My Life In Books ~ talking to author SJI Holliday

My Life in Books is an occasional feature on Random Things Through My Letterbox

I've asked authors to tell us about the books that are special to them and have made a lasting impression on their life.

Please join me in welcoming author Susi Holliday to Random Things today. Susi writes under the Black Wood on Random Things in August last year.  Just click on the title of the book to take a look at my review.

name SJI Holliday. I read and reviewed her first book

Susi's second novel Willow Walk was published as an ebook by Black and White Publishing on 5 May, the paperback will be available in the shops on 10 June.  I really enjoyed Black Wood and am so looking forward to reading Willow Walk, look out for my review later this month.

My Life In Books ~ SJI Holliday

The Worst Witch by Jill Murphy   Mildred Hubble was the original Harry Potter, except that she's a full witch (not half-muggle) and she is a catastrophe. I loved the books and the TV series, and I really, really wanted to go to boarding school ........ almost as much as I wanted to be a witch.

Tokyo / The Devil of Nanking by Mo Hayder  A crime horror mixture of 1990s Toky and 1937 Naking, this is one of those fascinating reads that makes you question many things. The main character, Grey, is intriguing and fascinating and the history that I learned from this book was shocking and heartbreaking. I have visited the Nanking Memorial Museum, and photographed Jizo Statues in Tokyo - both as a direct result of reading this book that I couldn't get out of my head.

Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann  One of the books that my mum had when I was a teen that I wasn't supposed to read. Fascinating, terrifying and still horribly relevant now as it was back in the 60s. It's not a horror though - it's about real people and the fakery of their lifestyles in the land of the rich and famous.

Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown   One of those kids' books that is just sheer genius. Stanley gets flattened in a tragic accident, but that's not going to stop him living a fun, full life. I particularly like it when he gets posted. Has to be the best way to travel?

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis  Gruesomely fascinating and darkly funny. This is an excellent portrayal of a psychopath during the hedonistic New York 80s. Patrick Bateman will always be one of my favourite fictional bad guys.

IT by Stephen King   I was a huge fan of Stephen King in my youth. I still am now - but it's the books from back then that still resonate. That scary clown, Pennywise, peering up from a storm drain, is the stuff of nightmares. 

They all float.

SJI Holliday ~ May 2016

S J I Holliday grew up in Haddington, East Lothian. She spent many years working in her family's newsagent and pub before going off to study microbiology and statistics at university.

She has worked as a statistician in the pharmaceutical industry for over sixteen years, but it was on a six-month round-the-world-trip that she took with her husband ten years ago that she rediscovered her passion for writing.

Her first novel Black Wood was published in 2015.

You can find out more at www.sjiholliday.com

on her Author page on Facebook

and on Twitter @SJIHolliday

Willow Walk is published 5th May in eBook and 10th June in paperback.

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