Erin Morgenstern's Blog, page 39
September 21, 2011
seattle
Seattle is another city that I had never been to before and now that I'm gone again I very much want to return with proper time to revel in it properly. Wonderful bookstores, wonderful people, low humidity and cake. Many thanks to everyone who came to readings at The Elliott Bay Book Company & Third Place Books, both fabulous stores with fabulous people and oh so many books.
And the wonderful Queen Anne Books had a cake for me! With black frosting! Not enough cakes have black frosting. It was a delight.
In DC now, very briefly, to be on NPR tomorrow and then back to familiar Massachusetts territory.
September 20, 2011
Fabulous Q&A with Foyles
It's easy for a reader to spot possible influences from Nights at the Circus to Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell to Carter Beats the Devil to The Time Traveler's Wife. Did you feel consciously or unconsciously influenced by any particular books or writers?
I think I take flavors from almost everything I read, and I know there are a multitude of authors who have shaped me as a writer, so I think there are likely a slew of unconscious influences. I think there was a conscious Shakespearean influence along with some intentional nods to Dickens and Roald Dahl. I also took some stylistic inspiration from one of my very favorite books, Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman, with its wonderful vignettes.
Read more: http://www.foyles.co.uk/Public/Biblio/AuthorDetails.aspx?authorId=85337
Shelfari interview
While I was at BookExpo in May, I had the pleasure to speak with Chris Schluep of Shelfari about The Night Circus. And you can hear our conversation too (eep!).
Listen here: http://blog.shelfari.com/my_weblog/2011/09/erin-morgenstern-talks-about-the-night-circus.html
September 19, 2011
The Reveur's Red Scarf
Thanks to the Craft Temptress, you, too, can make a red scarf to wear the next time you want to be identified as a Night Circus reveur.
Read more: http://indiereaderhouston.com/blog/2011/09/the-reveurs-red-scarf/
More Circus love
In today's economic climate, running away and joining the circus is starting to sound like a reasonable Plan B. But even if you're not ready for clown shoes, you'll enjoy escaping intoErin Morgenstern's enchanting first novel, "The Night Circus." Written in the bewitched town of Salem, Mass., this story whisks us back a century, before circuses were dogged by PETA protests and overshadowed by "Disney on Ice," a time when exotic acrobats and wild animals inspired awe and laughter with a soupcon of menace. But more than merely re-creating the Greatest Show on Earth, Morgenstern has spun an extravaganza that makesP.T. Barnum look smaller than Tom Thumb.
I'm not often lost for words, but I'm struggling to find the words to describe just how good this book is and how it made me feel, so I'll just say this: if you are only able to read one book for the rest of your life, make sure it is 'The Night Circus'. You won't regret it.
Read more: http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/reviews/index.php?title=The_Night_Circus_by_Erin_Morgenstern
There's plot — lots and lots of it, which Morgenstern extracts from her seemingly bottomless top hat. She's an engaging storyteller, and she leaps between locations and time periods with an admirable dexterity.
Read more: http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20528181,00.html
Morgenstern didn't set out to be a literary sensation, or even a writer. She didn't submit to the rigors of an MFA program or suffer rejections from little magazines. Instead, as a temp worker and former theater major from Smith College, she participated in National Novel Writing Month in November 2003. Like most people who attempt the annual write-a-novel-in-a-month challenge, she didn't complete the project by the end of the allotted 30 days. But she didn't abandon it, either.
" 'Dark as soot and bright as sparks,' The Night Circus still holds me willingly captive in a world of almost unbearable beauty," Brunonia Barry, bestselling author of "The Lace Reader," said. "This is a love story on a grand scale: it creates, it destroys, it ultimately transcends. Take a bow, Erin Morgenstern. This is one of the best books I have ever read."
Read more: http://www.telegram.com/article/20110914/NEWS/109149845/1011
In her debut novel, The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern acknowledges the celebrated London theatre company Punchdrunk as inspiration. Just as Punchdrunk's immersive performances see audience and actor mingle with no central stage or set running order, so it is for visitors to the nocturnal black-and-white striped circus of Morgenstern's imagination, Le Cirque des Rêves.
Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/8747042/The-Night-Circus-by-Erin-Morgenstern-review.html
Erin Morgenstern just might have a hit on her hands. She's not the only one who thinks so. In a recent CNN article, writer Christian DuChateau states of The Night Circus: "Take the magic of the Harry Potter novels, add in a story of forbidden love like Twilight and you have what publishers hope is the makings of another blockbuster in The Night Circus."
Read more: http://suvudu.com/2011/09/release-day-praise-the-night-circus-by-erin-morgenstern.html
The reason for the hubbub? "The Night Circus," set in 1886, revolves around a magical traveling circus called Le Cirque des Reves and two young magicians who fall in love but must vie against one another in a mysterious competition. The book encompasses the best elements of past blockbusters. It has elements of "Twilight" (young, taboo love), Harry Potter (magic) and even "The Hunger Games" (a deadly showdown). It also helps that Morgenstern is a capable, fun writer.
Morgenstern is both a writer and a visual artist, and the world of The Night Circus is elaborately designed, fantastically imagined and instantly intoxicating — as if the reader had downed a glass of absinthe and leapt into a hallucination.
While attention this lavish might make some readers skeptical, get ready to be won over: "The Night Circus'' largely lives up to the accolades. Startlingly inventive, haunting, and definitely strange, it's part love story, part fable, and a knockout debut – with a back story nearly as surprising.
Readers of genre fiction, mainstream fiction, or even those who read infrequently will find themselves sucked into The Night Circus.
Read more: http://staffersmusings.blogspot.com/2011/09/night-circus-erin-morgenstern.html
The Night Circus challenges you to dream in black and white with the odd splash of red. Once you enter it, you will not want to leave.
The reason for the hubbub? "The Night Circus," set in 1886, revolves around a magical traveling circus called Le Cirque des Reves and two young magicians who fall in love but must vie against one another in a mysterious competition. The book encompasses the best elements of past blockbusters. It has elements of "Twilight" (young, taboo love), Harry Potter (magic) and even "The Hunger Games" (a deadly showdown). It also helps that Morgenstern is a capable, fun writer.
Chatting with Matt Staggs about Night Circus
After my reading in Framingham last week, I spoke with Matt Staggs about the circus. You can hear our conversation here.
http://sf-fantasy.suvudu.com/2011/09/interview-with-erin-morgenstern-author-the-night-circus.html
September 18, 2011
san francisco
I type this from San Francisco. I have never been here before and I'm glad I've had a little bit of time to wander the city. I have a crush on the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market. I'm so used to flat cities that the inclined streets keep reminding me of Inception. I've been signing books and meeting lovely bookish people and practicing my public speaking skills. Not sure I quite have the hang of this whole author tour thing yet, but I'm enjoying soaking in the scenery.
Also, my hotel room has a goldfish. He is difficult to photograph because he doesn't like to stay still. I shall miss him.
Headed to Seattle later today.
September 16, 2011
A Three-Ring Debut: A Q&A with BookPage
I thoroughly enjoyed this Q&A with BookPage about the book. Gets me ready for when I start my tour (next week! eeek!).
Literary/fantasy hybrids, from Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell to The Magicians, are hotter than ever. To what extent were you aware of genre as you were writing?
I wasn't even convinced it was a novel for a while so genre wasn't something I thought about too much. I was mildly concerned that it was too literary to be fantasy and too fantasy to be literary—I hadn't even considered hybrid territory an option—so I wrote the story the way it wanted to be told and figured I could worry about categorizing it when I was done.
flax-golden tales: borne back ceaselessly into the past
borne back ceaselessly into the past
I chose this hotel because it has author themed rooms, though which author you end up with is a matter of luck. To my delight we end up in the Fitzgerald room. There's even a worn paperback of The Great Gatsby on the table by the bed, sitting next to a green-glass lamp.
I say something about the green light and he just stares at me.
"What are you talking about?" he asks after the pause has gone on too long.
"Gatsby," I say, holding up the book.
"Isn't that one of those boring books they try to force you to read in high school?" he asks. It's more dismissal than question, he's already turned his attention to the rest of the room.
"Boats against the current," I murmur to myself as he tries to figure out the buttons on the television.
It is in this moment that I realize we're not going to last.
About flax-golden tales. Photo by Carey Farrell. Text by Erin Morgenstern.
