#BookADayUK; A Reader Event For October. Day 10

So, what's the theme for today's Books Are My Bag event? Simply, 'One with an orange cover'. I'm
sure there's some deep-seated esoteric reason for this theme, but I can't work out what it might be.
No matter. I have books on my shelves that have orange covers. Sadly, a lot of them have faded with the passage of time and influence of sunlight on their spines.
I chose my boxed set of Graham Greene novels for this one. A great writer who managed to combine action and adventure with good writing. Just one of a multitude of authors who had a formative effect on my own writing. You'll see from the picture that some of the spines have faded rather more than others. I know not the reason and can only speculate that there is some difference in the quality of ink used by the publisher. But who really knows?
Anyway, it's the content of the books rather than the appearance of their covers that matters. Some really great stories here. If you've never read Graham Greene, you've missed a treat. But I'm sure most of these are still available. Have a go; treat yourself.

And, should you decide to tweet about this, please use the #tag #bookadayUK, won't you?

Related articles

• #BookADayUK; A Reader Event For October. Day 4
• October is #BookADayUK - Enjoy!

Who's Your Favourite Author, and Why?

Cover of THE STONOR EAGLES

It's a bit of a cheat, this one, as I don't have a favourite author, but several whose work I admire and enjoy. William Golding has always impressed with his facility with language and metaphor, especially in The Spire. Graham Greene is a great story-teller and I particularly enjoyed The Power and the Glory. J.K Rowling provides fun and escapist enjoyment whilst encouraging kids to read (always got to be great, hasn't it?) All her Harry Potter books have entertained me. William Horwood provides narratives with which I can easily empathise, especially in his wonderful, The Stonor Eagles. Richard Adams kept me enthralled with his Shardik and, especially Maia, which I've read a few times.

The list could go on and on, because I love reading and there are a great number of very good authors out there. I belong to a reading group called Goodreads, and I'd recommend them as a source of information, inspiration and social contact for anyone who loves books and reading.

So, who do you read, and why? I'd love to know your preferences and the reasons for them, if you'd like to take the time to comment.

Thanks.

Synopsis blues

Image via Wikipedia

Reducing a story with 52 named characters, 68 chapters and over 250,000 words into a single page synopsis is the equivalent of distilling the essence of a forest into a single phial. But the result has to be good enough to catch the attention of a busy literary agent long enough to get the piece read and to induce the agent into reading the first 3 sample chapters that form the staple diet of such power brokers. Publication without an agent is so unlikely as to be hardly worth considering these days. Publishers are sure to publish only those books written by the already well-known, having forgotten that such people were once themselves beginners and had to be helped into the spotlight. Everything is numbers these days, with the accountants running creative businesses that once had the vision to take risks, putting the likes of Graham Greene, John Fowles, J.K. Rowling onto shelves where the reading public could access their storytelling genius. Now, the first hurdle is to reach the literary agent in the hope that the writing will be sufficiently impressive to encourage them to take the next step. So, on with the job of condensing 250,000 quarried words into 700 gemstones that will sparkle whilst imparting all the agent needs to know about the story. Wish me luck!