My Bookshelves...

This week I’m picking up on the bookshelf feature I started at the end of April, when I talked about Ruby Ferguson, one of my very favourite authors and showed off my prized collection of first editions. Next up on this feature, I’d like to talk about Jilly Cooper, who rocked my world when in 1985 she published her blockbuster ‘Riders’.

At the time, I lived in Cheshire and was very much part of a ‘horsey set’. My horse, a handsome eventer called Charles, was stabled at livery between the Polo Club and the Cheshire Hunt stables. It was a time of competitive fun. Not that my life was anything like one of the characters in ‘Riders’ you understand - as to fund my horsey adventures I would race up the M56 everyday to work - not on my horse but in my little white sports car. But at the weekends I would be either at the livery stables or at a horsey event and everyone I met would have two things in common. (1) They would be riding a horse and (2) they would be either reading Jilly Cooper’s Riders or talking about it!

That year, Riders went straight into the bestsellers chart at number one. I loved the book and so it seemed did everyone else. So it became my number one favourite book in the world and as you can see from the photo below, I have a beautiful first edition copy on my bookshelves.

Jilly’s novels are characterised by her intricate plots, multiple storylines, characters to fall in love with, dogs and horses, glamour, wealth, sex, and her clever and unsurpassable wit. And that’s just the fiction. As you will note, I’m a big Jilly Cooper fan!

 

A teary-eyed moment for me on Bagpipes & Bullshot launch day....

What is your favourite book in the whole world? Please tell me - leave a comment!

If you have a moment, please pop over to Pauline Barclay's Blog where I'm talking about life here in Scotland and how it inspires my writing!

Next Friday, I’m interviewing Lanzarote writer Pauline Barclay. Not to be missed!