Juliette Foster (Founder) is a journalist and broadcaster who has worked for some of the world’s leading media organisations including BBC World News, Bloomberg News and Sky News. She is also a keen reader and it was while working as a book reviewer for Surrey Life magazine and the international cultural magazine Dante, that she came up with the idea for Read2Write. Juliette will be reviewing books and inviting guest reviewers from a cross section of readers to contribute to the Read2Write website. Her ambition is to give independent authors and publishers the literary recognition they deserve and to encourage more people, especially children, to read books and write novels and short stories.
What is your reading ritual?
Hmmm! I don’t have a ritual as such, although if I’m too busy to read a book during the day I’ll read it at night when I’m in bed. The problem is that I also like listening to the radio and it’s hard to focus when the book I’m reading is as good as the one being read on the wireless. That’s why it took me two weeks to finish Joseph Heller’s Catch 22 because I was also hooked on a superb radio adaptation of Graham Green’s Brighton Rock!
What’s your favorite book/s?
That’s a good but difficult question, although George Elliot’s Middlemarch is definitely a favourite. It’s such an elegantly written novel and I love the way she draws the reader into the narrative with a vivid portrayal of the English village where the story is set. You really do feel as if you’re standing shoulder to shoulder with the characters as they fall in love, bury their secrets or quietly vent their fury when things aren’t going to plan. Elliot was an amazing storyteller who never shied away from controversy either in her writing or in her private life.
The French author Francoise Sagan is another writer I really admire. She was a brilliant observer of people and wrote with a deceptive simplicity that was also disarmingly razor sharp. La Chamade, which is ostensibly about lost love and social class, encapsulates those qualities.
What are your most read genres?
Mainly fiction, although I do have a weakness for biographies! Maybe I’m attracted to the genre because I’m a journalist and being curious about people is part of the job. I don’t care who the subject is just as long as there’s something about them that’s interesting. A couple of years ago I read the Richard Burton diaries and they were wonderful. Apart from being a brilliant actor, Burton was also an avid reader with a genuine gift for writing. He was an extraordinary man who’s remembered more for marrying Liz Taylor twice than for his amazing talent as an actor!
Who is your favorite author/s and why?
Another tough question! In all honesty I really don’t know. I can tell you who I don’t like (Charlotte Bronte) but it’s hard to pick a favourite author from all the great books I’ve read over the years. Having said that C.J Sansom stands out for the impressiveness of his writing and the scope of his imagination. The Shardlake novels, set in Tudor England, are extremely well plotted and researched. They’re classic page turners with a sleuthing lawyer as the main character who also has a clear sense of right and wrong. For all his brilliance, Shardlake is treated as an outsider because he’s a hunchback yet he never loses his dignity even when he is cruelly mocked.
I’ve also recently discovered the British science fiction writer Derek E Pearson. In my opinion he’s taken the genre to a new level with characters who are philosophically and morally challenged in a world that isn’t necessarily worth saving.
How do you find new authors?
By word of mouth! Most of my friends enjoy reading so if they come across something they think I might like they tell me, and vice versa. I also read newspaper book reviews as they’re a pretty good guide about which authors are worth keeping an eye on.
If you could meet one fictional character, who would it be and what would you do?
Horace Rumpole! I can imagine sharing a bottle of wine with him while he reminisces about his life as a barrister and the case that put him on the legal map: The Penge Bungalow Murders.
What’s your favorite part about Read2Write?
For me it’s the pleasure of finding a global audience for undiscovered writers. It saddens me that an author can spend years writing a book, only for it to sink without trace because nobody knows anything about it! I like the idea of introducing these writers to a wider audience while encouraging people to read more books and start writing their own novels, plays and poems. It’s never too late to start!
