While I should be writing

The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend US release

So, in just about two weeks, my book will be published in the US, and it is of course absolutely amazing. Being published in the US in general is amazing (I confess that my first thought when hearing about it was: Broken Wheel will be able to read about themselves!), and so far everyone has been increadibly nice about it.

Here’s what a few people are saying about it so far:

#1 Indie January 2016 Next Great Read Pick

“One of the conundrums facing a true bibliophile has always been: books or people? Sara has spent her entire life in Sweden working in a bookshop and her answer has always been obvious: books. An unexpected pen pal relationship with Amy — an older book lover from Iowa — challenges that easy answer and forces her to reconsider her view of herself and the world. After months of corresponding, trading books and sharing details of one another’s lives, Amy invites Sara to come visit her one-stoplight town, Broken Wheel, for a summer of reading and getting to know small-town America. However, when Sara arrives, she is greeted by Amy’s funeral procession. Thousands of miles from home, with a return ticket dated two months hence, Sara is at a loss for what to do. So, naturally, with Amy’s collection of books, she opens a bookstore. Filled with familiar literary references, charming and quirky townsfolk, and plenty of scheming, plotting, and shenanigans that could only occur in a place like Broken Wheel, Bivald’s feel-good novel explores that ever-present question: books or people? Read the book and enjoy reaching your own conclusions.” —Erin Figel, pages: a bookstore, Manhattan Beach, CA – See more here

Amazon.com Best Book of the Month:

“Much like champagne punch, Bivald’s book-club-perfect tale of the tiny and slowly dying town of Broken Wheel, Iowa, is frothy and fun even as it sneaks up on you to deliver an emotional wallop. When Sara, a young Swedish woman who is at loose ends after losing her bookseller job, comes to visit her pen pal Amy in Broken Wheel, her first shock is that Amy has just died from a chronic ailment. The second surprise is that the citizens of Broken Wheel expect Sara to stay in Amy’s house anyway. When Sara uncovers Amy’s delightful stash of books, Sara decides to open a bookstore in the one-block-long downtown, inadvertently sparking a renaissance in Broken Wheel as the residents come together to help the store become a success. Garnished with plenty of book and character references from popular books such as Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe and Bridget Jones’s Diary, this charming fish-out-of-water story will remind you why you’re a booklover.”—Adrian Liang

Nina George, New York Times bestselling author of The Little Paris Bookshop:“A manifesto for booksellers, booklovers, and friendship. We should all celebrate these little bookstores, where our souls find home… one of these books you want to live in for a while.”

Nickolas Butler, internationally bestselling author of Shotgun Lovesongs and Beneath the Bonfire: “The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend is one of the more surprisingly improbable and delightful books I’ve read in years.  What begins as an unlikely international friendship based on a mutual love of books becomes a sweet and soulful discovery of America.  Quirky, unpredictable, funny, and fresh – a wonderful book.”

Bookshops in Portland and San Francisco

So, I’m going to the US in a few days to meet a friend. I’m flying in to meet him in Portland, where he used to work and study, and then we’re driving to Oakland/San Francisco together, where he lives today. Naturally, I’m thrilled to get to spend time with him, but, more importantly: the bookshops!

I’ve already emailed my American publisher asking them to recommend some great ones, and they have, of course, delivered. So now I just have to tell my friend about my new plan to spend two of our ten days together on a bookshop extravaganza.

Then again, he knows me quite well. He might have already seen it coming.

Do you have any great bookshops in Portland or San Francisco (or Oakland) for me?

Publication day: 500 books are, well, a lot

This Thursday, 18th of June, my novel was published in England, and what a glorious day it was too!

It began at the reception of Penguin Random House on Vauxhall Bridge Road, currently decorated in fifty shades of grey. As I was waiting for Louise to come and get me, I overherad one receptionist saying to another: ”Mr Grey’s birthday cake has arrived.”

And then we were off to beautiful and charming Heywood Hill, the very first bookstore I visited on my last trip, and the one that recommended Five Children and It. I sat there and signed some books when David Mitchell came in, charming and polite to a fellow newbie writer. ”Hello there, Fellow writer”, said he, and then proceeded to eat an apple, generiously donated by Heywood Hill.

Next stop was Foyles, this haven for booklovers, where I signed by books next to piles of  David Mitchell’s The Bone Clocks. My only regret on this day is that I had finished before he turned up, so I didn’t get a chance to buy a signed copy (obviously I’ll have to return and get one). Jonathan of Foyles spoke enthusiastically about him and his books: Apparantly, according to Jonathan, he has the next four ones thought out, and every book takes approximately four years to write.

”But…” I said, slightly awed, ”that means he has the next 16 years thought out for him? Isn’t that slightly terrifying?” Although my memory of David Mitchell from Heywood Hill did not suggest that he was in any way struggling under the burden of sixteen years of work ahead of him. I might have missunderstood it of course.

I was also a guest of Foyles blog, where I wrote about the curse of being a bisexual book-lover and What I’ve learned from living with my nose in a book.

The afternoon was spent at wonderful Goldsboro Books, signing 500 copies of my book. They’re having it as their Book of the month for July, which is of course absolutely amazing. I have to say I hadn’t really thought about how many books 500 copies actually are.

It was a great sight. A beautiful special edition with dark blue edges on the pages, and piles and piles of books. Sam had only worked at Goldsboro Books for two weeks, but she had already learned the importance of placing herself strategically, most of the time hiding the more terrifying piles so that I could focus on the more managable pile on the desk.

Ps. I did not get tired in my hand, but I have to admit that my own signature (not to mention todays date) started to look very weird after a few hundred books.

How not to write a thank you note to Fannie Flagg

Fannie Flagg has read my book. She has liked it. And she has been kind enough to write a few words about it. My publisher kindly offered to forward any little thank you-note I might want to write to her.

The process of writing a short thank you-note to Fannie Flagg:

Ask all your friends about what to write. Decide firmly on a maximum of one sheet, or one and a half page. Write a draft. Accept two sheets, and four pages. Write a second draft. Buy two different kinds of thick, creamy white writing paper “of exceptional quiality”. Re-write the letter. Try two different envelopes and two different ways of folding it. Worry that the thick, white envelope  looks like a wedding invitation. Worry that it also looks slightly pretentious. Ponder whether the other size really was better. Re-write letter again on different size for comparison. Fold two blank pages in order to find best way of folding it without creasing it. Write To Fannie Flagg on envelope and add letter. Have sudden panic in case you accidently added the two blank pages instead. Double check. Realize that both the envelope and letter are now creased. Accept and send anyway.

All completely normal.