Giant Squid Creations

We recently rearranged some furniture and moved books around – including our collection of children’s books. Lots of gems in there. And it got me thinking about how if childhood is our most formative period – which it must be if you think about it – the books I most loved then must have played a role in who I am today, particularly in terms of my literary interests and practices. So what were they? Early on I suspect the big names were Where the Wild Things Are , as discussed in a previous blog, and the Mr Men books. Particularly, Mr Nonsense , Mr Impossible and Mr Muddle … read into that what you will. And of course books like The Balloon Tree and There’s a Monster in my Bathtub – more the former – began to instil in me that sense of wonder beyond the ordinary world. But when I think about this, which I actually do far too often, it always comes back to Hugh Lofting’s Doctor Dolittle. My mum had three old hardbacks: Dr Dolittle’s Post Office ; Dr Dolittle’s Zoo and – my absol...

I have some posts planned for here so expect a bit more activity in coming weeks. But for now I just want to quickly mention last night. I went with my lovely wife to see Neil Gaiman at the City Recital Hall. It was a fun and inspirational event as he read from two forthcoming books and generally said entertaining things. Fourplay was also in attendance and played a couple of tunes - including the Doctor Who theme - and also accompanied Neil as he read one of the books. They also accompanied him as he sang the FireballX5 theme song which was fun. The Ocean at the End of the Lane is the main novel he read from and we luckily got a sample to keep. It's an adult novel but the narrator is remembering events from his childhood so there's a mix and young feel. There's no mistaking the sense of dread floating over the black humour and jokes about burnt toast. The first three chapters have definitely got me hooked, bring on June and the full release. In the meantime ... Keep dr...

So it's back to work tomorrow and hopefully that will also mean getting back into the swing of things in general. After the success of November, December was ... well it was mostly a write-off. But, new year, new start. The only other thing I really have to say at the moment is thank you. Yes, you reading this. Thanks for reading this. Thank you everyone who showed support for me last year and is continuing to do so now. This year I aim to give you all something more to show for it. Watch this space. Till then - Keep dreaming!