Gemma Arterton says it’s an “awful shame” she doesn’t have time to read books anymore.

The 24-year-old actress has enjoyed a considerable amount of success in the past couple of years, appearing in top movies such as Prince of Persia, Tamara Drewe and the James Bond film Quantum of Solace.

While the star is happy about her career taking off, her one regret is that she no longer gets the chance to indulge in one of her favourite pastimes – reading.

“It’s an awful shame because now I read a lot of stories, but they’re always in script form, rather than in a novel. And it’s never the same thing,” she lamented.

Gemma is set to appear in a play by 19th century Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen in London later this year, and she hopes once she’s settled in that role she’ll have time to dip into a novel now and then. The actress has decided to concentrate on stage acting for a while as she had been in so many films lately.

“I’m just about to do this Ibsen play so I can’t wait to actually be in the middle of a job so I can read a novel again!” she laughed.

The beautiful actress has always been fond of reading, and says as a little girl she was a real bookworm. Gemma’s favourite piece of literature was The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, which details the adventures of a young Spanish shepherd named Santiago.

“My favourite book when I was little was The Alchemist. I read it first when I was eight-years-old and it really made an impression on me,” she recalled.

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