Come and talk to author NICK HORNBY about his latest novel, Funny Girl, his previous bestsellers and his exceptional writing career on Wednesday 1st July, 9-10pm

[TillyMumsnetBookClub]

Nick Hornby’s sunny new novel FUNNY GIRL is set in the 1960s, in a burgeoning era of television comedy where old rules are beginning to crumble and a new energy is transforming the scene. A young beauty queen from Blackpool arrives fresh in the big city, changes her name to Sophie Straw and lands a part in a new sitcom, written by comedy aficionados Tony and Bill. Her natural talent captivates an enormous audience and catapaults them all to national stardom. Hornby has always been a master at capturing the zeitgeist, with a knack for pulling out the right detail or the perfect reference. In this novel, he beautifully captures all the exuberance, social upheaval and excitement of the period, suffused with a love for this golden age of light entertainment.

You can find out more on our book of the month page, or take a look at Nick’s own website for the latest updates and info on all his (stunningly redesigned) previous books.

Penguin have very generously offered 50 copies of FUNNY GIRL to give to Mumsnetters. To claim yours, please go to the book of the month page and fill in your details. We’ll post here when the copies have gone. If you’re not lucky enough to bag one of those, you can always get a copy here

We are thrilled and honoured that Nick Hornby will be chatting to us live on Wednesday 1st July, 9-10pm. So whether you have a question about FUNNY GIRL, about any of Nick’s bestselling novels or would like to hear more about Nick’s writing life, please come along and say hello. Look forward to seeing you on Wednesday 1st..

I was hoping I'd prompt a cross-post, Barricade!

@BearAusten

I have really enjoyed this humorous novel. I found it to be an easy, light read.

The eclectic range of characters work particularly well together. The central characters and their relationships do not seem at all contrived, perhaps because they are flawed and have complicated lives and backgrounds. I have an affection for all of them, especially Sophie. Surprisingly, I felt a certain degree of sympathy for Clive, even taking into account that he was a serial philanderer and rather self obsessed.

I liked the way the fictional characters were grounded in history by real people, cartoons and photographs from the sixties, the period in which the novel is set.

Looking at the back of the book, I noticed the photograph on the book cover is by John French, a fashion photographer. (I initially I thought this was a contemporary photograph, not an authentic one from the fifties/sixties.) Did you choose this image for the cover? Which cover do you prefer the hardback version or the paperback one?

Did you watch the first series of Till Death Us Do Part? Did you watch repeats of 'I Love Lucy'? What comedy programmes did you watch when you were a child?

Did you watch the first series of Till Death Us Do Part?

I have seen episodes since, but even I was too young to watch it at the time. I did, however, go to a recording of a much later episode, maybe an episode from series 5, when I was a teenager. My father was a friend of Roy Kinnear, and he gave us tickets.

Did you watch repeats of 'I Love Lucy'?

Yes – I watched with my mum and my sister in the 1960s, a Sunday afternoon treat. We all loved her.

What comedy programmes did you watch when you were a child?

Mostly cartoons. I was always confused by the canned laughter in Top Cat and so on – did adults really go to a studio and watch cartoons and laugh at things that patently weren’t funny? It took me years to find out they didn’t. But I remember All Gas and Gaiters, Not In Front of the Children, Never Mind The Quality Feel The Width (long titles, in the ‘60s!) and the Liver Birds. I loved Mary Tyler Moore, and Rhoda. My grandmother loved Harry Worth, who used to drive me demented.

@Annamaria0

Hi, I am a fan, and I'm currently enjoying Funny Girl (thank you, Mumsnet!). My son, called Nicholas:-), has autism, and I know you have a son with ASD. As a writer personally affected by ASD, what do you think of the bestselling books where the central character has high-functioning autism? Have you ever been tempted to write about people on the spectrum (also lower - functioning ones)?

I haven’t read that many of these books. The ones I have read have made me a little bit impatient – I can’t recognise anything of my son in them, and occasionally the symptoms of these characters seem a little too conveniently flexible. My son has severe autism, and it’s a constant, very difficult battle. I haven’t yet figured out a way of writing about it that would make sense to those whose lives are not affected by it. But mostly, I think, I don’t read or write about it because I need to carve out a corner of life that isn’t dominated by it. Some parents read about it obsessively, others are more reluctant. We all have to get by in the ways that suit us.

I loved Sophie in the book - she was so lovely, bright and a feminist! Did you base her on anyone?

@ohidoliketobe

I'm part way through this book and really enjoying it. I'd like to ask Nick the following - Being from the area myself (although a child of the 80s not 60s) from quizzing parents / grandparents and my own local knowledge you seem pretty much spot on with all your references about Blackpool (e.g rho hills department store (. Do you have a connection to the area or was it just very thorough research? Also, I'd be interested to know why you chose for Barbara to be from there and what you feel it adds to her character

All the Blackpool stuff, RHO Hills and so on, was research. I don’t have any connection to the area. There were a lot of reasons why I chose Blackpool. I wanted a place that was a fair distance from London, to emphasise Barbara’s homesickness and bewilderment when she first arrives. I wanted her to have a recognisable regional accent. I wanted her to come from a town that hosted beauty contests. And there’s also something slightly heartbreaking now about northern English seaside towns. When Barbara wins Miss Blackpool, we were just about to undergo profound change when it came to our choice of holiday destinations – the ‘60s was when we developed our preference for European package holidays. Cheap flights and no currency controls meant that millions of us chose to go abroad for proper sun. Blackpool was about to shrink in the consciousness of the nation as a destination for fun and relaxation.

@noordinarylipstick

Do you think women do fandom differently from men? If so, how?

I think they do, slightly. Lots of men hang on to the things they loved as children and teenagers - cars, football, Led Zeppelin. Women tend to let their things drop the moment they hit adulthood. I don’t like to generalise about men and women, because the differences between the genders have become so eroded. But my nieces are no longer as keen on One Direction and McFly as they were; I fear that my sons will be devoted Arsenal fans forever.

Hi Nick! I really enjoyed reading Funny Girl, and your other novels. The characters are brilliant, and I liked the north-south divide element in this one. Did you go to Blackpool as a child? Did you do a lot of research into the beauty pageants?

Ah, you can ignore that one as you've answered already!

I'd like to know what your writing routine is Nick. Do you have a rigid timetable? And what's on your desk?

@hackmum

Hello, Nick! Have just thought of another question. I'm going to be at a school prize giving thing tomorrow night so not sure I'll be home in time for the answers, but we'll see. In the meantime, I have another question. A lot of your books have been made into films, but Juliet, Naked hasn't. I was wondering why that was - when I read it, I remember thinking what a great film it would make. Of course, someone would have to write the songs, but that would be part of the joy, wouldn't it? Anyway, just wondering whether anyone had shown an interest in filming it - I realise there's many a slip twixt cup and lip when it comes to turning books into films.

(As an aside, I loved An Education and am very pleased to see that you're turning Love, Nina into a tv series.)

Juliet, Naked was optioned for film in the year it came out. Since then, everything has been very, very slow. There are still plans, however. Just about everything has taken five or six years to make, so this one is about average. How To Be Good was optioned in 2001, and still someone is trying to do it…

Hi Nick,
Thank you for coming on to mumsnet and talking to us. I have recently finished reading "funny Girl" and enjoyed it immensely. I loved the relationship between Tony and Bill and wanted to ask if you drew on a particular real life couple for inspiration?
I also really liked Barbara / Sophie. As a man how do you manage to write from a female perspective?
Several of your books have been made into movies. After spending a considerable amount of time pouring your heart and soul into your novel, how do you cope personally when whole chunks are left on the cutting room floor?
Funny Girl is my fave of your books so far. It made me laugh, your wry prose is very clever and I personally think it's the hardest thing to make someone laugh.
As an aside do you still have time to go to the Aresnal. My DH is a lifelong fan and we read Fever Pitch together !

Hi Nick. Do you like seeing your books made into a film? High Fidelity is my best example of a film that is just as good as the book, I really enjoyed both. About a Boy translated to film pretty well too. (I admit to never having seen or read Fever Pitch because I suspect there might be something about football in it.)

What it is like trying to get inside a woman's head to write from a female point of view? Is it something that comes easily to you, and do you have female readers early on to check it works?!

Thank you for my copy - just finished. I haven't really read any of Nick Hornby's other works and have watched "About a Boy" in parts but I really enjoyed this. Coming from a theatrical background I could relate to how the relationships would work out - quite scary!! With the picture inserts it really felt like I was in a film, in a book.

Initially, when writing - do you think about whether or not the story would transfer to Film/Television, or is that just an added bonus when the book is successful? and do you love "Lucy" xx

@Donatellalymanmoss

Hi Nick, just wanted to say thank you for the contribution you made to my English A-level 20 years ago. I was required to produce a piece of creative writing and was struggling for inspiration when I came across an excerpt from 'High Fidelty' in a magazine. The excerpt was the list of top 5 break ups so for each of these I wrote the other side of the story. My teacher told me that the examiners were really excited to see something that hadn't been done before.

Anyway, thank you for helping me get a B and good luck for the new book I will add it to my to be read list.

Ha! Pleasure. Happy to have helped. It’s very strange, though, when the books somehow creep onto syllabuses, or involve themselves in formal education in some way. I wasn’t thinking about any of that when I wrote them.

The line between Jim and Barbara and Sophie and Clive are continually blurred by them, the writers and also the public. How central to the novel was to keep the relationship continually evolving and complicated?

@omgpmt247

I was supposed to be saving my free copy to read on holiday but made the mistake of telling myself I'd just read the first couple of pages. Can't put it down now! Wonderful to read a novel with a female lead, particularly one with inteligence, wit and a well formed BS filter. I wondered if Nick had any particular female celebrities in mind, whilst writinf this book. I also wondered which females had played particularly formative roles (positive or negative?) in Nick's own life.

One of the things that inspired the book was the absence of British comediennes around that time. The US had Lucille Ball, and as a consequence they got Mary Tyler Moore and Goldie Hawn and a whole series of gifted funny women. But our comedy was very blokey, as Barbara says at the beginning of the book. The Likely Lads, Steptoe and Son…Even Monty Python used men dressed as women. I wanted to put an actress in the gap that seems to have been there.

I lived in an all-female household, with my mum, sister and grandmother. And, I think crucially, my first editor was a woman – I knew that she would be the first reader of Fever Pitch, and that made a difference to the book, I think.

@mollkat

Thank you for my copy MN- I am a dedicated and delighted Nick Hornby fan and have loved everything I have read, especially when written from a male viewpoint - what a privilege, and refutation of the belief that men are emotional voids. I am enjoying this book too although the flow is quite different - what made you choose a female protagonist this time Nick?

I’m in a real run of female protagonists – I have written six movies, TV series or books in the last few years, all in a row, that have a young woman at the centre. An Education with Carey Mulligan, Funny Girl, Reese Witherspoon’s Wild, forthcoming adaptations of Love, Nina and Brooklyn, and an original screenplay for Rosamund Pike. That’s where I’m at, and I’m not sure why, but I really enjoy doing it. Maybe the problems of young women are inherently more dramatic, because the obstacles they have to overcome are more pronounced – especially in the recent past (Funny Girl, Brooklyn, An Education.) I’m just starting a screenplay about a guy, and it’s feeling strange.

Really interesting reading your replies to all the questions. It's great to gain a little insight into the working mind of an accomplished author ...

Sorry, I have already asked a few questions, but yesterday I was listening to your sister talking about her new book and it made me quite envious. I would love to come from a literary background. I probably have romanticized the notion but it must be really great to be able to have this in common with close family. Have you encouraged your children to read? If so have you any tips on how to engage two preteen boys? I think I may have tried too hard but my love of reading has not been passed on to them!

@FernieB

I particularly liked the use of photos throughout the book. It made it seem like an autobiography. Why did you choose to use photos and how did you go about selecting them?

Once I had decided to include them, I began to wonder why all historical novels set in the recent past don’t do it. It began because I was using the pictures as a kind of mood reel – they were in a file that I could access whenever I wanted to get into a 60s frame of mind. And then I realized that young people, and readers in the US and Europe, wouldn’t know who Marcia Williams or Alf Garnett were. And I wanted the book to feel as real as possible. The intention was to place the characters and the TV series into real history without disturbing it, so the photos help create the feeling of authenticity I was after.

I agree barricade, I feel a bit overcome to have had my question answered and am trying to think of another to stay in the chat ????

Thank you for answering my questions. I remember watching Top Cat. I used to like Benny. It must have been interesting having Roy Kinnear as a friend of your father's, was he an influence on your life in any shape or form?

As a consequence of Sophie's on-screen name being Barbara, I was reminded of Tom and Barbara in The Good Life. Much too late in the day to have any relevance to your novel. However, Richard Briers, who played Tom, also took the lead in the sitcom, Marriage Lines in 1961 -6. How Marriage Lines is described it seems somewhat of a lighter comedy than Barbara (and Jim). Are you acquainted with this sitcom? Do you think Barbara (and Jim) would have been too radical with its sexual overtones, Marriage Guidance episodes, separation etc. to be aired by the BBC in the 1960s?

Some posts ago, Booksandwool remarked 'They all had downbeat endings'. Tony had a rich career and married the woman he loved. Sophie had a long career and had a happy marriage. I thought that was quite a happy ending. The Biographies section highlighted that they had all succeeded in their own way.

Interesting point about writing the characters around the history, without disturbing it. To make this possible, how did you research the fictional characters and make them fit in?

Bear - I agree, I thought they they had upbeat positive endings to their stories.