To infinity and beyond - or Low Earth Orbit

Spacewalker by Jerry Ross

I was lucky enough to obtain a copy of this through NetGalley just before a recent trip to the Space Coast in Florida.

I am a great fan of astronaut memoirs, while I can appreciate the beauty and engineering of space craft it is the human stories that really interest me. I've read many of the Mercury/Gemini/Apollo memoirs and I am on the look out for translation of Russian memoirs and Space Shuttle era books too.

A few months ago NetGalley offered Reaching for the Stars by the first Mexican Astronaut but due to the style of the book (Hernandez appears to have written it in English although this isn't his first language or translated it himself) I had to give up - it didn't flow at all and I wasn't captivated by the story enough to persevere with it.

Spacewalker by Ross on the other hand was a treat from cover to cover. He manages a nice blend of technical details, family details and impressions of space to make the book readable and enjoyable.  He had to work hard to get where he did and isn't afraid to talk about the failures in his own life and in the space program overall.
In total Ross took flew on 7 missions, including the very first mission to construct the International Space Station. He was an expert spacewalker and was the only astronaut to be involved with the entire lifespan of the Space Shuttle.

What was even luckier was that while we were in Florida Jerry Ross was at the Kennedy Space Center giving talks on 3 days and so I got to hear him in person and to tell him  how much I liked his book.

It might be that the Space Shuttle program doesn't seem to be as captivating as the early missions but with memoirs like this around this could easily change.

A long time ago

Heffers Classic Festival, Cambridge, November 2012.

While theatre and Shakespeare appear to be my new favourite things my love of Greece and Italy and of the stories from antiquity are still high on my agenda

Retellings of Greek and Roman myths and legends are books that I am always drawn to. Just this year it became clear that I wasn't the only one as Madeline Miller won the Orange Prize for Fiction with her retelling of the story of Achilles, Patroculus and the Iliad. I've blogged before about my love of the Roman Mysteries by Caroline Lawrence too.

It isn't just the stories that I like, the histories and architecture also captivate.  Seeing that there was going to be a dedicated to the classics nearby I booked tickets as soon as they were available.

The day was well organised and scheduled, with several sessions though out the day all featuring 3 or 4 speakers. Limiting the talks to 15-25 minutes was good in many ways - if the topic didn't appeal you knew it was only short, and also you got to hear loads of ideas. BUT every so often I really wanted to listen to all the ideas the speaker had!

What I liked most about the day (apart from the chance to chat to one of my favourite authors!) was that the talks were pitched perfectly - they were neither too simple and thus patronising nor were they so academic that I was lost at any point.

My book list has grown incredibly, and I now want to travel extensively through the Greek and Roman world. I don't think I'll try to learn Latin though!

Roll on the 2013 festival.

Criminally Good

Phew! The first Norwich Crime Festival is more or less over. As I write this post there is just one book signing session to go.

On the whole the 10 days have been great fun, it is no secret that crime books as a whole aren't often my choice of reading matter but I have loved meeting so many varied authors and hearing their stories. I don't know if tales of my cowardice have done the rounds but none of the events were even that terrifying in the end, however gory some of the books might be.

Two events really do stand out for me.

The very first event of the festival was a coffee morning with Anne Zouroudi, the creator of the Greek Detective books. These are books I've liked for a while and it was great to hear how real life has influenced the work, how the Greeks feel about the books and to hear just how the author imagines her main character. I've always found myself transported to Greece as I've read the books and now knowing some of the stories behind the books I am going to go back to book one and reread them all.

My absolute favourite event, possibly of all time, was with Caroline Lawrence. The Roman Mystery books have pride of place on my shelves, I have a complete set of first editions and now all of them are signed. Although marketed as children's books there is so much history in them that I think everyone should read them, in fact before Mr Norfolkbookworm and I went to Rome I made him read several of the books and we even used them as guide books when we went to Ostia. (If you look closely at the photo of me at the top of the page you might even see that in it I am reading a Roman Mystery book sitting on a wall in Ostia)
Caroline's event was just like the books and appealed to adults just as much as children and the hour we had rushed by and was full of information, writing tips and artefacts. After hearing the talk you'll never take loo roll for granted again!
Caroline's new books are set in the American West and now knowing some of the background to these I can't wait to get my teeth into the first one of this series.

So what next?
I now have a list of recommended books as long as my arm, many new friends, a pile of thank you letters to write, many happy memories and about a week of sleep to catch up on.

Oh and the Norwich Crime Festival 2013 to start planning!

A rare picture of me taken with Caroline Lawrence at the event on March 28th 2012

Less regular than usual

While I know that I am not the most prolific and regular of bloggers I have a feeling that service may get even more sporadic over the next 2 months.

But I do have a good reason as I am heavily involved in the planning and running of the first Norwich Crime Festival, as well as being in charge of creating the online content.

Crime isn't a genre I generally read a lot of but I am quickly learning that I might have dismissed it too quickly. I'm never going to be a fan of the gritty, violent books. Or those based on pathology but thrillers and historical crime is certainly growing on me.

Anyhow the Norwich Crime Festival runs from March 21st through until March 31st and all of the details can be found here on the official website.