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News from Mr Grady

Hello everyone.

Well, it is upon us again.  World Book Day is here, and I’m writing this whilst putting the finishing touches to what is not just a costume for Book Character Fancy Dress Day, but what I’m describing as an “installation.”  This may be to overplay what I’m planning for my costume and office, but we’ll see how we go.

The joy of world book day is of course the shared discussions about reading, the celebration of literature in all its forms!  I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before, but any reading of any sort is just the best way of broadening your vocabulary and improving your ability to communicate and take part in shared experiences.  I, for example, can’t wait to read the Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel, not just to see how she says goodbye to Thomas Cromwell, but also to have all the discussions and chats with everyone else who might have read it and get their opinions.

Sometimes it might feel as though when we’re discussing reading that there should be some sense of “pushing yourself” reading “hard literary texts” as if it’s some sort of self-improvement.  I don’t think this can be farther from the truth.  For example, my favourite author remains Terry Pratchett, and some of the best books I have read that I’ve enjoyed and talked about the most have been by “non-literary” authors.  So, to finish this week, I thought I’d leave you with two lists. My guilty pleasures that I always return to simply enjoy reading, and my guilty confessions of great books I’m sure I should have read, but never got round to!  Because as important as it is to read, it’s also important to choose the stuff you want to read!

Mr Grady’s Guilty Pleasures:

Lee Child’s Jack Reacher Novels – formulaic, and predictable, but always a page-turning read

The Little Stranger, Sarah Walters – Quite the most terrifying novel I’ve ever read

Anything by Terry Pratchett – Non-conformist, humane and achingly funny

The Gun Seller, by Hugh Laurie – Joke-per-page quota the highest I’ve ever seen

Jurassic Park, by Michael Crichton – Because…Life finds a way…

Anything by Agatha Christie – you can’t beat a bit of detective fiction!

Mr Grady’s Guilty Confessions:

Wuthering Heights – started it, couldn’t finish it (is that bad?)

Anything by Thomas Hardy – Haven’t found one that I liked – am I missing something? 

Birdsong – Kept falling asleep! (I Know that’s bad)

David Copperfield – again, kept starting it, couldn’t finish it, I think the size puts me off.  Why couldn’t he have kept it to “A Christmas Carol” length?

I look forward to people sharing with me their guilty reading pleasures and their guilty confessions of what they think they should have read but never have!

Happy World Book Day!

Mr Grady