Allison Symes's Blog - Posts Tagged "peter-ackroyd"
Perfect Books To Relax With
What kind of book do you like to relax with? My favourites are fantasy (especially the humorous kind such as Terry Pratchett’s wonderful Discworld stories) and crime (though I am more at the cosy end of the market).
Though right now I am loving Peter Ackroyd’s London, which is a biography of the city. An interesting way of writing up a history and full of fascinating tales.
It’s a fairly big paperback but is an engrossing read so very happy to recommend it. If a writer’s style draws me in, as it does here, it doesn’t matter how big the book is!
They’ve got this reader to the end (which is a challenge for all of us writers to ensure we try and do that with our own writing).
I can’t read in the bath. I’d be worried about dropping a book or Kindle in the water. Neither would come out well.
This is why my main reading is just before I go to sleep. I am so relaxed then. It’s not the time to read a gripping vampire novel though. Mind you, I wasn’t planning on doing this so that’s okay.
For me books have to be entertaining and help me relax. If I want a challenging read, I will carve out time during the day when my brain is better able to cope with said challenging read!
I hope you have plenty of excellent new reads for Christmas and I hope you have a safe and as good a celebration as possible.
If ever there was a year, we all needed books to help us escape, it is in 2020.
Though right now I am loving Peter Ackroyd’s London, which is a biography of the city. An interesting way of writing up a history and full of fascinating tales.
It’s a fairly big paperback but is an engrossing read so very happy to recommend it. If a writer’s style draws me in, as it does here, it doesn’t matter how big the book is!
They’ve got this reader to the end (which is a challenge for all of us writers to ensure we try and do that with our own writing).
I can’t read in the bath. I’d be worried about dropping a book or Kindle in the water. Neither would come out well.
This is why my main reading is just before I go to sleep. I am so relaxed then. It’s not the time to read a gripping vampire novel though. Mind you, I wasn’t planning on doing this so that’s okay.
For me books have to be entertaining and help me relax. If I want a challenging read, I will carve out time during the day when my brain is better able to cope with said challenging read!
I hope you have plenty of excellent new reads for Christmas and I hope you have a safe and as good a celebration as possible.
If ever there was a year, we all needed books to help us escape, it is in 2020.
Biographies
I’m currently reading London by Peter Ackroyd, a biography of the city which is an interesting way to approach writing history. Enjoying it immensely so far.
But it led me to wonder about biographies, I have read some (mainly autobiographies) of figures I’m interested in. Agatha Christie’s autobiography is a fascinating read but unless the subject interests me, I don’t read much in this genre. No celebrity biographies for me!
Are there biographies you would recommend and what appeals about them? I do think the subject has to have led some kind of interesting life.
With Agatha Christie, I am a huge fan of her books so am naturally interested in what she had to say about herself. I love history so the idea of London appealed to me too. (It helps I’m a Londoner by birth I suspect - another reason to be interested in the subject).
I suppose one reason I do like some of these is I am at that stage of life myself where I am interested in what others at this stage of life or beyond it have got to with theirs!
This is another reason why I’m not interested in the younger celebrity books here. I do wonder well what experience of life have you got other than that which made you famous?
For me that isn’t enough, I like to read of how people struggled, made the breakthrough, made mistakes, picked themselves up again etc. Those are stories worth telling.
But it led me to wonder about biographies, I have read some (mainly autobiographies) of figures I’m interested in. Agatha Christie’s autobiography is a fascinating read but unless the subject interests me, I don’t read much in this genre. No celebrity biographies for me!
Are there biographies you would recommend and what appeals about them? I do think the subject has to have led some kind of interesting life.
With Agatha Christie, I am a huge fan of her books so am naturally interested in what she had to say about herself. I love history so the idea of London appealed to me too. (It helps I’m a Londoner by birth I suspect - another reason to be interested in the subject).
I suppose one reason I do like some of these is I am at that stage of life myself where I am interested in what others at this stage of life or beyond it have got to with theirs!
This is another reason why I’m not interested in the younger celebrity books here. I do wonder well what experience of life have you got other than that which made you famous?
For me that isn’t enough, I like to read of how people struggled, made the breakthrough, made mistakes, picked themselves up again etc. Those are stories worth telling.
