My interview with author, Mindy Friddle
Can I just say how much I love the name Mindy Friddle? I like the assonance of it. (And no, I'm not talking about her ass.) I also love the name Friddle. It reminds me of that peanut brittle candy my mom used to love, Fiddle Faddle. I haven't read the book yet, but based on the description and these glowing reviews, it is immediately going on my To Read stack. I already added it to my Amazon wishlist.
Mindy Friddle's debut novel, The Garden Angel, is in stores!
About the book:
Just out in paperback from Picador (Trade Paperback; ISBN: 0-312-42496-5 June 1, 2005)
-- A Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection, Fall 2004
-- A Southeastern Bookseller's Associations (SEBA) Bestseller
-- A Pulpwood Queens Book Club Selection
In Sans Souci, South Carolina, talk is cheap, real estate even more so. No one knows this better than Cutter Johanson, a gruff tomboy who waits tables, writes obits, and makes every effort, however comical and in the face of her mercenary relatives, to avert the sale of the dilapidated ancestral home. And despite her plucky resolve, all appears to be lost -- until she strikes up an unlikely friendship with Elizabeth, a shy and fragile academic who puts both their fates on the mend.
About Mindy Friddle
Mindy Friddle is a former newspaper reporter. She received the 2003 South Carolina Fiction Prize and a Fellowship in Fiction from the South Carolina Academy of Authors. Visit her Web site at http://www.mindyfriddle.com.
Read an excerpt:
http://www.mindyfriddle.com/excerpts.html
Reviews:
Praise for Mindy Friddle and The Garden Angel:
"Mindy Friddle has a great comic touch, and her novel is a touching, heartfelt debut." -- Richard Russo, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Empire Falls
"Friddle has a way with the comic yet apt image ... funny, down-to-earth and steeped in a sense of place." -- The Washington Post
"The glory of a past that may never be reclaimed is the theme of this unique and satisfying novel ... At times wonderfully comic and sad enough to provoke tears, The Garden Angel is an addictive read, and an enthralling story filled with both loss and hope." -- The Barnes & Noble Review from Discover Great New Writers
"The southern novel is still alive and kicking, thank heavens, and Friddle gives the genre its due...with comic grace. In the tradition of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, Friddle's novel celebrates the power of women's friendship. The story is soulful and satisfying, as southern as a slice of watermelon on a hot summer's day." -- The Charlotte Observer
"A beguiling debut novel. Friddle...handles the juxtaposition of two highly eccentric cultures-small-town Southern society and small-college English department-with a light, quirky touch that keeps the story moving along and steadily entertaining." -- The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
"A comic delight ... Winning characters and piquant wit, with an underpinning of graciousness: a standout." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"This debut novel is atmospheric in the way of Southern fiction, but it's also brand new. With casual skill, Friddle makes the case that who we like in life may be as critical as who we love." -- Publishers Weekly
"[The] writing is as beautiful as a stained glass window ... Like Flannery O'Connor and Eudora Welty, Friddle reveres the majesty of Southern homes and Southern women, zany or not." -- The News & Record (Greensboro)
"Friddle has a great flair for comic relief, and in a novel filled with tragedy ... there is also much laughter." -- Oxford Town (Oxford, Mississippi)
My questions:
1. Have you always wanted to be a novelist? Well, I once I wanted to be a rock star. Or maybe just a blues singer. From the Linda Ronstadt/Pat Benatar/Heart school. Alas, I couldn't even cut it as a groupie.
2. Is this your first book? If not, what else have you written? This is the first book I've written and published.
3. What inspired you to write this book? An old decaying mansion beside a Taco Bell that was boarded up and for sale.
4. What do you do to feel inspired/motivated in order to write? Drink lots of caffeine or alcohol, depending on the time of day. Reading a fantastic book or short story from an unforgettable writer also inspires. It makes you remember why you've chosen to write.
5. What are you reading now? I'm re-reading Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye for a class I'll be attending this summer. Just finished Gilead by Marilynn Robinson.
6. What are some of your favorite books?
Oh, gosh this just always freezes me up. There are so many. But here goes: Marilynn Robinson's Housekeeping, Richard Russo's Empire Falls and Nobody's Fool, anything by Ann Tyler, Jill McCorkle, Lee Smith. Just finished Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathon Lemen, and it was terrific. Carson McCullers's novels. Fannie's Flag's Fried Green Tomatoes. Don Delillo's White Noise. Tom Perrotta's Little Children. Anything by Mona Simpson. I could go on and on ...
7. What else do you do besides writing (i.e. do you have a day job)? I'm between day jobs...working on my next novel.
8. Where do you live? I llive in Greenville, South Carolina.
9. How does where you live impact (help/hurt) your writing? Helps the sense of place in my writing, but the literary community and opportunties are a bit more limited than, say, San Francisco and New York.
10. What words of wisdom would you impart to an aspiring novelist? Read, read, read. Write a lot, too.
11. What is your favorite word? Chocolate.
12. What is your least favorite word? Smarmy.
13. What turns you on? Sincere people. And animals (who are always sincere).
14. What turns you off? Uptight, judgemental people, cruelty.
15. What sound do you love? U-2.
16. What sound do you hate? Buzz saw.
17. What is your favorite curse word? Hellfire.
18. What profession other than yours would you like to attempt? Gardening designer, public relations, or foreign disaster relief.
19. What profession would you not like to participate in? Anything involving a cube and a timesheet.
20. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? Welcome, my dear. Margaritas at 6.
Visit Mindy's website: http://www.mindyfriddle.com
Her blog, "Novel Thoughts," is on the publishers marketplace website: http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/members/friddmi/
Mindy Friddle's debut novel, The Garden Angel, is in stores!
About the book:
Just out in paperback from Picador (Trade Paperback; ISBN: 0-312-42496-5 June 1, 2005)
-- A Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection, Fall 2004
-- A Southeastern Bookseller's Associations (SEBA) Bestseller
-- A Pulpwood Queens Book Club Selection
In Sans Souci, South Carolina, talk is cheap, real estate even more so. No one knows this better than Cutter Johanson, a gruff tomboy who waits tables, writes obits, and makes every effort, however comical and in the face of her mercenary relatives, to avert the sale of the dilapidated ancestral home. And despite her plucky resolve, all appears to be lost -- until she strikes up an unlikely friendship with Elizabeth, a shy and fragile academic who puts both their fates on the mend.
About Mindy Friddle
Mindy Friddle is a former newspaper reporter. She received the 2003 South Carolina Fiction Prize and a Fellowship in Fiction from the South Carolina Academy of Authors. Visit her Web site at http://www.mindyfriddle.com.
Read an excerpt:
http://www.mindyfriddle.com/excerpts.html
Reviews:
Praise for Mindy Friddle and The Garden Angel:
"Mindy Friddle has a great comic touch, and her novel is a touching, heartfelt debut." -- Richard Russo, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Empire Falls
"Friddle has a way with the comic yet apt image ... funny, down-to-earth and steeped in a sense of place." -- The Washington Post
"The glory of a past that may never be reclaimed is the theme of this unique and satisfying novel ... At times wonderfully comic and sad enough to provoke tears, The Garden Angel is an addictive read, and an enthralling story filled with both loss and hope." -- The Barnes & Noble Review from Discover Great New Writers
"The southern novel is still alive and kicking, thank heavens, and Friddle gives the genre its due...with comic grace. In the tradition of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, Friddle's novel celebrates the power of women's friendship. The story is soulful and satisfying, as southern as a slice of watermelon on a hot summer's day." -- The Charlotte Observer
"A beguiling debut novel. Friddle...handles the juxtaposition of two highly eccentric cultures-small-town Southern society and small-college English department-with a light, quirky touch that keeps the story moving along and steadily entertaining." -- The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
"A comic delight ... Winning characters and piquant wit, with an underpinning of graciousness: a standout." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"This debut novel is atmospheric in the way of Southern fiction, but it's also brand new. With casual skill, Friddle makes the case that who we like in life may be as critical as who we love." -- Publishers Weekly
"[The] writing is as beautiful as a stained glass window ... Like Flannery O'Connor and Eudora Welty, Friddle reveres the majesty of Southern homes and Southern women, zany or not." -- The News & Record (Greensboro)
"Friddle has a great flair for comic relief, and in a novel filled with tragedy ... there is also much laughter." -- Oxford Town (Oxford, Mississippi)
My questions:
1. Have you always wanted to be a novelist? Well, I once I wanted to be a rock star. Or maybe just a blues singer. From the Linda Ronstadt/Pat Benatar/Heart school. Alas, I couldn't even cut it as a groupie.
2. Is this your first book? If not, what else have you written? This is the first book I've written and published.
3. What inspired you to write this book? An old decaying mansion beside a Taco Bell that was boarded up and for sale.
4. What do you do to feel inspired/motivated in order to write? Drink lots of caffeine or alcohol, depending on the time of day. Reading a fantastic book or short story from an unforgettable writer also inspires. It makes you remember why you've chosen to write.
5. What are you reading now? I'm re-reading Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye for a class I'll be attending this summer. Just finished Gilead by Marilynn Robinson.
6. What are some of your favorite books?
Oh, gosh this just always freezes me up. There are so many. But here goes: Marilynn Robinson's Housekeeping, Richard Russo's Empire Falls and Nobody's Fool, anything by Ann Tyler, Jill McCorkle, Lee Smith. Just finished Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathon Lemen, and it was terrific. Carson McCullers's novels. Fannie's Flag's Fried Green Tomatoes. Don Delillo's White Noise. Tom Perrotta's Little Children. Anything by Mona Simpson. I could go on and on ...
7. What else do you do besides writing (i.e. do you have a day job)? I'm between day jobs...working on my next novel.
8. Where do you live? I llive in Greenville, South Carolina.
9. How does where you live impact (help/hurt) your writing? Helps the sense of place in my writing, but the literary community and opportunties are a bit more limited than, say, San Francisco and New York.
10. What words of wisdom would you impart to an aspiring novelist? Read, read, read. Write a lot, too.
11. What is your favorite word? Chocolate.
12. What is your least favorite word? Smarmy.
13. What turns you on? Sincere people. And animals (who are always sincere).
14. What turns you off? Uptight, judgemental people, cruelty.
15. What sound do you love? U-2.
16. What sound do you hate? Buzz saw.
17. What is your favorite curse word? Hellfire.
18. What profession other than yours would you like to attempt? Gardening designer, public relations, or foreign disaster relief.
19. What profession would you not like to participate in? Anything involving a cube and a timesheet.
20. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? Welcome, my dear. Margaritas at 6.
Visit Mindy's website: http://www.mindyfriddle.com
Her blog, "Novel Thoughts," is on the publishers marketplace website: http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/members/friddmi/