samgrosser

I haven't read the books yet but I just loved the films. Unfortunately, from what I've read I think the Bourne Ultimatum was the last. Shame

Me too.

I think I'd probably choose to re-read an old favourite - something I'd know I could lose myself in, characters I would like to revisit one last time; like saying goodbye to old friends, I guess. As for which book that would be - I think I need to give that some thought ...

I remember reading The Golden Notebook many many years ago when I was a student and loving it. Not much of it has stayed with me unfortunately, but I know that at the time I thought it was quite profound. I've also read a couple of her books that are set in South Africa and they were very good too. I'm thinking now that perhaps I should revisit The Golden Notebook (like I don't have enough on my TBR list already)

That's really made me smile - it's my 7-year-old son's favourite song. The first time he heard it he was completely hysterical with the giggles and now I smile every time I think of it. I'm glad someone else likes it too... I'm a bit of a sceptic too, but I love to hear about them. I had a friend who used buy Nexus magazine on a regular basis and he was always coming up with some new theory to explain something or other.

Good question. If I've read a review and think I'd like it, then the cover will make no difference. But it definitely influences the books I pick up in a bookshop, though it's the blurb and ultimately the first page that makes me decide whether or not to buy it.

I've been thinking about this for a while, because it was really hard, and came up with these: Atonement by Ian McEwan (film's pretty damn good too) The Turning by Tim Winton The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Thanks so much for inviting us and for your interest. I've really enjoyed chatting with you all. See you around on other bits of the forum, All the best Sam

Hi, Just back from a sunny week in the Mendips, refreshed and happy, so I'll take your questions in order. Nic: When I was writing the book, Anna's story took shape very quickly and comparatively easily, but Tom's story changed with every rewrite as I did more research and got more confident with writing about an evading airman's experiences. In the first draft, he got captured straight away, which at the time seemed a less difficult route to take! So it wasn't so much that there was one alternative ending to finish off the existing story, so much as there were many possible stories. One friend did suggest that I have him come back to find Anna has been killed, and that he has a baby to bring up (which didn't tempt me). Another possibility (and this was a scene I got as far as writing in my head) was that Anna managed to track him down to the docks as his ship was about to head home, after he had failed to find her at the end of the war. I don't think I'll ever write the Tommy Pilgrim story now, because the central character really was Mrs Pilgrim, and it would be too hard to change her into someone else. Michelle: I've always read loads. As a teenager I got into Victorian novels - Hardy and the Brontes, and I think I absorbed some of the sense of foreboding that hangs over those stories. I still love the tragic stuff with lots of loss and yearning Later, I was very lucky to do a degree in English Literature, which widened my reading choices and gave me a deeper critical understanding of how words can move and affect us. There are certain books and/or writers that I turn to for inspiration. Hemingway is number one for that - A Farewell to Arms is my favourite book ever. Also inspirational are people like Michael Ondaatje, whose use of language is so beautiful. But I think it was the Victorians who probably influenced the most.

Hi Nic, I'm so glad you enjoyed the book - I can understand that large print might be a bit off-putting though. Yes, I have always been interested in the Second World War, but funnily, it wasn't what I planned when I began writing. I had an idea for a story about a child who was born to an ill-fated couple during the war and kept secret by his grandmother - it was going to be called The Ghost of Tommy Pilgrim, and was going to be set immediately after the war and in the present. But when I started writing I immediately began to find that it was the parents story that intrigued me and so that was what the novel became. The grandmother survived the change as Mrs Pilgrim who was sort of an amalgam of all the worst bits of all the mothers I knew! In earlier drafts she was worse, but the novel needed for her to have a bit more depth and complexity and that kind of grew with each rewrite. I like your description of her as 'hateful' but with 'odd, uncharacteristic, kindness.' That's the character I was hoping for. The ending remained in doubt until I'd actually finished writing but the original plan was to end it differently. Writing now is more or less full-time. My son is now 7 and so I write when he's at school, as I used to write when he was kindy (nursery school) in Australia, or when he was asleep as a baby. I'm very blessed with a very supportive husband and feel very fortunate to have been able to combine motherhood and writing as I have. Although having said that, I did actually start writing Another Time and Place when I was working as a receptionist at a company in North Sydney (before Jake was born). There wasn't much to do and writing passed the time and made me look busy. Thanks for your best wishes about my second novel. It's still with the agent and I'm still waiting with my fingers crossed! I'm now off to the Mendips for 10 days and I'm not sure how much access to the internet I'm going to have, but do keep the questions coming. If I can't answer them while I'm away, then I definitely will when I get back. I'm really enjoying talking with you all. :eek2: Sam

Me too.

Gradually collecting everything by Ernest Hemingway, although it'll probably be years before I've read it all. It doesn't help that I keep rereading the ones I've already read.

Hi Nic: I'm really pleased that you're enjoying Another Time and Place - I don't think I'll ever get tired of the pleasure of knowing people like my book. It makes my day every time. . I'm looking forward to your questions. Kell: My publisher sent out about 50 copies and I got only a few reviews which was a bit disheartening. The reviews I did get were mostly positive though, which was nice. Fortunately the book seems to be available in a lot of libraries, and like Kerri, I'm just happy that people are reading it. Of course, more success would be nice, but just getting published has been such a great experience and such a boost to my confidence as a writer. I know now that I'm not deluded, and that I can actually write! Sam

Thanks Kerri, for the best wishes. As you say, it is an exciting for me. I can't imagine what it must be like to have CFS, but I know how much energy and discipline it takes to write. I hope you manage to find it from somewhere Ice-cream: I didn't have any input on the cover for my book initially, but my editor sent me a draft with a little message to point out that the plane actually was a Lancaster. He was obviously very chuffed with himself and I felt really bad when I had to write back with the news that the hero was American and didn't fly a Lancaster but a B17! The original sunset was different as well, but had to be changed after another, Booker-winning novel, came out in paperback with a very similar sunset. While I like the cover very much and think that it would attract me to pick up the book in a bookshop, I'm not sure that it's the best cover for it, as I think a picture of a plane might a lot of women off. I think I would have preferred a more people-based image, more like Suite Francaise perhaps. But I don't know. What do other people think?

I loved this book - it moved me in a way that books rarely do. It's the only book I can think of that has actually made me cry! The characters were so real, their anguish so poignant, all so subtly drawn - there were passages in the story where my heart was in my mouth, especially in the descriptions of the young son. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. I'm so sad that you thought it lacked substance.