A little Hello from Claire Bear

Well Hello!

Zuzana has asked me to write a little piece about myself to introduce me to the blog.
I've never been particularly good at broadcasting myself in a spotlight. It’s quite odd really, I tend to freeze and go quite shy when people ask me about myself. I never really know what to say. This is probably why I suck at interviews. Yet out of the spotlight I tend to be quite confident and I warm to situations very easily. I love to meet new people and do new things!

I think if people want to know about me, the people to ask are my friends. I believe a good friend can paint the best picture of a person. They acknowledge and appreciate all aspects of us. They recognize our strengths and weaknesses much better than ourselves. Mine would probably also tell a fair few amusing stories! My mum always said, ‘If you’re going to do something, do it properly!’

So this is me:

If I had to describe myself in a few sentences, these would be:

1 - Im a relaxed and open-minded person and love the simple things in life.

"This is not magic. This is the way the world is, only very few people take the time to stop and note it. Look around you,"

2 - I can tend to look at things too seriously sometimes and forget im 23.

3 - I love my family and my friends (and chocolate, and bread, and cocktails, and music, and…)

Anyway! I would like to take this opportunity to say how delighted I am to be invited as a Guest Author! to A Secret Reading Garden. Zuzana is one of the most fabulous people I know and to be able to write along side her is a pleasure and a privilege.

I met Zuze two years ago now when I moved in to our lovely little house.  She was so bright and lovely and with our love of food and cakes, we hit it off instantly (not in a pervy way for all you pervy guys out there!). We plan to travel the world together and already have Brighton, Paris and Corfu ticked off the list!

    

My posts for all you lovely readers will mostly be book reviews. I love to read and once I find a good book, I asylum myself to my room until its done!

I find writing about a finished book/series is like framing and hanging a picture. On that little piece of paper, you have all the memories of the entire experience, the good, the bad and everything else in between. It allows these moments to stay with you for a long long time. The bit I enjoy the most about a book, is going back and re-reading the parts which really touched me. Text where you have to physically take a break from the book to handle the impact those words have just had on you.

One of my favorite quotes from Erin Morgenstern’s Night circus reads:

“It is important…Someone needs to tell those tales. When the battles are fought and won and lost, when the pirates find their treasures and the dragons eat their foes for breakfast with a nice cup of Lapsang souchong, someone needs to tell their bits of overlapping narrative. There’s magic in that. It’s in the listener, and for each and ever ear it will be different, and it will affect them in ways they can never predict. From the mundane to the profound. You may tell a tale that takes up residence in someone’s soul, becomes their blood and self and purpose. That tale will move them and drive them and who knows what they might do because of it, because of your words. That is your role, your gift. There are many kinds of magic, after all”

I hope you enjoy reading what I write. I have the my first ever one nearly ready for you all. 

Claire :-)