Notes of Life

September has gone by so quickly! I have had fun though and I even got to attend a couple of books events.

The first event I went to was Phil Rickman’s book signing and talk at Books Bookshop in Oswestry. The talk was done as a Q & A session and I got to learn a great deal about Phil’s books, especially the Merrily Watkins series. Of course, I had to buy his latest book and get it signed while I was there.

The second book event was Lauren Kate’s launch party for Passion. I was lucky enough to be invited by the publishers and a great time was had by all. Lauren was absolutely lovely and made sure she talked to everyone there. Read the blog post to find out all about it and for a chance to win a SIGNED copy of Passion (this giveaway is open until midday Sunday for UK readers only)!

Talking of winning books… I have another giveaway on the go and this time it’s open world-wide! Author Catherine Ryan Hyde was kind enough to do a “Meet The Author” post with me and, by either answering Catherine’s questions or by asking your own, you could win a copy of her latest UK release, Don’t Let Me Go.

Right then, onto books I’ve reviewed this month…

3rd September – The Colour of Death by Michael Cordy
This is the second book I have read for the Transworld Book Group Challenge and was one I really enjoyed reading. It’s a crime thriller about an unknown girl with a condition called synaesthesia. Well worth a read!

6th September – That Day In September by Artie Van Why
This book is a moving, personal account of what happened to one man on September 11th, 2001 and the aftermath. Artie was also kind enough to do a Guest Post for the blog which featured here on the 10th anniversary of that tragic day.

16th September – Agent 6 by Tom Rob Smith
This is the 3rd book in Tom Rob Smith’s Leo Demidov trilogy. While I didn’t enjoy this book quite as much as the first two in the trilogy, I still enjoyed it. If you’re after gritty thrillers, then this trilogy is for you. I’ll miss Leo Demidov now the trilogy is done.

19th September – Death Sentence by Mikkel Birkegaard
Death Sentence is the 3rd book I’ve read for the Transworld Book Group Challenge. I liked the synopsis of the book and the story certainly had me gripped, but, unfortuntely, I found the ending a little too gory for my tastes.

24th September – Don’t Let Me Go by Catherine Ryan Hyde
I fell in love with this book from the start. It was a refreshing change from the other books I read this month and I would definitely recommend it. Don’t forget to read Catherine’s “Meet The Author” post and comment there to be in with a chance of winning a copy of this book!

I hope you are all enjoying the Meet The Author / Guest Posts. I haven’t got any more planned at the moment, but I’ve really enjoyed doing them and will certainly think about organising some more. Is there anything you particularly liked or disliked about them? Feedback is always welcome.

Here’s looking forward to October and whatever it holds for me!

Catherine Ryan Hyde is the author of a number of novels such as Pay It Forward, Second Hand Heart and today’s new release – Don’t Let Me Go.

Catherine Ryan Hyde is one of the few authors who touches upon subjects many authors don’t – be it transgender issues, life-threatening conditions, abusive partners, alcoholic and drug-taking parents… You get the idea. Catherine doesn’t shy away from difficult subjects and that’s something I like about her.

Over the past year or so I’ve gotten to know Catherine through her blog posts, Twitter and email. I consider her to be a kind, generous and friendly person, and even a friend, despite having never actually met. Through this “Meet The Author” post, I’m hoping you’ll also get to know a little about the author herself.

Please welcome Catherine to the blog!

Right then, let’s jump straight in…

Being a regular visitor to your blog, I know you like to hike. Where’s your favourite place to hike? Is there somewhere you’d like to go, but haven’t been yet?

I have several favorites, places I go again and again. It was my desire to go below the rim of the Grand Canyon that got me into hiking, and so I put the Grand Canyon first on the list. I’ve hiked it all the way down to the river and back three times so far, and I’m going again in very early December. Yosemite is another big favorite, and I’m fortunate, in that it’s less than a half-day drive from my home. And Zion National Park in Utah is probably a fitting third. I’m stopping there for a fourth time on my way to Pike’s Peak this vacation.

I’ll never forget the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu or the “Knife Edge” approach to Mt Katahdin, and they were definite high points in my life. But I doubt I’ll ever go back and do them again. Once per lifetime feels like enough.

Lately I’ve had a craving to go trekking in the Everest or Annapurna regions of Nepal. This is not to say I want to climb Mt Everest or Annapurna. Nothing could be further from the truth! I couldn’t if I tried, I’d be a fool to try, and it doesn’t sound like a bit of fun anyway. But I sure would like to see them. Just see and photograph them. From a place where there’s oxygen.

And another item on my bucket list lately is the Atlantic Puffin. I’m just so charmed by those little guys, and I want to meet one in person. (Just close enough for a good view—I’ll totally understand if they don’t care to shake my hand.) Yes, I know a Puffin is a bird, not a hike, but I’d love to go to Newfoundland or Greenland or that Scottish Island or someplace where they’re plentiful and hike among them with my camera.

Have you had any scary moments while hiking or kayaking?

Nothing too terrible. I’ve been fortunate. I think it’s partly luck and partly the fact that I’m a bit compulsive about the planning portion of things. Still, sometimes there are things you just can’t avoid by planning. A small handful of times I’ve gotten lost (or the trail has gotten lost) and that’s always a panicky feeling. But it was always blessedly temporary.

The only scary moment I can remember on the kayak was when I was quite new to the hobby. A big seal accidentally surfaced a few feet from my boat, took one look at me, and dove right underneath the kayak. This blast of bubbles came up to let me know he was right under the boat. They are quite large, some of these seals. Hundreds of pounds. I didn’t think he would eat me or anything, but I had a very instinctive fear of being capsized. But now I’ve been around seals so much that I know they have very good spatial awareness. They don’t go around banging into things. Fortunately.

When did you realise you wanted to become an author?

In my second year of high school. I had a wonderful English and Creative writing teacher named Lenny Horowitz, and he reawakened my love of reading, and then told me I could write. Better yet, he told me so in front of the entire class (who were pretty sure I couldn’t do much of anything). Best of all, he told all my other teachers. So for days, my teachers would all say, “I heard you’re a very good writer.” It was a bad time in my life. I had no talent for athletics, no advantages for dating. I didn’t make friends easily. It seemed every day I was having it brought to my attention that I was bad at something. This was the first big example I can remember of being told I was good at something. It made quite an impression.

Being an author, do you get time to read many books yourself? If so, what kind of books do you go for?

I definitely read. I don’t think you can do your best as an author without reading. But it’s hard. I definitely don’t get time to read as much as I want. Then again, that’s true of almost everybody I know. I don’t read much when I have a novel in progress, so I try to really chew through the books in between. Traveling is always my great chance to read.

I like to read the same sort of books I like to write. I’m not impressed by intricate plots unless I really care a great deal about the characters. I don’t read a lot of genres like mystery or fantasy. I like things set in the real world. I read to learn something new about the human condition, or at least to see humans in a slightly different light. I like books that dig deep and find hope, but without falling into the trap of being artificially sunny.

Where do you get your inspiration from when writing?

In between novels, I try to be a good student of human nature. I get ideas from, more than anything else, the things we won’t say. The fear we won’t admit, the anger we try to bury. The hidden agenda that we may not even know we’re serving. If you pay close attention to people, we are endlessly fascinating creatures. If we all just started telling each other the damn truth about ourselves (in a reasonably polite manner), the world would be a great place to live. But it would be a miserable place to write about. Then I might very well run out of stories.

When I’m actually writing, I seem to get my inspiration from the story itself. It’s almost as though I write the story because I can’t wait to know the story. When it’s really going well, I feel as though I’m revealing what’s going to happen next, rather than making it up. I wish I understood more about the creative process, but anyone who says he does is telling tales (either to you or to himself—or both).

What gave you the inspiration to write Don’t Let Me Go?

This is a classic example of one of my books that truly seemed to come “from the ether” and all at once. My agent asked me to present a synopsis of the next thing I’d be working on, and I lay in bed that night and Grace’s story (originally titled “Our Year of Grace”) just appeared in my head. And in a case like that, it’s very hard to quantify where ideas come from. And yet, there again is the recurring theme of parents who don’t take care of their children, and childless adults who take care of children who are not theirs. So, wherever these ideas are coming from, they are clearly marked by my interest in the human condition. But I never met or knew anybody like Grace. I just asked for a story and she stepped up and handed me this one, bless her little 10-year-old heart.

Most people will have heard of the movie adaptation of Pay It Forward. If you could have any of your other books turned into a movie (with you to guide them), which would it be and who would you choose to play the starring roles?

Ah. With me to guide them. That could make quite a difference. That certainly was not the case with Pay It Forward.

You know, I’m keeping fingers crossed that there might be something else in the works, but it’s too soon to know and definitely too soon to say. But it could happen.

I’d love to see Love in the Present Tense made into a movie with Jake Gyllenhaal as Mitch. I’d want someone like Helen Mirren to play Barb, but I just know they’d choose somebody younger. Hollywood is like that. Maybe I could get some interest from a British film company, and maybe they’d show a bit more sense in their casting.

I’d like to see Becoming Chloe as a film, too. I think road stories tend to work well on the screen. But I don’t know who I’d cast, because it would require two very young actors, and I don’t keep up with the up-and-coming stars these days.

Likewise, if it were Chasing Windmills, I don’t have many thoughts about the two young main characters. But I could see someone like Oprah Winfrey (yes, she acts—remember The Color Purple?) as Delilah and William H. Macy as Sebastian’s father.

From your blog to God’s ears!

Finally, is there anything you’d like to ask the readers?

Yes, thank you. You know I have an author blog on my website. And I try to mix it up. Some posts about my activities, some about my views, others about career news. Years ago, when I had my old website, maintained by a professional web designer, people often said they couldn’t find any personal information about me. Hence the blog.

So…my question is…what do you want to know about an author, beyond the books themselves? What would interest you in the format of an author blog?

Thanks! I didn’t know I’d get to ask questions, too.

So there you go, that’s Catherine Ryan Hyde!

Giveaway (Ends midnight on Thursday, 6th October 2011 – UK time – Open to UK and International Readers! – CLOSED!)

To be in with a chance of winning a copy of Catherine Ryan Hyde’s Don’t Let Me Go (released today!), please leave a comment for Catherine (be it either answering her questions above or asking her your own questions). The giveaway is international, so you are eligable as long as the Book Depository deliver to your country. The giveaway ends midnight on Thursday. 6th October 2011 (UK time) and a winner will be chosen and contacted shortly after.

My review of Don’t Let Me Go by Catherine Ryan Hyde.

Order your copy of Don’t Let Me Go from the Book Depository.

Visit Catherine Ryan Hyde’s blog.

Many thanks to Catherine for taking part in thie “Meet The Author” post!

I was lucky enough to be invited to Lauren Kate‘s book launch by Random House Children’s Books.

For those who don’t know (and if you don’t, where have you been?!), Lauren Kate is the author of The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove, as well as the Fallen series featuring Fallen, Torment, Passion and the upcoming summer 2012 release, Rapture.

You can read my reviews of the books from the Fallen series via the links below:
1. Fallen
2. Torment
3. Passion

The event was held at Proud in Camden, London last night. Unfortunately, I arrived at the venue soaking wet as our lovely British weather gave a downpour as soon as I came out of Camden Town tube station!

As soon as I arrived I was given a glass of bubbly and an eyeful of two topless male angels (See photo to the right showing Lauren Kate at the UK Passion Launch at Proud in Camden with angel waiters! Photo courtesy of Random House Children’s Books). What a great start to the evening!

Lauren Kate was delightful. She read us the prologue for Rapture, the fourth and final book in the Fallen series I can’t share any of it with you, but I loved it and can’t wait to read the book. I’ve got quite a wait though as it’s not out until next June (right in time for my birthday!). I loved listening to Lauren read and I think she’d be great at reading her own audiobooks.

Breaking News…

On 2nd February 2012 Random House Children’s Books will publish an original novel by Lauren Kate that is connected to her Fallen series. The novel, Fallen in Love, is a collection of four intertwined love stories featuring the Fallen characters we’ve come to love and adore… Miles, Shelby, Roland, Arriane and, of course, Luce & Daniel.

So that’s something to keep us fans going until the long awaited release of Rapture!

Giveaway (Ends midday Sunday, 2nd October 2011 – UK readers only – CLOSED!)

I’d taken my copy of Passion to get signed by Lauren, and, as we were also allowed to grab a copy of Passion at the launch party, I got to have the second copy signed for one of you. Yes, that’s right, one of my readers will win a signed copy of Lauren Kate’s Passion! To be in with a chance of winning, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post. That’s it!

Unfortunately, this giveaway is restricted to UK readers due to postage costs, but my international readers can look forward to another giveaway very soon.

UK readers have until midday on Sunday, 2nd October 2011 to enter the giveaway. A winner will then be chosen at random. (Giveaway entries now closed!).

Thank you so much to Lauren Kate and everyone involved in organising the book launch. I had a wonderful time, with plenty of bubbly top-ups by the gorgeous angels (Do you think I could have my own angel waiter at home?!) and met some lovely people. Thanks to Random House Children’s Books for inviting me.

Author: Catherine Ryan Hyde
Publisher: Black Swan
ISBN: 9780552776677

Don’t Let Me Go is a refreshing change in my reading schedule. Regular visitors will know I’m often found reading crime, thrillers and urban fantasy novels (as well as my niece’s books), but I jumped at the chance to read Catherine Ryan Hyde’s latest UK release.

Poor Grace sits alone on the step outside her apartment block. Grace knows that her mum loves her, but she knows that her mum loves drugs too. However, it won’t be long before ‘the woman from the county’ threatens to put her into care.

Hope for Grace comes in the unlikely form of Billy. He sees her from his apartment and worries why a ten-year-old girl would be sitting out there all alone. Only Billy hasn’t left his apartment in years and other people scare him.

Suddenly both their lives change. A plan is put into action, but it won’t be easy, because they have to take away the one thing her mum needs the most…

I loved all the characters in this book, well, maybe everyone except Grace’s mum and Mr Lafferty (the human not the cat – though you may have to read the book to understand that!). The way the book is written, I really felt like I got to know the characters. However, Billy has got to be my favourite. Billy hasn’t been out of his apartment in over a decade and what with his agoraphobia, anxiety disorder and panic attacks, Billy’s quite a quirky character! Grace brings him somewhat out of himself and gives him something, someone to care for. After having a near non-existent life for over a decade, Billy’s life is turned around by Grace. The book is just as much about Billy as it is about Grace.

While the story isn’t all plain sailing, I really do think that Don’t Let Me Go is an uplifting story. It’s like no matter how bad things get they can always be turned around, if you try hard enough. We see changes in people brought about by the people around them.

I read Don’t Let Me Go over 3 days and loved every page of it. I was compelled to keep turning the pages and would definitely recommend this book to others!

Don’t Let Me Go is released on 29th September 2011.

Pre-order Don’t Let Me Go by Catherine Ryan Hyde.

Check out my review of another of Catherine Ryan Hyde’s books – Second Hand Heart.

Look out over the next week or so for my special “Meet the Author” post featuring the lovely Catherine Ryan Hyde, author of Don’t Let Me Go (there may even be a giveaway!).

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Please note: I received this book free from Transworld Publishers in return for a review. However, this has in no way influenced my opinion of the book.

Author: Mikkel Birkengaard
Publisher: Black Swan
ISBN: 978-0-552-77680-6

This is the 3rd book I’ve read for Transworld’s Book Group Challenge. The synopsis of Death Sentence sounded like a great idea to me… A crime writer who’s being hounded by a copycat murderer carrying out the violent deaths in his books.

Frank Fonz is a crime writer with reputation for descriptive, violent deaths, but thankfully those deaths are within the confines of books. That is until somebody starts copying his crimes. Frank must turn detective as his own plots are twisted into reality and turned against him. He’s now involved in a game of life or death.

Death Sentence was originally written in Danish and has been translated by Charlotte Barsland. Sometimes translated books can come across slightly disjointed, but Death Sentence has been translated very well and, apart from the author’s name and the fact that it’s set in Denmark, I wouldn’t have guessed it was a translation.

The book started out relatively standard for a crime novel (in other words, crime readers expect a bit of blood and whatnot), but as the story went on I found some of it quite disturbing (though I guess that’s understandable as the narrator is obviously quite disturbed!). One murder in particular was vile and had me cringing, but it was the ending that had me feeling sick and almost unable to read on… Yet I was compelled to read on as I needed to find out who the murderer was.

I don’t normally talk about the ending of a book, but this one had me annoyed. I didn’t really get why what happened at the end happened and I found it incredibly gruesome… It was more horror than crime. What I want out of the ending of a book is either satisfaction or a cliff-hanger that leaves me wanting to read the follow-up book, but I didn’t get any satisfaction from the end of this book.

Don’t get me wrong… I read this book in 3 sittings. It had me gripped and turning the pages at quite a pace. It’s not a comfortable read, by any means, but it’s definitely a thriller. However, it just went a bit over the top with the gore at the end, in my opinion. It just didn’t do it for me, which is a shame as I enjoyed most of the book. However, those readers more blood-thirsty than me may find the ending more to their taste than mine.

Buy Death Sentence by Mikkel Birkegaard.

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Please note: I received this book free from Transworld Publishers as part of the Transworld Book Group Challenge. However, this has in no way influenced my opinion of the book.