About Cornflower Books

    Judging by some of the emails I get it seems that quite a few people visiting this site for the first time come away with the mistaken impression that its sole function is as the home of a book group. I thought I'd better set the record straight.

    Cornflower Books is all about books and the wider world of books: writing, publishing, literary festivals and prizes, bookshops, libraries, our reading habits, and so on. It reflects my interests as a lifelong passionate reader whose aim is to spread the word about good writing and books worth reading. Happily, it has a large and loyal following of equally keen readers from many countries, and it functions as a source of recommendations, bookish news and comment, a place where good books of many types and vintages may be found and discussed. Yes, it is home to a book group, too, but that accounts for no more than two or three posts in a month; the rest of the time it's mostly concerned with what I happen to be reading.

    Although I went to university to study English (with the vague idea that I might eventually work in publishing), my first year course took all the joy out of the reading of literature and so I ditched it in favour of a degree in Law, a subject I took to wholeheartedly. But the time devoted to legal training and fully-fledged practice has turned out to be well-spent in terms of what I do today; that honing of the analytical faculties and seeing through to the heart of the matter means that when I write about books now - feeling as though I've come full circle in a way - it's always with the aim of being as succinct as possible and getting, if I can, to the essence of the thing. Communication is key, with regular posts saying what I rate and why so that others may discover and enjoy those books for themselves, but I claim no knowledge or experience other than that which my years of writing and talking about books here, in print and on the air have given me.

    I hope that all who stop by find this a warm and friendly place, and I do love to hear from readers whether it's by way of a comment or an email - the link to my address is over there on the right. If you're a publisher, publicist or writer wanting to send me a book, do by all means get in touch; a quick glance at a few posts or at the books I've read and written about (see the sidebars or look here for a pretty comprehensive list) should give you a fair idea of typical Cornflower material (there's the original site, too). You may have to wait a while for a reply as I am often inundated, but I do my best to respond, and I read as much of what I'm sent as I can, though these days that's only a small proportion of what comes in.

    In whatever capacity you have come to this site, I hope you'll feel welcome and find something here to interest and engage you.

Comments

[Freda]

This is lovely and clear and reminds me it is good to reiterate (and perhaps rethink) what I am about!

I have tried to no avail to find the video you posted about Slightly Foxed books being made - would be most grateful to have the link again...

Love Cornflower books!

[Cornflower]

Here you are, Freda: http://www.cornflowerbooks.co.uk/2012/03/birth-of-a-book.html

(and thankyou for your kind words).

[Arti]

I'm glad to read that literature and law can mix. I've always found the best kind of writing is that which can touch both the heart as well as the mind. I've enjoyed your blog and particularly appreciate this 'About' page here. ;)

[Cornflower]

Thankyou, Arti.