A report in The Daily Telegraph last week claimed that ‘read more books’ was the number one resolution for 2013, a story I jumped on during the SKY NEWS paper review.

I always start the year with good intentions to read more, but life – and writing – gets in the way. There’s also the worry that it’s impossible to stay true to your own writing voice, when you’re immersed in someone else’s work. A lot of writers stick to the ‘no reading rule’ while in the middle of their own work. If I followed that idea, I’d never read anything, although there are times during the writing process when it’s impossible to dip into any story, but my own.

On the Kindle at the moment is Robert Ludlum’s ‘The Janus Reprisal’ by Jamie Freveletti (yes, Ludlum died in 2001 but the franchise is still alive). There’s an Ian Rankin book waiting for my attention – ‘The Impossible Dead.’ I’m keen to dive into Tana French’s ‘In the Woods.’ Her name was on the lips of Lee Child, Peter James, Sophie Hannah and John Banville at a session I attended back in November, as a crime writer to watch. Finally,there’s James Becker’s ‘Echo of the Reich’. We had lunch just before Christmas, and I’m determined to finish this one before we meet up again. I first met James when he was a guest on my LBC 97.3 show, nearly a decade ago. He’s a prolific author and fabulous storyteller, both in print and over a good meal!

A big chunk of last year’s precious reading time was taken up with The Novel Prize. Finding the time is never easy, but never wasted. Happy reading.

The post Reading more appeared first on David Prever.