with Susan Olding and Adwoa Badoe; photo by Bernard Clark

photo by Bernard Clark

I also stopped in at Lethbridge, AB’s first-ever Word on the Street festival and chatted with readers there about the link between research and writing. Good times.

I’m reading Claire Tomalin’s Austen bio, Jane Austen: A Life, at every stolen moment and absolutely adoring it. It’s not just that I’m an Austenphile; Tomalin is such a wise, sympathetic, subtly observant biographer and she makes me think about things anew. For example, she really challenges my opinion of Sense and Sensibility, until now my least favourite of Austen’s novels. Tomalin argues that S&S is a debate connected to the politics of the 1790s, and that Austen’s characterizations of Elinor and Marianne are much subtler than I’d previously thought. I’m determined to re-read it, now, and see if I agree.

And finally, I have an official North American publication date for The Traitor in the Tunnel! February 28, 2012 is the Big Day. Huzzah!

What’s up with me?

As a reader:

My husband just gave me a copy of this book.

If you know how I feel about Claire Tomalin and Jane Austen, you will know that I am over the moon and can’t wait to rip into it (figuratively, figuratively). But he outdid himself this time, because he gave me this edition:

Did you hear my scream of delight? I’m torn between sleeping with it under my pillow, locking it away under archival conditions, and reading it in one sitting while children scream and my life crumbles around me. Ahem.

As a writer:

Tomorrow, I’m appearing at Kingston WritersFest with YA author Adwoa Badoe. We’ll be reading and talking to memoirist Susan Olding on the subject of “Life Lessons”. This is my first literary festival as an author, rather than as reader and fan, and I’ve been looking forward to this for ages!

I’ll also be skyping in to Lethbridge, AB’s Word on the Street festival this Sunday. I’m very excited for this, too, and glad that I’ll never know how big my head looks on a projection screen. If you happen to see it, don’t tell me, okay?

As a human being:

My three-year-old’s been singing his favourite fall song, Hawksley Workman‘s “Autumn’s Here”, without consideration for parental feelings of musical satiety. The child is merciless, so I’ve decided to inflict it on you, too. This link takes you to a superlong live rendition.

How are you all? What are you up to? What did I miss, while I was not really here over the summer?

And thank you to everyone who came and asked such fun and interesting questions! I had a lovely time, and hope you did, too.

P.S. I remembered the 4th bodily humour (from our conversation about Renaissance medicine, remember?): phlegm. Glamourous, glamourous phlegm.

1. Books I didn’t finish, even though they began well and promised to be very satisfying (Judith Flanders’s The Invention of Murder, which I began when pregnant but didn’t get far before having the baby. When I come back to it, I’ll have to start over.)

2. Books I’ve lent to friends, but can’t remember who or when (Old Filth, by Jane Gardam, where are you? Do you have it, Katharine? Eugene, did you take it out west?).

3. Books I’m convinced will be good but to which I failed to do justice as a reader, and which I’ll have to re-approach some day (Paul Theroux, My Other Life).

4. Books I swear I own, but cannot find for the life of me! I’m ransacking my house right now for Claire Tomalin’s biography, Jane Austen: A Life. I ran across a reference to it the other day and read the first few pages on Amazon (addictive: I dare you to read them and not buy the book immediately). Claire Tomalin is my favourite biographer. I own most of her books. I’m actually, ridiculously, saving one (Mrs. Jordan’s Profession) indefinitely because I don’t want the day to come when I have no Claire Tomalin books to look forward to. And now I’m ready for my Jane Austen moment.

If only I could find the blasted thing.

Am I alone here? What are your books that got away?

—

In other news: quick reminder that I’m at Mississauga Central Library on Saturday, reading, signing, and talking about the Victorians. Details here.

And I’m interviewed in OurKingston this week. Worryingly, the article’s called “A Promise of Violence”. I assure you, I did not get aggressive with the reporter.

First, A Spy in the House has been nominated for the Canadian Children’s Book Centre’s brand-new John Spray Mystery Award! Can I possibly hold my breath from now until the winners are announced in October?

Second, I’ll be reading, signing, and talking about the Victorians at the Mississauga Public Library on August 27, as their Teen Summer Reading program concludes. I’ll post more details here closer to the event.

And finally, I’m absolutely overjoyed to announce that there will be a fourth and final Agency novel. Its working title is Rivals in the City. There’s no publication date yet (I have to finish the book first!), but I’m so thrilled to be immersed in Mary Quinn’s world, one last time. I hope you’ll agree.

Happy long weekend, Canadian and American readers!

But I also had a party at Type Books, to which my Toronto friends came out in force. (Photos are by my uncle, Meng Cheah. Thank you!)

TYPE Books, Queen St West

Toronto really does look its best after dark.

Always clutching the same darn book.

And isn’t TYPE gorgeous? If I end up as a ghost, I’ll definitely haunt this bookstore.

I owe thanks to many people: to Becky, Samara, and Kyle of TYPE, for making the party run so smoothly; and to Jennifer Herman, Nicola Makoway, and Jacqui Bester of Random House Canada, for organizing the bookseller visits and lunch. I’m so lucky to work with you.

Special thanks to Steven “Stevelchase” Succi, for procuring the wine when I thought my head might explode; and to Steve and Sarah Sweet (ha! surname ambiguity!), for being such lovely hosts. I am stone-cold sober, but *sniff* I love you guys. And you make me love Toronto. (A little bit, anyway.)

So it’s fitting that this week, I finally got around to looking at that Facebook meme – you know the one. It claims to be the BBC’s list of 100 books of which the average person will only have read 6. I’ve been tagged with it about a dozen times and always ignored it. But Fate is tricky like that. You see, there are almost 40 books on that list I haven’t read. A few that I’ve long intended to read. And others I feel shame in admitting I haven’t. (I’m sorry, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky!)

You see where I’m going with this. In a week when I’ll see more different bookstores than I typically do in a month, what can a bookish girl do but make up for lost time? I shall be buying

and 

as well as presents for my family (who, fortunately, prefer presents with pages). And this is where I need you, bookish friends.

What are some of your favourite books? They don’t have to be from that silly meme, of course. They don’t have to be YA or recent, either. Just books from your personal Top 100.

P. S. At the risk of sounding repetitive: I’ll be at Type Books (883 Queen St West) tonight from 7 to 8.30. See you there!

And just a quick reminder for Toronto-area readers: I’ll be launching The Body at the Tower at Type Books (883 Queen St West) next week (Thursday, November 25) from 7 to 8.30 pm. Hope to see you there!

I’m a huge fan of John Sutherland because he talks about literary matters in a way that makes them irresistible to non-academics. Among his many books are 3 that analyze puzzling questions in Victorian fiction: Is Heathcliff a Murderer?, Can Jane Eyre Be Happy?, and Who Betrayed Elizabeth Bennet?. They’re absolutely addictive. I dare you to pick up one and not gallop the whole way through.

I adore Dorothy L. Sayers’s detective novels featuring Lord Peter Wimsey and am on a bit of a mission to make everyone read them. They get better as the series continues but if you’re a stickler for starting at the beginning, the title you want is Whose Body? Jill Paton Walsh’s continuations are also excellent and I’ll be reading the prequel, The Attenbury Emeralds, that’s published later this month.

Vanity Fair (the novel! not the magazine!) by William Makepeace Thackeray is extraordinary – that’s news to nobody, since it’s a canonical Victorian novel. But I find Thackeray’s comprehensive vision absolutely fascinating and VF is one of the few C19 novels to depict brown-skinned people in and about London. VF‘s narrator is quite often nasty about them – this is no PC, celebratory acknowledgement of non-whites in England – but their presence is pervasive and quite possibly dangerous.

I’m sure there are more books I mentioned, but they’re slipping away from me right now. Vanessa, if you’re reading, can you remind me in the comments?

And now, I want to talk about a debut novel that had me laughing aloud with pleasure and up well past my bedtime. Here’s my full disclosure, for what it’s worth: Stephanie Burgis and I first met about 18 months ago, when she wrote to me after reading A Spy in the House. My delight in her debut novel, A Most Improper Magick, may well be tinted by her appreciation for my work, our growing friendship, and the fact that she has one of the warmest online presences I’ve ever encountered. You can’t fake that stuff. So please consider yourselves advised. Oh, and I bought the book myself.

So. On Sunday evening, on my way up to bed, I thought, “I’ll just dip into the first few pages. Maybe I’ll read it tomorrow.” STEPHANIE BURGIS OWES ME 3 HOURS’ SLEEP. My gritty eyes aside, AMIM is an absolute pleasure: a whirlwind adventure, a cheeky homage to Jane Austen, a lively tribute to sisterly love and solidarity, and an assured, beautifully paced, pitch-perfect romp. Discerning readers of middle-grade and YA fiction, this ought to be on your wish lists. It’s out now in the UK, and will be published in the US (as Kat, Incorrigible) in April 2011. You won’t regret it.

And how about you, dear readers? What books would you recommend to me?

As a result, I’d no idea what to expect at my first book club meeting as an author. What can I tell you?

First, that it may be all about the food. Seriously: 8 women. Snacks for, ooh, 16? It was heaven.

Second, that they had all read Spy (or did a great job pretending) and had tons of questions. And they asked me things I’d never thought about – for example, what’s the backstory on the primary agent whose territory Mary Quinn treads on? My brilliant answer: “Um, I haven’t thought about her much.” I think I’d better get on that.

Third, I totally cracked: I’m not supposed to reveal the Candlewick cover for The Body at the Tower yet, because it’s not quite ready. (Soon, soon.) But I brought an ARC and flashed it around shamelessly. The bookclubbers were very kind and humoured my delirious babbling about the story behind the cover. Thanks, ladies.

I had such a great time, thanks to Jennifer O’Donnell who invited me, and Marcia Irving who hosted. It was terrific to meet all of you and I hope you keep in touch! (And thank you very much for the lovely bottle of wine! You really shouldn’t have, but I’m secretly very glad you did.)

This week in reviews:

Bookseller Ben McNally says Spy is “accomplished and believable. Mary Quinn and her supporting cast are developed with care and craft, and the plot is polished and quick.” Notes from a Book Addict, at BookLounge

The charmingly named NerdGirl is “on the edge of my seat waiting for the next book”!

And Ria at Tea and Tomes says the characters are “wonderfully real” and the period detail “made the story just that much more believable”.