Hard Boiled Magnetism

This is why I shouldn't be allowed near book shops. Naively I think sure, I can pop in, smell the book filled air, feel revitalised and exit the building without opening my wallet.

Wrong.

Had a meeting at Uni this morning, and my car just happened to be parked near The University Book Shop, so I just happened to pop in - it would be rude not to, considering my proximity.

Some things a girl just has to buy, especially a crime writing girl, so when I saw this it just screamed out take me home, have fun, you neeeeeeeeeed me.



How could I not?

I call it research.

I also call these two purchases research:













I'm a bad, bad girl.

When life imitates art

Sometimes being a writer has its freaky moments.

You are busy writing a dramatic passage, and you're thinking this could never happen in real life, it's too far out. But then, down the track, little things start to occur, fall into place and you're left feeling a bit nervy.

Elephants. They're big, mysterious and get people quite riled up. There has been a bit of a stir happening locally with respect to an elephant. In fact the said elephant has just been banned from Dunedin (ODT article). I had a blog comment from In Real Time asking if The Ringmaster was the reason for this.



The Ringmaster, as those who have read it know, involves quite a scene with a circus elephant.

In The Ringmaster there is a circus in town with an elephant.

In the news, there is a circus visiting Dunedin this Easter with an elephant.

In The Ringmaster the circus is set up at The Oval.

At Easter the circus will be at The Oval

In The Ringmaster the animal rights activists get a bit feral.

In the news the animal righs activists have been lobbying local government to have the elephant banned and are planning protests.

In The Ringmaster it all goes a bit pear-shaped.

Please let this be where the similarities end!

But where are the killers?

At last the programme for the Auckland Writers and Readers Festival is out, and I've just whiled away a good slot of what should have been writing time perusing the events.

BUT what is this? Where are the crime writers?

My plane tickets are booked, I can't back out now, and yes, there are plenty of wonderful writers to entice and inspire me, but I'd be lying if I didn't say I'm disappointed there are no crime fiction writers. Last year I got to enjoy listening to Peter Temple and discovered the fabulous Mo Hayder, but this year... What happened?

I will get to see Joanne Drayton talking about Ngaio Marsh, and Jo is a fabulous speaker, so there is some sweetness for the crime palate, but otherwise, sigh.

Murder in a strange climate

The weekend's Otago Daily Times printed this article by The Observer's Tobias Jones called Getting away with Murder, looking at some of the exotic locations of the crime fiction being written today. Included in his list was Istanbul, with Jason Goodwin's The Janissary Tree, which I finished reading recently and Botswana, home of Precious Ramotswe, Alexander McCall Smith's traditionally built heroine. It is an interesting article and well worth a read.

While I was tracking it down on The Observer's website, I came across this little treasure on Writers' Rooms, on Guardian.co.uk. Go on, have a look at other writers' rooms, the little background stories that go with them are lovely, and a bit of an insight. It got me tempted to take a photo of my writing area, but then I thought it would be too embarrasing as it is so messy, but then, you may want to see how messy my desk is!

Tributes and tears

Last night saw one of those poignant moments in life when we celebrated the launch of Dianne Pettis's new novel The First Touch of Light. A large group of Dianne's family and friends gathered at the Hocken Library to mark the occasion. It is almost a year since Dianne's death, so as one of the speakers said, it was a kind of unveiling. It did seem strange to launch a book upon the world without the author present, but it was a celebration that everyone was certain Dianne would have been thrilled with.

Geoff Walker, Publishing Director of Penguin New Zealand was Master of Ceremonies, and the book, and their experiences and memories of Dianne were discussed by Emeritus Professor Lawrence Jones, and her close friend and fellow writer Fiona Farrell. It was an emotional moment when Dianne's daughter Tess read a brief passage from the book.

It was a lovely evening of fond memories and a celebration of the work of a wonderful writer.

I can't wait to read the book. In the meantime here is the link to Mary McCallum's review of the book for Radio New Zealand's nine to noon programme.

The Bee's Knees

Last night the little fellas and I got to enjoy the book launch of Dunedin writer Raymond Huber's children's novel Sting. Strange how it doesn't take much arm twisting to get the boys along to book launches, especially when they are hosted at our favourite haunt The University Book Shop.

As the book title and the cover imply, Sting is a tale based in the world of the bee, and in particular a bee named Ziggy, who is not your average bee in a box.

It was a lovely launch for a book that I can see will be an absolute hit with my bee mad boys. One of our summer holiday treats had been to visit Arataki Honey in Havelock North which is devoted to all things bee and you can see into working hives. Needless to say the boy's were engrossed and we came away from the place with a lot of honey purchases.

The event last night was warm and friendly, the authors speech funny and engaging and the crowd very appreciative. It was clear Raymond is very passionate about his bees.

I can't wait to read the book - it will be next on the bedtime reading list when we've finished The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, although the boys will no doubt devour it before then, they thought the whole idea behind the book was the bee's knees.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

By Stieg Larrson

There have been a myriad of glowing reviews of this book, and I shall add to the general wattage. I won't go into great detail, as it has all been said many times before, but I shall make a few bullet points:

* I loved this book, and rushed out and brought the next one.

* The characterisation was fabulous and Lisbeth Salander has to be one of the most interesting and complicated characters created in recent times.

* The complexity of the plot, and what was hidden behind the disappearance of a girl many years ago was very satisfying.

* I enjoyed the fact this was a translation, and a lot of the original Swedishness had been left in. This added immensely to the experience, and is one of the things I really enjoy about translated fiction.

* What a bugger Stieg Larsson is dead.