Have you read more or less during lockdown, or much the same as usual?
I’ve read about the same as usual during Lockdown-about an hour a day, more if it’s a gripping book.
Has lockdown affected your choice of reading material?
No, I generally like the same kinds of books.
Have you switched from your normal genre? eg started reading poetry, short stories, non fiction, drama?
No, I like “the classics”, American literature, Irish literature and a few contemporary “best seller” type books. Like interiors magazines as well. Read the Gazette and the Guardian most weeks, also Yorkshire Post.
Have you been using reading in a different way – for example for comfort, raising your spirits, escapism, distraction?
Always read for escapism or information.
Have you been finding it harder to concentrate during lockdown?
Not really found it harder to concentrate (allowing for old age!).
Have you started books and been unable to finish them?
I try to make careful choices and not start books I am not going to like, so it rarely happens that I can’t finish a book.
Where do you get inspiration for titles?
Quite a few books are given or lent to me. I don’t ever visit bookshops, all the books I buy are off Amazon, including their second hand books. I usually like or am interested in Amazon’s suggestions for me and spend time following up Amazon reviews. Am also influenced by book reviews in newspapers and on social media.
Where are you sourcing your books/audiobooks from?
I get books off Amazon and get given or lent quite a few books.
Have you embarked on reading all the books you already own but have never read?
I have a “forever book shelf” and re-read these. But I don’t keep books long term- if a book doesn’t make it onto the forever shelf then it’s quickly given to someone else or off to the charity shop.
Have you been listening to audiobooks rather than reading? If so, does listening add something to your experience of the book that you wouldn’t get by reading it yourself?
Can’t get on with audiobooks at all. But occasionally record the stories on Radio Four Extra and listen to these while sewing.
Have you been reading books about pandemics? eg The Plague by Albert Camus, Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe, Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, The Roses of Eyam by Don Taylor etc?
I’m currently reading Journal of the Plague Year. I’ve read all the others listed some years ago, as I’ve always been interested in plagues. (I got married in Eyam).
Can you recommend up to 5 books/audiobooks that you have enjoyed during lockdown?
The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gower
The Foundling by Stacey Halls
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne
Charms for the Easy Life by Kaye Gibbons