THOMPSON
I’m sorry – I’m late again: my newsletter seems to be getting later and later each month. This past October – while it was busy – was sad, too. Two farewells had to be said to two wonderfully elegant women: one to beautiful Kirsten, who died suddenly and far too young; the other to my dear friend Romilly, upon whom the character of Eleanor in More Mischief was based.
A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS
October kicked off with the launch of A Little Help from My Friends - a compilation of writing by Irish women writers to raise money for the Irish Hospice foundation, put together by Melissa Hill. The launch party took place in Hughes & Hughes, and a couple of days later Melissa and I appeared on Ireland AM to promote the book (all author royalties go to the IHF – buy it, buy it, buy it!). It felt a tad strange to be interviewed by the redoubtable Vincent Browne, whom I’m more used to listening to on the radio in the evenings when he used to shoot the political breeze with my husband among others. ‘What is friendship?’ Vincent asked sagely – kicking off the interview with a reference to the title book’s title – to which the only response had to be: ‘Well, if you don’t know the answer to that, Vincent, you must be very lonely…’
Book club
Not long after that there was another TV appearance, this time on Seoige & O’Shea to promote my favourite read ever on their book club slot. Grainne Seoige (left) has to be the most beautiful woman on Irish television – if you don’t receive RTE, check her out here – and she is an absolute pleasure to talk to (so is the above-mentioned Vincent, let it be said, despite his apparent paucity of pals). Before we spoke about the novel, Grainne made me cringe a bit by showing some archive RTE footage of me snogging Gabriel Byrne in a former life, and I felt very glad indeed that the girl Clara was ensconced in Tokyo where she was unlikely to be glued to RTE on internet television. The book under discussion on October’s book club was Anita Loos’s Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. If you haven’t read it, you may have seen the film starring Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell as the two gold-diggers. Blondes was the book for which James Joyce reserved his failing eyesight, and which Edith Wharton described as ‘the great American novel’. It’s one of the few novels – apart from those written by Marian Keyes – that have made me laugh out loud in public.
luncheon
Another jolly book club event last month was the second annual luncheon hosted by bookshop chain Dubray: the function room in the refurbished Royal Marine hotel was a-buzz with readers. Fellow writers included Sinead Moriarty, Sheila O’Flanagan and Sarah Webb, and guest speaker was Colm Toibin, who read from his collection of stories, Mothers and Sons. A toast was raised to Anne Enright on her Man Booker win, and Colm was able to regale us with insider gossip about what goes on at the parties after the scary main Booker event (apparently, the Irish have the most fun :)
PHOTOGRAPHS
Because we didn't make it to the West last month as planned, I have no beautiful photographs of mountains and sea and sunrises to bring you, so instead this month we have two random pictures from Tokyo, taken by Clara.
LOVE LIES BLEEDING
I am thrilled to say that my latest novel Love Lies Bleeding has gone into another print run! For those of you who have not yet visited the Love Lies Bleeding site, please click here to find out all about it. It's also most gratifying to know that the pioneering project has made it into my Wikipedia entry as a www first: and gratifying, too, to find that Pixie's novel Hard to Choos has had another fantastic review: please click here to read.
THANK YOU
Thank-you so much as ever for taking the time to read this, and a million thanks for your continued support. Just to remind you that I will no longer be sending out round robins to those of you who have subscribed to the site, to advise you as to when the monthly newsletter has been published. This is because the subscriber facility on the website has been hi-jacked by spammers, and it is, unfortunately, no longer possible to separate the wheat from the chaff. But please rest assured that the newsletter will continue to appear on the website as near to the first day of each month, as always. I know, I know how late I've been latterly. I promise to be more punctual next month!
♥♥♥
from
Kate
PS: ORDERING BOOKS
to buy
By the way, while Sex, Lies and Fairytales is available to buy or to order in all good bookshops in Ireland, the UK and the Commonwealth, its companion piece Hard to Choos is available to buy direct from booksellers only in Ireland at present. Should you wish to buy the book from Amazon, clicking here will take you straight to the sales point. You can also order Hard to Choos from Pixie's site. Lots of you are wondering where my backlist can be purchased. Amazon is good, of course, but my Transworld titles are also available - with free P&P in the UK - at Bookpost. (Just key in the title name in inverted commas - ie: "More Mischief")
to buy
© Kate Thompson, 2007
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