Authors Electric

There’s something very spiritual about certain places. They don’t have to be places of religious worship, but they quite frequently are – indeed, it’s the spirituality of a place that often inspires the building of a place of worship. Maybe it’s the peace and quiet, or a location far away from centres of population  We spent a few days in Llangollen recently at the Chainbridge Hotel. So called because it does indeed have a chain-bridge over the river Dee; the hotel is perched on a narrow strip of land between the start of the Llangollen canal at the Horseshoe Falls and the river Dee. The majority of rooms have balconies overlooking the river and the constant loud white noise of roiling water over the rapids is curiously soothing at night.  But if you walk up past the Horseshoe Falls on a small footpath through the woods, you come to a tiny church in the middle of nowhere. Llantysilio church dates back to the 12th century, but it’s suggested that its location may have been due ...

Maps in books ... When I gave my godson a book recently which I thought he might enjoy, he was thrilled to find that it had maps at the front. "I love maps!" he declared. Well, he is only 11. Although I love maps too, and I'm (nearly) grown up. I remember the excitement of following our progress in the atlas when out in the car (yes, this was pre-Sat Nav): I spent hours poring over the OS map for our area to look for bridleways and places to ride or walk to (and still do): the only geography lessons that actually captured my attention at school where those on map-reading and what all those squiggly lines and interesting icons meant ... I even had maps hanging on my bedroom wall - a giant poster of Middle Earth, a tea towel showing Kruger National Park (my Dad had visited while on an overseas business trip) and an old 18th century print of Northamptonshire, where I stayed during the holidays. Maps to wondrous places ... I get a kick out of seeing maps in fiction...

Books do so many jobs - they educate, entertain, inspire, or offer you a place to escape to when you need it.  They can also be incredibly evocative: pick any title I've read, and it summons up in my mind's eye the time and place when I first read it: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: I'm behind the sofa in my great uncle's house in Belfast. It's dim and dusty there, but it's the only private place I can find to read in, where no-one can see me sobbing over Aslan's death. My Friend Flicka: In my bunk bed, reading (after I was supposed to be asleep) by the dim light filtering in through the glass panel over the top of the bedroom door. The Hobbit: Sprawled on my stomach on the dining room floor of my grandparents house on a blisteringly hot summer day, and trying to ignore the constant interruptions asking if I wouldn't rather go outside to play. (No! Of course not! Bilbo's trying to beat Gollum at riddles. Go away!) The Dark is R...