The Only Way is Reading Essex Library Services

Join us as we talk about all things family, what we offer our families in our libraries and what exciting events we have planned .

Last month we celebrated women’s history month and international women’s day and spoke to two inspiring women, eve from Essex County Council and Syd our author in residence

We speak to some of the team in the library service about reading for well-being. We are also joined by author Syd Moore who is Essex Library Service’s author in residence.

First came the action of running, and accompanying it was the entity known as me. I run; therefore I am. In 1982, having sold his jazz bar to devote himself to writing, Murakami began running to keep fit. A year later, he’d completed a solo course from Athens to Marathon, and now, after dozens of such races, he reflects upon the influence the sport has had on his life and his writing. Equal parts travelogue, training log and reminiscence, this revealing memoir covers his four-month preparation for the 2005 New York City Marathon and settings ranging from Tokyo’s Jingu Gaien gardens, where he once shared the course with an Olympian, to the Charles River in Boston.

Reserve What I Talk about When I Talk about Running

Talk to us on Twitter Facebook and Instagram

Freya chats with ECC BAME Network members Zenith, Neera and Michael in this special Black History Month takeover episode of The Only Way Is Reading.

They are discussing Louise Hare's fantastic debut This Lovely City, published by HarperCollins Publishers. The novel, set in 1948 and 1950, follows Laurie, a Jamaican musician who moved to London on the HMT Empire Windrush. He is courting a British mixed race woman, Evie, when he finds a baby, dead in Clapham Common pond. From then on, nothing is as simple as it seems...

Hare paints a vivid image of the life of the Windrush generation in this brilliant book full of suspense, fear and hope. The group loved it and their analysis makes for a great listen. 

This review has hints of spoilers, so if you want to read the book first, reserve it from your local library now: https://tlc.ent.sirsidynix.net.uk/client/en_GB/essex/search/results?qu=this+lovely+city&te=&lm=ESSEXTHURR



P.s. please excuse the echoey audio - we will record in a different room next time!

On this special episode of The Only Way Is Reading we jump straight into a soundscape of Chapter 12 in The War of the Worlds.

We are joined by local musician and sound artist Chris Adam who lead the Invasion Soundscaping Workshop on 28 October 2021. We discuss H. G. Wells' epic novel, why electronic music is so good for the telling of futuristic tales and how anyone can make music.