A Good Read (blogwise)

ByLaurel Papworth

I picked up the book by blogger Belle de Jour around Xmas. Interesting account of a London call girl. Very amusing and a little sad. An “at the coalface” account of the ins and outs of the sex trade. Because of her blog, Belle has won awards, the publishing contract, and now writes a column…

I picked up the book by blogger Belle de Jour around Xmas. Interesting account of a London call girl. Very amusing and a little sad. An “at the coalface” account of the ins and outs of the sex trade. Because of her blog, Belle has won awards, the publishing contract, and now writes a column for a Brit newspaper. She has left one of the oldest professions for an much more tacky one. Heh.

I started reading Baghdad Burning today – the book from “Girl Blog From Iraq” Riverbend. Very sad and a little amusing. A human eye account of the pain and trauma of war by a 23 year old Iraqi. Because of her blog, I and thousands of others just hope Riverbend survives. Full stop.

Baghdad Burning is up for the Samuel Johnson prize. A real literary prize, not a Blooker. :p

I’ve been thinking about talking to Good Reading about developing a real online community for reading groups – post up your meetings, your books, your comments on books. Questions about “what is the name of the book about the girl in India who…” A local version of Amazon’s (who don’t really get swarming) comments and booklists. What do you think? It would have to be managed properly but I reckon it has potential. They are half way there.

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