Fantastic Freebies

One of the best things about working where I do is the fact that I have access to lots of lovely freebies. Publishers regularly send us proof copies or advance reading copies or even trade copies of loads and loads of new titles, and all of the spares are loaded onto a trolley where people can just help themselves. When I was working at the bookstore we'd also get a few proofs now and then, but never anything on this scale. Even sweeter is the fact that if there isn't anything on the trolley that takes my fancy, I can just email my contact at the relevant publishers and ask very nicely for something I'm interested in, and they'll almost always send me a copy (at least they have so far).

 

Today I was very excited to receive a brand-spanking-new copy of Bill Bryson's latest hardback, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid. It looks like he's apparently returning to form after his brief foray into popular science and keeping it light and funny again, and I can't wait to finish the Irvine Welsh I'm on so I can start reading it. Bryson's warm and humorous recollections of his 50's upbringing in Iowa should make a nice change from the hardcore scottish alcoholism and substance abuse I'm working my way through at the moment. Oh, and the people at Transworld Publishing are very nice indeed - you can tell them I said so.