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Patrick Ness at Edinburgh International Book Festival

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Image by Karyn Dougan

The wonderful time of year has returned where Charlotte Square Gardens is transformed into a tented haven filled with fellow book lovers.

This year I was by the gate before it opened on Saturday at 9.30am in time to see Patrick Ness discuss his latest book, The Crane Wife.

Although I’d seen him at Aye Write in April, I was joined by BookTube friends Jean and Katie and we decided to set the tone before a long day’s book shopping (and bookshop hopping) with two more.

The event took place in the Guardian Spiegeltent – a venue which I’ve mistaken for a café these past two years – with cabaret style seating and free teas and coffees provided.

Ness was as affable and charming as ever, providing a reading from the book’s first few pages and a familiar Q&A session surrounding his writing habits, style, and philosophies.

He outed writers who justify lack of plot as style as being shit at plot (probably true), and admonished the genre versus literary fiction cliques in which authors often partake. This in particular was interesting to hear from him alone, as the topic was touched upon briefly alongside Matt Haig in April – a writer who seems to align more with the genre camp.

He also gave encouragement to a couple of keen audience members, shaking off his early nerves with a couple of sharp anecdotes. I recorded the event in full, and you can download it over here.

After the event I went along to the festival book shop to have my copy of The Crash of Hennington signed. He said it’s a rare signed copy (he’d already signed The Crane Wife for me in Glasgow), adding that as a first novel he sees a lot of mistakes in it, things he’d do differently now, but on the whole he thought it holds up. (I tend to agree – review coming soon!)

Stay tuned for round-ups of the other events I’ll be taking in at EIBF 2013, including Nate Silver and Margaret Atwood, as well as my forthcoming review of Patrick Ness’ upcoming novel, More Than This.

Related posts: Patrick Ness & Matt Haig at Aye Write, John Green at Edinburgh International Book Festival

Mark Kermode at Edinburgh Book Festival

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Once there was a modest film blog, and it began with a review of an in-person event: Mark Kermode’s It’s Only a Movie book tour.

Well, we’ve come full circle, and much sooner than I had expected.

This weekend, I popped through to Edinburgh to take in the festivals and visit the bequiffed film critic on the first stop of his latest book tour. A follow-up to It’s Only A Movie: Reel Life Adventures of a Film Obsessive; The Good, The Bad and The Multiplex examines blockbuster culture. Poking holes in the film distribution model, key rants include the existence of Michael Bay and why Pearl Harbour is one of the highest-grossing, worst films of all time. Kermode also discusses the reasons why Inception negates every excuse for the persistent dumbing down in blockbusters, and the notion of “diminished expectations”.

Bonus features from the interview in Edinburgh also included a eulogy on the lost craft of projection – which gleefully coincided with a love-letter to Zac Efron (particularly his hair).

If you saw him on his last tour and listen to the Wittertainment radio show or podcast, there’s not much new material here, but if you enjoy Kermode’s trademark diatribes and eloquent written pontification, his presentation is always a joy.

An excerpt from the book was published in this week’s Observer, and is available to read on the Guardian website. The book itself is released this Thursday 1 September.

Mark Kermode’s The Good, The Bad and the Multiplex book tour continues in Shetland, Belfast, and various cities cross England throughout September. Click here for the full schedule.