We are so excited to chat with Georgia Clark, author of The Regulars. Here, Georgia shares a few fun facts (like why she loves her 80s cell phone) about herself and the five books that have inspired her writing most
My 1980s Nokia brick phone. I never got a smartphone! You can’t group text me and if you send me a picture I’ll just get a little revolving symbol that won’t go away for days, which basically says: ‘Help, I’ve received something from the future and I don’t know what to do.’ It’s my best party trick and it only costs $30 a month.
Glamorama by Bret Easton Ellis. A monster of a book. A snarling, terrifying, truly impressive monster. This brutal, startling novel is Mr. Ellis in full control of his astounding literary ability, flexing like a jungle cat looking to intimidate his prey. Achingly hip, intensely vacuous Victor Ward accepts a mysterious offer to leave New York for London to track down a college friend, Jamie Fields, and return her to America. This plan quickly goes awry, and Victor’s shallow life of parties, paparazzi and posing nosedives into something much more serious and threatening. This very funny, very dark novel elevated my understanding of structure, satire and the art of story. I have read it many, many times.
My beloved Yoshitomo Nara woodblock print, an emerald-green cut glass bowl (possibly a 1970s ashtray?), two vases of dried flowers, a biography of Clara Bow and a family-size bottle of Melatonin.
The Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper – I was totally and completely obsessed with this young adult series as a kid. Hungrily consumed when my imagination was a ripe and fertile thing, I really felt like I was there, alongside the Drew family, searching for the legendary Holy Grail in the mysterious windswept hills of Cornwall. I have vivid memories of the Greenwitch, Will Stanton, the Things of Power; the mix of myth, magic and memory that all good fantasy-adventure stories possess. Being an Aussie, I was raised with equal parts American and British culture, and thus feel quite fond of UK classics such as The Five Children and It, the Narnia chronicles and the Famous Five. But The Dark is Rising was always my favorite, kicking off a lifetime love of action and adventure.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson – “We were somewhere around Barstow at the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to kick in.” I fell in love with the spoken word adaptation of this amazing novel during an ill-fated trip to Melbourne where the spacey friend I was supposed to be visiting ditched me for her weird new boyfriend, leaving me alone in her apartment. I was 21, had no money, a huge bag of weed, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. I must’ve listened to it twenty times that week. Not only is it funny and fearless and highly entertaining, the audio book is richly produced with a full dramatic cast including Harry Dean Stanton as narrator and Jim Jarmusch as Hunter T. Indie wet dream: this is a must.
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn – I was given this novel by my best friend with the wild-eyed you-have-to-read this endorsement known to all book lovers. This is my kind of story: snappily written, cleverly crafted, opinionated in ways I relate to, deliciously brutal, and just a cracker of a crime story. I loved what Gillian did with Amy’s character, it’s just so refreshing as a feminist to read a book like this. It was so thrilling to have such a good film adaption too, which of course is largely due to Gillian’s competence in adapting her own book—no easy feat. Much funnier than her earlier works and operating on more levels, Gone Girl scratches my itch by cutting it out with a knife—and I like it.
The Girls by Emma Cline – A new favorite. Emma Cline’s buzz book of the summer merits all the praise: believe the hype, people. While there’s so much to love here, I’ll focus on the two things that spoke the most to me. First, her literary gifts. It is so hard (for me) to write with such beauty and eloquence and make it feel easy and graceful. You have to realize that someone like Emma must be practicing great restraint not to shove her talent down your throat: her prose is consistently elegant and surprising. Secondly, her rendering of the teen girl experience. Such a wise storyteller makes everyone else seem like cliché-ridden buffoons. I had the odd experience of having my life reflected back to me by a person I didn’t know. And that, my friends, is why we read.
Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding – I was about to dive into In Cold Blood by Mr. Capote but realized it was all getting a little grim and hey, I write funny books! So let’s chat about the lady that started the franchise, Ms. Bridget Jones. First things first: this is not a perfect novel (what novel is?). Yes, Bridget obsesses over her weight and yes, this follows the tried-and-true rom-com formula of quirky-gal-who-falls-over-a-lot-teaching-an-emotional-vacuum-how-to-love. But: this is a funny book. This is a compulsively readable, you-don’t-need-to-come-up-for-air book that is delicious and laugh-out-loud hilarious. Bridget’s voice is distinctive, relatable and possibly even empowering. Hoorah for singletons! Hoorah for drinking too much white wine on a school night! Hoorah for Bridget!
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