The Savvy Reader

The Savvy Reader Interview - Joyce Maynard

Joyce Maynard was in town at the end of October for the International Festival of Authors. We were lucky both to have her here in Toronto and also to find time in her busy schedule for me to speak to her about her latest novel, Labour Day. Joyce Maynard and I sat down in a conference room here on the 20th Floor of 2 Bloor Street and chatted for about a half-hour. By the end of it, I was thoroughly inspired. And not just as a reader, but as a writer as well.

DEANNA MCFADDEN: What was the first kernel of inspiration for your book Labour Day?

JOYCE MAYNARD: I’ve never had an experience like this before where a book sort of came to me in my dreams. I woke up and I heard the voice of this boy in my head and I wrote the book in ten days, I think because I had to find out how it would end. I didn't know. I knew the boy and he’s not anybody that I have met. I raised two sons, I have been the mother of a thirteen-year-old boy, but this was a very particular thirteen-year-old boy. I have been a single mother, I have lived with a child, with children in a small New Hampshire town, but it really was this magical gift of that boy coming into my dreams.

And I wrote it so fast because I just had to find out what was going to happen. There was only one way to find out which was to write the book.

Arthur Slade Answers Pop Culture Questions

Arthur Slade's latest novel, The Hunchback Assignments, has got the kids talking (see the video here from our captive BOOKED! focus group). So, we've turned the tables and asked him some revealing pop culture questions. We're holding up our own three-fingered devil salute for the first answer, and maybe banging our heads just a little at our desks.

1. Favourite music band/group as a teen?

Iron Maiden. Oh, wait they're still my fave.

2. If you could be famous for one thing, what would it be?

Invulnerability. Or turning everything I touch into ice cream.

3. If you could live the life of any film character, who would it be?

Luke Skywalker. No, wait. He whines too much. Darth Vader with hair.

4. Favourite children's book character of all time?

Shelob (editor's note: from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers)

5. What is the most embarrassing song on your ipod?

Rasputin by Boney M.

6. If you couldn't live in the country you're currently living in, where would you live?

Iceland.

7. What game show do you think you would be most successful at if you were able to be a contestant?

Iron Chef.

8. If you could have one super power, what would it be?

See above. Or turning everything I touch into royalty cheques...

Buy the book.
Explore The Hunchback Assignments online.

“Profound or Whatever” - Jerry Levitan On the Fly

Forty years ago, Jerry Levitan snuck into a Toronto hotel to meet his idol, John Lennon. But instead of being kicked out by security, he was invited to spend an entire day with the man himself. During that time, Jerry and John got to talk about life, love, music and everything in between. Now, all the details of that extraordinary day, plus an exclusive 45-minute interview with John, have been captured in the bestselling I Met the Walrus. Jerry has already told us how meeting Lennon changed his life; now, he shares with us John’s incredible writing process.

HCC News: The Almost-Summer Edition

Here in the Toronto the weather is finally starting to brighten up a little -- so no one’s going to blame you for wanting to spend every second outdoors this week-end. But of course, what’s a relaxing weekend without lounging in the sun, a refreshing drink in one hand, and a really, really good book in the other? Here are a couple of great books that were all over the news this week:

• A 90-minute docudrama based on Ken McGoogan's fascinating Fatal Passage just won The Grand Prize for best Canadian program at the Banff World Television Awards. Read about Ken’s writing process, missed NBA opportunity and upcoming book in this Q&A with Rob McLennan.
• The Toronto Star talks to Farley Follows His Nose author Lynn Johnston. And don’t miss your chance to win a copy of the book through our very own Savvy Reader / Farley contest!
• Financial blog Four Pillars says that "everyone would benefit" from reading 397 Ways to Save Money.
• Collin Ellard tells us where we are.
• Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger got a standing ovation at last week's BEA. But he can't keep publishers from worrying about the Kindle.
• Marilynne Robinson’s Home (featuring characters from her Pulitzer prize-winning Gilead) won the Orange Prize for Fiction and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.
• Not be outdone, Coventry by Helen Humphreys is also racking up the nominations, including ones for the CAA MOSAID Technologies Award for Fiction, the 22nd Trillium Book Award and a CBA Libris Author of the Year Award (along with fellow nominees Margaret Atwood and Joseph Boyden).
• L.J. Smith's Vampire Diaries has been turned into a Thursday night drama. Watch the trailer.
• While in town for Luminato, Neil Gaiman sat down with the Toronto Star for this front page interview. And Metro News revealed Gaiman’s interesting choice of front yard decoration.
• Luanne from A Bookworm’s World calls Crazy for the Storm “a stunning, yet heartbreaking memoir.”
• Jolted by Arthur Slade was nominated by the children of Alberta for the 2010  Rocky Mountain Book Award.

-- Narvan

Lynn Johnston - On the Fly video and a Contest!

Last week, our publicist Melissa blogged about Lynn Johnston’s whirlwind weekend in Toronto, promoting the adorable (and bestselling) Farley Follows His Nose. Now, we can unveil another surprise for you: an On the Fly video with Johnston, the lady responsible for years of early AM laughs with For Better or For Worse.

And if any of you die-hard Johnston fans haven’t already bought your own copy of Farley Farley Follows His Nose, then you’re in luck because we’re giving a couple away! All you have to do is tell me about your absolute favorite Farley moment in the comments section below, and you might just be crowned our winner. Deadline is June 24, 2009. May the biggest Farley fan win!

--Narvan

The Extraordinary Pop Culture Quiz: Allan Stratton

Allan Stratton, author of Chanda's Wars, is the recent CLA 2009 Young Adult Canadian Book Award winner, and he answers our Extraordinary Pop Culture Quiz below.

If you could have one superpower, what would it be?
To fly

Which writer, living or dead, would you most like to have dinner with?
Henry Fielding (author of Tom Jones) or Tennessee Williams

Who is your favourite children’s character of all time?
Peter Pan

Have you seen any movie more than 5 times?
Yes -- Edward Scissorhands, The Godfather, and Pulp Fiction

If you could be famous for one thing, what would it be?
For being a good, loyal friend

What was your favourite book as a child?
The stories of Hans Christian Andersen

What was your favourite toy as a child?
Marionettes/puppets

What was the last Young Adult book you read?
Robert Cormier’s Tenderness

The Extraordinary Pop Culture Quiz: Natale Ghent

Natale Ghent, author of The Odds Get Even, takes a turn at The Extraordinary Pop Culture Quiz. I'd have to agree -- if I could have a superpower, I'd also love to fly.

If you could have one superpower, what would it be?
I would definitely fly. I dream of flying all the time. Barring that, I would want to be able to communicate with animals.

What word do you most like to use in your writing?
I love the words “rubbish,” “snarf,” and “ha HA!” If I wrote in French, I’d use the words roti de boeuf and etoile.

Which writer, living or dead, would you most like to have dinner with?
I’d like to have dinner with Shakespeare because I think it would be a raucous time. But it would be hard to understand his English, especially if he was drinking lots of mead and beer. 

Who is your favourite children’s character of all time?
I love Tigger from Winnie the Pooh. I think I am a Tigger.

Have you seen any movie more than 5 times?
Oh yes. Many. Master and Commander, Dead Man, Star Wars, Return of the Jedi, American Werewolf in London, Robocop, Mad Max, Road Warrior, True Grit, The Wizard of Oz, The Humanoid Woman -- to name only a few.

Do you bookmark or dog-ear?
Both, shamefully.

If you could be famous for one thing, what would it be?
Writing books.

What was your favourite book as a child?
Pinocchio and the Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet.

What was your favourite toy as a child?
A little record player that had one bright red plastic record that played “The Bear Went Over the Mountain” over and over and over. And my King Arthur’s Castle, complete with drawbridge and dungeon. I used to hide my Halloween candy in the dungeon so that my mom and my sisters couldn’t find it.

What was the last Young Adult book you read?
Twilight.

What was the most recent picture book you read?
The Lorax.

The Extraordinary Pop Culture Quiz: Rachelle Delaney

We've started a new tradition here on The Savvy Reader: The Extraordinary Pop Culture Quiz (exact name still to be determined and suggestions are welcome). First up is Rachelle Delaney, author of The Ship of Lost Souls, who, in addition to writing a delightful new book, is also hilarious. Raise your hands -- how many among you have watched The Princess Bride multiple times? Exactly.

If you could have one superpower, what would it be?
I’d like to have X-ray vision, but for seeing whether fruits and veggies are ripe inside. I could save people from the disappointment of eagerly slicing open their avocados to find them rotten.

What is the most embarrassing song on your iPod?
Somehow, ABBA’s “Voulez Vous” has made it on. I have no idea how this happened. Really.

Who is your favourite children’s character of all time?
Pippi Longstocking. I still want to live at Villa Villekulla with a horse and a monkey. My sister and I used to imagine ourselves there while playing “Don’t Touch the Floor” in the family room.

Have you seen any movie more than 5 times?
Several. The Princess Bride will never grow old. And I must have watched The Sound of Music at least twenty times, usually on elementary school snow days.

Do you bookmark or dog-ear?
Bookmark definitely. Dog-ears, like rotten avocados, bother me immensely.

What was the last Young Adult book you read?
Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

What was the most recent picture book you read?
Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers

HCC Interview: Anne Giardini

Anne Giardini’s bestselling debut, The Sad Truth About Happiness, told the story of a young woman's quest to explore the idea of happiness in her life, and quickly became a bookclub favorite (read 100% of the book here). Now after four years, Anne returns with Advice for Italian Boys, a vivid portrayal of a colourful Italian family and the delicate relationships that bind them together. In this interview taken from the P.S. section of The Sad Truth About Happiness, Giardini talks about her writing process, her time in Rome, and her famous mother.

A Talent for Double Happiness

Louise Tucker talks to Anne Giardini

“We would make different choices from those our parents made, and have lives different from theirs in ways we were certain of but could not predict.” How does your life differ from your parents’?

Until I was ten years old and in grade five, I imagined that I would do exactly as my mother had done: have five children and do bits and pieces of work from home. I was ten at the end of the 1960s, a period of great change and disruption, a time when commonly accepted ideas were turned inside out and held up to critical scrutiny. Some of this percolated through even to children, and one day at school I had one of those moments of realization and clarity that I wish came more often: that I might well have to fend for myself and that I should have a career. I think, from then on, I never questioned that I would live differently from my parents. And in fact, I did marry later, have fewer children, and have things my mother didn’t have, at least when my sisters and brother and I were children: an office, a boss, a briefcase, a pay cheque, a secretary. Looking forward at ten years of age, all of this seemed marvelous and exotic and adventurous.

HCC Interview - Philippa Gregory

Spending your days passing by pages and pages of web content certainly has its perks when one comes across interviews like this one with UK author Philippa Gregory. It's quite long and very in-depth, so I'd grab a cup of tea or coffee before you sit down with it.

Two Sisters, One King -- An interview with Philippa Gregory

Always ahead of the royal curve, Philippa Gregory’s latest novel, The Other Queen, centres on Britain’s other salacious monarchs -- the Stuarts. But not too long ago her best-selling novel The Other Boleyn Girl (and its follow-up The Boleyn Inheritance) sparked both an international interest in the Tudors and in the beautiful yet forgotten Mary Boleyn. In an earlier interview, Philippa, who spends years researching the historical accuracy of her novels, shared fascinating secrets on the Boleyn girls, from Anne’s murderous nature to Mary’s penchant for married men.

Do you think that writing from a historical angle limits your stylistic approach to writing or do the two work together?

Writing historical fiction limits how you write in the sense that there are lots of things that you can′t say. Any metaphor about science or medicine or technology‚ you can′t use -- so you have to remember not to say that someone′s look is electric or that his or her touch is magnetic or talk about the gravity of your feelings. It′s extraordinary how much we‚ without actually realizing it‚ refer to science; there are absolutely all sorts of concepts that we have that someone pre-18th and 19th century wouldn′t have.