About Me

I am a seller of used and collectable books which is something that I love. I have been doing this since 2000. Prior to that I was an English teacher and whole school literacy co-ordinator, and for 8 years I marked the higher level GCSE English Literature paper.

Over-lapping the teaching career and the bookdealing I did an MA specialising in the Eighteenth century novel, specifically the Gothic novel. I still find myself mixing with ghosts and vampires from time to time. My other acdemic interest is reader-response theory (how readers interact with books), not least because when not studying I have worked with real readers all my life one way or another.

Book reviews and affiliate links: most books that I review on here are my own copies, part of my secondhand book stock, or from a library. As to the others: I try to read all books sent to me by publishers or authors. I do not review them all. I reserve the right to publish a bad review although I tend not to review a book at all if I can't say anything good. With smaller publishing firms or new authors I usually give them the choice as to whether to publish an equivocal review or not. I review all books with the same eye regardless of whether they are review copies or I have paid for them. Many links on my blog are affiliate links which mean that I get a few pennies if you click through and buy something. Amazon UK, the Book Depository and Biblio are the main three that I use.