Authors Electric

 Image Credit:  Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. I can guess what you’re thinking. There is no such thing as a reading/writing season. We read and/or write all year around, right? True but do you find there are certain times of year when you read certain types of book? Or you write certain types of story in the winter as opposed to the summer?   I love reading humorous works throughout the year but I read more during the autumn and winter months. If you don’t need cheery reading then, when would you? I usually find I write more humorous flash fiction during this period too.  I write festive flash fiction, which is cheery by its nature, so have often written some during the autumn and submitted it somewhere in the run up to that word beginning with C we won’t mention yet because it is far too early to do so. (Supermarkets, please note). My TBR pile has a good old mix in it, which is how I like it, and this is consistent all year but the funny books ...

Since 23 March, when lockdown was announced in the UK, I’ve found myself seeking solace in familiar books. This isn’t something I do regularly – unlike my eldest daughter, who re-reads certain books repeatedly, what she calls ‘comfort reading’, particularly at times of stress. Apparently reading the Harry Potter books or Jane Austen’s entire oeuvre is the thing to help get her through public exams or, indeed, starting as a junior doctor during a pandemic. She also turns to familiar films – almost anything by Disney, various (often rather cheesy) musicals, etc. at such times. For me, generally, if I’ve read a book or seen a film so recently that I can remember the ending (let alone how the plot takes us there), it’s far too soon to experience it again. ( Star Wars is about the only exception – oh, and The Adventures of Robin Hood ; I can never have too much of Errol Flynn’s blithe, sunny optimism and desperate historical inaccuracy…) My only regular re-reading is the ann...