The summer has finally arrived - and with a vengeance. My, it's been hot over the past few days! We seem to have gone from one extreme to another. I hope you've found somewhere cool and shady to enjoy your reading this week.
It was lovely to sit under the garden umbrella with a good book yesterday afternoon but I'm feeling the pressure with the number of titles I need to look at for forthcoming book group discussions, festival interviews and my reviews and author profiles for magazine articles. I have to admit that my TBR piles are looking a little daunting, but I need to get them under control ahead of the announcement of the longlist for the Booker Prize 2024 in a few days' time. There will be thirteen more books I'll want to read!
But we'll be sharing the load in exploring these titles as, once again, we'll be running a Booker Book Group over the summer. For this special meeting we'll delve into the judges' selection to see which we think should make the shortlist, and to predict our winner. It's always a great discussion and a lovely focus for our summer reading.
If you'd like to join in and haven't already put your name down for this special Booker Book Group, please reply to this email by Friday 26 July and I'll send you the details. The longlist is announced on Tuesday 30 July. We'll be allocating titles shortly after and the meeting to discuss our reading will take place on Monday 2 September.
Thank you for reading.