What books are currently on your nightstand?There are always loads of books on the nightstand. A few of them are Sharon Bolton’s A Dark and Twisted Tide, Seán Haldane’s The Devil’s Making, and Robin Blake’s The Hidden Man. You can tell I enjoy novels with history woven in…
Who is your favorite novelist of all times?
Agatha Christie is my choice. She had so much impact on the genre,
and her ability to create ingenious plots is legendary. That’s not to mention
that hers was the first adult crime fiction I read. I do love the work of other
authors too – I really do. My list of ‘Margot’s top authors’ continues to grow
as I read more. But Christie is a special ‘top of the top’ for me.
What books might we be surprised to find on your shelves?
People might be surprised to find that I’ve got several books by
Dave Barry and by Douglas Adams. The Hitchhiker
books have some of the best wit I’ve ever read. And Barry’s done some great
things, too. So has Bill Bryson (I have a few of his books). Sometimes wit is
just what the doctor ordered.
Who is your favorite fictional hero?
That’s hard to say, because I have several. One is Michael
Connelly’s Harry Bosch. I love his view that ‘Everybody counts or nobody counts.’ He’s no superhero, and he has
as many faults as anyone. But he has integrity and he’s dogged. I really like
his character. I also very much like Gail Bowen’s Joanne Kilbourn Shreve and Elly
Griffith’s Ruth Galloway. Both are good at what they do. Both are smart and
interesting people, and neither lets her ‘baggage’ get in the way. And it’s
nice that neither is – erm – twenty any more. Nice to have fictional
protagonists showing that you don’t have to be in your twenties or thirties to be
fully engaged in life.
What book do you return to?
When I’m not reading crime fiction, it’s
always nice to return to James Michener. There’s just something about his
historical sagas that draws me in. For crime fiction, there really isn’t just
one author or book I re-read. It’s probably more accurate to say that sometimes
I come back to some of the great Golden Age writers (Sayers, Marsh, Christie, Simenon,
Queen, Carr, Stout, Upfield, etc…). I know a lot of crime fiction fans prefer
modern crime fiction, and there are good reasons for that.
But I like to re-learn the lessons about plotting, setting and so on that are
in the best GA crime fiction.
8 comments:
Excellent list of authors (i.e. I agree on most of them)! I always like to see other people's shelves.
Jeff M.
I love this feature! I always enjoy seeing how people stock their shelves and live with books.
Patti, I like Ms Kinberg's bookshelves and the variety of books on them. I'm glad she mentioned James Michener for not many read him today. I love his description of places and landscapes.
All three of you need to do one of these.
I feel like such a voyeur peering into folks' libraries. It is a guilty pleasure!
And I admire Margot's range of reading. I sense a kindred spirit.
Tales of my shelves would be familiar territory.
Patti, that's very kind of you. I don't have many books and even those are all over the place including in my office. Barring a few I give my books away as soon as I read them. The only thing I hold on to are my comics.
Thanks, Patti!! :-)
I should have guessed that Margot would pick Agatha Christie as her favorite novelist. Nice interview.
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