The Book Jam

As part of our mission to promote authors, the joy of reading, and to help independent booksellers, we’ve paired with the The Norwich Bookstore in Norwich, Vermont to present an ongoing series entitled “3 Questions”.  In it, we pose three questions to authors with upcoming visits to the bookstore.  Their responses are posted on The Book Jam during the week leading up to their engagement.  Our hope is that this exchange will offer insight into their work and will encourage readers to attend these special author events.

For the 2014-15 season of author events, we have developed brand new questions. We hope you enjoy this new season of queries and each author’s unique insights.  We are starting with an experiment — featuring two authors at once. In this case Ann Hood and SS Taylor who are both visiting the Norwich Bookstore in September. (Since we developed more than three questions, they each received a different selection of three to answer.)

Ann Hood is the author of six novels including The Obituary Writer and The Knitting Circle. A native of Rhode Island, she travelled the world as a flight attendant before turning to writing. She has won two Pushcart Prizes, two Best American Food Writing Awards, Best American Spiritual Writing and Travel Writing Awards, and a Boston Public Library Literary Light Award.  We have had the pleasure of dining with her (and hearing her speak) and can also personally attest that she is a superb and entertaining person.

Ms. Hood will appear at the Norwich Bookstore at 7 pm on Wednesday, September 10 to discuss her latest book The Italian Wife and her writing life. Reservations are recommended. Call 802-649-1114 or email info@norwichbookstore.com to reserve your seat.

1. What was the last book that kept you up all night reading?

 

And now our second author – SS Taylor, whose Expeditioner Series is perfectly illustrated by Katherine Roy. S.S. Taylor has been fascinated by maps ever since the age of ten, when she discovered an error on a map of her neighborhood and wondered if it was really a mistake. She has a strong interest in books of all kinds, expeditions, old libraries, mysterious situations, long-hidden secrets, missing explorers, and traveling to known and unknown places. SS Taylor lives in Vermont; and we at the Book Jam are superbly lucky to call her a friend.

SS Taylor will appear in at the Norwich Bookstore from 1 to 3 pm on Saturday, September 13th to celebrate the publication of the second novel in her Expeditioners series The Expeditioners and the Secret of King Triton’s Lair. While the book is geared to middle grade readers, all ages will enjoy the Expeditioners, and all are welcome during this special event.  Because this event is part of the Bookstore’s Second Saturday series, reservations are not required, but an RSVP is appreciated. When you call (802) 649-1114 to RSVP, you may also pre-order your signed copy of SS Taylor’s works. 

1. What was the last book that kept you up all night reading?

I just finished Ben Macintyre‘s A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal and couldn’t put it down. It covers the beginnings of the British and American spy agencies during World War II and then the intricate web of lies told by Soviet double agents like Philby during the Cold War. Macintyre looks at Philby’s betrayal through the lens of his long friendships with other British spies, which gives this true story the depth and level of character exploration of a great Le Carre novel. I also really liked Macintyre’s Double Cross about the turned spies (eccentric characters all) who helped convince Hitler that D-Day was going to happen in Calais rather than Normandy, thus giving the Allies crucial extra time.

2. What book did you last give as a gift and why?

I recently bought a copy of David Weisner‘s Flotsam for my nephew. It’s an amazing wordless picture book about a boy who finds a mysterious camera on a beach and gets the film developed. My kids have loved it (though I had to explain “film” to them!) I think my nephew will too.

3. What three books would you re-read if you had the time to do so?

Hmmm. I love re-reading favorite books, so I haven’t exactly been holding myself back! But if I had a week with nothing to do but read, I might do an E.M. Forster marathon — Howards’s End, Room with a View, and Passage to India in one go!