Officially Weird

I think I have mentioned before that my Mum lent ...GO TO HELENA HANDBASKET to a neighbour of hers and that he thought I must be weird. Today I met him.

"Ah, so you're the one who thinks I'm weird?"

"Yes, I do."

"And why is that then?" Do you really want to know the answer to this question Donna?

"Because you are."

"Oh, OK, fair enough."

"Your book was really weird."

"Did you like it?"

"No."

"Righty-ho then."

I then threatened to let him have a copy of OLD DOGS which he seemed strangely happy about. And then he said "You don't look like I imagined you would." Uh-oh.

"And how did you think I'd look then?" Why did I ask this? Did I really want to know the answer?

"I thought you'd be a stout lady." Check. "Dressed in black." Check. This wasn't looking good - so far I was living up to my weird stereotype. "Wearing a black hat and green tights." Phew - saved by the lack of accessories. "No, you look almost normal, if you don't mind me saying."

"Not at all."

A very nice man. I promised to send him down some books he might actually like (political thrillers, out of interest).

And now, back to the regularly scheduled links.

The Age, with a humourous piece on cute books.

I missed this originally - the lovely Maddy Van Hertbruggen with an enthusiastic review of Iain Levison's HOW TO ROB AN ARMORED CAR. And a review of THE LINEUP which has authors talking about their famous characters.

The Telegraph with the 100 bestselling authors of the decade. Katie Price at number 59? Great British public, you should be ashamed of yourselves.

Quintin Jardine appearing at Musselburgh Library on January 12th.

What would Sherlock Holmes have thought about the new film? Several more thoughts and an article on several books about Conan Doyle.

Taggart - 100 episodes and 251 murrrrrderrrrs.

It's expensive to get a pie and a pint in Edinburgh these days. Particularly if they come with company of top author.

And thanks again for your entries for a copy of OLD DOGS. The lovely David at Busted Flush is sending more copies, so I may even have two copies to get rid of...errrr...give away.