TUESDAY TALK chats to Blogger Linda Hill who reveals her favourite holiday destinations and chooses some interesting dinner guests…

Good morning Linda and welcome. Can I start, as always, by asking you a little about yourself?  Hi Jo. Thank you so much for having me on your lovely blog.
I’m a self retired ex teacher, educational consultant and inspector who lives in a small market town on the Lincolnshire/Cambridgeshire border with my husband of almost 33 years and near to the rest of my family. I love to read (obviously!) and when I’m not reading, I’m usually gardening, travelling or planning the next trip away. I’m also very keen on Bryan Ferry, chocolate and cats, but not necessarily in the order.

What made you decide to start Linda’s Book Bag?
I used to read, review and write resources for books for Hodder for KS3 when I was working and I’ve been a member of the http://www.lovereading.co.uk reader panel for years so when I ‘retired’ I thought a blog would be a way to share my love of books. I didn’t realise that in just over a year http://www.lindasbookbag.com would be so much a part of my life. I now spend around four hours a day on blog related activities.

Is there any type of book you don’t promote and why?                                                                         I wouldn’t say I don’t promote particular kinds of books although I would be very firmly against anything that might cause hurt or offence to others if it were deliberately racist, homophobic or written to promote another offensive point of view. That would be firmly off the blog.
That said, I don’t read much horror (too much of a coward), fantasy or paranormal fiction so I tend to offer guest blogs and interviews to those authors rather than reviews. I’m not keen on anything too explicitly violent either. I think that we all have different tastes so I will feature books I wouldn’t read myself. I don’t expect restaurants to offer only the food a chef likes so it feels the same with the blog if that makes sense? The blog has evolved to help support authors as well as tell others about books I’ve read.

Out of all the genres you have read which is your favourite?
This is such a difficult question as the genre I like best is usually the one I’ve just enjoyed and read – I’m very fickle. I suppose I’m really pulled towards what might be termed contemporary or literary fiction, but I also love novels with a psychological element, crime, historical fiction and a good old fashioned romance or chick-lit so my tastes are fairly eclectic.

Have you ever been tempted to write a novel?
Not just tempted – it’s partly done. I have a chick-lit style novel planned with 26,000 words on paper and intended to complete it during NaNoWriMo last year but life got in the way. I know it’s said that if you really want to write you’ll find the time but since October my husband was diagnosed with skin cancer and had four operations, my father was life-threateningly ill with sepsis and we had a full term still born child, my great-niece Emma, born into our tight-knit family so whether my protagonist got her man seemed totally irrelevant to my life recently. However, the novel is still fermenting in my brain and it is my intention to write the rest during this year’s NaNoWriMo.

Are you a beach or city girl? Where is your favourite chill out spot?
Can I say yes to both? I adore sitting on a beach or in the garden with a book. I just got back from a trip where there were several hours at airports and on long haul flights with three days at sea around Taiwan too so it was bliss to read for extended lengths of time. I also love the city. My husband is a photographer now and so we do lots of city breaks. When we’ve ‘done’ an area he likes to take even more photos and I’m happy to sit with my kindle and read whilst he does so – it’s a perfect combination.
I do like to sit on a bench in the corner of my very small garden and read too.

If you could invite four favourite celebrities to dinner who would they be and why?
Bryan Ferry obviously. I once asked him the extent to which Tennyson’s poetry has influenced his song lyrics, but we only had a brief time to talk so I’d like to follow that up. I have a theory that you can trace the history of poetry through his so I’d like to chat a bit more about that with him.
Next would be David Attenborough. I think he’s amazing and want to be as active and proactive at his age. I’m very keen on wildlife and we take a lit of trips especially wth wildlife as the focus so he’d be fascinating to speak with.
I think Eddie Izzard would be a fabulous guest too. I really admire the way he can do stand-up in several languages and his marathon running for charity has to be admired.
Lastly, although she isn’t conventionally a celebrity (yet – she should be) I’d like to invite author Lindsay Hawdon. I think she probably thinks I’m becoming a stalker but anyone who knows my blog well will know I loved her debut novel Jakob’s Colours, and I was beside myself with delight when she agreed to be interviewed for my first blog birthday. The link is here if readers would like to shttps://lindasbookbag.com/2016/02/07/first-anniversary-interview-with-lindsay-hawdon/. I’d like to talk to her in more detail about her writing and her travels.

LINDA’S SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS

My blog is http://www.lindasbookbag.com and my

Twitter account @Lindahill50Hill (https://twitter.com/Lindahill50Hill)