The Bookaholic With a Beard Behind Savidge Reads…
Simon Savidge is the man behind Savidge Reads. Born in March 1982 and heralding from the Peak District, where he comes from a long line of Book Lovers, Simon is a book addict. Due to the influences of his much missed Gran and lovely Mum at an early age he became a book-a-holic, though admits to having a few ‘wilderness years’ from reading (something English Literature at school nearly destroyed forever) where he didn’t pick up a book, fortunately he was recommended Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca by someone very kind and look what happened…
He was previously the travel and lifestyle editor of a UK mens magazine and now contributes to several literary and lifestyle magazines and tries to get in the broadsheets too… by any means. Simon is the co-founder and Honorary Director of The Green Carnation Prize (for LGBT writing) now in association with Foyles. In 2013 he also became one of the judges on the inaugural panel of The Guardian’s Not The Booker Prize and was the inaugural Guest Editor for Fiction Uncovered and was then one of the judges for Fiction Uncovered 2015. He is also one of the voices of The Readers Podcast. He can also be seen on Booktube here.
When he isn’t reading books Simon enjoys falling into every charity/secondhand bookshop he passes (unless he hurts himself falling awkwardly), befriending cats who don’t like him, eating sweets a 35 year old should know better, listening to The Archers (he dreams of moving to Ambridge and taking over the book club, don’t tell him it’s not real) and dabbles in event management. He will be your best friend for the mere price of a vanilla slice. He is currently judging the Costa Debut Novel for 2017, he wants to judge ALL the book prizes he can, ALL of them.
You can contact him on savidgereads@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter here @SavidgeReads
You can find the Savidge Reads Review Policy here and Blog Guidelines here.
Savidge Reads 
Came to your blog almost by accident and so glad I did. I dont have your TBR for the simple reason that books are 1) prohibitively expensive 2) we dont always get the best and the latest here as we want it. However I do well with second hand/giveaways/and anyone who knows me gifting books so I dont do too badly. I am keeping your “best” list by my side so that I have something that I can refer to when I go to my second hand bookshop in Colombo. I steer clear of the bookshops here as its way beyond my purse, but the second hand bookshops have a good range and keep me going. Thank you for a very interesting blog.
Thank you very much for your comment thats very very kind. I thrive off second hand book shops so you are in great company with that one!
Hi Simon, not sure if you’re aware, but BookRabbit is up and running once more. You did a great job of rallying the troops last year to join in your group reads – we would love to see you back on the site and it’d be great to get a group read going again on the discussion boards. We’d much rather it came from book bloggers like yourself rather than us, as we like to think of it as your site. So please tell other book bloggers you know and hope we see you soon.
Thanks and best wishes,
Sarah and the BookRabbit Team
I just found your blog as a link on “my porch” and am very happy I did. You will love Murakami; if you want to read another of his books I reccoment Kafka on the Shore.
Thanks for a great blog,
Tom Perkins
No wonder you’re so well read, you’re an editor! Could you email me what magazine it is? It sounds interesting 🙂
I have just stumbled across your fantastic site. Perfect bookworm material. I will be an avid follower (when I am not reading books of course). And I agree with Tom Perkins, Murakami is wonderful and I am just reading Dan Rhodes ‘Little Hands Clapping’.
Many thanks for sharing.
A new follower in Brazil!
Thanks very much for everyone who has commented on here and pologies for being rubbish at replying as I forget this page exists!
Wendy I have just told The Converted One (orginally from Brazil) that I have a reader in Brazil and got a genuinely shocked ‘as if’ face! Ha!
Hi, just stumbled across your blog while browsing some reviews on Amazon.
I was in the Peaks this weekend (I only live in Yorkshire so not too far) but we went for a long weekend as we just love it there!
Loving your blog and will be adding it to your blogroll. Will definitely be chekcing back regularly.
Hello!
A totally unoriginal introduction – I too have stumbled across your blog and found it be just lovely!
Looking forward to following you…
Cate aka The Book Shelf Project
Hey Simon!
Like the rest, I too stumbled across your blog and am so glad to find so many other avid readers just like you here! And just like you, I blog and review books as regularly as I can when I’m not reading haha
Oh, and I’m another fan of Murakami 😀 I prefer his short stories though 🙂
Anyone of you here like the works of Dahl and Gaiman?
Love your blog too! Gonna be dropping by regularly 😉
I like talking about books too and mostly I do it with myself on my own site, and I stumbled upon your blog because I was googling Ian McEwan’ Solar and I’m really impressed with all the books that you’ve read! Although I don’t think that your goal was to impress as I’ve noticed how much you really love books. I’d just like to say what a nice site you have here.
Pat here, a follower or yours from the Philippines.
I’m sorry I left my comment to you on your blog. Obviously this is the place to leave it but I’m only just finding my way around your site. There’s such a lot to read! But, it seems I’m not the only one to have stumbled on your blog- such a pleasurable experience. Thank you
Hello Simon:
Your blog is smart, interesting, and thought-provoking. Don’t hate me, but I’m giving you the Beautiful Blogger and Honest Scrap awards.
I love your blog too. Only problem is (and I’m well aware it’s probably me being dim) is I can’t see an RSS subscribe feature anywhere. Do you have one? I have a memory like a sieve so RSS subscriptions are the only way I can keep track of all these beautiful and fascinating book blogs!
I also would love an RSS feed! Am I being dim / just missing it?!
great blog, and a lot of food for thought! Will keep checking in…!
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Sorry for confusing you with a girl in another comment! Glad I discovered your blog. I completely agree with you on Calvino and Coetzee, so I’ll be coming back frequently to read your reviews and discoveries!
WHERE IS THE HAND?!
Excellent blog and I loved your review of The Pleasures of Men! Also thrilled to find that you are another fan of the divine Mrs Agatha Raisin. 🙂
But really WHERE IS THE HAND… honestly that made me laugh and laugh, and is still making me chuckle now!
Love your blog Simon, I am @smalldarkden on twitter. Going to get the sack soon if I don’t stop reading this blog at work! Oh well if I do it means more time for books.
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what type of beared companion – polar? brown? honey? grizzly??
Hi Simon, lovely blog. I’ll be reading more of it when I get home.
As a lover of second-hand bookshops, you might be interested in this post on my blog – http://richlyevocative.wordpress.com/2012/03/26/i-owe-my-life-to-a-second-hand-bookshop/
There are various other posts about book related matters too.
Cheers
Matt
ooh, this is going to be a great blog to follow, as i am always looking for a good read. =) funny how your most recent post was under one of my topics to search, which was probably “baking” or “cupcakes” or something food or pastry related.
Simon- did you hear that they are working on a musical version of Rebecca for Broadway?.
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Love the sense of humour in the ‘About me’ page. It reminded me that we haven’t heard much about the Ambridge Book Club recently – what are they reading now. Any more local potboilers??
Hmm it appears like your blog ate my first comment (it was extremely long) so I
guess I’ll just sum it up what I wrote and say, I’m thoroughly enjoying your blog.
I too am an aspiring blog blogger but I’m still new to the whole thing. Do you have any points for first-time blog writers? I’d really appreciate
it.
As an author whose first novel will be published on 23rd August and also a champion of Independant bookshops I can confirm that there doesn’t appear to be a COMPLETE list of Indipendants – ‘tbg the book guide’ seems to be the best.
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Seems like a really good blog..glad to have found it.
I also dream about being on Desert Island Discs – so relieved to know that I’m not the only one!
Hey, just came across your blog, I really loved it, loved reading all about Daphne Du Maurier and the videos. I am happy to know that there are many others who are really obsessed about Rebecca. I actually am a fashion student I have taken Rebecca as my inspiration for womens cocktail wear for my graduation show. It would be helpful if you can give me more insight about the book.
I like your blog very much. Being an avid reader, I waste my time reading what others read, and the books keep piling up !
tommy
from Poland
Hi Simon, where’s the widget thing for me to subscribe by email so that your new posts come into my inbox?
Lisa I don’t even know what that is, I’m the worlds most untechno blogger 😉
Up on the top LHS menu next to your icon, there’s a drop down menu and widgets should be there. If not, go to your dashboard and scroll down the LHS until you come to Appearance and if you hover over it, you’ll see Widgets. When you click on that a screen will open up and on the RHS it should show all the widgets you currently have (which appear to be Pages, Categories, Comments etc). You have two columns of widgets so you may need to click on the widgets header (probably called Sidebar 1) to see the second column.
On the LHS of the screen are all the widgets you’re not using, and you simply drag ’em over onto the RHS and there they are. You can move the order by dragging them up and down, the Follow by Email widget should logically be near your RSS widget so that people can find it easily.
It’s possible that your theme limits the number of widgets you can have, though it looks as if there’s still plenty of room in your RHS column. If all else fails, visit WP support forums which have screenshots and videos to help with almost anything!
Thank you Lisa. Will have a widget wiggle shortly 😉
Simon sounds like a very interesting fellow. It warms my heart to read about someone loving books this much. I’m also particularly enamoured with his love of charity shops, cats and boozy lunches. I can’t wait to read more of his blog!
(I recommended/nominated your blog. Feel free to participate or ignore at your preference!)
Slightly baffled by this love-in. I assumed this blog was a joke since our blogger is not fully literate and every review is riddled with grammatical errors and nonsense. Kudos to you for managing to make a career from it despite this.
I’m slightly baffled why you need to leave such a snarky comment rather than just buggering off and reading something else if you don’t like it. Mind you you’ve done it anonymously so Kudos to you.
Hi Simon
What a great blog! I’ve only discovered it very recently but love it. The mix of reviews, book news and book thoughts is just the right balance.
Wish I’d discovered it sooner.
Anna
Nice blog!Daphne du Maurier’s “Rebecca” is one of my favorite books.
Hi Simon – I just wanted to say thanks for a brilliant panel talk at the conference last weekend. Was very interesting and learned a lot! Hope you enjoyed it as much as well all did. Fran x
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Hi Simon,
I’ve nominated you for the Blogger Recognition Award: https://inklingstime.wordpress.com/2015/08/09/the-blogger-recognition-award/
I hope you don’t mind. It’s okay if you prefer not to act on it. If anything it’s my way of telling you that I really like visiting your blog.
Thanks for being a wonderful blogger!
Awwww that’s really kind Jeremy. Thank you!
Hello, recent stalker of this blog here. Just decided that I might as well follow you 🙂
If I may ask a question. I noticed your great love for the brilliant Daphne du Maurier. Last Halloween, I was introduced to du Maurier via NYRB Classics’ Don’t Look Now collection. I adored it and now I adore Daphne. I have Jamaica Inn and Rebecca to read next. My dear grandfather owns a copy of Daphne’s first novel The Loving Spirit. May I ask you if that one is worth reading? If it is, I might have to “steal” it off his bookshelf, heehee.
Great blog. I have just stumbled over your blog , so much to read, I could be quite a while.
Awww thank you Marianne!!! Nice to hear from you!
I enjoyed discovering your blog and look forward to reading more. You may be interested in my Journey of Spirit and Healing Blog, http://www.michadam.wordpress.com, which tells my journey behind the writing of my upcoming novel, Child of Duende, which is about a German girl born in Spain who is imbued by the spirit of the earth. I imagine you may really enjoy this, given your blog.
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