Lucy Pearson is an award-winning book blogger based between Sydney and London who specialises in literary themed travel and book reviews. An ardent and avid reader, she started her blog, The Literary Edit, when she set herself the challenge to read the BBC Top 100 books, and has since won The London Book Fair’s inaugural Book Blogger of the Year award, as well as having been named as one of Blogosphere Magazine’s Top 5 Book Bloggers. Her all-time favourite book is A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara.
What was the last book you read?
I Love You Too Much by Alicia Drake. A poignant and powerful book about a darker side to Paris, it’s a stunning debut and without a doubt one of the best books I’ve read this year.
What’s next on your reading list?
The Year of Less by Cait Flanders – I’ve listened to a lot of podcasts on which she’s spoken about living with less so I thought it was high time I bought the book.
Which writer would you have loved to have met and why?
Daphne Du Maurier. Her much-loved classic, Rebecca, was the book that inspired my blog, and it’s a horrifying thought to think that had I never happened across it in my local library after graduating, I may well not have ever started my book blog. I’ve read – and adored – most of her books, and would love to sit down on the Cornish coast with her to find out more about what made her brain tick.
You are stranded on a desert island. What three books would you want with you?
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara – which is my all time favourite book despite its harrowing and heart-breaking nature. I think I would have to take a more cheerful tale to follow, so The Shell Seekers by Rosamund Pilcher – a heart-warming tale that reminds me of my granny – would also make the cut. Finally, Wild by Cheryl Strayed – it’s a tale full of hope, something I might need were I to be stranded on an island!
Which is your favourite bookshop or e-bookstore and why?
I’m going to have to cheat and pick three because I simply can’t narrow it down to just one – Hungerford Books, Toppings & Co. in Bath and Gertrude & Alice in Bondi Beach where I currently live.
Which great novel have you tried to read but failed?
This is a tricky one – I read a number of the greats while I was reading my way through the BBC Top 100 Reads and slogged my way through a few of them in order to tick them off my list. Had it not been for the fact that I had set myself the challenge to finish them all there is no way I’d have managed Ulysses – I found the entire book a near impossible read.
Tell us about a passion you have outside the business.
I’m actually a qualified yoga teacher – I’ve trained in both Sydney and LA – so aside from books yoga is definitely an avid passion of mine.
Who has been your greatest inspiration and why?
Kate Mosse. I adored her books for years before landing a job as social media editor for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, and working with her on the prize was an absolute dream. She is one of the best people I know.
What was the first book that made you cry?
I can’t remember the first book that made me cry, but a few tear jerkers that spring to mind are A Little Life, Gone with the Wind, The View of the Way Down and The Shock of the Fall, all of which have seen me openly crying in public – always the sign of a good book!
What was your favourite childhood book?
I adored anything by Enid Blyton – particularly Mallory Towers and The Magic Faraway Tree series.
Entries for our 2019 UK Book Blog Awards will open shortly.