Tim Thorogood

Why not buy them the perfect present? I?m a local author, living in Crystal Palace Road, and my novel ?Facing the Music: Life, Loss and Glastonbury? was published in June 2014. Here are some recent independent reviews: ?? gives you a front seat view of? this huge annual music festival? ?Thoroughly enjoyable and engaging? entertaining and easy-going...? ?A 'must read' for anyone who has ever been to Glastonbury... I struggled to put it down and read it cover to cover in a weekend. Very highly recommended!? You can find it and read a preview on this link: http://bit.ly/1i8Dmyg or on Amazon, and/or order it from a local book shop.

In my experience, it's hard to tell how much or how little sequenced/pre-recorded music there is at festivals. I've always suspected there's a lot with the likes of Orbital or Massive Attack, but I accept that possibility, given their kind of electronica. What they might lose with pre-recording, they usually make up with a fantastic light show, so it's the overall experience that counts. There are hundreds of DJ sets at Glastonbury and I imagine they are much the same, but when you're raving you don't really care that much. On the smaller stages, where you get really close up to the artists and can see everything going on, there's hardly any pre-recording; just the vitality of live, unmediated music, as experienced by the main character in my Glastonbury novel "Facing the Music": http://bit.ly/1i8Dmyg

Back from Glastonbury promoting my book, and still recovering slowly. Arcade Fire, Jack White, Kwabs, Kate Tempest and Mogwai were the undoubted highlights for me. Managed to get three radio interviews and three newspaper articles about the book, and spoke twice at the Green Fields Info Tent. I sold quite a few copies, despite the rain. Here's a link to an independent review: http://www.centralsomersetgazette.co.uk/Review-Facing-music-Life-loss-Glastonbury/story-21269923-detail/story.html . It wasn't all rain, of course: see attached picture of Sunday evening's sunset, taken from my phone.

Hi uncleglen - 1971 makes you a bit of a pioneer, so respect! I first went to Glasto in 1981. However, my novel's set much more recently than that, in a real, but undefined year - though it's within the last decade and I've put several clues in the story, for those that really want to know! I've tried to depict the festival and its atmosphere as accurately as possible, so that by the end of the novel readers will feel that they've actually been there! I don't know when you last went to Glasto, but I'd hope my book would bring back some good memories...

First 4-star review on Amazon - "A well written and easy to read story, full of humour and pathos, and great descriptions of the mud and rain. Describes the festival down to a tee and a must for anyone contemplating camping at a festival this year, especially with a pair of teenagers."

Several people have bought the book for the coach trip down - good idea for a present?

Thanks, damzel. I hope you get to Glastonbury next year.

If you're looking for a book to read before, during or after the Glastonbury festival, try out my novel "Facing the Music - Life, Loss and Glastonbury", published in June 2014. It's in paperback and on Kindle, Kobo and Nook. It's fiction, but based on my experiences at Glastonbury over many years. You can find it and read a preview on this link: http://bit.ly/1i8Dmyg and/or order it from a local book shop. I hope you enjoy the book! I'm an author living in East Dulwich, so let me know what you think.