by Jonny on Jun 8, 2009 at 9:44 am
It’s true! May Contain Nuts – a satire about competitive, over-protective parents driving their children to tutors, to ballet, and to insanity – will be hitting the small screen very soon, so be sure to set that VCR (or the most modern equivalent…) in preparation. In the mean time, check out this teaser:
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jE6KqvFQD0k]
Buy your copy of the book here
Praise for May Contain Nuts:
“As hilarious as it is spot-on” – MAIL ON SUNDAY
Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year at Harrogate Festival
‘The Accident Man’ by Tom Cain, ‘Bad Luck and Trouble’ by Lee Child and ‘Ritual’ by Mo Hayder have all been shortlisted for the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2009. Public voting for these and the other 11 shortlisted titles is now open. Visit the Harrogate Crime Festival website before 22nd July to vote for your favourite.
One vote per person!
We at between-the-lines were very sad to say goodbye to Paolo Giordano after his visit to the UK last week. To cheer ourselves up, please find below an interview with the man himself. For those of you that haven’t got a copy of The Solitude of Prime Numbers, what are you waiting for! Firstly with 1.2 million copies sold in Italy alone, did you ever envisage this phenomenal success of your first novel?
No, absolutely not. When I was writing the novel, I was completely unaware how the world of books functions. I was only a reader with my own confused reading journey behind me and with the desire to write. My ambition was unable to go beyond the idea of publishing, that already, by itself, seemed to me an unattainable goal. Only when I saw the enthusiasm with which the book was received by Mondadori, my Italian Publisher, where everyone read it in less than one month, I started to think that maybe it would also be liked abroad. But I didn’t (and I still don’t) pay attention to numbers.
For those that haven’t read your book, one of the most interesting aspects is the way you explores how mathematical patterns of numbers can be used to interpret relationships. The two protagonists are viewed as prime numbers, solitary and alone and separated by an even number either side. What made you decide to incorporate mathematics into your fiction? Does the book reflect your own passion for numbers and your own outlook on the world?
My university training is strictly scientific: I graduated in physics and then I embarked on a PhD in the same field. Therefore, the view of the world through the filter of mathematics, of the quantification, is part of my way of thinking and I can’t do without it. To know mathematics, for me, it’s a bit like speaking a foreign language: it allows you to express in a simple manner some concepts that in other languages would result complex and artificial.
When I started the novel, then, I thought that it would be better to start from “what I knew better”. Each specialised discipline, I believe, brings with itself an immense metaphoric and narrative potential. Science, like economy, like cookery or making paper aeroplanes. I simply decided to exploit my own baggage.
