But after a weekend which included a visit to the British Library, this Tuesday is a bit different.

This Tuesday, I invite you to appreciate The Miracle That Is Any Book.

Beloved Auntie Susan and I started our visit with the Treasures Room. (Well, actually, we started with coffee and cake. Of course.) Never has a room been so well named. Jane Austen’s notebook. Charlotte Bronte’s handwritten manuscript of ‘Jane Eyre’ (open at ‘Reader, I married him’, of course).A manuscript of Beowulf from the 11th century next to Ted Hughes’ manuscript translation of it. Sacred texts from many religions, hundreds of years old.

After a bit of a lie down it was time for our visit to the Illuminated Manuscripts exhibition. Shockingly overcrowded and poorly curated, this display still managed to make one of the most precious and exciting hours of my life. Looking at books, hand-made hundreds of years ago, illustrated with beauty and detail and so vivid and immediate that the artist who worked on it might have just popped out of the room for a second.

Look closely at this. That blueness behind God (for it is He)? Not just twirly whirly sky. Sky filled with angels.

Time in the British Library made me realise just what a privilege, and a shame, it is to be able to treat books as disposable physical objects in the way that I do. A privilege because I have immediate and unthinking access to so much: information, stories, poems, other people’s lives that can bring help to mine, in books that I read in the bath, squash up in handbags, pass on or put in a pile. And I do this every day, with very little thought for the centuries of innovation and expertise that means a book is such an easy and commonplace thing for me to hold in my hand. Which is the shame of it.

Today, if a book crosses your palm – and I’m guessing it will – please take a moment to be grateful for what we have in the everydayness of this object.

(If you want to see the ‘Royal Manuscripts: the genius of illumination‘ exhibition at the British Library, be quick! The last day is next Tuesday. Tickets are here. Don’t go at lunchtime.)

Mark Grist has a website, here.

I do love a good retelling of the Arthurian legends, and Kevin Crossley-Holland’s ‘Arthur and the Seeing Stone’ is just that. Written for young teens, this is a perfect book to romp through on a train journey. I’m looking forward to reading the next two in the series.

And that book reminded me of one of my favourite grown-up versions of Camelot: ‘The Mists Of Avalon’ by Marion Zimmer Bradley. I can feel a re-read coming on. I loved this book first time around, the interwoven stories of Gwenhyfar, Vivaine and Morgaine whisking me away from my everyday world, which at the time was not an easy one.

‘The Psychopath Test’ by Jon Ronson made me properly laugh out loud an awful lot. (I had to stop reading it in bed one night because my sudden barks and bolts of laughter were waking Alan up.) Jon Ronson explores the nature of psychopathy in a hugely entertaining way. It’s a tricky book to explain, so I’ll just say: give it a go. I don’t think you’ll regret it. (Unless you are actually a psychopath and therefore unable to empathise. See that? This book is educational too.)

This is a fabulous cookbook.

The spaghetti with meatballs – involving lamb, cumin, coriander and cayenne for a rich, deep flavour – was declared ‘lush’ by Joy. The plum and ginger flapjack crumble was excellent. The chocolate marmalade slump cake is high on the ‘to make’ list, as is the stuffed leg of lamb with spinach, feta and olives. Need I say more?

And finally – I’m midway through ‘My Cousin Rachel’ by Daphne du Maurier at the moment, and cannot wait for my train journey today to devour another chunk. It’s such a great story: part mystery, part romance, mostly a good old fashioned gripping read.

I’m racing through ‘Gillespie and I’ by Jane Harris -

I loved her first book, ‘The Observations’.

So far, ‘Gillespie and I’ is brilliant, and I suspect I am in the presence of one of the most unreliable narrators ever, although I genuinely have no idea what’s going to happen. Which is thrilling too, and quite unusual – I don’t know about you, but I can often see what’s coming from a mile off.

I’m getting a kick from just looking through ‘Socktopus’ by Alice Yu.

I’ve knitted a couple of pairs of these already, as part of a sock club, and they’re lovely. This whole book is a delight – beautifully photographed, clear instructions, and everything from the basic to the fancy. I can feel another pair coming on.
I bought this as a Christmas present

and I can’t tell you how fantastic it is. I’m going to have to get another copy for me. It presents all sorts of data as all sorts of graphics: everything from creation myths to salad dressing recipes. Here’s the hierarchy of digital distractions, and the ways The Beatles self-reference. (If you click, they will embiggen themselves.)

Have a lovely Tuesday.

Actually, that makes me sound terrible, and I wasn’t consciously choosing books that fell into those categories – it was more that experience, and my love of reading, and my desire for a bit of intellectual challenge (not too much, or I’d be reading those translated novels in the original languages) had taught me that that was where to go for well-written, well-structured words that would stay with me long after I’d closed the book.

Still. I was where I was. And then I had surgery, and ploughed my way through a book I’d been saving, about illegal immigrants picking strawberries and slaughtering chickens, that Everyone Said Was Brilliant. I hated it, but I finished it, and I went on to something set on the Russian Steppe in a particularly bleak part of Russian history (though I don’t know that there are many cheery bits). After that, a book about the aftermath of a suicide.

After that, I stopped reading for a while. I thought I was struggling because I had no attention span, and it was partly that, but it was partly, too, that I was spending so much energy on my own emotional wellness that I had none left to empathise, or sympathise, with characters in books. Stories that I would have loved just annoyed me: the lovelorn with their whining, the starving with their hanging on for an unreasonably long time, the grieving with their, well, grief.

Then one afternoon I went into the library, more for a sit-down than anything else – it was one of those post-surgery days when the fact that I had been able to have a shower on my own gave me unrealistic expectations for what I might be capable of for the rest of the day – and I plonked myself in the murder mystery section.

And I picked up this book

And I started to read.

And I discovered that it wasn’t that I didn’t like reading any more: it was that I was trying to read things that, right then, I wasn’t up to reading, for just the same reasons I’d ended up, tired and a bit shaky, in that corner of the library in the first place. Agatha Christie writes quick, clever mysteries that make you go ‘Aaaahhh! Of course!’ at the end, and then reach for the next one. you can get through one an afternoon for a fortnight and not get bored. They’re delicious and forgettable, like a hot cup of tea in a cafe when you’re really, really tired.

You probably already know this. You probably discovered Agatha Christie in your teens and re-read a couple every year, just for kicks. But I’m mentioning them today because it took 37 years and a dance with breast cancer for me to get around to these deft little gems, and maybe I’m not the only person who’s missed them.

If you haven’t already, I suggest you try Evil Under The Sun, Death On The Nile, And Then There Were None, and A Murder Is Announced, for starters.

So, I went off to the local library, where I’d arranged to give out books and cakes, with heavy heart. (Books and cakes have been the theme of the week at Bah!, it seems.) I was disappointed with myself for not trying harder to give out books at the hospital (I did make a couple of phone calls, but it was one of those no-one-knew-who-was-the-right-person-to-talk-to things, and I gave up fairly quickly). I was concerned that by giving books out at the library I was preaching to the converted – giving books to people who already read.

But I was pleasantly surprised. I gave away 24 of my 48 copies of Fingersmith, mostly to parents who were bringing children to change their library books, but didn’t have books themselves. The parents took the books, the children took the cakes, and I had some interesting conversations about reading. And I gave books to 4 passing teenagers who were drawn in by the cake. One of them said she didn’t own any books at all.

Then it was off to my local yarn shop, Treacle, to give cakes and books to a group of delightful and appreciative people doing a workshop. Then to a coffee shop where I gave copies to the manager and staff, and sundry coffee drinkers. More lovely conversations; more people really excited about a new book to read.

But it doesn’t change the fact that I was giving away free books while bookshops are going out of business left, right and centre. Reading this eloquent plea from the Big Green Bookshop really brought this home to me. (The Big Green Bookshop is fab, as long as you don’t go to the loo, which has its own bluebottle.) So I’m ordering half a dozen books from the Big Green Bookshop Top 50, and I’m giving them away, in the spirit of loving to read – and the spirit of supporting the book trade. Please feel free to do the same.

One of my favourite things about the Kindle is that I don’t have to decide what I’m going to read in advance. I’ve cut many a journey fine trying to decide whether I feel most like reading a historical novel, getting through some more of my current business book, or if I’m actually in Booker mood. Now, I have them all.

I hadn’t realised that it’s possible to read newspapers, magazines and blogs on Kindle too, but it is, and that’s something else I like about it.

I like it so much that I’ve added Bah! to cancer to the Kindle store. So, if you are so minded, you can subscribe to this blog for £1.99 per month and have it delivered wirelessly to your Kindle. (I didn’t set the fee – Amazon do. I think the price is to do with how often the blogger posts, but don’t quote me on that.)

Of course, you can keep on reading the blog for free here too, and I hope you will. But there’s now another way to keep up with Bah! should you wish to take it. Any money I make from blog subscriptions will go straight to one of the Bah! charities.

(Reading this post back, it seems like one big Kindle ad. Apologies to those of you who have Sony e-readers or simply prefer a traditional book…)

World Book Night sounds fab – although I should warn you that although it’s called World Book Night it’s only happening in the UK and Ireland. (Apologies, rest of world, for leaving you out of this event. And for, y’know, colonialism and everything.) The idea is that on the night of 5 March, 20,000 book-givers will distribute 50 free copies each of one of 25 books in their local community – so a million books will be given away in the hope that it will inspire new readers all over the country.

I love this idea. I hope I am chosen to give books away and if I am I hope local hospitals will let me leave a few copies of ‘Fingersmith’ in oncology wards and waiting rooms. Apart from knitting, a good bit of reading escapism is great to get you through hard/miserable/tedious times.

You can read about World Book Night here, and if you are over 18 and live in the UK or Ireland, you can apply to become a book-giver – which you need to do before 4th January – here.

I like the idea of it such a lot that I invited Jen over to tell me more about it.

Me: Hi Jen, and welcome to Bah! to cancer. Could you tell me a little about The Reader Organisation, and what you do?

Jen: The Reader Organisation is a national charity dedicated to bringing about a reading revolution. We are pioneers of reader development and social change, making it possible for people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities to enjoy and engage with literature on a deep and personal level.

Me: Why is reading so important?

Jen: Reading is important because unlike other art forms, it expresses thoughts and feelings. Plus, we have hundreds of years of literary resource that just cannot be forgotten about. Our ethos is that literature is not an aesthetic experience but practical help for being human, ‘Get Into Reading’ was started to address the waste of this fabulous resource, the thing Doris Lessing, in her 2007 Nobel acceptance speech, called “a treasure-house of literature”.

Me: Is there a difference between reading aloud to others, reading aloud to yourself, and reading silently?

Jen: Yes, reading silently alone expands your mind and is a pleasurable activity in itself; reading aloud to yourself gives the words real life – particularly with poetry, that should always be read aloud; reading aloud in a group enables both the words to come to life and for individuals to express their thoughts and feelings about it: it also helps you to concentrate and to come together and share something valuable and important with others. Reading aloud also means that for people that are illiterate, or struggling to concentrate, or no longer have the ability to read, great literature is still accessible.

Me: Is there a link between mental health and reading?

Jen: The Reader Organisation has firmly established the link between reading aloud together as a practical way to develop good mental health, because it’s a group activity, it brings people together, because it’s reading, because it’s reading aloud, it’s hugely accessible. Get Into Reading group members can choose to read aloud in the group if they want (and many do as confidence grows), or it can be left to a facilitator to do all the reading – the environment is totally relaxed and there are no pressures in any way. Plus there are lots of cups of tea and plenty of biscuits! We work a lot with the NHS and one of our most successful Reader-in-Residence schemes has been with Mersey Care NHS Trust. Dr David Fearnley, Psychiatrist of the Year 2009 and Medical Director at the trust says that “Get Into Reading is one of the most significant developments to have taken place in Mersey Care NHS Trust and mental health practice in the last ten years.” (Read more about our work with health here.)

Me: What about a link between coping with stress and reading?

Jen: Recently I spoke to a man in my reading group in Liverpool (a successful business man who runs a marketing company in the city), who summed this up really well: “Focusing on reading has a lasting benefit that extends beyond the group: at 6.30pm on a Wednesday I can be at screaming pitch with pressure, by 6.45pm totally absorbed in Dante and by 8.30pm fully relaxed and ready to face anything. Through reading I have now found a perfect new dimension to my work/home life balance; an interest that fits easily into my busy schedule. The routine is crucial: when stressed I can always look forward to the next group. I’ve only missed one session all year – work appointments get moved or cancelled but I see the reading group as non-negotiable date in the diary. They’re are a safe-haven. No phone calls. No hassles. No interruptions. I just love it.” Reading is a great relief for stress because it enables you concentrate on things other than what you have been preoccupied by. Reading aloud is even better because unlike reading on your own, which when you’re stressed or depressed can lead your mind to wander from the page, makes you concentrate even more. As a group facilitator, I find myself after a very busy day in the office, that going along to the group is a great leveller, bringing me back down to earth and putting things in a bit of perspective again.

Me: I stopped reading for a while when I was ill, because I didn’t have the concentration span for my ‘usual’ books. Do you have any advice on how to choose books?

Jen: The important thing is not to feel daunted or that “I should be reading this”, so take small steps at first but do also pick great literature: I wholeheartedly believe that our greatest writers enable us to access a language that helps us to identify our thoughts and feelings, whilst also giving us a wider world view. The greatest stories and poems are great because they are about being human. If your concentration span is short, start with short stories (Saki, Chekhov, Tobias Wolff, Katherine Mansfield), or ask someone to read poems aloud to you. Our recently published book, A Little, Aloud, contains reading ‘sessions’ that take no longer than 30 minutes to read – and that’s reading aloud – so that’s a very good place to start too.

Me: If Bah! readers want to find out more about bibliotherapy, where should they go?

Jen: If you’d like to find out more about Get Into Reading, visit our website: www.thereader.org.uk, or for more information about standard Bibliotherapy practice, you can start by looking at this (but bear in mind this is entirely different to what we do).

Thank you, Jen. I think this sounds like a brilliant project. I am thinking about all the time I have spent in hospital waiting rooms and how much better it would be if all of us patients had read aloud to each other rather than flicking through long-dead copies of The Sunday Times Magazine and wondering if we all look as bad as each other.

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I have three copies of ‘A Little, Aloud’ to give away in this week’s Bah! Brilliant Book Bonanza. If you’d like one, leave a comment below, telling us which book or books you remember reading aloud or being read aloud to you. You might also enjoy this blog post, which sums up the daily delight of reading to your children at bedtime.

You may remember Allison’s previous novel, ‘I Don’t Know How She Does It’, the story of a mother trying to do everything, with consequences that made me both laugh my mascara off and cry my mascara off. (If you haven’t read it, you really should. It’s brilliant. You can buy it here.) This time Allison is writing about being a teenage fan of a pop star – in this case, David Cassidy. There’s a review of the book here. You can follow Allison on Twitter here.

If you’d like this copy, please leave a comment below, telling us who your teenage crush was. In the interests of full disclosure: mine was John Taylor from Duran Duran.

Those cheekbones! That hair!

The winner of the book will be drawn at random next Saturday, when there’ll be another Bah! Brilliant Book Bonanza giveaway.

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The Bah! BBB is all about providing a good read when you need one. If you’d like to donate your good, uplifting book, please email me.