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Quick Reads Book SeriesFor Today’s Readers – Both Reluctant and Experienced
Quick Reads provide entertaining reading for those who find it difficult to read, or people who simply want a short book to read in the time they have available.
Today’s readers are busy people. We all lead face-paced lives and in it, there is not always time to sit down and become totally engrossed in a long novel, however much we would like to. But many of us know the importance, and the enjoyment, of reading, and there is a solution. Encouraging Reading in Adults The World Book Day initiative is the primary source of inspiration for the series of Quick Reads books, which were launched firstly on World Book Day in 2006, with more titles added on World Book Day in 2007, and again in 2008. The Quick Reads initiative is a collaboration between a variety of publishers and educational establishments, with one aim in mind – to get people reading. Well-known, predominantly British, authors and celebrities have written stories which are shorter than the usual length of a novel and have produced novella-length works. The aim of the series is to encourage less willing readers and those with difficulties in reading, and those who, for whatever reason, have not read substantial length works for some time, to understand and remember the joy of reading. With this in mind, the inclusion of The Book Boy by Joanna Trollope ISBN 978-0747582113, Bloomsbury 2006) is very appropriate, as it deals with adult illiteracy in a practical and also very emotive way. Bite-Sized BooksBooks in the series as a whole tend to be around twenty thousand words, and roughly one hundred pages or so in length. The type is slightly larger than standard texts and is, therefore, easy on the eye. One of these books would take no longer than a couple of hours to read, at the most, and are easily read in a morning or afternoon. Whilst being longer than the majority of short stories in any magazine or even anthologies, the books in the Quick Reads series still give the reader a sense of satisfaction at the completion of an entire story in one sitting. Indeed, during a long commute, one of these books would be a very suitable companion. An Entire Range of Choice It does not matter what type of reader you are – whether you prefer a compelling mystery or murder, or whether you are much more inclined to settle down with a tale of emotion and love – there is a book to suit the vast majority of tastes within the Quick Reads series, from the romantic turmoil of the lead character in Josephine Cox’s The Girl on the Platform (ISBN 978-0007270088, Harper 2008) to the science-fiction adventures of Doctor Who in Terrance Dicks’ Doctor Who: Revenge of the Judoon (ISBN 978-1846073724, BBC Books 2008). For those readers who prefer non-fiction, the bulk of this within the Quick Reads series is written by celebrity authors, including Gordon Ramsey, Colin Jackson, Vanessa Feltz, Ricky Tomlinson and Kerry Katona. The choice of popular celebrities as authors presumably aims to capture a modern, celebrity-orientated readership. If it encourages reading, then it has to be a good thing. Value for Money – So What’s Stopping You?Books in this series are paperback and thin enough to fit into an average handbag or jacket pocket without being cumbersome. Each book is very competitively priced at £1.99, making the books affordable as well. It is not often that a reader can pick up brand new books containing such a diverse range of tales with this kind of price tag. The Quick Reads website provides a wealth of information on the initiative, and a list of the Quick Reads books available. So, what are you waiting for? Get reading!
The copyright of the article Quick Reads Book Series in Modern British Fiction is owned by Claire Cowling. Permission to republish Quick Reads Book Series in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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