Young Adult Book Reading Challenges discussion
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John Connolly
The Book of Lost Things
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Q&A with John Connolly!
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Mar 30, 2012 08:52PM
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I am excited about your next novel! Can you describe it for us and tell us when it will come out?
Thank you, John Connolly. I read The Book of Lost Things a while ago and really loved it. I have no idea of your intentions, and you may not want to answer, but I was wondering if you intended this to be a fantasy or more of a psychological study. Most I know disagree with me but here's how I looked at it (from my review):
"Part fairy tale and part psychological study, I found this to be an engrossing and powerful book. Recommend to everybody, particularly those who have used reading and books to get themselves through difficult times, especially in childhood.
I don't look at this book the way some readers apparently have: as sci-fi or fantasy, but instead see it as showing the redemptive power of books and stories in children's and adults' lives. And as an account of one boy's inner life and imagination.
I'm not sure which way the author intended it, but it’s a wonderful coming of age story."
I would be curious how you envisioned it given that you're the storyteller. Either way, it's a fabulous book.
Thanks for joining us here in this group to answer questions.
I'd also like to know more about your upcoming work. Thanks.
Hello, and thank you again for answering our questions!One thing that struck me when I read The Book of Lost Things was the role of women in the novel. David misses his mother, whom he adored, while every other woman he knows is (to some degree) a villain. Rose, Snow White, the Beast, the Enchantress, and The Huntress each have a negative impact on David's life, while all of his comrades and friends are male. I'm very curious as to whether this was intentional, and if so, what is its significance?
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Has there been any film interest for The Book of Lost Things? Any book signing in the near future?
Also... my copy of The Book of Lost Things is signed by you! I bought it at The Tattered Cover bookstore in Denver, CO! They just had a autographed copy on the shelf! Thanks for sending out signed copies of books to independent book stores!
Mr. Connolly I want you to know that I think your book, The Book of Lost Things, is clutch-the-book-to-your-chest good. As a teen librarian I have the rare previlidge to see how kids react to books and many of them feel the same way to your book that I do. Several have gone out and bought copies after reading the library copy which they have to return.My question to you is where did you get your ideas for this book? Did you, as a child, have nightmares involving certain fairy tales? Did you feel that books spoke to you? I remember as a child being very frightened by fairy tales and as an adult I wondered at my parents even reading them to me.
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Hi John!Just wondering if you ever had any plans of revisiting the world within The Book of Lost Things? Perhaps a prequel surrounding The Woodsman? I think it would be pretty interesting!
I love the book covers on some of the books that seem to have a similar theme... do you get to chose these covers for your books? 
Welcome Mr. Connolly. "The Book of Lost Things" is the second book of yours that I've read. I also enjoyed "The Gates" (as an audio book).I like the quote from Friedrich Schiller: "Deeper meaning resides in the fairy tales told to me in my childhood than in the truth that is taught by life"
Which fairy tales have lent a deeper meaning to your life? What did you learn from those tales?
Hello Mr. Connolly!One of the aspects from this book and some of the stories in Nocturnes that I enjoyed is how the stories are able to take the reader into the minds and eyes of children and allow us to experience their fear. Despite being an adult, these stories were at times able to take me back and remind me of my younger self who would love reading and becoming scared by a variety of stories.
How do you approach writing a frightening story that is told from the viewpoint of a child and how would this be different than say writing frightening material as experienced by an adult character such as Charlie Parker?
Thank you for visiting us, Mr. Connolly.My question is this. The Book of Lost Things struck me as a very close, very personal story, especially in the way it recounts a young child's feelings of jealousy towards his younger sibling, mistrust of his new stepparent, idolizing of his dead mother. I certainly remember my younger self experience some of these feelings, and very intensely. How of much of David's experiences are drawn from your own? Did anything in particular in your personal life inspire this novel?
The Book of Lost Things is a book about a boy's childhood, and it's a very dark book. Many adults like to think that childhood is a rosy, innocent period in a person's life. Do you agree with this, or do you belong more to Maurice Sendak's "school of thought" which maintains that childhood is generally an emotionally tough and difficult experience?
You had written a few crime novels before you wrote The Book of Lost Things. What caused such a drastic genre change? Are you now attached to both genres - crime and horror equally? Or you prefer one over another?
I'll actually be publishing two books later this year, one fiction and one non-fiction. The novel is THE WRATH OF ANGELS, which is the next in the Charlie Parker sequence. The non-fiction book is an anthology entitled BOOKS TO DIE FOR, which I've co-edited with Declan Burke. Basically, we asked mystery writers from around the world to write an essay on one mystery novel that they would unreservedly recommend to readers. It's a guide to mysteries for readers, but it also functions as a kind of history of the genre...
Lisa wrote: "Thank you, John Connolly. I read The Book of Lost Things a while ago and really loved it. I have no idea of your intentions, and you may not want to answer, but I was wondering if you intended th..."
I'm not sure that I ever thought of it as a fantasy book, really. It's a study of grief, and adolescence - in part based on my own childhood - but it's also about books, and how they change readers, and readers in turn bring something of themselves to every book that they read. Books are not fixed objects: we read and interpret them according to our own life experiences, which explains why a book may engross one reader while leaving another completely unmoved. In the end, I've tended to described The Book of Lost Things as a book about childhood for adults, but what's interesting is that younger readers read it in an entirely different way from adults. Adults pick up on the sense of regret, I think, while younger readers are often going through something of what David, the boy in the book, is going through.
Stephanie wrote: "Hello, and thank you again for answering our questions!One thing that struck me when I read The Book of Lost Things was the role of women in the novel. David misses his mother, whom he adored, wh..."
Well, the action of the book is very much seen through David's eyes, and David is angry at the women in his life. There's grief at his mother's death, I think, but also probably a degree of rage (at her? at God?) for leaving him to endure the world without her. He's angry, too, at his father's new wife, because he feels that she's trying to assume the position once held by his mother in his father's life. But there is anger, too, at his father, and, until close to the end of the novel, when he comes to some degree of understanding about himself, all of the male characters in the novel are flawed in their own way too. They let him down, even when they're trying not to.
But the fairy tales that form the basis of the book have an interesting take on women. Women are sometimes dangerous (the Queen in Snow White, the cannibalistic witch in Hansel & Gretel), but they're frequently smart as well, and they're nearly always cleverer than the men. So David's attitude to women in the book, and his construction of them, is determined in part by his own life experiences, but also by the way in which those experiences lead him to interpret the characters in fairy tales.
Angie wrote: "I know you have written many adult books... I am curious what brought you into the world of young adult literature? Is it harder to write then adult literature? Has there been any film interest f..."
Hmmm, I'm not sure that it's harder, exactly. The Book of Lost Things wasn't really written for young adults. In fact, I generally tend not to think in those terms when I write. Even when I was writing The Gates and The Infernals, which are written with a younger readership in mind, the only concession I made was to avoid references to sex or swearing. Otherwise, I think the complexity of language and concepts remains the same.
I can recall exhausting the junior section of our local library when I was a child, and being given an adult ticket, and I don't think there were very many books with which I truly struggled. I think that, when I write for younger people, I'm writing for the adult that's inside them, the part of them that's growing and wants to understand the world. You can't patronize younger readers, and you can't talk down to them. Oddly, you can get away with doing that with adults, but not kids.
As for film interest, I tend to be very protective of my books. A director had an option on the book for some time, but I took it back this year. We may give it to a screenwriter for a limited period, though, as he's quite passionate about it. The only thing that really concerns me is how does one make a film of a book that's about books and the nature of reading?
Anne wrote: "Mr. Connolly I want you to know that I think your book, The Book of Lost Things, is clutch-the-book-to-your-chest good. As a teen librarian I have the rare previlidge to see how kids react to books..."One of the greatest pleasures of my writing life has been when teenagers have come to my signings carrying battered, and clearly much read, copies of The Book of Lost Things. Writers write in the hope that something of what they create will make a real connection with others, because when that happens we know that we've hit on a truth.
I grew up in a house that my parents shared with my grandparents, so we had three generations of the family living under one roof. I had a tiny attic bedroom filled with books, and I was kind of a solitary kid. I saw the world through books, and I lived a little through books as well, I think. As for fairytales, I became more aware of their power later in life, although I have always loved them.
I didn't lose a parent until I was in my early twenties, although my younger brother was still a teenager when my father died. I was aware, though, of their mortality. My grandfather had died in his sleep in our home when I was still very young, but I can recall thinking that, if he could die, then my parents could die too, and I went through a long period of being very concerned about this. It probably contributed to my developing a form of OCD as a teenager, because these little routines were a way of convincing myself that I might have some form of control over the world: by doing X, I could prevent Y from happening. Eventually, my mother hauled me to a psychiatrist, who could only tell her that I was a bit of a worrier, which I already knew, frankly. I was the first person in our family to go to a psychiatrist. My parents were very proud...
Angie wrote: "I love the whole tale of Roland and the tower based off Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came. I was wondering if you have ever read Stephen King's series The Dark Tower? What did you think of tha..."It's funny, but the Dark Tower series is the only area of King's writing that I can't seem to get into. I tried The Gunslinger, struggled with it, and never went back. But I love Browning's poem - in fact, I love a great deal of Browning's poetry, especially the more macabre stuff, like My Last Duchess - and I have always harbored a secret wish to make a short film of Childe Roland. With The Book of Lost Things, I was able to reimagine the landscape of the poem, and create a version of Roland. The Book of Lost Things is not only a book about books, but a book constructed from versions of other tales...
Brandon wrote: "Hi John!Just wondering if you ever had any plans of revisiting the world within The Book of Lost Things? Perhaps a prequel surrounding The Woodsman? I think it would be pretty interesting!"
I'm not sure that I ever will. I think this little books stands alone. I'm hugely fond of it, and it's probably my favorite of all my books. If I wrote a sequel, I just don't think it would be as good as this one, whatever this book's flaws.
Monica wrote: "I love the book covers on some of the books that seem to have a similar theme... do you get to chose these covers for your books? [bookcove..."It's funny, but "Never judge a book by it's cover" is true of everything but books. With that in mind, I tend to involve myself a lot in cover design. For my early novels, I tracked down old illustrations of the human body for the British editions. Now we tend to have a lot of back and forth, and the designers tend to be very accommodating of my suggestions. In the end, I think jacket designers quite like having input from authors, as long as it's constructive. After all, most of them are working on lots of covers every month, so any sharing of the burden is usually welcome.
For The Book of Lost Things, Hodder asked a wonderful artist named Rob Ryan (www.misterrob.co.uk) to design the cover, and it was brilliant from the very start. Rob works in paper, so the cover of the book is a single sheet of paper that's been very carefully cut with a blade. If you look closely at it, you can see that it's all one piece. Rob also did the cover for The Gates. When someone is that good, he doesn't need my input!
Grace wrote: "Welcome Mr. Connolly. "The Book of Lost Things" is the second book of yours that I've read. I also enjoyed "The Gates" (as an audio book).I like the quote from Friedrich Schiller: "Deeper meaning..."
I think we tend to latch on to fairy tales that have particular meaning for us, possibly because of something that resonates with our own childhood. I suppose I've always loved Hansel & Gretel because of the element of threat, and because it deals with something that all children eventually have to come to terms with: entry into the adult world, and leaving behind the protection of our parents. There's something of that in Red Riding Hood as well, but I think that story has greater resonance for young women than young men, as it's essentially a warning to women to beware of predatory male. (I hasten to add that I am not a predatory male...)
Oscar wrote: "Hello Mr. Connolly!One of the aspects from this book and some of the stories in Nocturnes that I enjoyed is how the stories are able to take the reader into the minds and eyes of children and all..."
I'm very flattered that you enjoyed Nocturnes, if "enjoyed" is the right word. Something of the genesis of The Book of Lost Things lies in those stories, The Erlking in particular.
I think part of the answer to your question lies in the dedication in The Book of Lost Thing: "For in every adult dwells the child that was, and in every child lies the adult that will be." I can recall a lot about myself as a child, and I think that, when we're frightened, something of that child is activated. The nature of our fears may change as we grow older, but the seed of them is sown when we're very young.
Tatiana wrote: "The Book of Lost Things is a book about a boy's childhood, and it's a very dark book. Many adults like to think that childhood is a rosy, innocent period in a person's life. Do you agree with this,..."I think Sendak had a pretty grim view of childhood, to be honest. My own childhood wasn't terrible, but I don't look back on it with any great fondness. I think nearly all children are straining towards adulthood. They WANT to be older. They want a little more power, a little more independence. Yes, they want the fallback of parents, and home, but on their own terms. Meanwhile, parents want their children to remain children for as long as possible, within reason. We enjoy the fact that they want to be with us, that they kind of like us, and maybe respect us occasionally. It gets harder when they want us to park around the block when we collect them from parties, and they're vaguely ashamed to be seen with us. Eventually a balance is struck, but it's always difficult for all parties for a while.
The adult world is hard, and I think its difficulties make us nostalgic for a time when we didn't have to contend with its demands, and its burdens. But would we really exchange adulthood for childhood? I don't think I would. I think I'm happier and more contented as an adult than I ever was as a child. At the very least, I'm doing something with my life that my childhood self dreamed of doing. I write, and I can't think of anything else that I wanted to do more. I like to think that the younger me wouldn't be too ashamed of what I've become...
Tatiana wrote: "You had written a few crime novels before you wrote The Book of Lost Things. What caused such a drastic genre change? Are you now attached to both genres - crime and horror equally? Or you prefer o..."It's funny, but I didn't look upon it as a drastic change, but rather a natural step. All writers only have one or two subjects about which they write, even if they occasionally experiment with different genres to do so, and one of mine is childhood. It recurs in the Parker books, in my short stories, in this book, and in the novels I've written for younger readers. I think I'm fascinated by that period of early adolescence when we begin the process of coming to terms with the adult world. By writing a book like The Book of Lost Things, or a lighter work like The Gates, I feel that I'm tackling the subject from a different angle, and trying to find another perspective on it. So what may seem like a radical shift from the outside doesn't seem quite so unusual to me, I suppose. In the end, I don't have a preference: I can do things in my Parker novels that I can't do in the Samuel Johnson books, and vice versa. Also, by moving between different genres, I get to test myself, to learn new skills, and so I tend to come refreshed to each new book because I don't feel that I'm repeating myself.
By the way, can I just say thanks to Good Reads, and to all who posted questions, for your interest in my odd little book. It's all very much appreciated!
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John wrote: "'m not sure that I ever thought of it as a fantasy book, really. It's a study of grief, and adolescence - in part based on my own childhood - but it's also about books, and how they change readers, and readers in turn bring something of themselves to every book that they read. Books are not fixed objects: we read and interpret them according to our own life experiences, which explains why a book may engross one reader while leaving another completely unmoved."Thank you! That's exactly how I saw the book. Thank you for stopping in. My mother died when I was a kid and I faced stepmother issues, and I've always loved books, so I loved the book, and I'd have probably loved it at age 11 too. I'm looking forward to your next books.
Thank you, Angie and Tatiana, for setting this up, and for all you do to help run this group!
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Thanks!! :)
Young Adult Book Reading Challenges
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