Yesterday I went to Foyles bookshop in the centre of London to celebrate the 21st anniversary of the Vintage Classic. The day was packed with famous authors and wonderful bookish chat, so I thought I’d share the highlights with you.

Vintage Villians

Sadie Jones, Sebastian Peake (son of Gormenghast creator and illustrator Mervyn Peake) and Jake Arnott debated who was the greatest literary villain, with Sadie Jone’s, Dracula, beating Jake Arnott’s, Long John Silver, and Sebastian Peake’s, Steerpike, in the final vote. The chair, Viv Groskop, was very entertaining and held the debate together superbly.  

I have always been a bit scared of the copy of The Gormenghast Trilogy that I have on my shelf, but this discussion persuaded me to give it a try. Have you read the Gormenghast Trilogy?

Rose Tremain

Rose Tremain mainly discussed the new Orange Inheritance collection, in which authors were asked to select one book that they would like to pass onto the next generation. Rose Tremain chose Eugénie Grandet by Honoré de Balzac and she made it sound very appealing. Balzac is one of those authors I have always meant to try, but haven’t got around to yet. Have you read any Balzac?

Lionel Shriver

Lionel Shriver stole the show for me. She was articulate, funny and full of wisdom.

People who read Kevin more than once are insane.

She told us that she wasn’t allowed to talk about the We Need to Talk About Kevin film (released on 2nd September in the UK), but admitted that she saw it for the first time 10 days ago and loved it.  (click here to see the first still images that have been released).

She also had a great little disagreement with a woman who said she didn’t like the ending of We Need to Talk About Kevin:

Even after all these years, when someone tells me they’re disappointed with the ending of We Need to Talk About Kevin, I’m still enraged!

If you ever get the chance to hear Lionel Shriver talk I highly recommend that you make an effort to attend as she is very entertaining!

Mark Haddon

Mark Haddon explained why he wasn’t worried about the future of books:

Books are future-proof. They are the only medium that is already digital.

He also let us know that he loves re-reading books.

I love destroying a book with love.

All his favourite books will be falling apart because they have been read so much!

Sebastian Faulks

Sebastian Faulks talked about his recent TV series, Faulks on Fiction. He revealed that he hated the slow pace of programme making and said that it was far quicker to write a book than to make a TV series.

The BBC is like the old Soviet Union, but less humorous.

Unfortunately it doesn’t sound as though he is likely to be making another series in the future.

It was a fantastic day!

Thank you to Foyles and Vintage for organising such a wonderful event!

 

The lovely weather, the Royal Wedding and an abundance of long weekends has given the UK a party atmosphere that I haven’t seen before. People have had street parties and met their neighbours for the first time and everyone seems a little bit happier. It isn’t often that we are allowed to celebrate being British, but I am really enjoying seeing the flags flying for once.

I have been making the most of the sunshine and have had lots of great days out. I’ve just come back from a camping trip to Sussex in which…

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 …my boys got to dance around a May Pole, we saw some beautiful old buildings….

 

 

…and we visited an impressive castle.

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The best thing is that my son’s school is closed next Thursday and Friday as well and so I’m going to have another long weekend. I hope I can cram many more great things into that weekend and that I’ll get some reading done between now and then.

I hope you’ve all had wonderful weekends too.

April is autism awareness month and so I thought I’d take this opportunity to highlight the condition.

You probably know someone with undiagnosed autism.

It is estimated that one in every hundred people have autism, but a diagnosis is often only obtained for those at the more severe end of the spectrum.  

Does this sound like someone you know?

• Rigidly follows rules
•  Talks endlessly about a single subject
• Unable to understand facial expressions
• Incapable of lying
• Has inflexible routines
• Thinks literally
• Has difficulty understanding sarcasm

My eldest son has Asperger’s syndrome – a type of high-functioning autism. He is a wonderful little boy and he leads a very happy life at home. The problems occur when he has to go outside and meet other people. He gets upset when people lie, cheat, and tell him confusing, scary stories. He doesn’t understand our complex interactions and gets frustrated when plans change. 

People with autism don’t understand why others behave in such a strange way and feel like aliens on their own planet. They can’t cope with the number of unwritten social rules that we live with and often become isolated and depressed.

Autism is a spectrum condition, meaning that it affects people to varying degrees. When you say autism most people think of the film Rainman, but the character played by Dustin Hoffman was an autistic savant – a condition which is very rare. To see what life is like for someone with a more common form of autism I highly recommend the film Adam.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time did a lot to bring the condition to the attention of the world, but I also recommend Born on a Blue Day and Marcelo in the Real World to anyone interested in finding out more.

Which books/films do you recommend?