Columnists get unsolicited free copies of new books, it often seems by almost every post. They frequently come as publishers’ ‘uncorrected proofs’, before publication day. Publicists are of course hoping we might mention the book in something we write, and often there’s a friendly note inviting us to provide a quote for the book-cover’s inside sleeve – ‘Profound, moving and richly funny: best thing I’ve read all year’, that kind of thing.
As attitudes to homosexuality became more accepting, the British public were always one step ahead
You might think these offerings a boon: after all, nobody’s forcing us to respond or even keep the book, meanwhile we have a free book where others would have to pay £20 or more. So call me churlish, but I groan at every new arrival. I suppose if one were hardheaded enough to open the padded envelopes, pull out the books, take an instant decision whether or not to look at each, then consign the rest (most of them) to the bin or the charity shop, then one would be quids in.
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