloggers involved in this way again.

I personally love listening to authors talking about their work, their writing process, the research involved, and the route to getting published, so this event was wonderful. It is also great to get the opportunity to visit a publishing house and meet some of the staff behind the scenes of all these wonderful books. Further, it was a super opportunity to put faces to names of some of the other book bloggers out there, and to discover some new blogs.

I'd also like to highlight the books by the authors who were present there, and also highlight a few upcoming releases that caught my eye.

Click on any of the titles to find a description and more about the book.

The four authors we met at the event, and their recent/forthcoming releases:

The Painted Bridge - Wendy Wallace

Dead Man's Land  - Robert Ryan

The First Last Kiss - Ali Harris 

Apocalypse - Dean Crawford 

Some of the books coming in 2013 that caught my eye:

Black Roses - Jane Thynne 

Fever - Mary Beth Keane 

Child of Vengeance - David Kirk 

With All My Love - Patricia Scanlan 

Have you heard of any of these? Is there anything here that you think you'd like to read?

Paris in July 2012

Hosted by BookBath and Thyme for Tea. Here's some info from them as to the idea behind this, and ideas for what you can do to join in:

Paris in July will run from the 1st - 31st July 2012 and the aim of the month is to celebrate our French experiences through reading, watching, listening to, observing, cooking and eating all things French.

There will be no rules or targets in terms of how much you need to do or complete in order to be a part of Paris in July - just blog about anything French and you can join in. Some ideas for the month might include:

- Reading a French book - fiction or non-fiction

- Watching a French movie

- Listening to French music

- Cooking French food

- Experiencing French art, architecture or travel (or remembering travel experiences)

- Or anything else French inspired you can think of...

Hopefully I'm not too late joining in with this! 

Paris in July 2012 on The Little Reader Library

Blog Tour - Guest Author

So far, I am part of the blog tour for French Lessons by Ellen Sussman, published by Canvas, and on Friday 6th July Ellen with be taking part in a Q & A on my blog, discussing her novel which is set in Paris, her thoughts about Paris, the French language, and more. So this seems an ideal starting point!

Books:

I have The Panda Theory by Pascal Garnier, published by Gallic Books, on my to be read pile, so I will aim to read this book this month.

Travel:

No trip to Paris planned, but I will be remembering past trips there, one of my favourite cities without a doubt, including a memorable 21st birthday spent there.

Films:

Perhaps I will watch Amelie again, which I love. Or ideally I will seek out a new, or new to me, French film to watch. 

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Cambridge Wordfest Spring 2012 - A literary afternoon.

I went along to my first ever Cambridge Wordfest last Friday. The festival ran from Friday 13th to Sunday 15th April 2012, but due to other commitments (a friend's wedding and the moving of a greenhouse!) I was only able to attend an event on the Friday. Nevertheless, it was a very worthwhile and rewarding one. I went along to the ADC theatre to hear Margaret Drabble, Helen Dunmore and Sadie Jones read from their most recent works, and talk about aspects of writing. The session was chaired by Festival Director, Cathy Moore, and it is the festival's 10th anniversary this year.

It was very interesting and informative. I must confess that I have read little by Margaret Drabble or Helen Dunmore, and that is something I intend to rectify, starting with The Greatcoat, the latest book by Helen Dunmore which I bought on the day. She was a delightful and impressive speaker and I really warmed to her at this event. It was fascinating hearing about the real background to the greatcoat which she has drawn on for the book. 

I am a big fan of Sadie Jones, having read all three of her novels to date, with her debut novel, The Outcast, being one of my all time favourite reads. So it was marvellous and exciting to have the opportunity to meet her and have my books signed. I must admit to feeling a bit nervous, even though all the authors were very friendly and approachable. My only wish would have been that it could have been longer than one hour. The works which the authors read from are A Day in the Life of a Smiling Woman - Margaret Drabble, The Greatcoat - Helen Dunmore, and The Uninvited Guests - Sadie Jones.

I look forward to attending future festivals such as this one, and others. Did you attend this or any other literary festival recently? Who did you see?

Cambridge Wordfest website.