Flaming Nora

These are sad and challenging times. If you were planning on coming along to one or more of  my author talks this spring or early summer, I'm afraid they're being cancelled one by one by the organisers. This isn't just a lost opportunity for me to chat passionately, if (still!) rather nervously, about my books, but I'm losing an important source of income through sales of books and speaking fees too. My spare room is piled high with boxes of books I've bought specially for the talks and now I've got nowhere to sell them. I'll today speak to the publisher to see if I can return some of the boxes that I haven't yet opened. Plus, for many older people in the community groups where I'm invited to speak, it's their only interaction with others during the week. Fortunately, these community groups look out for and after each other. Stay safe, stay well and if you're staying indoors, I can recommend some lovely books to read. I'm upd...

Just returned from a wonderful holiday in the sun. While there, I relaxed and read a great deal. Here are the books I read with a little sentence or two about each one.  The Testaments by Margaret Atwood My most favourite book, ever, of all-time is The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. And yes, I loved the TV show, up to a point. That point being at which the book ended and the fiction of TV took over. I stopped watching then. The Testaments is a fantastic follow-up to The Handmaid's Tale. Enjoyed it enormously, so much so that I've started reading it for a second time.  Can you ever forgive me? By Lee Israel I know of this book because of the 2019 film starring Richard E Grant. It's the memories of a literary forger and the film is a lot of fun, sad too in places. The book is as sarcastic and witty as you'd expect. It's a slender book, a thin volume and you can read it in an hour or so. Righteous by Joe Ide The second of Joe Ide'...

Browsing in a charity bookshop yesterday, I came across an old copy of Erin Pizzey's The Watershed. I stopped what I was doing and took a long, deep breath. That book, more than any other I've read since, has truly changed my life. I was in my early twenties when I read it first, finding my way in the world with life in general and fellas in particular. I think I must've bought it at the time because on the front of the book there's a quote from Cosmopolitan (my Bible back then) saying it was up there with Scruples, Princess Daisy and Lace - all of which I'd read and loved.  But The Watershed isn't anything like Scruples, Princess Daisy or Lace.  It's a hard book to read, vital  as you'd expect Erin Pizzey, outspoken fighter for women's rights, to write. Except I didn't know that back then. I'd never heard of Erin Pizzey.  The Watershed is at times, a difficult book to read. You want to shake Rachel, the heroine. You want to tell her t...

With thanks to fellow writer Elaine Everest for alerting me to this little gem. The My Weekly   2019 Annual  is currently number eleven in the Sunday Times Best Selling Books list (of small publishers). This is great news for the team at D C Thomson who put the book together, and good news especially for the magazine's fiction editor Karen Byrom. And it's great news for all of us writers who are in the book too after having our stories chosen by Karen for inclusion. I'm very proud and happy to say that I've got two stories in the My Weekly 2019 Annual.  These are Garden of Eden  and The Queen of Cosy Crime .  The first was inspired by a certain TV gardener I'm rather fond of watching, ahem. And the second was inspired by a writing talk I went to where two crime novelists were interviewed on stage. I also have a story called Next Door's Cat  in The People's Friend Annual 2019.  Both books are available in all good bookshops and online of cour...

Just back from a wonderful week in the sun and while sitting by the pool or on the balcony, here are the books I enjoyed: I'd started this book before I went away but as I read it on the plane going on holiday and finished it off while there, I reckon it counts as a holiday book.  It took a long time to get going, concentrating as it did (too much) on the work of apple grafting rather than the characters and stories. But once it got going, I really enjoyed it. Could have done with some pruning and more flesh on the fruit though.  I've loved all of Tracy Chevalier's novels but felt that this one could have been improved by more editing at the start. 7/10. What a stunner of a book. I've not heard of Eowyn Ivey before but it's a name that will make headlines. The Snow Girl is being made into a musical.  It was a magical read that gave everything you hope of a novel. I lost myself in it completely. 10/10. Another good one from Douglas Kennedy but why his...

Sylvia Patterson - I'm not with the band My score: 9/10 I love reading biographies. I love reading biographies written by women. I love reading biographies written by women in the media, especially in music. You can probably guess that I loved reading this book. Alice Munro - Runaway My score: 6/10 I gave up reading this book and felt guilty. It had won prizes! Major prizes! I should have liked it, I felt, I should have given it more respect. But it just didn't do it for me, it didn't engage me enough. Sorry, Alice. The Travelers - Chris Pavone My score: 8/10 A perfect read for a beach holiday about a travel writer who gets signed up for some dodgy spy activity. It was a bit blokey though and could have been a tad lighter in its prose. Still an excellent read. Black Teeth and a White Smile - Adelle Strip e My score: 10/10 Perfect. Just perfect. A novelisation of the life of playwright Andrea Dunbar. Gorgeous writing and makes me want to find out mor...

This lovely little book has just arrived in the post today. It's my book of heartwarming, family stories, as previously published in The People's Friend magazine.  I'm particularly chuffed about the cover of the book as it's a photo I took of some of the sea glass I've collected over the last few years. The Sea Glass Collector and other short stories is available here in paperback and for Kindle. Find out more about my books. Click on the image below : I'm on twitter @flaming_nora

Back from an amazingly relaxing holiday in northern Mallorca and these are the books I read while I was away. I love reading biographies and autobiographies, especially those of people I grew up listening to or watching on telly.  And so it begins that the books I read on this holiday included two music biographies.  The first of these was Chrissie Hynde's Reckless. The book is wonderful, it rips along at some speed and she can write very well.  I came away though, with the feeling that she wasn't telling the reader all of the truth. I suspect there's a book's worth of other stuff she could tell if she wanted to. But that's the beauty of writing one of these books when you're famous, I guess. You tell it like it is, or as you want it to be. I really enjoyed it and score it 9/10. Ah. My favourite author.  A fantastic read. Nothing less than a solid 10/10. Another music biography - Nile Rodgers' Le Freak - and unlike Chrissie Hynde's book above...

Just finished reading Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden. It's a book I wouldn't have ordinarily touched, bought and read. Don't ask me why, it's just one of those books that were everywhere when it was first released and that put me right off. I'm odd that way. But then I joined a book club. It's the first time I've ever belonged to a book club and so you read what the book club reads. The first book was dismal and no-one enjoyed it. Why it was on a book club reading list is beyond me. I even gave up reading it before I was half-way through. Our second book was Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha.  I score it 12 out of 10 and highly recommend it. A stunner of a book. Find out more about my books. Click on the image below : I'm on twitter @flaming_nora

My book Deirdre: A Life on Coronation Street is featured today on the WHSmith website.  You might like to take a look and if so, it's here . The book is also today featured in Inside Soap magazine 's Christmas gift guide for soap fans.  I could not be more thrilled. Deirdre: A Life on Coronation Street - official ITV tribute to a soap icon. Available here. I'm on twitter @flaming_nora

BBC Radio Newcastle interviewed me this week to talk all things Coronation Street as the  ITV official Deirdre Barlow tribute book has now been published.  The book has been hailed as a "must-have stocking filler for fans" and as a Christmas bestseller too. It is available in all good book shops and online . If you would like to listen to the BBC Radio Newcastle interview. I start speaking at 8mins and 20 seconds in on the Anna Foster show . It aired on Tuesday 27 October 2015. ______ I'm on twitter @flaming_nora

Today, Thursday October 22 2015 is publication day of my book Deirdre: A  Life on Coronation Street.  I feel incredibly honoured, privilieged and proud to have written this affectionate tribute to one of the best soap characters of all time. The book is available in all good bookshops and online too. ______ I'm on twitter @flaming_nora

Back from a lovely holiday overseas and here's a quick run down of the books I read while I was away. Lynn Barber, A curious career.  I've always enjoyed journalist Lynn Barber's interviews and when I saw an unused and unread version of this book for sale in a charity shop for a song I snapped it up. I read it on the plane journey to our holiday destination. Devoured every word.  10/10. The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton.  This book was recommended to me by someone who described it to me in such a way that I knew it would be right up my street. I was right. I loved the story and couldn't put it down. It cracked along at a great pace.  I do hope it's made into a film. 10/10. Please, Mister Postman by Alan Johnson. This is the 2nd instalment of Alan Johnson's autobiography, the first version I read earlier this year.  A delight. 8/10. Despite a promising write-up on the back of the book and some decent prose inside, I gave up on this book after a few ...