Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Graham Beattie - master bookman

Bookman Beattie and books
Graham Beattie
Photo by Harvey Benge
A terrific 'Best Books of 2010' review on National Radio this morning delivered by a master: Graham Beattie, he of the masterful book blog, one time Managing Director of Penguin NZ, and an all round lovely guy.

Quite frankly, we NZ writers don't know what we'd do without Graham - he publicises our work and our awards and our blogs and our doings with unmatchable generosity and enthusiasm - and throws together the cream of the literary action overseas too to keep us (and his huge overseas readership) informed. He tells me he can spend up to eight hours a day on Beattie's Book Blog and he does it for the love of it, not a cent crosses his palm. Amazing.

Go here  to listen to his review, and you'd be strong-minded to be able to resist any of the three recommendations. He speaks so unhurriedly, so personally, so warmly - erudite without being snobbish, informative without being condescending, and is so 110% in love with books, one is beguiled.

I am doing my 'best of' tomorrow at 10.30 am, available streamed or as a download (from around 11) on www.radionz.co.nz. Tip from Graham to remember: less is more. I usually try to cram too much in.

2 comments:

Cadillacjack said...

he is all you say and very modest as well - a very nice chap

Beattie's Book Blog said...

Thank you Mary, you are most kind. I must say I do enjoy talking about books, so much easier than writing about them! No need to worry about punctuation or grammar, incomplete sentences etc and somehow it seems easier to convey your enthusiasm.
My blog is a demanding thing but I gain enormous satisfaction from it and feedback such as yours makes it enormously rewarding.
Thank you again.