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Jump to navigationJump to searchThe Interview: Bookbag Talks To Anthony McGowan (view source)
Revision as of 13:45, 14 May 2018
, 13:45, 14 May 2018no edit summary
* '''BB: We won't ask what style of pants! We know and love you as a writer of books for older children, having missed out on the ''Bare Bum Gang''. Does shifting down a couple of years in terms of readership make things easier or more difficult? Or simply more openly lavatorial?'''
AM: I can't tell you how much I loved writing the ''Bare Bum Gang'' books, but they aren't, actually, much more lavatorial than [[''Hellbent]] '' and [[Henry Tumour]]. I'm afraid that bodily functions are to me what daffodils were to Wordsworth. It's probably something to do with being northern and at the nexus between upper-working and lower-middle class. The ''Bare Bum'' books came very easily. They were a combination of my childhood memories (and mine was in general a very happy childhood) and my observations of my own children.
* '''BB: Which three books should every child read?'''
AM: You're not going to like this answer, but I honestly don't believe you should be prescriptive about what children read. They should read whatever they fancy, exploring the great world of books until they find the kind of thing that engages them. It's why libraries are so important to children – they're a playground made of words. Having said that any child that reads ''The BFG'', [[Tom's Midnight Garden]], and ''The Lord of the Rings'' won't go far wrong.
* '''BB: Actually, we do like that answer. Very much. Although we - even as adults - prefer [[The Hobbit]] to [[''Lord of the Rings]]''. What are you reading at the moment?'''
AM: I'm at various stages of several books, none of which have totally grabbed me. I'm seven eighths of the way through ''Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson'', which is a huge great baggy novel about code breaking in the Second World War, combined with an analysis of 1990s geek culture, and, well, pretty much everything else. I'm a fifth of the way through [[:Category:Roberto Bolano|Roberto Bolano’s]] ''2666'', which I decided is rubbish, and have cast into the corner of the room. I'm also half way through Sassoon's ''Memoirs of a Foxhunting Man'', which is ever so slightly dull. The most fun I'm having is reading ''The Lord of the Rings'' to my 10-year old. We're up to the third volume, ''The Return of the King'', and it really is magnificent.
