Coronavirus update

For the past five years, I've had to stop writing Bookblog for Bookworms because I have been running Manchester Piano Tutor in Didsbury, Manchester, giving one-to-one piano lessons, at the same time as managing my editorial consultancy and writing features.

Owing to this tragic coronavirus pandemic, I have been unable to continue one-to-one piano lessons and now teach piano online via Skype. I'm happy because of the flexibility and it pleases the students, who have taken advantage of this new way of learning. It means they have no stresses travelling to and from lessons, they can play their own keyboards or pianos and relax in the comfort of their own homes. It's a much more relaxed way of doing things and has not proved any obstacle to their learning. My editorial consultancy has been absorbed into Manchester Piano Tutor Online as Write Words Editorial and I now have more time to devote to both.

Book appraisals

I'm delighted to continue with Bookblog for Bookworms because it is something I loved doing and I hope to build up my following again. I love reading print books. It can do nobody any harm, much is to be gained from doing so. Giving objective commentaries on the content and quality of writing is part of a writer's learning process and is intended to be helpful. Robinswood, publishers of my Left-hander's Handbook, which won a book award from the British Medical Association, are looking at ways of revising the book and bringing it up to date, which should also keep me occupied with research.

This is Woody. He's got an ear for jazz and learnt Joplin's The Entertainer quite quickly at his online lessons. Woody is 7 years old and was about to take his Grade 1 exam, when the exam board cancelled all exams because of the pandemic. Woody, who is off to Spain with his parents for a month, has decided to stick with Grade 1 when he returns but my three other Grade 1 entrants advanced so much during their online lessons that we were all agreed they should take their Grade 2 exams instead once the board starts running exams again at the end of this year. One of them is taking Grade 1 at the same time as she wants all the certificates. Woody has a great musical future ahead of him.

Feature writing

I was commissioned to write a feature about how I managed being in self-isolation and lockdown. This is the end of week 15 and I have only ventured out to top up my online shopping or to replace some of the electrical gadgets that have broken down while I've been incarcerated. Life has been full of ups, downs and ups. In the feature, Brave New Life I commented, 'Lockdown has brought out the best and, in some cases, the worst of us. Social media is rife with foul language and vicious ripostes to other people's opinions.' For some reason, many people are unable to accept the differences in opinions of others and acknowledge that there is no right or wrong, just differences. Intolerance has risen to the surface bigtime aimed at people of different races, nationalities, cultures and religions, which is disturbing. And a lot of people have been behaving rather stupidly and putting themselves and others at risk.

'I'm aware not everyone feels the same but it's just possible I may not want to come out of confinement once we're released.' I wrote the feature when, by week 9 I was thoroughly enjoying my own company, doing ballet, tai chi, singing and tapping (ENT) online and having my groceries brought straight to my door. It was when the washer leaked into the room below, I caught the plumber vaping in my kitchen, the smoke alarm wouldn't stop pinging, the vacuum cleaner packed up and the printer ate my wallet containing bank card and driving documents, which I'd misplaced on the paper feed, that the reality of my situation hit me. I lost my sense of purpose.

'It's a fact that if you have nothing to work towards or to aim for, you won't survive,' I wrote. Six weeks on, I'm adapting to reality and finding my purpose once more but I don't think life will ever be the same again. Do you?

Piano lesson promotion for July

I'm running a 50 per cent reduction promotion for July only - £10 for a 30 minute online trial piano lesson to test the water. If you have a piano or keyboard and would like to try it out, contact me on diane@manchesterpianotutor.co.uk/ And you can find out more on the website: www.manchesterpianotutor.co.uk/

Write Words Editorial and Guest Bloggers

Write Words Editorial has its own page and all you have to do is press the tab on the MPT website to check it out or google www.manchesterpianotutor.co.uk/write-words. Please don't hesitate to send me books for review or news of your writing activities. I'm also looking for guest bloggers. Phone (01614450159) or email first at diane.paul2@ntlworld.com


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Book reviews and ethics

Why would anyone go to the trouble of reviewing books and even setting up a blog to do so? After all, a review of anything is just the reviewer's personal opinion. Reading is subjective. But reviewers are critical readers and members of the buying public; the more books we read, the more selective we become about standards of writing and good storytelling.

Freelance books journalist, Alison Flood writes a fascinating article in the Spring edition of 'The Author', the journal of the Society of Authors on the ethics of book reviews. Apparently some review bloggers are actually charging authors to review their books 'nicely'. I'm pleased to say that I'm not one of them and I wouldn't like my followers to think that charging for reviews is regular practice by book bloggers. Some writers have apparently admitted to paying for 'nice' reviews and/or bigging-up their own work in print under various akas, otherwise known as sock-puppetting.

Alison also highlights the tendency of some over-zealous authors to post their own, or friends' and relatives', glowing reviews on Amazon. You can always spot these by the excess of superlatives and overblown adjectives, something that, ironically, doesn't fool anyone and is more likely to deter people from buying the books. Even publishers and agents are not exempt from underhand tactics when it comes to getting good reviews, it seems. Amazon is trying to put a stop to it but quite how they will identify who is genuine and who is not, is puzzling.

With newspapers reducing their reviewing staff and review pages and authors being expected to do most of their own marketing, book bloggers are in great demand. I'm flooded with requests from self-published writers to review, mainly, their e-books, something I don't do, being addicted to the look, touch and smell of good-quality traditionally published print books and having avoided the urge to rush for a 'must-have' e-reader I will never use. I may change my opinion in the future, but for now that's how it has to be.

My life as a book blogger began during a slow period when I had time on my hands. I hadn't expected it to take off the way it did, I enjoyed it and I'd had plenty of reviewing experience as a journalist when I edited my own theatre column and I've been an avid reader since I learnt my first words. I'm enthusiastic about recommending books I rate highly and I do criticise where I feel it's due - that's how writers learn, from criticism - but if I really feel a book is poor, I usually avoid reviewing it. I do benefit from free books from authors and traditional publishers who ask me to review their books unconditionally but many of the books I review are those I have selected in bookshops and bought and paid for myself. Some come from my vast store of books built up over many years, for I review older titles as well as those just launched.

I suspect that paid-for, biased book bloggers are pretty thin on the ground but it only takes one or two bad apples to taint the whole barrel once the issue is highlighted and I would be sorry for blog readers to get the wrong impression about the vast majority of us.