MY STORY

Hi there,

I hope as you are reading this that you are well. A little bit about me. I am a semi-eccentric book addict and collector. I spend my days reading, talking, buying and writing about books.

I have been a book lover from a very early age. I used to go to the library in my home town every Saturday morning and I remember being so very excited about all the colours and all the books. I have a couple of favourites from when I was very young. I remember Ant and Bee and the small Thomas the Tank Engine books. The small format was and has remained appealing to me. I will mention this later in one of my blogs.

Onto secondary school and my inspiration here came from a wonderful teacher called Miss Milner, an absolute legend, who introduced me to George Eliot - Silas Marner, Arthur Miller - The Crucible & William Shakespeare's - Romeo and Juliet to name but a few. I could be found many days and lunch hours in the library.

When I was 17 I manage to secure my dream job, as a bookseller for Dillons the Bookstore (sadly, no longer around). After failed A'Levels (oops), I then became full time and worked my way onto management and worked as a bookstore branch manager with Waterstones up and down the country for the next 23 years but after all this time due to personal reasons, I had to leave.

I have always loved books and since leaving the bookstore, I have had various jobs and searched for something that would bring me the same pleasure, alas nothing gave me the same fulfilment. During the lockdown, reading has been my saviour, more than usual and I know many reading this will be able to relate to that. I had a eureka moment and I decided to start this website; so, I can talk about books and share my love and thoughts about them with you, my lovely fellow book lovers. I would love you to join me in the conversation. Whether on my blog page, by emailing me, joining me in conversation on a Podcast, by emailing me or by joining my facebook group, I would love to hear from you.

I hope you enjoy my ramblings & recommendations.

When I was a little older, I had the joy of going into Nottingham City Centre or 'downtown' with my Mum who took me shopping, which always included a trip to the bookstore, as my Dad stayed at home with my 3 brothers to watch football. Not much has changed, I still read a lot and they still watch a lot of football. It is within the shelves of this bookstore that I discovered the delights of Enid Blyton's Malory Towers & Secret Seven and Roald Dahl's Danny the Champion of the World. During my time at junior school, showing my age there, I do not have a clue what year or what they call that now, I was about 9-11, I was very proud to be made a school librarian.