Book sales in the UK are reported to have soared by more than £2m last week as Thursday 13th September was one of the biggest dates of the year for new releases. More than 200 hardback books were officially published on that day including Terry Pratchett's (big favourite of mine) Dodger and Martina Cole's The Life.
Also happening this weekend The London Art Book Fair is being held at Whitechapel Gallery and to celebrate The Hobbit's 75th anniversary HarperCollins is throwing a Second Breakfast in the gardens of Fulham Palace. I have to declare a special interest in The Hobbit as I discovered that J.R.R. Tolkein based his idea of The Shire on the Cole Valley near his home in Sarehole. It is now well into Birmingham but when I was young we used to play in The Dingles, as the park is now known, and catch minnows and sticklebacks in the clear water of the River Cole in dappled sunshine - absolutely magical and I can well see how it inspired Tolkein with his fairy version of an ideal rural England.
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