My life in books: I couldn’t believe somebody built ‘Jurassic Park’ on blank paper
Catherine Ryan Howard: 'I thought I’d never understand why people risk life and limb — and spend a small fortune — attempting to summit Everest until I read by John Krakauer. ' Picture: Bríd O'Donovan.
Catherine Ryan Howard is a bestselling crime writer, originally from Cork, and now based in Dublin.
Her latest book, , published by Transworld, is out now.
Glen Berger’s is criminally entertaining and always makes me feel better about whatever I’m writing because no matter how bad things are, at least I’m not suffering like he did on that project.
Bonus: excellent Bono and the Edge anecdotes.
by Michael Crichton, which I first read when I was 11. I couldn’t believe someone built that on blank paper.
by Caro Claire Burke. Oh, the utter joy of a super-hyped book that is turning out to be a fantastic read, to truly deserve it.
It was one of the most gleefully entertaining reading experiences I can remember having.
I rarely cry at books but I bawled at the end of by Jessica Knoll, which is a thinly veiled retelling of Ted Bundy’s sorority murders but from the survivors’ point of view.
The title comes from the judge at Bundy’s sentencing hearing calling him — this serial killer, this brutal rapist, this paedophile — ‘a bright young man’.
I thought I’d never understand why people risk life and limb — and spend a small fortune — attempting to summit Everest until I read by John Krakauer.
Afterwards, I got it: they think we’re the incomprehensible ones, for not wanting to. What we think is pointless risk is, to them, the only route to fully living.
Mine, that will be out next summer. The working title is . I just delivered the first draft and am awaiting my first round of editorial notes with the usual mixture of impatience and dread.
I hate first drafts with the fire of a thousand suns; this bit, the reworking and redrafting and polishing and perfecting, is what’s fun for me, so I’m itching to get going.
I’m sure that will change the moment I have to
If Nasa’s recent Artemis II lunar flyby sparked your interest, I insist you read by Andrew Smith.
It’s an incredibly accessible and hugely entertaining book about Smith’s attempt to track down the remaining Apollo moonwalkers and ask them: ‘Where do you go after you’ve been to the moon?’ One of my favourite non-fiction titles of all time.
It’s hard to beat , which I think is actually better than the book.
I also consider to be the gold standard of modern thriller adaptations because it captures the book’s exact vibes on screen. That is no easy feat, even though people seem to think it is.
Earlier this year my novel was adapted by Prime Video and while I loved the result and had the absolute time of my life the whole way through the process, I am now acutely aware of how little the average reader understands about what adaptation means, let alone how it works.
I am a huge fan of Ikea’s Kallax shelves — Billy can get in the bin — which lends itself to grouping books together in its little cubes.
I have a space-book shelf, a Paris-travelogue shelf, a shelf (I think I’m up to 10 editions, including a signed first), etc.
So some organisation, yes, but no home needs the Dewey Decimal system.
As far as I’m concerned, Michael Connelly’s detective Harry Bosch is a real person.
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