June Reading

Having been lucky enough to win the Bisto Book of the Year award in 2007, a beautiful and incredibly heavy bronze sculpture which sat in my living-room on the only shelf that would hold it, I was sorry to have to return it when the 2008 prizes were to be presented (it’s a perpetual trophy and held by the winner for a year). However it couldn’t have gone to a more worthy recipient, Siobhan Dowd who won the award for THE LONDON EYE MYSTERY, the first novel I read this month. The novel recalls, in part, Mark Haddon’s wonderful CURIOUS INCIDENT, but it’s an equally rewarding read with a mystery at its heart that has the reader, like Ted and Kat, searching for clues. It’s a real tragedy that Ms Dowd passed away during ’07 for her extraordinary writing was reaching a wide readership; however, she has left 4 novels behind and we should be glad of that.

 

I’m ashamed to say I’ve never read a James Bond novel and it seems a little odd that when I rectify that, it’s not by reading Ian Fleming, but by reading Sebastian Faulks. Mr Faulks is one of my favourite contemporary writers and I was intrigued to read DEVIL MAY CARE, wondering whether it would embody what I imagined was the spirit of the original Bond books or the humour of Faulks’ own amusing collection of parodies, PISTACHE. I suppose it’s a little of both really. It’s – and this is probably the best compliment I can pay it – a cracking read and pretty much unputdownable. The tennis scene between Bond and Gorner (the villain) is filled with the tension reminiscent of the casino scenes in the movies. I think this would make an excellent addition to the 007 movie franchise, should the producers choose to film it. Faulks has never had much luck on screen – maybe this could change all that.

 

Having admired Lloyd Jones’ MISTER PIP last year, I was delighted to learn that his UK publishers are bringing his backlist to readers here for the first time. I read THE BOOK OF FAME, a highly unusual prose-poem of a novel about the adventures of the 1905 All-Blacks team winning their way through England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. It’s written in a spare style and each match crackles with tension. I’ll look forward to reading more of Lloyd’s novels soon. Ian McEwan’s libretto FOR YOU was my next choice. Always difficult to appreciate something like this outside of its natural home – the stage – but should a production make its way to Dublin I’d be excited to see it. The tensions of the creative life are to the fore here.

 

Two novels which received rave reviews this months were Gerbrand Bakker’s THE TWIN and Joseph O’Neill’s NETHERLAND. The former is a rather cold story of an ageing farmer living with his elderly father on a Dutch farm, while the latter is a tale of life in New York post 9/11. They’re interesting books, both of them, beautifully written, which I found appealed perhaps more to the head than the heart, and I’m a heart type of reader/writer. O’Neill’s book however is filled with intriguing set pieces and his passion for cricket in New York, a most unexpected pasttime for the Big Apple, is well represented.

 

I have a passion for Canadian literature and my Canadian publisher, Doubleday, was kind enough to send me a box of books from their current list. The first I chose to read was David Adams Richards’ THE LOST HIGHWAY, a morality tale of a tormented man who makes one bad decision, regarding a Lotto ticket, and events soon spiral out of control. It’s a taut, tense novel, filled with ethical compromises and unexpected moments of violence. Not to give anything away but an image towards the end of the book on a boat is one that will stay with me for a long time. An astonishing novel, truly.

 

I’ve never read Pat Barker’s First World War trilogy and decided to begin this month with REGENERATION. The book has, for many years, been highly praised and rightly so; it’s as moving an account of the traumas of war as I’ve read. I look forward to the other parts of the trilogy over coming months.

 

Rose Tremain’s latest novel THE ROAD HOME won this year’s Orange Prize for Fiction and I read it over the course of a couple of days in London. The story of an Eastern European immigrant, Lev, making his way in London, trying to earn money to send home to his family, is a truly outstanding novel with a protagonist who is both endearing and complex. There are moments of great humour in the book – notably those regarding Lev’s friend Rudi and his ‘tchevi’, alongside scenes which are tremendously moving, the depiction of poverty among immigrants recalling Orwell’s descriptions of impoverished life in ‘Down & Out in Paris & London’ and ‘A Clergyman’s Daughter’. This is a very compassionate novel, one that took me quite by surprise in its humanity and warmth. Rose Tremain interviewed me many years ago for my place on the writing course at UEA and I’ve always been interested in her fiction; she fully deserved her Orange Prize for this outstanding novel.

 

The final novel I read this month was THE DEVIL’S FOOTPRINTS by John Burnside, a dark and slightly disturbing story which had echoes of Angela Carter’s fairytales-as-horror-stories and Nabokov’s Lolita. It left me feeling unsettled, as novels of this type should do, uncertain how I felt about the ambiguous narrator, but admiring of the relentness of the story.

My book of the month for June: another close call this month between David Adams Richards’ The Lost Highway and Rose Tremain’s The Road Home.

A new novel

I spent the last few days in London, attending to various things, one of which was meeting with my editor, Bill, to go through the manuscript of my new novel, which is due to be published at some point during 2009. More details of the book soon(ish). I need to sit down with my editing notes first and take another run through the manuscript. I don’t want to say too much yet about the title or the story but here’s a photograph taken last December when I was researching (and writing) some of the novel in – well maybe you can figure out where…

Do I look like the coldest man in the world or what?!

Do you want to be on television?

If you live in Dublin and want to appear on RTE Television with me, here’s your chance. RTE TV show Eye2Eye is returning for a fourth series soon, hosted by Sinead Kennedy (You’re A Star) and this time featuring stars from literature, comedy, TV, film, sport and music. RTE are looking for audience members aged between 12 and 16 to ask questions on Thursday 3rd July. Two authors will be in the studio alongside me – Darren Shan and Ruth Gilligan. So you don’t even have to like me very much as long as you like them.

If you want to take part, click on this link and there’s an e-mail at the bottom of the page. Good luck!

Can you speak Spanish?

Well if you can, you might be interested in this interview which I recorded in Barcelona last month and which played on Spanish television recently. Watch how naturally I walk into the studio at the beginning of the video! I remember the day we shot this, my Spanish publicist and I searched in vain for the studio and when we found it, it looked to me like the kind of place where serial killers take their victims. Check out the grimy sinks if you don’t believe me. Most impressive of all though is how the interviewer disappears in the last minute of the video, after I start reading. Seriously – go to the end - one minute he’s sitting beside me and then – wow! – he’s gone!

Age Guidelines

There’s been a lot of talk in the newspapers and on the books pages recently about age guidelines for children’s books, which some parts of the publishing industry are keen to promote. Many authors (and editors) are firmly against such a plan and have spoken out about it – Philip Pullman, for example, has made his views known.

My own position on this is that it’s a horrible idea. Unlike films, where age guidelines are there to prevent those too young to see specific material from entering screenings, the idea for the books is not to prevent (say) a 9 year-old buying a book aimed at a 12 year-old; it’s there to to suggest that the book should only be read by the suggested age range.

Besides the fact that most of us don’t want to be told at what age we should read particular books (I was reading Dickens when I was 12 and read, for example, Siobhan Dowd this month) the proposal will stifle children’s exploration of the wide range of literature available to them. I remember when I wrote THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS and, in my ignorance, was told about the concept of ‘aspirational reading’, i.e. that 8 year-olds want to read about 9 year-olds, 12 year-olds want to read about 13 year-olds, etc and I was immediately concerned that no one over the age of 9 would therefore want to read Bruno’s story. Happily, that didn’t happen but if we stuck a bloody great “9″ on the back of the book, I suspect that many children over that age would never have picked up the book.

Also, I fear the idea of a child who decides he or she wants to read a book not aimed at their own age-group and having it ripped out of their hands by an adult who deems it “unsuitable”. That’s not what books are for. It’s not what literature is about.

Perhaps we should leave it to the children themselves, and librarians, and parents, and teachers, and anyone who advise our young readers on what to read to decide whether something is appropriate or not. Or just leave the kids to get on with it. For once such a scheme starts, where does the madness end?

No age guidelines for me please.

Library Voices

Another reading last night, this time in Dun Laoghaire on Dublin’s coastline as part of Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Council’s programme entitled ‘Library Voices’. I’d never been inside County Hall (left) before although I’ve walked past it a thousand times in my life. A magnificent building and a beautiful room to read in. I read two sections from MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY and despite the fact that I could feel my voice going halfway through the second one (don’t know why) it seemed to go well. A terrific and very responsive audience, full of questions. My favourite part of any reading is always the Q&A with the audience afterwards, it’s the most spontaneous and fun element of these events. Many thanks to Bert Wright for running the show in his typically lively and warm fashion and for conducting the on-stage questions too and to all the librarians who have worked so hard to ensure that the programme of readings are successful.

Most of the readings in this series have already happened (Jodi Picoult, Joe O’Connor, Hugo Hamilton) but there’s another one coming up next week (Cathy Kelly) The website is here if you’re interested in getting some tickets.

Bestseller in Taiwan

Great news from Taiwan where the Taiwanese language edition of THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS, published by Crown, has reached no.1 in the bestseller charts. The Taiwanese edition has a very nice jacket, using the blue and white stripes of many international editions (and the original UK edition) but with some slight changes.

I notice aswell that they’ve gone for the American “Pajamas” rather than the original “Pyjamas” on the cover.

Thanks to all the booksellers in Taiwan for bringing the book to the attention of so many readers.

Angel of Brooklyn

One book that won’t feature in my end of month reading round-up is ANGEL OF BROOKLYN by British writer Janette Jenkins. That’s because I read it in proof form about 6 months ago but it’s published this week – on Thursday, in fact – and I wanted to mention it. Firstly let me admit that Janette and I are old friends, students together on the UEA writing course during ‘94/’95 (of which I must write something at some point) but that doesn’t influence my opinion of this as being one of the best novels of the year so far.

This is something of a departure from Janette’s previous two novels, which had contemporary settings and plots. ANGEL is a historical novel, set during the years of World War I, but nevertheless manages to weave many contemporary themes into the story of a newly married American woman living in England while her husband is fighting in the war. What’s particularly striking in the novel is the flashback scenes of Coney Island at the turn of the 19th/20th century, presenting that magical place as an island of wonder and mystery. It’s one of the most vivid recreations of place and time that I’ve come across in contemporary fiction.

So there we are. It’s worth reading and you can buy it online from Amazon and Waterstone’s, amongst other places. Or you can buy it in the good old-fashioned way, from a bookstore. On Thursday.

Dublin Writers Festival … Part 2

Another trip into the Project last night, this time to hear Jonathan Coe and Sebastian Barry speak about their latest novels. I’ve been a huge fan of Jonathan Coe for many years; his novels are always witty and inventive but they’re incredibly complex too and you have to pay attention to every line or you’ll miss something that’s going to be hugely important later on. WHAT A CARVE UP! is easily one of my top 10 novels of all time and THE RAIN BEFORE IT FALLS is a very sensitive and tender story, told through the voice of a dying woman whose decency and humanity shine from the page. As does the voice of the elderly narrator in Sebastian Barry’s THE SECRET SCRIPTURE, which I mentioned in my reading round-up a couple of months ago. It’s one of the best of ‘08 so far. Barry’s reading is almost a performance in itself; he inhabits the characters and brings them fully to life. It was another excellent pairing in this festival.

Dublin Writers Festival

I spent last night at the Project Theatre in Dublin where I read with New Zealand writer Lloyd Jones as part of the opening night of this year’s Dublin Writers Festival. The festival, which runs until Sunday night, has an excellent programme, pairing Irish writers with visiting writers from abroad. Last night’s reading, which was chaired by fellow novelist Claire Kilroy (that’s the 3 of us in the picture on the left) was a lively affair. Lloyd’s most recent novel, MISTER PIP, has been rightly celebrated around the world and we got into an interesting discussion on the role of Charles Dickens in our work. The fact that both our novels are for the most part set in the South Seas adds a further dimension to connect the books. I very much enjoyed hearing him read from his book. I read THE BOOK OF FAME recently too, which includes scenes set in Dublin’s Landsdowne Road rugby pitch. All of Lloyd’s books are steadily being brought into print on these islands – and a good thing too. I’m hoping to attend some of the other events in the festival over the next couple of days.