About Me

"I just like books" has always been my go-to line of defence when explaining why bookshops, libraries and other people's bookshelves draw me like a moth to a lightbulb. 

Over time I have developed more constructive responses that leap and soar over the boundaries of my standard one-liner reply, but questioners are rarely tempted to follow me down that rabbit hole.

For a long time, I've held a misty vision that one day I would "do something with books" but, frustratingly, I have never managed to complete the picture or even join up the dots sufficiently to create something that might attract fellow bookish types and possibly capture the attention of passing onlookers too. 

It shouldn't be this difficult to think of something. As a qualified librarian, I have plenty of experience of working the stacks; equally, as a freelance editor, I have nurtured books from initial concept through design, editing and production, through to publication. In both roles, the common aim has been to create a space where would-be readers can browse, explore, inform, relax and read to their heart's and head's content.

This site offers a quiet browsing space for you to explore my online bookshelves, perhaps to borrow or buy a title or two, or just to note down some titles that you might add to your To-Be-Read (TBR) pile in the future.

It's a deliberate space away from the demands and dynamics of the Internet which are by no means to be sneered at — who doesn't enjoy disappearing down a rabbit hole and finding yourself many URLs away from your original destination? Sometimes you just need somewhere to tread water, to shut the noise out and let the silent pages work their magic instead.

My dream of owning a bookshop remains exactly that, so here is my temporary digital compromise,
The Sussex Stacks.