Summertime... and the reading is easy

BY OLIVER

Finally the cold winter months are well behind us and it’s time to relish the warm, summer weather… Or maybe leave the country altogether in search of a picturesque beach upon which to lie and frantically scour through your hand luggage to find the novel you’ve been waiting so long to crack in to.

Whatever their particular circumstances, a lot of people in Bedfordshire have jumped at the chance to enjoy the sunshine, book in hand.

And at a very good time, too – some really great novels are topping the charts at the moment.

One of the most popular it seems is Picture Perfect by Jodi Picoult. Picoult tells us of Cassie Barrett, who wakes up in a cemetery, not knowing who she is or how she got there.

But, with the help of the new policeman in town, the peculiarly named Will Flying Horse, Cassie rediscovers her true identity in this mysterious, yet extremely emotional novel.

While finding out what’s hot and what’s not, OLIVER SANDERSON also discovered what local people were reading and enjoying.

Mayor of Bedford Dave Hodgson, a crime novel fanatic, said: “I doubt I’ll have the time, probably lots of papers! But I might have a week off and if so I think I’ll be reading an Ian Rankin work.

“There are a lot of twists to the story, it’s almost one long corkscrew! But it’s light enough so that it doesn’t take up a lot of time.” Television presenter and rugby (and actual) giant, ex-Blue Martin Bayfield is currently reading Ripley’s World by Andy Ripley after finishing The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

Martin said: “I would probably read it again, it was so good, but it made me very anti-social as I couldn’t put the damn thing down!” He added that over the summer he’s joining the already massive Stieg Larsson following and reading ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’.

After a long pause for thought, pageant model and Miss Bedfordshire 2010 Malin Andersson, said: “I’ve been reading the Katie Price book Angel Uncovered; that’s quite good. And I just read Twilight: Eclipse; that was excellent!” Henry Sanderson, a worryingly excited student said, without hesitation: “I’m going to read the entire Twilight saga, as I’ve seen all the films and want to discover if Robert Pattinson is as good-looking in literature as he is in movies.” You may be wondering about that one, but don’t worry, so am I.

Local hairdresser Carmela Bormomeo put the scissors down for a few moments to tell us that she’d been reading Inkheart by Cornelia Funke.

She said: “I loved it. Very interesting indeed.” Bedford Blues captain, Dan Richmond, told us about the reasons behind his choice of Ian McGeechan’s autobiography. He said: “I’ve just started it. I chose it because I was coached by him and I’m really interested to learn about him as a top coach and his beliefs.” And last, but by no means least, Living Locally editor, Judy Riley, has also jumped aboard the best-selling Swedish ‘Girl Who’ bandwagon… “I am currently devouring, at every possible opportunity, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, Stieg Larsson’s astonishing and phenomenally successful final book of the Millennium Trilogy.

“It’s an exciting, complex, clever and fantastically satisfying thriller.

“No, you can keep your worthy self-help tracts and inspirational biographies. Give me a cracking good holiday read – all-year round.

“In fact, what am I doing wasting precious reading time talking to you about it when I could be gobbling up few a more chapters? Excuse me . . . ”