MY BOOKS from Ladybird Fairy Tales to Plants for the Future…First lines, first books, first literary loves….and more

BY Venetia Carter. I’ve written and self-published a book* and am now wondering if that is the one book that everyone has inside them or whether there’s anything else in there.

*Animal, Vegetable or Mineral? The Peculiar Tale of a Middle-Aged Woman and What She Grew in her Garden

What’s the first book you remember reading (or being read to you)?
Ladybird books

What’s the first book that a made a big impact on you?
Ladybird fairy tales books

What book are you reading right now?

Dancers at the End of Time  by Michael Moorcock

And the one you read before that?
Olive Kitteridge – Elizabeth Strout

We all know burning books is wrong on every level. What contemporary novel (and by contemporary I mean one published in the last 30 years or so) would you put your hand in the fire to save.
Tehanu – Ursula Le Guin

Same question but this time what classic would you save from the bonfire? (And you can work out your own definition of classic.)
Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy

First line:
The schoolmaster was leaving the village, and everybody seemed sorry.

Favourite non fiction book?
Plants for a Future: Edible and Useful Plants for a Healthier World– Ken Fern

Favourite poetry book?
A Shropshire Lad – Housman

And a short story that has lived with you ever since you first read it?
All Summer in a Day – Ray Bradbury

Finally, what do you prefer: a real book with pages that move, an ebook, an audio device?

Paper pagesWould you like to take part?
This is the start of a new series on the books we remember, the books that have changed our lives and the books we are reading right now…Drop me a line at bridgetwhelan At hotmail.co.uk if you would like to contribute. How much or how little you write is up to you.
Please put MY BOOKS in the subject line.