Read On 19 - Winter 2013 (Word)



Read On

Issue 19

Winter 2013

Contents

First words

News

Braille book bags

Christmas hours

Reader Services Team

BA Hons degree for Gordon

New Travel Support Service

Moving from print to audio

iPad sessions in Northern Ireland

Book chain

Spreading the word

RNIB Members' Writing Competition

Christmas gift ideas

Author profile: Jojo Moyes

Book quiz

Spies, schemers and traitors

Narrator interview: Penelope Freeman

Booker bonanza: Michael Frayn

Books of my life: Ian Macrae

Reading eBooks

Reader review

On our bedside table

Literary news

Have you tried?

Secret identities

Children’s book recommendations

In your element with science

Meet Anthony Horowitz

Behind the scenes

DAISY audio books - box set mash ups

Switch and save

Contact details

First words

Welcome to the winter edition of RNIB’s Read On magazine.

In this edition we spoke to popular author and journalist Jojo Moyes who wrote the bestselling novels Me before you and The last letter from your lover. Several of her books include a disabled character as she is keen to ensure disability is represented in mainstream literature. Find out why in our interview with her.

And we meet the voice behind some of our books, Penelope Freeman, who made time in her busy acting and narrating schedule to talk to us about performing on stage and in the talking book studios.

In Books of my life Ian Macrae, editor of the Disability Now website told us about the books that have influenced him most in his life. He’s an avid reader and uses lots of ways to get the books he wants to read including braille and eBooks. The eBook is giving blind and partially sighted people the opportunity to get hold of a wider range of books more quickly than ever before. Derek and Khafsa, like Ian, are both blind and share why they read eBooks alongside the more traditional formats of audio and braille.

And there’s loads more in this issue from ideas for Christmas gifts to the RNIB members’ writing competition.

You can hear all our interviews in full and more at .uk/readon or, if you have a DAISY player, ask to switch to the DAISY audio version instead. Just call our Helpline on 0303 123 9999.

Deborah Ryan, Editor

News

Braille book bags

We start with a plea to all braille readers to please return a maximum of two braille books in a bag at a time to avoid flattening the braille. If you need more bags or Articles for the Blind labels call us on 0303 123 9999.

Christmas hours

The Christmas opening hours for RNIB’s Helpline are:

Open until 1pm on 24 December

Closed from 25-27 December

Open from 9am to 4pm on 30 and 31 December

Closed on 1 January

Open from 8.45am to 5.30pm on 2 January 2014.

Reader Services will be closed from 25 December to 1 January. Normal opening hours resume on 2 January 2014.

Please contact us by 13 December to ensure a supply of books for Christmas and don’t forget you can order extra books to keep you reading while the library service is closed.

The last order date to ensure delivery of products before Christmas is also 13 December.

Reader Services Team

We have extended the Reader Services Team hours for your convenience. You can now call on the usual number 01733 37 53 33 up to 5.30pm Monday to Friday and speak to Karen or Edwina.

BA Hons degree for Gordon

Congratulations to talking book reader, Gordon Collinge, who has been awarded a BA (Hons) in Humanities from the Open University after studying for five years. Gordon, aged 69, chose to study various aspects of English Literature and collected his degree on 4 October at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester. He said: “I feel very pleased and proud to have finally achieved my degree. It has been hard work but very enjoyable and I am grateful to the Talking Book Service for providing me with all the books I needed. I would like to thank the Library staff for enabling me to borrow extra books and for all their help and consideration.”

So if you are planning to take on some studying do get in touch with the Reader Services Team.

New Travel Support Service

RNIB has launched a new Travel Support Service in Birmingham, Cardiff, Liverpool and Loughborough. The free service pairs blind and partially sighted people with volunteers who can help you plan and make local journeys.

Our volunteers can:

• plan a route, finding out where you need to go and for what time

• accompany you on a route, for example to a bus stop or to the local shops

• go on a bus or train journey with you.

"Since using the service, travelling on the bus has almost become automatic and I'm gaining confidence all the time." Sarah, 54

The service is free and is available in Birmingham, Cardiff, Liverpool and Loughborough. Find out more by calling 0303 123 9999 or emailing helpline@.uk or visit .uk/travel

If you don't live in Birmingham, Cardiff, Liverpool or Loughborough but would like help with travel, order our free travel pack by calling 0303 123 9999 or emailing helpline@.uk.

Moving from print to audio

It can take a while to get used to reading an audio book rather than reading from the printed page. With the help of talking book customers, we have created a Top 10 tips list, based on first-hand experience, to help people who are new to the Talking Book Service or thinking about changing from print or large print to audio.

If you are struggling with audio books or feel apprehensive about trying them, take a look at these practical tips on our website at .uk/talkingbooks or call our Reader Services Team on 01733 37 53 33 for help and advice.

iPad sessions in Northern Ireland

RNIB Northern Ireland has trialled an eight week iPad training programme for people with sight loss in Belfast. The programme, which started in September, takes the form of eight one and a half hour sessions spaced over eight weeks. Following this pilot programme, we plan to run other sessions throughout Northern Ireland during 2014.

Book chain

Book chain, our version of a book group, is still going strong after more than six years! During that time we’ve encountered hobbits, rock falls, invading aliens and spies. We've read poetry, biographies, westerns and romance; all in the name of discovering something new.

This year, perhaps more than any other year, the books have divided opinion. We truly enjoy everyone's comments, and are really looking forward to the end of the year when everyone gets to see what others thought.

Whether you are looking for a challenge, a chance to expand your horizons, or just don't have a clue what you would like to read, there is something for everyone. Val says "It certainly keeps the grey matter ticking over and has provided another outlet for my thoughts and opinions."

If you're an avid reader, but struggle to find new things to read, why not give it a go? The new book chain starts in January, so get your name on the list now (places are limited).

For more information about the chain or to see what we’ve been reading visit: .uk/bookchain or call Reader Services on 0161 429 1970.

Spreading the word

We are always looking for new ways to promote the National Library Service so that more people get to hear about the books we offer. Earlier this autumn we teamed up with Wiltshire Farm Foods to deliver leaflets about the Talking Book Service with meal deliveries in Cheshire, North Wales and Merseyside. We also sent a letter and flyer to schools across the country in early October to promote our giant print service and the Load2Learn website (.uk) during National Children’s Book Week.

And we get out and about at exhibitions around the country to meet potential new customers. We enjoy meeting many of you at these events so if you are planning to go along to one of these forthcoming exhibitions, do come and say hello.

• Sight Village London at Kensington Town Hall on 5 and 6 November

• Kidz Up North at Event City, Trafford Park, Manchester on 21 November

• We’ar Hear Sensory Exhibition will be on 6 November at the Stadium of Light, Sunderland.

RNIB Members' Writing Competition

Once again we are inviting RNIB members to share their personal experiences with the theme: A day in the life.

You could write about a memorable day in your own life, or be more creative and imagine a day in the life of someone else: perhaps somebody famous or a person from beyond the grave.

This year's judging panel will include author Natalie Haynes, judge for this year's Man Booker Prize, as well as previous competition winners, RNIB Members and Trustees.

Prizes

The top three entries will be recorded professionally by a talking book narrator. Extracts from these entries will also be published in Read On as well as in Vision magazine for RNIB Members. Plus there will be a special broadcast of the results on RNIB's Insight Radio.

In order to enter:

• you must be a current RNIB Member to enter the competition

• the deadline is 16 January at 4pm

• your entry must be no more than 1,000 words

• your entry must be typed and can be submitted in print, braille or audio with your name, address and telephone number to: RNIB Writing competition, Talk and Support, 105 Judd Street, London, WC1H 9NE or email writingcomp@.uk

For full terms and conditions contact Talk and Support on 0845 330 3723 or email writingcomp@.uk

Try a telephone writing workshop

To help with the creative process, we will be offering telephone writing workshops in November and December. Groups will be run by established writers and creative writing tutors. To register your interest, please contact Thea Petrou on 0845 330 3723 or email writingcomp@.uk

Need some help? Try Creative writing: a practical guide by Julia Casterton. A practical guide to creative writing helping with developing work to be read or heard and how to get published.

Available as TB 409574.

Christmas gift ideas

Talking book gift subscriptions

This Christmas, why not consider a gift subscription to the Talking Book Service – for yourself or for friends and family? It's more useful than the usual gifts of sherry, socks or scented soaps - and you can enjoy it all year round!

For just £82 for the year (or £75 if paying by Direct Debit), you will get access to more than 21,000 audio books and the loan of a DAISY CD player to listen to as many books as you want (six at a time). Monthly payments are available to help spread the cost – or club together with others and buy a joint gift.

And with every gift subscription bought this Christmas, we are offering a free classic audio book.

To find out more, call 0303 123 9999 or email library@.uk or visit our website at .uk/talkingbooks

Shop Window

Our Shop Window Christmas special will help you fill your stockings. It’s brimming with great buys, gift ideas and hot money-saving tips for treating yourself or someone else. Choose your preferred format from braille (MGSH), DAISY audio CD (MGSWD) or email (MGHE). Subscribe all year and you will automatically receive this special issue.

Game on!

Enjoy a family board game this year and add some big print, tactile and braille games to your Christmas wish list.

RNIB’s folding chess and draughts games (GB102 for large and GB96 for travel size) are easy to pick up and take on your travels and the pieces are tactile and lock into place on the board.

Test your word skills with a game of Scrabble in large print (GB92) or braille (GB95). Or try Super Big Boggle (GB100). RNIB also has playing cards, dice, memory, talking and sensory games and if you like puzzles then you’ll love our range of puzzle books and magazines. Visit our online shop at rnib/.uk to browse.

2014 stationery

Give someone a bold easy-to-see diary this Christmas. All our big print diaries and calendars are in at least 16 point font.

Big print diaries:

• Desk (DS0214) £6.75 ex VAT

• Pocket (DS0414) £4.75 ex VAT

• Wall calendar (DS0314) £3.85 ex VAT

Braille diaries and calendar:

Each diary and organiser comes with loads of blank pages ready for you to emboss your appointments and reminders and they are small enough to carry with you.

• Pocket date (BB1014) £3.75 ex VAT

• Desk (BB0814) £8.49 ex VAT

• Pocket organiser (BB1114) £6.25 ex VAT

Tactile watches

These three new Swiss-made tactile watches are perfect for telling the time discreetly. Classic black leather straps with gold coloured casing that opens at the six o’clock position, all of these watches have tactile markers at each hour with two markers at three, six, nine and 12 hours. There are two designs:

• Diamante watches with white face and black hands and numbers have diamante raised dots and are available in small (CW192) or large (CW191), each priced £99.95 ex VAT.

• Large black and gold dress watch (CW193) has a black face with gold-coloured hands and numbers and raised dashes at each hour. Priced £89.95 ex VAT

Olympus DP-311 Note Corder

Record your family gatherings with this compact voice recorder and you’ll have everyone in stitches when you play it back. Record and store up to 166 hours of high quality recordings on its internal memory, or you can increase recording capacity by adding an SD card. This smart little device is easy to use and you can listen to MP3 files with or without headphones (not supplied). £69.95 including VAT, code VR17.

To order any of the products listed call RNIB’s Helpline on 0303 123 9999 or email shop@.uk

Author profile: Jojo Moyes

Jojo Moyes was born in 1969 and grew up in London. A journalist and author of several books, she’s won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award twice. Clare Carson spoke to her at the Cheltenham Literature Festival.

Tell us about your book The Girl You Left Behind.

It’s a huge sweeping saga revolving around a painting which becomes the subject of an art restitution claim a hundred years on. The book traces the lives of the wife of the artist back in occupied France in 1916 and what happens to her when a local German Commandant takes a fancy to the painting and a young modern day widow who can't move on from the death of her husband. She now owns the painting and when it becomes the subject of a claim both she and the opposing side try to find out what happened to the artist’s wife in order to work out who the painting belongs to.

It's a beautiful, moving and very poignant story.

I'm very glad you think so. I find when I write a book I have to feel something or else it doesn't come through on the page. I think most of us have experienced grief of one type of another and for me it was quite easy to extend that into the character of somebody who just couldn't quite let go of her past. Both women are hidebound by the absence of their husbands but in different ways. I quite liked having two characters who are polar opposites. Sophie back in 1916 is the one who keeps taking control of events even if she gets it wrong, she keeps trying to thwart the Germans, whereas Liv is just paralysed by her grief and it’s only really when she is forced out of that shell into having to make some decisions that she starts to come alive again.

There's a huge amount of detail, particularly about occupied France, does the research or the story come first?

It's a bit of both really, I do love research. So for example when I wrote about World War II war brides on an aircraft carrier, I asked the Navy if I could go aboard an aircraft carrier. Obviously I couldn't go back to 1916 but I did drive around Northern France and I read as much as I could. There's an event with a baby which turns out to be a baby pig, that actually refers to a real life story where a pig was disguised as a dying relative. All the relatives crowded round the bed and the German officers were so embarrassed at having come in on this death bed scene that they left. I just thought that was so funny that I tried to do my own version of it.

You started writing as a newspaper journalist, how does that relate to writing novels?

I think the best thing it’s given me is the ability to listen. I always say I could get ten stories out of any room that I'm in. Most of my stories are inspired by snippets of news or conversations that I've heard or things about people I know that I can't quite fathom. One of my books was partly inspired by a friend who was a terrible fibber and it just got me thinking what would happen if those fibs were never challenged and they got bigger and bigger. My publishers do like journalists because we're a bit better at delivering to a deadline.

Are you still writing for The Telegraph?

I think if you spend your life trying to unknot your way out of literary problems, it's actually quite nice sometimes to do a piece of work that starts in the morning and ends in the evening. I'm lucky enough that The Telegraph, and sometimes other newspapers and magazines, offer me the chance to do stories I'm really interested in. They asked me to go and see the stunt horses of War Horse a while ago and that’s my idea of a dream day out.

Virtually all of your novels are available in an accessible format. Have you consciously set out to make them available to people with sight loss?

I used to work with blind people and I think the idea of anybody being excluded from stories is just wrong. We all benefit from hearing stories, whether we're hearing them or seeing them or being told them in whatever way. It’s a chance to escape from ourselves and to enter a different world.

I know you learnt braille, tell us how that came about?

My first proper job was working for the NatWest Bank back in the 1980s and I used to transcribe bank statements and literature into braille. On my first day I was given a braille typing machine and told to teach myself braille. I'm not sure I could read much beyond a basic alphabet now but whenever I'm in a lift I always find myself tracing the dots. I have a son who's deaf so to me the disability is the least interesting thing about somebody and that’s what I try to convey in my literature. I've done at least three books with leading characters who were disabled in some way.

I was really appalled by the way that so many depictions of disabled people were very one dimensional and I wanted to slightly subvert peoples’ expectations. So I had a blind beautician in my second book who was renowned for her abilities to do amazing things to faces and make people look better. She had been unfaithful again and again, because I didn't want her to be an object of pity, I wanted her to have been the one who was a bit naughty in her marriage and was trying to build bridges. I don't set out to write books about disabled people but you know disability is all around us and there's not really very much representation of it in mainstream literature.

Are books important to your son?

From when he was very small the thing that we noticed was his ability to concentrate and he is still a massive book worm. The biggest problem we have is making him turn the light off at night, he just loses himself in books. He loves subtitles on the television. His language skills have really progressed because of being able to read on television - hurrah for whoever started putting subtitles as a matter of course onto our television screens.

Finally, what’s next for you?

I'm working on my next book which is about a child maths prodigy and what happens if you are born into the wrong sort of household where you can never really escape poverty. I'm slightly obsessed by the growing disparity between rich and poor in this country so I wanted to write something about that, but again, it’s just a story about people thrown together in odd circumstances. I'm just praying that people keep liking them enough to want to read them.

Some of Jojo’s books available from the Library:

Foreign fruit

When a group of bohemians take over an Art Deco house in the 1950s seaside town of Merham, Lottie Swift and Celia Holden are as drawn to its temptations as the rest of the town is appalled (TB 13807).

The Ship of Brides

Based on a true story. The year is 1946, and all over the world young women are crossing the seas in their thousands en route to the men they married in wartime, and an unknown future (braille, TB in production).

The Last Letter from your Lover

When journalist Ellie looks through her newspaper's archives for a

story, she doesn't think she'll find anything of interest. Instead she

discovers a letter from 1960, written by a man asking his lover to leave her husband and Ellie is caught up in the intrigue of a past love affair (braille; giant print).

Me Before You

Lou Clark knows lots of things but she doesn't know is she's about to lose her job or that knowing what's coming is what keeps her sane. Will Traynor knows his motorcycle accident took away his desire to live. What Will doesn't know is that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of colour (braille, giant print, TB 19527).

Dorothy Tanner received Me Before You as a World Book Night audio CD from one of RNIB’s givers. Here’s what she thought about it: “It was one of those books I just couldn't put down, both moving and thought provoking. I have not come across this author before, but will certainly make a point of ordering more of her books.”

Book quiz

We have teamed up with Audio book publishers AudioGo to offer you a fantastic opportunity to win audio books or downloads worth up to £50.

Spies, schemers and traitors

Intrigue often forms the basis of great stories. Here we interrogate you to find the truth.

1. Bernstein and Woodward wrote this account of the Watergate scandal.

2. This is Smiley's Soviet spymaster nemesis in the Le Carre novels.

3. Francis Urquhart, the wily schemer from House of cards, was created by this author.

4. Shakespeare describes this Roman traitor as having “a lean and hungry look”.

5. In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, this boy betrays his siblings for some Turkish delight.

6. This was Machiavelli's famous treatise on statecraft.

Send your answers by email to readon@.uk, telephone 01733 37 53 33 or mail to RNIB National Library service, Highbank House, Exchange Street, Stockport, SK3 0ET by 29 November 2013.

The winner of last issue’s Stupendous sidekicks quiz was Wendy Sharp from Buckinghamshire.

There is a book quiz every month in our enewsletter. Subscribe today - email us at readon@.uk

Narrator interview: Penelope Freeman

Penelope Freeman has narrated RNIB Talking Books for over twenty years. After training at LAMDA, Penelope worked in repertory with the Royal Shakespeare Company. In addition to narrating, Penelope particularly enjoys theatre and in her next production she takes the lead part in a play which tells the true story of a remarkable World War I heroine. Kim Normanton talked to her.

What sparked your initial interest in narrating talking books?

Talking books are very specific to my family - my grandmother was blind and I came across talking books after she died. Then my father got talking books when he lost part of his vision because of a stroke and it became something that he and my mum listened to together. I thought I’d love to do that and got in touch with RNIB - they didn’t need more narrators at that time but ironically got back in touch with me just around the time that my dad died. Listening to talking books was fantastic training for me. When my mum became visually impaired talking books became a real source of company for her. So it’s very close to my heart.

Is there a memorable book that you’ve narrated?

I read a book recently which has stuck with me called A lifetime burning by Linda Gillard. I’d never heard of her before and it’s not the kind of book I would normally read but it really gripped me.

Do you have a favourite character that you do?

I have a repertoire in my head and I try to get as much diversity across as I can. I do have stock characters in my head that I will use. I have voices I really enjoy doing such as an older American lady. But what I learned very clearly from listening to talking books with my mum was that you have to be careful and that less is often more - if you pick a very strong voice it can be too much. So I try to have fun and give it colour but not to be too harsh.

I know your life isn’t just about talking books - what else have you achieved in the performance world?

I’ve had quite a varied career - I’ve worked in radio, tv, film and stage. Most of my work recently has been voicing children’s cartoons, which haven’t necessarily been human voices. I did an armadillo recently which was great fun! But like many actors, stage work is the most enjoyable for me because you have a rehearsal period, which is my favourite part - meeting new people and then performing in front of an audience, and each time is different. Recently I’ve gone back to the stage and am doing a play called The disappearance of Dorothy Lawrence. Dorothy wanted to be a journalist and in 1914 when war broke out she disguised herself as a man and went to France. She fought in the trenches for three weeks without being discovered and then told her commanding officers that she was in fact a woman. She expected to be sent home under a cloud but instead she was sectioned and incarcerated in a lunatic asylum where she remained until she died in 1964.

What are you reading yourself at the moment?

I used to read avidly but there are times now when I think “I just can’t pick up another book!” There are two books I’ve wanted to read for a long time that I’ve just started - A prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving and The hand that first held mine by Maggie O’Farrell, which came highly recommended by my best friend.

Is there a special book that you’d return to for solace?

I’m generally quite a happy person but when I really just want to escape I will automatically go to more light hearted books. Maeve Binchy gets a bad press from the glitterati literati but I think she creates the most amazing characters. One of her novels that makes me smile is Evening class. It’s about a group of disparate people in Dublin learning Italian together. It makes me laugh out loud - she writes beautifully and it’s just delightful.

----

Look out for Penelope in her upcoming play The disappearance of Dorothy Lawrence which will be touring the UK from March next year.

Books read by Penelope available from the Library include:

A lifetime burning by Linda Gillard TB 19319

Friday nights by Joanna Trollope TB 16736 also available in braille

Dear Fatty by Dawn French TB 16339 also available in braille and giant print

Queen Camilla by Sue Townsend TB 14853 also available in braille.

Booker bonanza: Michael Frayn

Michael Frayn’s best known work is the farce Noises Off. As well as writing for theatre he’s written several well regarded novels.

Skios was longlisted last year for the Man Booker Prize. He talked to Clare Carson about the novel and how he writes.

Tell me about your book Skios.

Skios is a novel about a very familiar situation. You arrive at an airport somewhere and you go into the arrivals hall and there's a long line of drivers waiting for arriving passengers. I have often been tempted to go up to a driver who was holding up a name that didn't belong to me and tell him it did. Partly to see what it would be like stepping into someone else's life and partly to see how far I'd get.

I'm far too timid and law abiding to ever actually do this. So in this book I have a character called Oliver Fox, who looks a bit like Boris Johnson, arriving on a Greek island called Skios to have a holiday with his new girlfriend in a villa he's borrowed from some people he doesn't actually know personally. However, she misses her plane so he has 24 hours to kill. When he sees that line of drivers he sees a name that looks rather attractive, Doctor Norman Wilfred. It sounds like a country Doctor of some sort. So he looks at the person that's holding up the sign and it's an attractive young lady. At that moment the die is cast. What he doesn't know of course is that Doctor Norman Wilfred isn't a country Doctor he is a world famous scientist who is arriving to give a learned lecture. The book is all about the complications that arise.

You manage to pin down the detail of the characters even when they're holding multiple identities. Are your characters based on people that you have met?

I like to think my characters are largely invented. No one believes that writers of fiction makes things up they just think they take their friends and change their names. But I have to make this terrible confession: we tell lies, we do actually invent things! I've borrowed a few bits and pieces for my character Oliver Fox - the haircut from Boris Johnson and his total irresponsibility, the doing things that just come into his head from a man I once knew who had manic phases. When my friend was in his manic phase no one knew what he was going to do next, he didn’t even know himself.

Would you say that there is something very freeing about this idea of switched identity?

It does seem to be true that when you shed your identity you tend to shed your inhibitions at the same time. There is a wonderful play by Holberg about the arrival of the masked ball in Denmark. Denmark is a very straight-laced religious society but when people started going to these masked balls their behaviour immediately altered. People began having affairs with people they were not married to and even more alarmingly sometimes people, who when their masks were taken off, turned out to be the people they were married to.

You’ve been writing for a long time, how did you start?

I began as a journalist, writing a humorous column in The Guardian and then The Observer, I then began writing novels. I resisted plays for a long time as I hated the theatre. I only made a start in my late 30s. I’ve written since I was 6 or 7. I first wrote plays for the children in my neighbourhood to perform and then I got a puppet theatre and wrote plays for the puppets, which were very badly made by me.

Do you make a conscious effort to make sure your books are available in accessible formats?

I recall that I was asked by letter and said of course, absolutely delighted, extremely pleased and honoured.

Is there advice you would give to prospective writers?

My general advice is don’t as it’s such hard work! But if you feel you have to then my advice can be summed up in three words: just do it.

Books by Michael Frayn available from the Library:

Skios (TB 19944)

Headlong (braille, TB 12149)

Man Booker Prize

Thanks to the support of The Booker Prize Foundation, both by including accessibility in the Prize rules and by sponsoring the production of titles, RNIB has produced braille, giant print and talking books of the shortlisted titles for a number of years. This year is no exception and we look forward to ensuring that six of the best contemporary novels are available to a blind and partially sighted audience. This year’s shortlisted titles are:

We need new names by NoViolet Bulawayo

The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton

Harvest by Jim Crace

The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri

A tale for the time being by Ruth Ozeki 

The Testament of Mary by Colm Tóibín

The Prize winner was announced on 15 October after we had gone to press but you can visit RNIB webpage .uk/bookerprize find out who it was or follow Twitter@RNIB_Read

All accessible versions of the books will be available in October 2013 to buy from our online shop .uk/shop and to borrow from the National Library Service.

Books of my life: Ian Macrae

Ian Macrae is the first disabled editor of the Disability Now website. Ian was born a blind child to blind parents. He was editor at the disability programmes unit for BBC TV and many of you will know him for his work producing and presenting the BBC Radio 4 programme In Touch.

Ian has always been an avid reader and campaigner for greater accessibility for books and despite today's emphasis on electronic texts he remains a keen advocate of braille.

Was it difficult to whittle it down to just five books?

I have at least three books on the go at any one time so I don't know how many thousands of books I've read in my life so it was very difficult and, inevitably, there have been casualties. I can think of three which made a massive impression on me in my teens there was For whom the bell tolls, Catch 22 and The catcher in the rye. I have gone back to them since and they just don't do it for me anymore. I also read for the first time The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien and that’s a book that I still read at least once a year. Tolkien said he wanted to create a mythology for England, in the same way that the Greeks and the Romans had their mythology.

That’s quite impressive that you go back to it once a year?

One of the reasons for that is that I love the version David Banks has narrated for RNIB Talking Books, his reading of it has surpassed anything I've ever heard I think. He approaches it in a very different way. Usually the Orcs are played as rough cockney types but he does them with a gruff kind of Yorkshire menace and Smeagol is this mixture of cat and reptile character that he captures brilliantly.

What about your second book then, is that from a slightly different period in your life?

I was at college and one of the things I was studying was twentieth century American literature and Gatsby came up on the syllabus. I read it and was so completely astonished by it that I went straight back to the beginning and started to read it again. There are two very different schools of opinion, one is it is really a load of rubbish and the other is that it is possibly the best American novel ever written. I don't know I would go as far to say it is the best American novel ever written but it may be the most perfect.

And how easy was it in those days to get hold of all the books you needed?

I don't know how many times I fell asleep trying to listen to those hissy old talking books of big sprawling Victorian novels read by people like Gabriel Wolf. It was very difficult.

So what is your next book?

I've read pretty much everything that Stephen King has ever written but The Shining is the one that does it for me. Jack Torrance’s imagination is so fertile. There are scenes where they're in this deserted hotel, miles away from anywhere, surrounded by topiary shaped lions and other animals, and at one point he imagines that they are gradually creeping nearer and nearer to the hotel. It’s hugely spooky and a really good read.

What's your next book?

Well, this is where I slightly bend the rules because I would have to compile it myself. It would be an anthology of twentieth century poetry. Starting with the Georgians, the likes of Edward Thomas that’s massively contrasted with poets of World War I like Isaac Rosenberg or Wilfred Owen and then the intellectualism of Elliot in the twenties, the political protest poetry of the 1930s, then back to war poetry and World War II, then gradually you're coming on through Philip Larkin, and the beat poets of America in the 50s and 60s like Ginsberg and Laurence Ferlinghetti. That was reflected over here by the Liverpool poets Roger McGough and Adrian Henry and onto John Cooper-Clarke and the punk poetry of the 1970s.

And what’s your final choice?

I was brought up in blind schools and went on to teacher training college, which was a much looser intuition, but an institution none the less and I ended up working for the BBC. So I am fascinated by institutional life and I've gone for a secret institution - the British intelligence and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. I read it having first seen the television series with Alec Guinness. For me there are two things about it, one is le Carré has you believing that you are on the inside and the second thing is that he is writing from experience, having been an Intelligence Officer himself. I think experience always wins out over research in terms of the truth of an author’s voice. In the end what gets you through the book is the story and the character of George Smiley. It’s just a great story.

Ian’s choice of books:

The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien

Braille, TB 800135

The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald

Braille, giant print, TB 1487

The shining by Stephen King

Braille, giant print, TB 14071

Tinker, tailor, soldier, spy by John Le Carre

Braille, giant print, TB 2499

Reading eBooks

Do you enjoy eBooks? Or perhaps you'd like to try them but don't know how to get started? RNIB's eBook expert Anna Jones talks to two eBook enthusiasts, Khafsa Ghulam and Derek Child, about their ereading experiences.

Khafsa is RNIB’s Digital Media Officer. She’s been blind since birth and learnt braille at a young age. She describes herself as a bit of a “techie person”. Derek is Vice Chair Internal Affairs and Trustee at RNIB. He lost his sight during his late twenties. He experienced gradual sight loss from his late teens and switched from reading print to audio and braille.

What is an eBook?

It's an electronic version of a standard printed book that can be read in many different ways on a tablet computer like an iPad, a standard computer or a smartphone. The text can be changed into a larger print size, synthetic audio or braille using an electronic braille display.

What do Khafsa and Derek use for reading eBooks?

Khafsa uses her iPad and an accessible Kindle app, that has recently become available through Amazon, with her HumanWare Braille display. She explained, “It's connected via Bluetooth to the iPad so basically it’s just transferring the eBook text from the iPad straight onto the braille display enabling me to read it anywhere.” Derek prefers to use either his computer or his portable Victor Stream to listen to eBooks in audio.

Both agreed that it can be a bit scary getting started. Derek doesn’t describe himself as a “techie” but he did understand what he needed to do with the text files to get it from the computer onto the memory card of the reading device. But he’s also not afraid to ask for help from his family or friends or RNIB’s Technology Support Squad.

What about the cost?

The Victor Stream is approximately £250 but as a member of RNIB Derek was able to spread the cost over ten months, interest free, as the device was over £150. Khafsa’s iPad mini cost her around £270. These devices also let you listen to talking books and the iPad lets you browse the internet, play games and do lots of other things.

The books themselves are usually very competitively priced compared to paperbacks, and some older books are even free.

What do eBooks offer?

Both Derek and Khafsa agreed that the main benefit of eBooks is having a greater variety of books to choose from. Khafsa likes that “I can join a mainstream book club and be in the loop with all the books that are being made available and feel included.”

Derek agrees that, “You can talk with your friends and contemporaries about the things they are reading instead of having to wait for many months for a book to be put into braille or a talking book.”

Derek points out that “Although you have to compromise with eBooks, it's not like listening to a studio recorded audio book, it’s better than nothing” and both think text-to-speech has got much, much better in recent years.”

What about the things you dislike about reading eBooks?

Derek sometimes gets lost: “You have to be a bit careful to put bookmarks in, I think it's about concentrating on the task really. I sometimes forget or I press the wrong thing and it jumps to a different bit of the book. If you stop reading at a point, say somebody comes to the door or the telephone goes, just put a bookmark in.”

Khafsa sometimes finds the electronic braille has minor glitches. She says, “For example you might find different signs for quotation marks but it’s easy to work around those sorts of small problems.”

Have eBooks become the only way you read?

Derek describes himself as a “faithful user of the Talking Book Service as well”. He explained “If you're tired you can't really beat talking books because you don't have to concentrate quite so hard but eBooks bring me more choice and I've always said to people who grumbled about speech synthesis that it's better than no access at all.”

Khafsa only uses eBooks because: “They are so much more portable than carrying a full braille book round with you.”

Derek and Khafsa’s top tips for reading eBooks:

• Give it a try. Don't be afraid to ask for help because obviously eBooks is a whole new world

• You might need to concentrate a bit to begin with to get used to the synthetic voice possibly use some headphones and make good use of the bookmark facilities on most devices.

• Find a book that’s not available as a talking book so you're not tempted to switch over.

Our thanks to Anna Jones, Derek Child and Khafsa Ghulam. For more information read our Getting started with eBooks guide available to download from .uk/ebooks or call 0303 123 9999 to order a copy.

Reader review

Doreen Ayi from Clapham in London has retinitis pigmentosa and enjoys talking books. She read A long way from Heaven by Sheelagh Kelly.

“This book sets the scene for an amazing series. It starts off with what you might imagine to be the perfect rural Irish life amongst the rolling hills, green lush fields and peat bogs of the countryside. The only thing Pat Feeney has to worry about is which comely young wench to marry and provide his farm with healthy strong sons to help him run the family farm. He achieves this by marrying the youngest daughter of one of the neighbouring farms.

Life is good but hard for the tenant farmers, until one horrible day they awaken to find their own and all their neighbours’ potato crops have failed with the blight. Stubbornly Pat Feeney tries in his indomitable way to struggle on but finally concedes defeat.

So he packs up his family to try his luck in England where they manage to scratch together some kind of life. Then trouble hits Pat Feeney again.

For me that is where the book took off and really came into its own. I loved this book and could not put it down. As it follows the trials and tribulations of Pat Feeney's life over the years it gives you an insight into how it really was for an Irish immigrant family coming to England in the 1800s. This book will make you laugh, cry and everything in-between. There are also some other remarkable characters to look out for along the way. I can’t wait to read the next book in the series.” (braille 11v, TB 19940).

On our bedside table

Want to know what the Read On team are reading? Here’s more of what is on our bedside table.

Jonathan Izard, audio presenter of Read On read A perfectly good man by Patrick Gale (braille and giant print).

“This is the story of a parish priest, Barnaby Johnson. The novel questions what it means to be good. It begins with the suicide of a young man, Lenny, who has been left disabled by a rugby accident, he wants the priest to witness his death. Much later we learn about the relationship between the two men, which changes our view of everything we thought we knew.

The story is told through many different people’s eyes and in different time zones so the chapters are headed “Barnaby at 36” or “Dorothy at 72” and so on, so it’s up to the reader to piece the jigsaw together. Sometimes we are ahead of the characters, sometimes behind them and struggling to work out what’s going on so it’s never less than intriguing.

The author’s themes are about how to live a good life, what motivates us and how can circumstances change us.”

Deb Ryan is Reader Services Manager for RNIB and the Editor of Read On. She read St Agnes’ Stand by Thomas Eidson (TB 19869 and braille).

“This book was recommended to me years ago but I’ve only just got round to reading it, because it’s not the kind of book I’d normally pick up. It falls in to the Western genre but it is so much more than your standard Western.

It’s a fairly simple story. The action takes place over five days as three nuns with seven children are attacked and trapped by Apaches in a hostile landscape.

The eponymous Sister St. Agnes prays for a man to save them; enter Nat Swanson a man on the run for murder and not particularly inclined to stay around and help. But he can’t shake the image from his mind of a woman’s face peering from behind the trapped wagon.

What follows is a battle of wills and faith. Be warned there are a few stomach churning scenes along with some strong emotional ones but nothing is overplayed. Yet it is also an uplifting tale about the power of faith and man’s desire to survive.

It’s a short book, just 186 pages printed pages, and the action moves at a pace. Eidson captures every description and character. You can feel the blazing heat, taste the dust and the fear and desperation – not a word is wasted.

This is storytelling at its very best.”

Karen Porter works in RNIB’s publishing team and read The cuckoo’s calling by Robert Galbraith (all formats in production).

“I was lured by the hype and have just finished this book by Robert Galbraith (aka JK Rowling). It’s a slightly old-fashioned detective novel set in London in around 2009. A supermodel has fallen to her death from a balcony. Was it suicide or was she pushed? Private Detective Cormoran Strike, who is ex-army and lost a leg in Afghanistan, and his very capable PA, Robin investigate.

The characters are very well-observed, and their interactions and relationships are often amusing. There are lots of twists and turns and it kept me guessing right to the very end. If you like crime fiction you’ll enjoy this - it’s a real page turner. If I hadn’t known it was by JK Rowling I probably would never have come across it and I was intrigued to see why she decided to write under a male pseudonym. It’s certainly very different in style and subject from her Harry Potter novels. My only criticism is there is a lot of strong language throughout the book, which often felt a bit unnecessary.”

Literary news

Stieg Larsson short story to be published

A short story written by Stieg Larsson, the creator of The girl with the dragon tattoo, when he was only 17, is to be published in English for the first time in February 2014. The story, Brain Power, is described as a suspense story set in the near future and will be published in A darker shade of Sweden, an anthology which will also feature stories from other Swedish writers including Henning Mankell.

The book thief – in a cinema near you

Emily Watson, Geoffrey Rush and Sophie Nélisse take the lead roles in the big screen adaption of Markus Zuzak's The book thief which is due for release this winter.

De Niro and Streep reunite for The good house

Meryl Streep and Robert De Niro are to co-star in an adaption of Ann Leary's darkly comic bestselling novel The good house.

Streep will play Hildy Good, a woman struggling with a drink problem who befriends a beautiful young new arrival, while De Niro stars as her eccentric old flame Frank Getchell, who warns her to steer clear of her new companion.

Rosamund Pike to star in Gone girl

Rosamund Pike is set to play Amy, a woman who goes missing on her fifth wedding anniversary, in Gone girl, Gilllian Flynn's adaptation of her own novel.

Amy's husband Nick, who becomes a subject of suspicion after the disappearance, will be played by Ben Affleck, and the film will be directed by David Fincher. The film is scheduled to start shooting this autumn for a 2014 release.

Theakstons Old Peculier crime novel award

Denise Mina scooped the £3,000 Theakstons Old Peculier crime novel of the year award for the second year in a row for her latest, Gods and Beasts.

She won in 2012 with The End of the Wasp Season; both novels feature Glasgow policewoman Alex Morrow.

The Theakstons Old Peculier crime novel of the year award combines a public vote with a judging panel of crime writing experts.

Rivers of London coming to TV

Ben Aaronovitch's fantasy crime novel Rivers of London has been optioned for television. It tells the story of Metropolitan Police Constable, Peter Grant, and the murder enquiry that puts him in the path of the last wizard in England, Inspector Nightingale. The fourth book in the urban fantasy series, Broken homes, was published this summer.

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell

Suzanna Clark's novel Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell has been adapted into a seven-part TV series for the BBC. The drama, set at the time of the Napoleonic wars, will be directed by Toby Haynes.

Poldark returns

A new adaption of Winston Graham's acclaimed saga set in late-18th-century Cornwall is coming to the BBC. Six one-hour episodes have been written by Debbie Horsfield.

What the dickens?

Dickensian is a multi-part series written by Tony Jordan for the BBC, which will bring the world of Dickens to life in a drama populated by the vivid characters from his classic books, who will meet one another in the most surprising of ways.

Shooting under way for Child 44

Tom Rob Smith's Child 44 is coming to the big screen, with an impressive cast list attached. Tom Hardy will play Leo Demidov, and he's joined by Noomi Rapace, Gary Oldman and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Have you tried?

Secret identities

You may not have heard of Currer, Acton and Ellis Bell but they were in fact the pen names of The Bronte sisters. Here are some other surprisingly female writers.

The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans)

As the headstrong Maggie Tulliver grows into womanhood, the deep love which she has for her brother Tom turns into conflict, because she cannot reconcile his bourgeois standards with her own lively intelligence (TB 1118; Braille 10v; giant print 7v).

Dragon keeper by Robin Hobb (Margaret Astrid Lindholm Ogden)

Rain Wild Chronicles; book 1. To be a dragon keeper is a dangerous job: their charges are vicious and unpredictable, and there are many unknown perils on the journey to a city which may not even exist. (TB 16879, braille 10v, giant print 5v).

Lettres d'un voyageur by George Sand (Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin)

These twelve letters find George Sand in various disguises: commenting on art, music, religion and, in discussing marriage and relations between men and women (Braille 9v).

We need to talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver (Margaret Ann Shriver)

Eva never really wanted to be a mother; certainly not the mother of the unlovable boy who murdered nine people at his school. Now, two years later, it is time for her to come to terms with marriage, career, family, parenthood and Kevin's horrific rampage (TB 14204; braille 7v; giant print 5v).

American wife by Curtis Sittenfeld (Elizabeth Curtis Sittenfeld)

Thrust into a position she did not seek, Alice must face contradictions years in the making: how can she at once love and fundamentally disagree with her husband, the President of the United States? (TB 16969; braille 11v; giant print 7v)

Wash this blood clean from my hand by Fred Vargas (Frédérique Audoin-Rouzeau)

Commissaire Adamsberg, who is temporarily based in Quebec, is accused of having savagely murdered a young woman he had met. In order to prove his innocence, Adamsberg must go on the run from the Canadian police and find a suspected killer (TB 16218; braille 5v; giant print 4v).

Children’s book recommendations

In your element with science

For a fun look at science, why not read books from the Horrible Science series? It includes titles like Disgusting digestion, Ugly bugs and Microscopic monsters. You can even read about The horrible science of you, or enter the House of Horrors. The great thing about the Horrible Science books is that you get to learn all the stuff that you probably wouldn't get taught at school. Most of the titles speak for themselves, for example, Vicious veg, in which you can find out when a fruit is really a vegetable, how plants keep us from suffocating and what stops trees from falling over. And Blood, bones and body bits answers such questions as: Where does your food go? What happens when a boil bursts? Which animals live in your eyelashes?

Glenn Murphy's Science Museum books are similar in that they too make scientific facts fascinating and fun. Try the following titles - the cringe-inducing Does farting make you faster?, which despite its embarrassing title is actually a book about the science of sport! Or how about you read all alone in the dark Stuff that scares your pants off! in which the author shows us the very good reasons why sometimes we need to feel the fear (and why at other times, we don't!).

Bill Bryson's A really short history of nearly everything is a children's version of his book for adults A short history of nearly everything. In this, Bryson delves into time and space, looks into madcap theories, and also at how our Universe even came to be. Bryson's style is funny and easy to read and guarantees you will be learning without you even realising it.

And now for a few fiction titles in which science plays a major part:

George's secret key to the universe by Lucy Hawking (Stephen's daughter, no less!) takes the reader on an adventure that is out of this world and teaches all about physics, science and the universe at the same time. Join George on his mission of discovery!

If you have an Itch to read an exciting adventure set around elements and the periodic table and that leaves you wanting to keep turning the pages to find out what happens, read the eponymous book by Simon Mayo. Itch is about a boy who is collecting all the elements in the periodic table and comes across a new element previously unknown. But scarily, Itch isn't the only person who wants possession of it…Fans of Anthony Horowitz and even those who enjoy James Bond stories will relish this.

For further information about science-related reads, or if you just want to borrow some of the books mentioned, please contact your Children's Librarians on 0161 429 1975, email childrenslibrarian@.uk.

Meet Anthony Horowitz

Anthony Horowitz talked to Clare Carson about his novel for young people Oblivion.

Tell us about Oblivion.

Oblivion is the fifth book in a series of fantasy adventures which take place all over the world. Five young people all aged 15, two American boys, an English boy, a Peruvian street urchin and an Indonesian girl, come together to fight the forces of darkness which are represented by monsters of one sort or another from giant spiders to shape-changers to demons and devils. The most important thing to say about it is you don't have read the first four books to enjoy it, it does stand on its own and I hope it’s a very fast paced and exciting read.

The final battle against the forces of evil takes place very memorably in Antarctica. You went to Antarctica to research why did you do that?

I find it really helps to write from a position of authority and the more I know about something the easier it is to write convincingly. Oblivion and this Power of Five series was always conceived as the Lord of the Rings set in the real world so I had to go out and explore the real world. I could imagine the devils and the demons and the fortresses and these two huge armies fighting each other but I needed to actually immerse myself in Antarctica to get the full experience. It wasn't just about what I saw it was about all the other senses too. It was about the extraordinary sound that the icebergs make as they come crashing down into the sea, it was about the intensity of the cold as it whips towards you. It was about silence and noise, the birds squawking above you in the sky and the penguins rattling about on the ice and yet this vast silence that surrounds you because you are in the last great wilderness on the earth.

And Antarctica is incredibly old and there's a great marriage in your book between the intensely old and the current.

I think that’s one of the fun things about the whole series is that it always married primitive witchcraft and black magic, which you tend to think of as being very medieval, with very up-to-date sophisticated technologies. So for example in Raven's Gate the book finishes with a blood sacrifice that takes place in a nuclear power station.

You talk about the ritual sacrifice, how do you know where the line is between what is acceptable and what is less acceptable for the teenage reader?

I don't where that line is at all. Fortunately my editor and my publisher does and that’s one of the things that’s great about what I do, is having a publisher who is so smart and so sharp and tells me off if I get it wrong. I tend to be a little too bloodthirsty with some of my descriptions and my editor always pulls me back but at the same time I do sort of have an inner voice that whispers to me the sorts of things that shouldn't be in the books. For example you won't find profanity in my books that’s largely because I don't like profanity myself but it’s also because I think a lot of parents and librarians and teachers would not be quite so supportive of the books if they were there. You won't find long complicated sentence constructions, for example, because again some inner voice says to me if you're reading one of my books you don't want to have to stumble through a dictionary to find out what I mean.

Do you still have a great affection for Alex Rider and his books?

Alex I suppose was my first great success that launched my career, Stormbreaker sold so many copies and then the series did better and better the more I wrote. I do miss it but I always said I would limit the number of Alex Rider books that I would write to just one year of his life. It was a busy year, he saved the world nine times. There are only so many gadgets you can think up, so many bad guys who want to destroy the world and therefore it was a good idea to quit while I was ahead.

You started writing at a young age, what was in you that made you write?

That’s a very good question. I'm not sure what was in me but I'll tell you what wasn't in me and that was I wasn't any good at maths or science, I wasn't good at art or sport. I was very limited in the things I was actually any good at doing. I wasn't a particularly happy child. I was very privileged, I had very wealthy parents and for reasons that are unclear to me they sent me to a vile prep school in north London where I was extremely unhappy. This is a time when teachers were allowed to beat you and to whack you around the head or throw chalk at you. I began to read and I found a love of books and at the same time I found an ability to tell stories to the other boys in the dormitory at night and knew that was what I was going to be doing for the rest of my life.

You're also a patron of a couple of charities why did you get involved with charity work?

Well I don't like to think of myself as a do-gooder. I'm a writer and I think it is quite important to always remind myself at the end of the day my job is to entertain, to tell stories, to just produce books that people want to read. I think that everybody in their later life comes to a point where actually you realise you've been fortunate enough and, although it's rather a sort of nauseating term, its time to give back.

What next ?

A new book for young people about Yassen Gregorovich, the assassin who turns up in some of the Alex Rider books. I want to write a book about someone who has been given exactly the same choices as Alex Rider but doesn't become a teenage spy and save the world but becomes an assassin and tries to kill people, so I'm quite looking forward to writing.

I wrote an adult book called the House of Silk although anyone aged about 13 might well enjoy it so I'm going to do another book set in the world of Sherlock Holmes. I'm writing various films in Hollywood.

You know one of the great things about being me is that I still enjoy doing what I do as much as when I started it thirty years ago. We've only got one life and it's not actually that long a life when you really look at it so you might as well enjoy it while you're here That means finding what it is that makes you happy and no matter who tells you you can't do it, do it and be successful at it. If you can do that then, like me, you'll get to a certain age and think actually it hasn't been too bad.

Some of Anthony’s books available in the library:

Stormbreaker (Alex Ryder: 1)

Braille, giant print, TB 13812

Groosham Grange

Braille, giant print

Raven’s gate (Power of five: 1)

Braille, giant print, TB 15705

House of Silk

Braille, giant print, TB 19283

Behind the scenes

Amy French is an Assistant Product Manager based at RNIB’s offices in Peterborough.

When did you start working for RNIB?

I joined RNIB about two years ago. I was working in the financial services sector as a product manager but I really wanted to do something that I had a real passion and interest in; and something that helped people. Originally I volunteered for RNIB and I've always wanted to work for them. I started in the technology team and then an opportunity came up with products and publications and I haven't looked back. I love my job.

What does your job involve?

I'm the Assistant Product Manager for RNIB’s publications range. I look after DAISY books, the made to order range and magazines, braille books and the stationery ranges as well.

Do you get much feedback?

Yes we do. I get weekly feedback and a lot of it is very positive. We rely on customers’ feedback to know what direction to go in and how to make our products better. I really enjoy ringing customers back and having a conversation with them about how they use our product and what they would like to see in the future.

Do you act on the feedback you get?

Definitely. We add those comments to our wish list and when we are planning for next year we'll take those on board and see if it’s possible.

In our monthly team meetings we discuss the feedback and what we can do to go about making changes. We look at the timescales involved, the cost and whether there are enough customers out there that feel the same way. Then it’s my job to put it into action and get a solution.

So is there an example of when that happened?

There are quite a few examples. We’ve had lots of requests for a greater variety of our puzzle books so we've amended some of our big print puzzle books based on people’s comments. They wanted to see more word searches for example and we're also looking at bringing in some large print Sudoku books. A lot of customers didn't want a mixture, they just love their Sudoku, so I've been looking at what publishers are doing in accessible formats so that we can offer the titles to our customers.

How do you decide what makes up a DAISY box set?

The main thing is that people like to get a nice big box set of their favourite authors that will last them a long time. The James Bond box set was a recent addition and it’s been selling fantastically well so we're already looking at doing volume two of that.

We’ve been able to do a lot of compilations because we've got lots of fantastic DAISY books. It’s nice to provide people with the opportunity to read something perhaps they wouldn't ordinarily choose. So, for example, we're doing a war stories box set which is a mixture of fiction, non-fiction and biographies, all with a war theme. So if somebody doesn’t usually read biographies it will give them a chance to try something new.

How can customers get in touch?

Call or email our Helpline on 0303 123 9999 or helpline@.uk and it will always get passed on to our team.

You can see our full range of products on our online shop .uk/shop or call Helpline for our Product catalogues.

DAISY audio books - box set mash ups

Amy has been busy selecting some top titles for our range of mash up box sets. All box sets come with a designed cover, plastic box set case and braille labels.

War stories collection (804617) £33.95

Five books on five CDs, lasting 71 hours 16 minutes. Warning: some books in this box set contain strong language, violence and sexual content.

• The night watch

• Catch-22

• Nella Last’s war: the Second World War diaries of a housewife

• D-Day 1944: voices from Normandy

• The last fighting Tommy

Cooking for all occasions box set (804671) £19.95

Four books on four CDs, lasting 28 hours 16 minutes.

• Delia’s how to cheat at cooking

• Jamie’s Italy

• Rick Stein’s far eastern odyssey

• Woman’s Institute complete Christmas

Extraordinary women box set (804674) £17.95

• Extreme: My autobiography by Sharon Osbourne

• Just Jill: The autobiography of Jill Allen-King

• Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother

• Perdita: The life of Mary Robinson

• Speaking for myself: The autobiography by Cherie Blair

Warning: some autobiographies in this box set contain strong language

Remarkable men box set (804673) £17.95

• Death of a president

• Chronicles vol 1 by Bob Dylan

• Hemmingway in Africa; the last safari

• Moondust; in search of the men who fell to earth

• Margrave of the marshes by John Peel and his wife Sheila

Warning: some books in this box set contain strong language.

Switch and save

Switch to paying for your RNIB Talking Book Service by Direct Debit and you can save £7 on your annual subscription – pay just £75 instead of £82!

Or spread your payments across the year and pay only £7.50 a month for ten months – with two months off.

Switch to Direct Debit today and make the savings you need. Just call the RNIB Helpline on 0303 123 9999.

Contact details

Read On is published by RNIB. Copyright October 2013. Registered charity number 226227.

To contact the Editor, write to:

Deborah Ryan

RNIB National Library Service

Highbank House

Exchange Street

Stockport SK3 0ET

Call 0161 429 1991 or email readon@.uk

To join the library

Call RNIB 0303 123 9999

Email library@.uk

Visit .uk/reading

Read On is available in print, DAISY audio CD, braille and email.

To subscribe, call RNIB on 0303 123 9999, or email library@.uk

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download