Enjoyed a brief walkabout at the Gloucester Green Thursday market which featured a succulent hog roast. There were several second-hand book stalls to provide food for thought but unfortunately the prices were a little hard to swallow ‹ it was £5 for each Ladybird book. I rather fancied a Ladybird book entitled Understanding Maps ‹ but not at that price. There are books you can read for work, and books you can read for pleasure and it is always satisfying when you can combine both elements. For work purposes, I have been reading Adam Nicolson's Sissinghurst, about the transformation of the Kent country estate he lived in when he was a child, and Kate Summerscale's The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, which focuses on a gruesome murder from the 1860s. I also have my eye on a book called Maps of My Life, a Bill Bryson-style travel biography by a chap called Guy Browning, who writes the How to.... feature for The Guardian, which always makes my wife chuckle. Guy's book is being launched this week in Chipping Norton, and he lives with his family in Oxfordshire, so I am looking forward to chatting to him. But my favourite bedside book at present is Ann Leslie's autobiography, Killing My Own Snakes. The renowned foreign correspondent, listed as one of 13 greatest journalists ever in a compendium by David Randall, has more top yarns to dine out on than most. She is appearing at the Woodstock Literary Festival, which runs from October 9 to 12, and it would be great to hear the talk she is giving in the local church. I won't be doing too much reading tonight ‹ instead I will be at the New Theatre for a nostalgic concert involving the latest formation of ELO, the Electric Light Orchestra. If they do Telephone Line and Last Train to London I'll be a happy man.