Writers Reading - Cat Connor

Hagelrat:

Writers reading is a regular (though how regular has yet to be determined) feature wher ewe get to have a look round an authors bookshelves and they talk a little about the collection, or specific books. Today's guest is Cat Connor author of the Ellie Conway books Killerbyte and Terrorbyte both of which we have reviewed here on Un:Bound. Cat has also been a guest interviewer here, grilling her character Ellie and I am delighted to welcome her back..

Cat:

Howdy folks - remember me? Oh come on - you do so! It's me, Cat!

There ya go -the penny dropped. Excellent!

The very lovely Hagelrat has invited me along to show you my bookcases! I gotta say, I'm loving this whole writers reading thing Un:bound has going on.

I'm tossing some pics in here of the accessible books. I still have boxes of books in the wardrobes since we re-decorated two and a half years ago and I can't find anywhere to put them all! One in particular contains almost my entire Janet Evanovich collection and worryingly I can't find that box. Have also managed to loan untold books to Bex (scariest-of-all-daughters) and find they don't come back very quickly!

I'm currently reading 206 Bones by Kathy Reichs, so that's on my bedside table. (sorry no pic, I'm just not feeling like trudging upstairs right now!) Most often it's Jeffrey Deaver that I read at night or something from Janet Evanovich's Plum series. Although the other week I re-read David Devereux's Memoirs of an Exorcist - perhaps not the best choice for bedtime reading.

If you take a gander at the bigger of the bookcases -you can probably see there are a lot of reference books. When sitting at our dining room table these are in eyesight. Guests have commented on my choices of reading material - I'm wondering if being faced with books on poison, how to kill, weapons, murder, missing persons, terrorism and body trauma are in some way disconcerting for dinner guests? Maybe the books on magick, psychic phenomena, secret societies and witchcraft don't offset their general feeling of unease? If that's true then it's probably a good thing my tarot collection is in a wooden box on top of the small book cases and not on display.

Having thought about that for a few minutes - I'm wondering what Squealers psychologist thought... I already know what the NZ Intelligence Service think.

I am at a loss to haul out five books and talk about them. It's just not that easy. If pushed (really hard) I'd say some of my favorite books are 'The worst-case scenario handbooks', (I have five of them) they're so much fun and so very practical. I feel fully confident in foiling a UFO abduction, and landing a plane. I'm also rather partial to 'The action heroine's handbook' which taught me how to fend off the undead and how to land a failing helicopter - because you just never know! Quite frankly, the skill set taught by 'The action hero's handbook' can't be overlooked either. I can tell you that knowing how to perform th

e Vulcan nerve pinch is damned handy. It's right up there with escaping from a sinking cruise ship... again..you just never know.

As a writer - I read for both entertainment and information. I'm lucky that I can still enjoy books and not get caught on the mechanics of a scene.A good book is one I can't put down or if I have to put it down, it bugs me until I can pick it up again.

I'll read almost anything unless it has vampires (sparkly or otherwise) I don't like vampire stories, never have and I suspect I never will, anything else is fine.

And a little known reader fact: when I was a teenager I loved Westerns, The Thundering Herd by Zane Grey was my favorite.

Enjoy seeing what you can find in my bookcases.

Thanks for having me and my bookcases over to play, Hagelrat!