I’ve just come back from my second official visit to Hornsey Library, in Crouch End, North London – lair of supreme ninja librarian Sean Edwards and his excellent Chatterbooks Reading Group!

I’ve spoken to this reading group before, back in October 06, and while (most of!) the faces have changed, the feeling has not: their tastes are highly sophisticated – terrifyingly so, to me, I don’t mind admitting – and they’re not afraid to voice their opinions. But once (thanks, Thomas!) I’d established that I don’t work for MI6 (or do I?? ;p) the group’s members were very welcoming and were scrupulously polite listeners. If anyone who was there is reading this, thank you!

I particularly enjoyed getting the chance to mention one of my obsessions, namely creatures that inhabit the deep sea. Now: as you may have gathered(!) I love monsters – I love hearing about them, reading about them, and thinking about them for stories. But I tell you, the wildest and weirdest imaginings of my or anyone else’s mind are nothing, nothing – I’m delighted to say – compared to the kinds of real creatures that human science is only now beginning to discover in the deep darkness of the Earth’s oceans. My current favourite book on the subject (it’s on my LibraryThing Five Hundred Fine Books List) is a beautiful tome called THE DEEP: The Extraordinary Creatures of the Abyss, by Claire Nouvian. It’s absolutely breathtaking, and I heartily recommend you check it out: click on the link above to go to a special website dedicated to the book.

Meanwhile thanks again, Sean, for having me along! 🙂

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