Sunny Day Reading

It's the second day of July and the sun has returned. Not only that, but it's also Friday. Having drastically reduced my sleeping hours this week to get the Murdering The Text website finished, I think that today I deserve a break. I still have school runs and housework to do but just for an hour this morning, I'll treat myself to a book in the garden.

After yesterday's rainy day reading, I feel like something different today. I want something optimistic, upbeat and funny.

On my bookshelves, the first book that jumps out at me on this sunny Friday is Julian Clary's Murder Most Fab. Clary's fictional character, Johnny Debonair (TV's Mr Friday Night) reveals his rise to fame and descent into infamy in his revealing memoir, taglined 'You'd kill to be that famous'. It's delightfully wicked, as naughty as Clary's TV persona and very funny. My next purchase will be his second novel, Devil in Disguise

Poetry is a skill that evades me but I still enjoy to dip my toe in that pool as a reader. The Nation's Favourite Comic Poems, edited by Griff Rhys Jones is a literary gem of poets well known and those new to me too. Edward Lear, Roald Dahl and various anonymous poets all make me chuckle.

As a playwright, I suppose it's not surprising that I enjoy reading plays. Some were bought through necessity as I used to be part of an amateur dramatics group, others were necessary for my studies, but a large chunk were purchased simply for the pleasure of reading them. The Stephen Briggs adaptations of several of Terry Pratchett's novels are excellent. They're equally suitable for amateur or professional productions and retain the feel of the novels brilliantly. I think I might take the Men At Arms script out to read. I always fancied playing Footnote.

If it were the weekend, I'd take a glass of Pimms with me but a diet coke will have to suffice for now. Back in an hour.