On tour: Meet the author Tom Rob Smith
Tom Rob Smith is the author of the psychological thriller The Farm (S & S). He is a guest of Adelaide Writers’ Week in February and March.
What would you put on a shelf-talker for your book?
I was in New York recently and bought Reinaldo Arenas’ Before Night Falls (Serpent’s Tail) after reading a bookseller’s handwritten shelf-talker, his heartfelt recommendation of the book. I could tell from just a few sentences how much the book had moved him. So I can’t imagine writing a shelf-talker to my own novel; it doesn’t seem right somehow. Shelf-talkers are about—to me at least—readers with no particular stake in the novel’s success, explaining how and why they came to love it. They’re really a wonderful way to discover new books. I’d ask someone else to write it.
What are you reading right now?
For a long time I used to only read one book at a time, but I recently discovered the virtues of combining two very different books, so I’m reading In the Heart of the Sea (HarperCollins), which is about the Essex whaling ship that inspired Moby Dick (and has been turned into a movie), and I’m also reading Helen Garner’s Monkey Grip (Penguin). Before I go on a book tour I always try and read as many great novels from the country I’m visiting as possible.
What are you planning to read next?
I’m reading a lot of research for my new novel, which I won’t list here, but I plan to read more Australian authors before arriving in February, I have a long list, but I thought I’d go with My Brother Jack (HarperCollins) next.
Which book do you always recommend?
Norwegian Wood (Vintage), And the Band Played On (Hodder & Stoughton), The Periodic Table (Penguin), and now, I think I’d add Before Night Falls (Serpent’s Tail). If someone was asking after a thriller, I’d suggest Crime and Punishment or Silence of the Lambs (Arrow Books).
What was the defining book of your childhood?
There were lots, but Roald Dahl was probably the author I most passionately enjoyed.
If you were a literary character you’d be …
Edited out? Who knows.
What’s your favourite book adaptation (film, television or theatre)?
Recently, I thought Life of Pi was incredible.
Hardback, paperback or digital?
I love hardback for my bookshelves and the sheer beauty of them as objects. I read paperbacks mostly. I like the convenience of digital. I have 10 books on my phone, which has a large screen, and it’s useful to be able to read a novel off my phone if, for some reason, I’m caught with nothing to do. But I don’t get the same sense of completion as I do when I finish a hardback or paperback.
Facebook or Twitter?
Facebook.
In 50 years’ time books will be …
The way people consume information is changing, but there is a limit to how much information you can gain from visual forms of communication and expression. There is simply no better way, yet invented, to understand a topic, other than to read extensively about it.
Tags: ontour
Category: Features
