Reasons that I love books (Or, 'never take your two year old daughter to a book signing...')

Books have always been a huge part of my life, to the point where all of the books on my shelves (the ones that are mine, not review copies that have been sent) come with their own memories of where I was in my life when I bought and read them. Timothy Zahn’s ‘Heir to the Empire’ trilogy was purchased the morning after my 21^st birthday while I was in the throes of the worst hangover I have ever had. Thank goodness you only turn twenty one once :o) ‘Memories of Ice’ will always be the book that I tried to read after just having woken up from a general anaesthetic (and not having read the previous two books). That reading experience did not go well at all… After having got rid of my original ‘Winter of the World’ novels (yet another ill-advised purge) I’ll always remember finding another copy of ‘The Anvil of Ice’ in an Oxfam shop, in Islington, and promising that I’d never make that mistake again. What? I love books :o)

With books and I being the way we are then, it makes it even better when I can get a book signed; another memory tied up in the pages. I was looking through my books the other day and remembered taking Hope (two and a bit at the time) to get some books signed by Daniel Polansky. The conversation kind of went like this…

Daniel Polansky: (Looking at Hope) “And who’s this?”

Me: “This is my daughter Hope, I thought I’d bring her along as she loves book signings.” (To be fair , what Hope actually loved was getting off her face on sugar at the Strange Chemistry launch; a small but important difference as there wasn’t much in the way of sugar at Forbidden Planet…)

Daniel Polansky: “She’s cute, hi Hope!”

Hope: (Scowling) “…”

Daniel Polansksy: “She’s not really into this at all is she?”

Me: “Erm… No”

After a conversation like this, there was really only that Daniel could write in my book…

How about you? What's the funniest/oddest thing an author has written in your book while signing it? Photographic evidence will be insisted on here otherwise I'm afraid it never happened... In the meantime, all this talk has reminded me that I still need to read/finish 'She Who Waits'. My 'To Read' pile can't stay in the same order for more than a day at time...