To be a good writer, you first need to be a good reader...

"To be a good writer, you first need to be a good reader."

Not sure who told me this, or if I read it somewhere, but I think it's true (and, before anybody else says it, I probably need to read a lot more!)

Anyway, I was pleased when my daughter came home from school and told me that they were all taking part in a Readathon to raise money for children's cancer charities.

Encouraging children to read - good;

Raising money for sick children - v good.  Everyone's a winner with this event.

My daughter's class also organized a book sale to finish off the Readathon and raise more money too.

I duly attended and purchased yet more books - not a great hardship, granted, as I love books and I can't ever see myself switching to an E-reader.

One section of the sale had books for the grown-ups - with some surprising choices.

As my daughter was in charge of this department I didn't make any comment at the time, however a couple of books caught my eye and made me raise an eyebrow as to who had donated them to a primary school booksale.

Sitting pride of place were copies of Jilly Cooper's 'Polo' and 'Riders'.

Later that evening, over family dinner, I mentioned this to my husband.

"Yes" my daughter piped up.  "We noticed that there were some books about horses for sale!"

Let's be thankful for small mercies - it could have been 'Fifty Shades of Grey', which they would hopefully have decided was a Farrow & Ball paintchart!