Friday Fun Fact

Michael Connelly is one of my favourite thriller writers and it doesn't surprise me how many books he has sold.

Fifty-eight million copies of Connelly’s books have sold worldwide and he has been translated into thirty-nine foreign languages

Underground Crime with Oliver Harris and Eva Dolan

Two of Britain’s promising crime writers come together to discuss morality and murder, crime and the city. Oliver Harris’s second novel Deep Shelter follows Detective Nick Belsey deep into the bowels of subterranean London.

Eva Dolan debut, Long Way Home, is the first in a major new crime series. It focuses on a detective duo that encounter human trafficking, slum landlords, far right extremists and hidden communities on their quest to solve the murder of a local migrant worker.

On a rather nice Friday Afternoon we entered the Central Library in Manchester, which looks great after the refurbishment to listen to two unknown authors to me. They discussed their books and how they came to find their story.

It was an interesting talk; they spoke about the world they found themselves in when researching for the books which drew Oliver down the now not so secret tunnels under London for Eva, well she met a gang master. So you never know who you will meet on your quest for a good story.

Q&A with Garth Nix

I have been to book signings before though this was a little different. Reading the initial series of the Abhorsen trilogy I was looking forward to hearing him speak. Initially he read from his new book Clariel which takes us back to the Old Kingdom and the free magic. We follow a sixteen year old girl, Clariel who finds herself in the confines of the city instead of the freedom of the forest. A free magic creature is now loose in the city and she is given the chance to prove her worth.

After the reading Garth Nix spoke a little about his new book and then took questions. It was obvious from the type of questions that the people in the audience were fanatical about his books. They required very particular answers, which from my view who read some of his books years ago made me smile and wonder if I would be the same if I had a chance to talk to one of my favourite authors.

He was always polite, funny and unassuming which made everyone feel at ease. Once the session was done he very kindly took the time to sign books and some people brought their whole collection and he never batted an eyelid.

Friday's fun Fact

The Creator of Peter Pan gave the rights to a children's hospital so they could have the royalties to help fund it. 

Friday Fun Fact

Friday's Fun Fact

This is on the banned books list. I realise that it covers sensitive subjects but it traveled around the whole of my school when I was a young girl. 

It’s been banned frequently due to “talk about masturbation and sexuality” which may be the reason kids don’t often get their hands on it until they get older and find out about it on the internet. (Wikipedia)

Friday's Fun Fact

I thought it would be nice to add a little fact on here every Friday and of course my mind went straight to books. My earliest memory was of sitting with my mum and reading The Faraway Tree, I even believed that the tree in the back garden was that very tree and spent hours dreaming about what the fair folk were doing.

One of Enid Blyton's favourite reads as a child was The Princess and the Goblin.

What appealed to her "wasn't so much the story as the strange 'feel' of the tale, the 'atmosphere' as we call it. It hung over me for a very long time, and gave me pleasant shivers."