Portobello Book Blog

Today is the last Blogger in the Spotlight for this year as the feature will be taking a break over Christmas and New Year. I hope to start again in January though will also be starting a new feature called The Friday Four. If you are interested in taking part either please get in touch at portobellobookblog@yahoo.co.uk 

So today I’m very pleased to welcome relatively new blogger Nicola, from Short Book and Scribes. Thanks for agreeing to be part of my Blogger in the Spotlight feature Nicola. First of all, would you tell me a little about yourself?

I’m Nicola and I’m 41.  I work as a Church Administrator, very part time since I had my little boy, Daniel, almost three years ago.  I love my job but before that I did some very unsatisfying jobs in solicitors’ offices.  Daniel isn’t too interested in books yet but I’m hoping that will change as he gets older.  We both have a mild obsession with Thomas the Tank Engine at the moment and I am on a mission to collect all the trains for myself Daniel.

What books/authors did you enjoy as a child?

I remember loving the Topsy and Tim books by Jean Adamson and apparently I was always asking to have them read to me.  Later, my mum told me how much I would love the Famous Five books by Enid Blyton, but because I am stubborn I said I didn’t want to read them.  She bought me the first one anyway, Five on a Treasure Island, which I read in a day and never looked back.  I read the whole series and then moved onto The Secret Seven, Malory Towers and the St Clare’s books.

What do you enjoy most about blogging?

I haven’t been doing it for very long but I just love it.  I love sharing my reviews and I love doing posts where I have to list something, whether it be my acquisitions over the last week or answering questions about my TBR pile (which is mammoth by the way).  And I’m really enjoying the interaction with authors, other bloggers, publishers and readers on social media and through my blog.

Tell me about your blog – sell yourself!

It took a while to come up with a name I liked but I called it Short Book and Scribes, a play on words and alluding to the fact that my reviews are not the great long tomes you sometimes see.  I have a bit of a short attention span so if a review is too long I end up skimming it.  If you visit my blog you will see a mixture of reviews and articles and hopefully you will find something you enjoy reading and maybe make a comment on it.  It really makes my day to think that people are interested in something I have written.

What’s your favourite book you’ve reviewed in the past year? Or favourite three if you really can’t choose.

Oh, now this is difficult.   I’ve read some wonderful books this year but Daisy in Chains by Sharon Bolton stands out, not least because of the charismatic Hamish Wolfe, a character who may have been innocent or guilty and to be honest, I didn’t care which!

What are you reading just now? 

I’m reading My Sister’s Bones by Nuala Ellwood (November 2016).  I’m around 150 pages in and I nearly missed my stop on the tram because I was engrossed.

If you were on Desert Island Discs, what one book would you take with you?

Hmmm, this is hard for me because I very rarely reread a book and I have lots of books that I have loved over the years.  One that springs to mind is A Woman of Substance by Barbara Taylor Bradford, a book which was quite prominent for me when I was younger and one that I have been wanting to reread for quite some time.  It’s a big book so would keep me going for a while and it’s a proper saga of a story.

Is there a book you’d like to see made into a film? Who would be in your dream cast?

The Devil in the Marshalsea by Antonia Hodgson with the gorgeous and wonderful Richard Armitage as Tom Hawkins (he’s probably a bit too old to play Tom and not at all what the author intended him to look like but never mind).   

How can people follow your blog or connect with you on social media?

My blog address is shortbookandscribes.uk and you can subscribe so that you receive new posts by email.  My Facebook page is Shortbookandscribes and Twitter is @ShortBookScribe

And finally, if you could be a character in any book you have read, who would it be and why?

Max in Jodi Taylor’s The Chronicles of St Mary’s books.  She gets to travel all over in history for research purposes and live as they did at the time.  Wouldn’t that be fascinating?  I wouldn’t want all the dangers that come with it though.