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The past couple of years have cemented the value of books in our modern society.

Sales of both print and e-books have grown hugely as we've been offered an abundance of quality writing on all sorts of subjects. Books have enabled us to escape from our current circumstances either as a diversion from the dire news stories, or as stimulation from the monotony of a lockdown.

This week I've come across a couple of conversations exploring what we choose to read and what it delivers to us.

In the Guardian recently there was an editorial about the uncanny nack of novelists to 'predict' the future. There are the often quoted HG Wells and George Orwell, of course, but in more recent times there have been a number of novelists who delivered plots centred on a pandemic just before it became a reality.

These tales arise, Margaret Atwood claims, because writers ask the right questions and investigate 'what would happen if...'

"This is one of the great things fiction can do," the article continues, "pay a particular kind of attention. It is a kind of eavesdropping, and looking under the surface of things...Though novelists are not seers, we would do well not to underestimate their grasp on what is to come."

Meanwhile on BBC Radio 4 the wonderful author and screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce (who I was delighted to interview last year) delivered a brilliant programme about the value of children's books. Called Wonderlands, he argues that comfort reading is essential reading - these stories create our 'interior happy places', they build resilience, all of which lasts far beyond our childhood.

Keep reading!

In the 14 years we've been gathering as the Browsers Book Group, the first meeting of the year has always been popular, and it's been particularly encouraging to see that this is once more the case. The interest has been so great, in fact, that there's only room for a couple more to join us!

If you had hoped to come along please let me know before 10am tomorrow and I'll send you the details of this month's meeting. I'm afraid only those people who have registered with me by email will be allowed entry due to the high numbers and the restrictions in our current situation. But if you're unlucky this time, there's always next month! I'll have details of February's title next week and if you'd like to look back on all the past titles we've discussed click here.

Of course if we were still meeting on Zoom we wouldn't have this restriction on numbers! There are pros and cons with everything aren't there?!

Although online meetings were very different from chatting in person, everyone who took part agreed that we got to know each other a little better through the common experience of lockdown - and with our names clearly printed underneath our faces!

Now that we're meeting in person again, I thought perhaps we might build on this by sharing something of ourselves through our reading experience. This is what I've called Read Me Like a Book.

You may have seen a similar format in the Guardian each Saturday as The Books That Made Me, or as an item on the BBC2 book club programme Between the Covers. We'll see how much we can find out about each other when we answer questions such as 'my earliest reading memory', for example, or 'the last book that made me laugh', 'the book I'll never give away', or 'the book I read every year'. What would your answers say about you?

Thank you for reading.

I don't know whether it's an age thing or the times we're living in but my recall these days isn't great! And I don't think I'm that unusual.

There have been various articles on the subject, speculating that the fact our routines and social occasions have been disrupted means that we have fewer significant moments by which to anchor our memories.

Surely the extraordinary nature of our experiences would cement them in our minds, you'd think, but even the early unprecedented days of lockdown seem distant and unfamiliar. Yet there was so much that we all wanted to take from that time, we said.

It's just as well that some people do keep a record of their thoughts and activities, then.

Last week a book was published recalling the days of a junior doctor working on the frontline of the Covid-19 pandemic. It's written by the novelist Roopa Farooki who changed career in her 30s after having written eight books. Despite her challenging days, and coming home to four children, she wrote of her experiences after each shift. In an article in the Guardian she talks about how she came to write her memoir. It's a compelling and thought-provoking piece and I'm eager to read the book, but this week's recommended titles are a story as a journal, and how to write a memoir. Perhaps we'll all be inspired to record our experiences.

The end of the month is fast approaching, so it's time to think about book group. We'll be meeting at the hall in Woodbridge, so if you'd like to come along please reply to this email to let me know and I'll send you the details. We will still be monitoring numbers and taking precautions to keep everyone safe and comfortable, so I do need to hear from you before the night, please. And, if you'd like to put yourself forward for the 'Read me like a book' session we're introducing this year, let me know in your email!

Thank you for reading.

This month is known for dampening spirits. The dark days, gloomy weather and at the moment the demoralising and aggravating news stories.

So I was pleased to hear an inspiring and uplifting life story on Desert Island Discs the other day.

Simon Reeves got into trouble in his school days. He played truant, carried knives, mixed with the wrong crowds, left with no qualifications and was on the verge of suicide, yet the constant support of his family, a meeting with a kindly woman in a job centre and working hard at a menial job led to him turning his life around and having the most extraordinary opportunities.

It's a story of hope and redemption and his book recounts how he is now using his privileged role to inform, educate and entertain tv viewers about situations and populations of which we might be unfamiliar. It's encouraging, stimulating and energising. Just what I need at the moment!

Thank you for reading.

There's been a lot of attention this week on recognising achievement through awards, prizes and honours.

Among the more than usually heated debate about individuals included in this year's Honours List, there are some familiar literary names with Suffolk links.

The prolific and talented writer Anthony Horowitz has been given a CBE for his services to literature. Known for his Alex Rider young adult books, his recent murder mystery titles set in Suffolk and his tv dramas such as 'Foyle's War', he has also written James Bond and Sherlock Holmes novels and many tv and film scripts and adaptations. He has an extraordinary output!

Starting out on her literary career, Suffolk resident Kate Sawyer, who spoke to us on the launch of The Stranding, was shortlisted for the best debut novel in this year's Costa prize. While she may not have won, being shortlisted has undoubtedly given her a welcome and deserved profile.

While prizes and titles are lovely to receive - to know that our work and our contribution has been noted and appreciated - few of us will be able to experience or bestow such accolades. And in fact are they always really necessary? Sometimes it's important to realise what a privilege it is to work on something we enjoy doing and where we gain fulfilment from it. And a simple thank you from a stranger out of the blue can be a real blessing.

Thank you for reading.