October Reading

The month got off to a great start with Andrew Miller’s ONE MORNING LIKE A BIRD. I’ve been an admirer of Miller’s work since his first novel, INGENIOUS PAIN, but I think this new book is his best so far. Set in Japan as World War II breaks out, it tells the story of a young Japanese man, Yuji, and his various struggles with his family, with a French girl with whom he forms a relationship, and with his fear of joining the army. It’s a very moving story, beautifully written, and certainly one of the better novels of the year so far.

After this I read two books by Irish writers: a debut novel by Kevin Power, BAD DAY IN BLACKROCK, which I reviewed for The Irish Times, and the wonderful new picture book by Oliver Jeffers, THE GREAT PAPER CAPER. I love Jeffers’ work. He combines the most fascinating artworks with thought-provoking and witty prose. He’s produced 5 picture books now and each one is an absolute joy.

Anita Shreve’s latest novel TESTIMONY is an interesting book, telling the story of a sex scandal at a Vermont private school. Told from the point of view of more than a dozen narrators, one has to adapt to the different voices as the story develops. It’s a story of cause and effect, although the incident at the heart of the story does not seem quite as appalling as all the characters believe it is.

Zoe Heller’s new novel, THE BELIEVERS, is both witty and intellectually stimulating. Recalling American novels such as THE CORRECTIONS, it’s the story of a liberal New York family and how they each cope with the effects of the father’s falling into a coma. Heller is a hugely talented novelist; she tells her stories with a sharp eye for character and language. After this I read Susan Hill’s THE BEACON, an interesting story of a family torn apart by a decision that one of the brothers makes. I found it a little unresolved however; we never quite understand the motivations of Frank, the brother in question, and so are left unsatisfied by the story’s resolution.

Having been in Spain recently, I decided to read Carlos Ruiz Zafon’s THE SHADOW OF THE WIND, a huge hit here last year, the sequel to which is now available in Spanish. It’s the type of old-fashioned storytelling novel that I like very much, full of colour and mystery and historical detail. Perhaps a little long for the story at its heart, but it’s a good read.

Philip Hensher’s THE NORTHERN CLEMENCY accompanied me on much of my US movie tour. A massive novel, over 750 pages, telling the story of 2 families in Sheffield over a quarter century, this is an extraordinary novel. Incredible storytelling, characters that are never less than interesting, I felt sorry to see the last pages arriving and having to say goodbye to them. The novel recalls all those wonderful 19^th century tomes populated by huge casts of characters, each of whom affect the others in different ways. I’ve never read Hensher before but will start now. Highly recommended.

Book of the Month: Philip Hensher’s The Northern Clemency

British Independent Film Awards

Our last day in the States coincides with some great news from back home where the film has been nominated for 3 British Independent Film Awards. Mark Herman has been nominated for Best Director, Vera Farmiga for Best Actress and Asa Butterfield, who plays Bruno, as Best Newcomer. In addition to this David Thewlis has been awarded the Richard Harris prize for Outstanding Contribution to British Cinema. The winners will be announced in late November.

Washington DC, Philadelphia

2 more cities on the US tour… only 1 left after this.

We spent the weekend in the nation’s capital, Washington DC, which is already getting spruced up for the inauguration in January. I’m fascinated by American politics but had only been here once before, and that was about 2 weeks after 9/11 when everything was shut for obvious reasons. Not that I got to see too much more of the city this time around but it was nice to be back.

On stage in Philadelphia

Then on to Philadelphia for more press – also bad timing as they were playing the fourth and potentially winning game in the World Series last night, although it was eventually postponed due to rain.

In both DC and Philadelphia we held more screenings and Q&A sessions and I got to catch up with some friends before we head today to New York for the last couple of days of screenings, interviews and press with the whole Striped Pyjamas gang gathered together before we go…. home!

More Travelling

Chicago by Day

Still in the States… since the last update we’ve been to Seattle, Denver, Chicago and Dallas, four cities I’ve never been to before. The hotel rooms are all blurring into one by now but the screenings in each city – including one as part of the Chicago International Film Festival – are all individual and interesting in their own way.

Dealey Plaza

The response from each audience to the film has been incredibly positive. Usually I arrive at the screening towards the end in order to sense the mood of the audience to what they’ve seen, particularly those closing 10 minutes, and the utter silence in the cinemas as the credits roll as they consider the film is very encouraging.

We’ve been lucky along the way to meet several family members of victims and survivors of the Holocaust and their response has been gratifying. I’ve travelled so much with the novel and everytime I meet a member of this community I always feel priveliged to hear their stories.

Mark and I in Dallas (stetsons not pictured)

There’s 3 more cities on our tour to go – Washington DC, Philadelphia and New York – lots more print and TV interviews left on the schedule and then home. I feel like I’m running for president.

The film continues to do terrific business in the 3 countries where it’s currently on release – UK, Ireland and Spain – it hasn’t been out of the top 10 in any of them in 6 weeks. And the book is still no.1 in Spain, in Ireland and is the no.1 book on the Sunday Times Childrens Bestseller List in the UK. (It’s also the no.1 bestselling paperback in the UK but the powers that be at the Times refuse to consider it as anything but a children’s book, for reasons not fully understood….)

Hollywood

The last 3 days saw the US tour landing in Hollywood. It’s my first time on the West Coast of America, although as ever much of it was spent in hotel rooms doing interviews! I did however manage to fit in a trip to the cinema to see W., a Saturday night at a busy LA restaurant and an enjoyable evening with some friends in the Hollywood Hills last night - a perfect opportunity to act like a regular tourist and get a photo at the Hollywood sign – so it wasn’t all work.

Alongside the press days, Mark and I went to Santa Monica on Sunday morning to record the commentary for the DVD release of the film next year. Even though we have obviously spoken about it on countless occasions, it was interesting to sit and watch it together and discuss every scene as it happened, the transformation of the material from novel to screenplay to screen and various little nuggets of memories we both had from the Budapest set.

We also got a chance to see a cut of the Behind The Scenes documentary which will feature on the DVD release and some deleted and extended scenes which will be available then too.

Indiana, done. Hollywood, done. Next stop: Seattle.

Indiana

I spent the opening few days of the US movie tour in Indianapolis, at the Heartland Film Festival, where THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS was the opening night film.

Having spent much of the day conducting interviews with the local press, Mark, David and I were welcomed by the filmgoing community in the city later in the evening at a reception and dinner before the North American premiere last night.

Afterwards we were interviewed on stage by Angelo Pizzo (the writer of Indiana basketball drama HOOSIERS, amongst other films) and took questions from the audience and attended a late night reception before heading back to the hotel for a very early morning call before our flight to Los Angeles. Next stop: Hollywood!

Touring Again

The next leg of our movie tour kicks off tomorrow in the USA, where director Mark Herman and I, along with different cast members at different points, visit 8 cities between now and the end of the month.

We’ll be doing press, screenings, Q&As and various other activities in Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Seattle, Denver, Dallas, Chicago, Philadelphia and New York, but we start on Thursday evening at the Heartland Film Festival in Indianapolis where THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS is the opening night film.

I’ll keep the blog updated as I travel around. We had a great couple of weeks in the UK, Spain and Switzerland recently; hopefully it’ll be as much fun this time.

Book Review – Kevin Power Bad Day In Blackrock

My review of Kevin Power’s debut novel, Bad Day In Blackrock, runs today in The Irish Times newspaper and on their online site.

We Are All Born Free

Today sees the publication of Amnesty International’s book WE ARE ALL BORN FREE. As this year marks the 60th anniversary of the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, there have been a number of ongoing projects to mark this milestone and I have been involved in a number of them. WE ARE ALL BORN FREE, published by Frances Lincoln, reprints the 30 articles of the Declaration for children and illustrates each one with a drawing by a well-known illustrator, among them Axel Scheffler, Alan Lee and Chris Riddell. There are two forewords to the book, one written by ‘Doctor Who’ David Tennant, and the other written by me. The book is available in bookstores and online from various sources, including Amazon, Waterstone’s and Borders.

Dubray Literary Lunch

I spent yesterday afternoon at the Royal Marine Hotel in Dun Laoire, where the Irish book chain Dubray were hosting a literary lunch for about 150 of their customers. The first speaker on the day was the American novelist Anita Shreve, who discussed her new novel TESTIMONY with Myles Dungan. During the course of her very interesting Q&A session, she told us what the Oprah experience was like and was forthright about her support for Barack Obama and her contempt for the grotesque Sarah Palin. She was followed by one of my favourite writers and best literary friends, Glenn Patterson, who was charming and funny as ever and treated us to an excerpt from his wonderful memoir ONCE UPON A HILL. I had planned on reading from MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY but changed my mind at the last minute and decided to read from THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS instead. For the last time? Maybe. All in all a great afternoon and thanks to everyone at Dubray for organising it. Some photos to come soon.