Book day

Today has been a wonderful day of bookish delights. This morning my book club buddies came round to discuss Monique Roffey’s captivating, beautiful and complex book The Mermaid of Black Conch. It was my choice and I was a bit nervous about how people reacted to it but it was universally loved. We had a very spirited and amiable discussion around the topics in the story - colonialism, cultural history, misogyny, love, patience, the natural world, capitalism, culture, fables and so on. It was brilliant.

This evening I went to a Cambridge Literary Festival event with Sebastian Barry, who is one of my favourite authors. He is a very entertaining, funny and insightful speaker, interviewed wonderfully by Tom Gatty of the New Statesman. I began reading the new book, Old God’s Time, last week and I’m fully hooked. I don’t normally go in for getting books signed but this time I took along the Barry book that means the most to me, Days Without End, to receive the author’s squiggle.
And it’s only Monday…