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Apparently we're ready for the Coronavirus pandemic to feature in our novel reading. This autumn a number of big name authors are releasing work inspired by the past 18 months.

I remember a debate a little while ago where publishers and authors considered when it might be appropriate or desirable for this global crisis to feature as entertainment or distraction.

It wasn't something I thought I'd be eager to explore. However, having recently received advance copies of three novels soon to be released, I succumbed to curiousity and have been both surprised and a little perturbed.

The novels were variously a murder mystery (Louise Penny 'The Madness of Crowds'), a literary novella on community and survival (Sarah Moss 'The Fell') and a romantic blockbuster celebrating the human spirit (Jodi Picoult 'Wish You Were Here').

Each one proved gripping, consuming and thought-provoking in different ways.

It's right that we look to novels to investigate moral dilemmas, to feel empathy for decisions and responses opposed to our own, and to be introduced to new experiences.

But when a crisis has affected, and continues to affect, so many people so deeply, it feels insensitive to rattle on about the characterisation or the scene-setting when the plot delves into covid deaths, mental illness, isolation and financial hardship, or the morality of euthanasia.

Or is the novel the perfect environment to ponder these issues in a safe space?

Thank you for reading.

The weather has been changeable, unpredictable and largely disappointing in Britain this summer but we can be grateful not to have experienced the extreme conditions of wild fires and flash floods taking place in so many countries throughout the world.

After the years of debating, denying and procrastinating, the reality of climate change is confronting us each day. It becomes rather overwhelming.

I've been pleased, then, to discover, 'Positive News' magazine looking at 'what went right this week' with reports of encouraging environmental developments and points to action in what we as individuals can do to make a difference.

And my reading this week also gave a positive and optimistic approach to the climate crisis.

'The Future We Choose' states that "as we tune in to the raw emotion, many of us will undergo a dark, unsettling period of despair, but we cannot allow it to erode our capacity to courageously mobilise for transformation".

Instead of presenting an apocalyptic view of what might be in store, the authors take one chapter to describe a future as it might be if we take certain remedial actions now. Another section looks at how changing our mindsets can bring positive political actions, and build communities rather than preserve individual goals and ambitions. I read the book quickly, so am eager to return to process the details and to set my own action plan.

On other matters... I will be at FolkEast at Glemham Halll on Saturday 21 August, interviewing the writer Wendy Holden who worked with the inspirational Captain Tom on his autobiography last year. We will be speaking at 2pm and you can find out more about the festival here.

And thank you to everyone who has responded to the opportunity for the Booker 2021 Book Group. I plan to arrange a date for this discussion after the shortlist is announced on 14 September so will confirm the details in the next few days. If you haven't yet responded, but would like to be involved, please reply to this email. This meeting will be in person, all being well, as I am in the last throes of confirming a venue.

Do you ever find that you get to the bottom of a page of a book and can't recall anything of what you've just read?!

There are lots of reasons why this happens to me but this weekend I found that I was enjoying a book so much, I couldn't get enough of it and was thinking of all the other novels I could read by this author whom I'd just discovered!

I soon pulled myself together, reread the page and determined to remain in the moment before investigating what I might read next.

There have been so many fantastic books published lately and with the longlist for the Booker Prize recently revealed, that's another pile of new titles and authors to explore.

As a result I rarely make an opportunity to reread old favourites. However, the benefits of doing so were spelt out in an article in the Guardian this weekend when the reviewer wrote of revisiting Catch 22. Friends have also been telling me about the titles they've returned to for consolation, escape and enjoyment ('I Capture the Castle' by Dodie Smith was mentioned and prompted me immediately to look up those opening lines again). And there have been tv programmes which have inspired me to turn to familiar authors such as Ernest Hemingway and F Scott Fitzgerald, featured in Write Around the World with Richard E. Grant.

With the weather, and the world, so unpredictable at the moment, perhaps familiar, favourite reads are a tonic for the coming days and weeks?!

Thank you for reading.

We had an enjoyable discussion for this month's book 'We, the Survivors' by Tash Aw on Monday. It was a perfect example of a novel receiving a mixed reception and giving us much to debate.

Even if people felt this wasn't their sort of book, they still appreciated elements of the writing or the subject matter and could contribute positively to the discussion. Those who responded enthusiastically to the book could similarly acknowledge elements where the author's intent wasn't clear or could have been addressed differently. We all listened attentively to each other's comments and came away with something new to ponder and consider. It was a stimulating and uplifting discussion!

Being able to debate passionately while still respectfully considering the opposing point of view is an art that sometimes appears lost in today's world, so I was interested to listen in to a series that has been running on BBC Radio Four, called 'Across the Red Line'. Conflict resolution experts are invited to share insight and techniques as two speakers from opposing sides of an issue present their arguments. It's fascinating and encouraging to hear how a potentially combative confrontation can become collaborative and conciliatory.

Something in the literary calendar which tends to generate strong opinion is the Booker Prize and this year's longlist has just been announced. However this time it's met a favourable response. The director of the prize has acknowledged that the list is "notable for the engrossing stories within it...and its recognition of writers who have been working at an exceptionally high standard for many years." Perhaps we'll get together as a group to discuss the shortlist when it's announced in September - let me know if you'd like to take part.

Thank you for reading.

I've always been rather in awe of people who set themselves a five year plan for their career or life goals, and I'm not sure I'd ever have the discipline and singleminded dedication of sportspeople whose focus is solely for their next competition.

Indeed, as the 2020 Olympics are now underway, a year late, I feel for the athletes who have spent five years anticipating this moment, only to be told that due to covid results, they can no longer take part.

One of the consequences of the pandemic is that we can no longer plan ahead with confidence. It's good to have hopes and dreams but it's evident we need to hold many things much more lightly than perhaps we used to.

Closer to home, though, and with less at stake, we're planning for when we might meet together again to talk about books...!

This afternoon there is an opportunity to join me in meeting the novelist Esther Freud at The Cut in Halesworth when she'll be talking about her latest book 'I Couldn't Love You More'.

You can come along to the auditorium - seating is in bubbles and the usual precautions are being taken - or you can watch our conversation live-streamed on your computer at home.

What could be nicer on a rainy afternoon, than listening to a fascinating author talk about an intriguing and compelling work? Read about Esther here, and scroll down for details about this afternoon's event.

And tomorrow evening I'll be running another Zoom discussion for Browsers Book Group, hoping that this might be our penultimate online meeting! We're all eager to meet in person again, I know, but it really has been wonderful to keep in touch through these online conversations and I'd like to thank everyone who has taken part so far. Please reply to this email and I'll send you the details for logging on.

Thank you for reading.