What Book…
Thriller writer, Holly Jackson
… are you reading now?
Blake Crouch’s Recursion. I haven’t read a huge amount this year as I’ve been so busy writing season two of the TV series of A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder.
When reading for ‘fun’, I like to have a break from crime thrillers as they feel too close to work, so sci-fi is what I reach for. I’m enjoying Recursion and its very unique take on time travel.
… would you take to a desert island?
For nostalgia reasons, but also for practical reasons as it’s very, very long, I’m going to say The Stand by Stephen King – the uncut version so that we can get all that extra material in and keep me entertained in my solitude (or if I need any extra pages to light a campfire).
I first read it when I was around 14 years old, which was vastly inappropriate but I loved it.
I re-read it again recently – it’s the apocalyptic book that keeps on giving. He’s truly the King for a reason.
… first gave you the reading bug?
When Holly Jackson discovered The Edge Chronicles she unlocked a whole universe
I think the first time I truly fell in love with reading was with a series of books called The Edge Chronicles, written by Paul Stewart and illustrated by Chris Riddell.
And it wasn’t just one series: it’s a vast universe of connected trilogies, full of fantasy and adventure. It kept me very busy and entertained as a kid.
And just to cheat slightly, something else which gave me the reading bug, but wasn’t a book at all, was a 1994 movie called The Pagemaster – in which a boy becomes trapped in a library and is thrown into the different worlds of classic literature.
I would rewatch it over and over again, and it truly pushed me towards books and the adventures they can take you on.
… left you cold?
I’m going to take this question very literally and answer with Thin Air by Michelle Paver.
It takes place up a mountain in the Himalayas, so it is a very, very cold book due to its setting.
And in addition to the environmental kind, you might also shiver with fear, as it’s a creepy ghost story.
I thoroughly enjoyed it, so the colder the better I say.
