We love featuring old friends here on Sunday Shelfie, but before I let today’s author walk you through her bookcases, a little catch up from me.
It’s just a couple of weeks now before we start my Writing Mothers course with the first group and I will be sending out some reading for them this week. This course sold out in 48 hours, and so I am running a second course starting in October. There are just a few places left on the second course now and so if you would like to join me in the autumn to write mothers, everything you need to know is in this post:
Also, don’t forget that featuring , and me has now moved to our new home, and so if you’ve been missing our chats, you can find us here. Subscribe to receive our podcast in your inbox each week.
Here is this week’s episode:
And with all that out the way, let me introduce you to today’s author. It’s Caroline Corcoran.
Caroline is an internationally published Sunday Times bestselling author whose work has been translated into multiple foreign languages and sold around the world. Caroline’s debut Through the Wall was followed by The Baby Group, Five Days Missing and What Happened on Floor 34?
Prior to writing novels, Caroline was a journalist, working for Stylist, Grazia, Marie Claire, the Telegraph, the Independent, the Mirror, the Guardian and many of the other biggest newspapers, magazines and websites in the country, and that’s where I know her from. I bumped into her recently at my induction as a fellow to the Royal Literary Fund, as she has just finished a placement at the University of Chester.
Her latest novel, She Is Lying, was published in paperback this week, and you can buy it here.
Before we have a snoop around her bookshelves, a reminder that her recommendations below contain affiliate links to Bookshop.org, plus this email may be truncated due to all the amazing books she discusses, so you may need to view it in the app or your browser. So let’s have a look at Caroline’s bookshelves:
How would you describe your collection of books? Any favourite genres?
Beloved, eclectic, out of control. I have a lot in my own genre obviously because I blurb for other authors and interview a lot of them for their events, but I can fall in love with a book in most genres. Anything with a big heart and characters that stick in my mind. I like my books to be very human, if that makes sense.
How many books do you estimate you have and how are they organised, if at all?
A thousand, maybe? That’s after a clear-out too, I moved into a new office and there are bags everywhere to take to the charity shop, the library, to friends… On the shelves, they are alphabeticised so I can find them easily but there’s no full-on Dewey Decimal situation going on, I draw the line there.
In percentage terms, how many of the total books on your shelves have you read?
Hmm, 90% I reckon. The ones I haven’t probably belong to my husband or my children.
Which three books are top of your TBR (To Be Read) pile at the moment?
Elizabeth Strout, The Things We Never Say. She’s a writer I love, and there is such a buzz around this book.
The new Lisa Jewell, It Could Have Been Her, because she is bringing back a character I loved from another of her books, Jane Trevally, and also because she’s Lisa Jewell. A genius.
Madeleine Gray, Chosen Family, is next to my bed ready to be opened. I loved Green Dot. I just love books where it’s sentence after sentence of truth about humans delivered in the most honest, perfect way. That’s what makes a book work for me, whatever the genre.
Which book on your bookshelf is the most well-thumbed/do you return to the most, and why?
I don’t know if this is controversial but I don’t re-read any more. I’m the same with TV these days. I used to do it all the time with books I loved like Rebecca, The Handmaid’s Tale, absolute classics, but it just feels like there are too many wonderful books I want to read now, so there’s no time!
Which book on your bookshelf do you most often buy as a gift for others, and why?
No book specifically — it depends on the giftee — but my go-to gift is always a signed copy from my local indie bookshop Linghams. A spredge is a bonus. Most recently, I would say The Correspondent would be one you couldn’t go wrong with as a gift though. What a book.
If you have a collection of writing craft books, which is your favourite and why?
That would involve more patience than I have… I think the best writing craft tip is to read a lot of great books in all kinds of genres and from there, you pick up the craft. You feel pacing and plotting by reading widely and you learn an instinct for it. That said, I know lots of people swear by those kinds of books and if that’s you, then go for it. Just tell me the best bits, ideally in bullet points.
If you write within a particular genre, can you tell us your three favourite books within that genre (classic or contemporary) and why?
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