Emily Paull

...aside from, you know, reading books and stuff... A few days ago, an article shared by local writer Annabel Smith provided me with some food for thought.  (Annabel's twitter posts often get the cogs in my brain turning, so if you're on Twitter, I would highly recommend following her.)   The article was by Robyn Mundy, and it discussed the impact of loaning books to your friends on the larger literary ecosystem.   I have to confess, I tend to loan my books although I don't often borrow them.  I have an impulse control issue when it comes to buying books!  But I'd never really thought about what the impact of loaning books might be on this industry I count myself as a part of. This article sparked a lot of debate, with many book lovers confessing to loaning their books out, and one Twitter user objecting to the way the article seemed to make out like readers were in need of a telling off. I'm still going to loan my books to people, especially as the peopl...

April has felt like an entire year in itself. A lot of things are happening.  The bookstore where I work announced that it would be closing after being open for something like twenty-two years; I continued to slug away at my university course; I did two events to support the publication of Natasha Lester's new book A Kiss From Mr Fitzgerald (selling books at the launch and an interview at FAWWA); and I worked on my book. The book that I am working on is about Alan Turing, but it's also about a contemporary character who is a student of history writing letters to Turing after some pretty terrible things have happened to her.  I've been really enjoying writing it, and lately I have been inspiring myself by listening to the soundtrack from The Imitation Game.   My thoughts on that film are strongly mixed, but the soundtrack is exquisite and it makes for a good writing atmosphere. I've been trying to work on that a little bit every night, and right now I am wrestling ...