About N. M. Sirett

The only way to sustain good writing is to read, read, read, then read some more.

Supernatural / Horror / Dark & Urban Fantasy + cross-genre

N M Sirett trained at the Italia Conti Academy – Avondale Hall – London.

I admit it (hands up) – I am a bookoholic. I possess books like they are the greatest treasures on Earth. And (for me) they are, but they are also so much more than that: they are worlds.

My incandescent enthusiasm for books once got me into a frightful kerfuffle, as a young adult, with my local library. At first I believed in the benefits of becoming a member, but soon learned something about myself that I now fully accept: once a book is in my possession, it is literally impossible for me to return it. I have to own it.

I had terrible trouble when it came to returning library books. I did so with a heavy heart and, quite often, a heavy fine.

At an early age I discovered the magic in words, the adventure of reading. There are far too many books in existence for me to read them all. It’s a cruel world. For there are not enough hours in the lifetime of a human being to make it possible for one to read everything. Even if you cut out sleeping. And believe me – I’ve tried.

And so, I do my best to read as many books as possible. I sometimes read three or four simultaneously. Some on Kindle, a paperback in my hand, or audio when I am on the go, and a good hardback when I’m truly comfy-cosy in my own little hideout away from the hustle and bustle of life.

I was almost killed once by my avid reading habits. Ironically, the book had the word DEATH in the title. I was walking along Cannon Street, reading Covenant with Death by John Harris, trying to cram as many pages in before returning to the office from my lunch break, when I stupidly went to cross the road without looking up from the page. I do not recommend walking and reading – especially on busy roads. You’ve been warned.

Libraries are wonderful, magical places and are loved by many people – including myself. And I truly enjoyed visiting them. But membership is not for me. And visiting the library in my early life taught me something: I need to own my books.

After settling many an overdue book fine (returning piles of novels through gritted teeth), I finally realised that it was probably a better idea to create my own private library. And that brings about the issue of space.

How many bookcases can one person have?

So not only do I have a problem with having enough time to read, but also enough space to keep all those books! It really is a space-time continuum (or perhaps it’s a space-time conundrum). And those four dimensions (the length, width, and height of my bookcases plus the fourth being the dimension of time in which I have to read) are quite limiting.

In order to solve this conundrum, I would need to either warp or bend spacetime. However, I only ever feel as though I am close to doing this when I’m immersed in my writing.

How can one feel as though they are bending spacetime when writing? I don’t know. It’s a mystery.

There is no logic to this, only my imagination. And wasn’t it Einstein who said, ‘Logic will get you from A to B; imagination will get you everywhere’?

From an early age, I had a passion for words (as I believe all writers do) and found myself reading the dictionary for leisure. As I became a self-conscious teenager, I took to doing this in private so nobody would think I was a weirdo. (By the way, I am most comfortable these days with my weirdness, but I can’t vouch for those unfortunate souls living with me!) I couldn’t always suppress my desires for reading at school. I would sometimes make my excuses at lunchtime and sneak off to the library, either to read S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders for the umpteenth time or peruse the Unabridged Collins Dictionary.

Now I collect words. I have untold notebooks full of my favourite words. I’m forever jotting down words or leisurely sitting with a cup of tea, enjoying Susie Dent’s Word Perfect book – the etymological necessity in any enthusiast’s living room.

John D. MacDonald puts it like this (Introduction to Stephen King’s Night Shift): ‘You have a taste for words. Gluttony. You have to want to roll in them. You have to read millions of them written by other people. You read everything with grinding envy or weary contempt. You save the most contempt for the people who conceal ineptitude with long words, Germanic sentence structure, obtrusive symbols, and no sense of story, pace, or character.’

Daisy Johnson’s book Sisters has a review, that caught my eye, by Claire Allfree of the Irish Daily Mail which reads: ‘Johnson uses words like some artists use paint.‘

Words – whether writing or reading – are my life, passion, obsession.

Illustration by N. M. Sirett

Currently reading:

Exordia by Seth Dickinson, Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree, A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki, Needless Things by Stephen King, Talking As Fast As I Can by Lauren Graham, Notes on a Nervous Planet by Matt Haig, The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben, Phillip Pullman’s Daemon Voices, Ghost Stories by Charles Dickens, The Selected Poems of Emily Dickinson, Maid by Stephanie Land, Normal Women by Philippa Gregory.

And in case you are wondering – yes, I do reread books too. In 2021 I reread Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle numerous times. I also reread books when I am teaching LAMDA exams – especially for two subjects in particular: The Speaking of Verse and Prose and Acting.

For a full list of books I’ve read so far this year, in 2023, 2022, and 2021, see below at the bottom of the page.

Illustration by N. M. Sirett

One of N. M. Sirett’s favourite book moments was when she met Douglas Adams in Kensington library at a promotion for Mostly Harmless – the 5th book in his Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy, whereby the author amiably unwrapped the ending of the story during their brief conversation. As a person who squirms in disgust at the sheer thought of turning to the end page of a book before reading it from the beginning, she was mortified and scarred for all eternity. Simultaneously, she was in awe of his imagination and honoured to meet him. Bless his soul. It was a memorable day.

A few of her favourite authors are Stephen King, Ben Aaronovitch, Anthony Doerr, Joanne Harris, Frances Hardinge, George R. R. Martin, Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, Ursula Le Guin, J. R. R. Tolkien, Shirley Jackson, Deborah Harkness, and the Bronte sisters. Favourite playwright: J. B. Priestley. The names are not listed in order of preference because she simply loves them all equally and appreciates their unique minds. Greatest teachers / influence – Fiction: Stephen King, George R. R. Martin and Frances Hardinge. Non Fiction: Louise Hay and Dr. Wayne Dyer.

As a child her favourite book was James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl. It was read under the covers – until the early hours – by torchlight and in secret. Needless to say, she had difficulty rising from slumber on early-start school-run mornings. She also devoured, The Secret Garden by Frances Hogson Burnett, indefinitely, in her early youth.

Favourite classics: Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, Emma by Jane Austen, George Eliot’s Mill on the Floss, and Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield; A Christmas Carol, and Great Expectations.

She spent most of her teenage years enjoying books such as The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton and collected Terry Pratchett books like they were going out of fashion. She also enjoyed his joint venture with Neil Gaiman, Good Omens. Another favourite of hers was, The Portrait of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.

With thanks to friends, Sarah G and Clare W, and to S J Sirett – supportive husband – for providing both photographic skills and infinite patience. And thanks to the kids for your understanding and support when Mum is frequently lost in her writing head!

Also thanks to Karen Scott photography for the Spotlight portrait.

Thank you to Mum and Dad for always trying to grasp it!

See below reading log:

Reading Log 2024:

Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown

What the River Knows by Isabel Ibanez

Song of Achilles by Madeleine Miller

Mothtown by Caroline Hardaker

Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman

Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes

Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods by W.T. Cox

Unraveller by Francis Hardinge

The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran

The Little Book of Wisdom by Kahlil Gibran

Interview with the Vampire (The Vampire Chronicles, Book 1) by Anne Rice

Reread As You Like It by William Shakespeare

Impact Winter Book 2 by Travis Beacham

Impact Winter Book 1 by Travis Beacham

Reread Shakespeare: The World As A Stage by Bill Bryson

Reread The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (unabridged) by Mark Haddon

Reread The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

Reread Black Beauty by Anna Sewell

The Toymakers by Robert Dinsdale

Reading Log 2023:

The Night Shift by Stephen King

Maiden, Mother, Crone by Joanne Harris

Circe by Madeline Miller

And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini

The Other Side of the Story by Marian Keyes

Middlemarch by George Eliot

The Way We Thunk by Keith A Pearson

Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky

The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods

Meeting Mungo Thunk by Keith A. Pearson

Reread: Cuckoo Song by Frances Hardinge

Night of Demons and and Saints by Menna van Praag

The Nail Salon by Natalie Tambini

As You Like It – a play by William Shakespeare

Punk Rock – a play by Simon Stephens

Reread: The Ladykillers – a play by Graham Linehan

Someday, Someday, Maybe by Lauren Graham

Back to Reality by Mark Stay

Night of Demons and Saints by Menna van Praag

Reread: Dracula by Bram Stoker

This Charming Man by C. K. McDonnell

The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

The Best Thing You Can Steal by Simon R. Green

Drive Your Plough over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk

The Good Son by Paul McVeigh

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

The Stranger Times by C.K. McDonnell

Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt

Broken Light by Joanne Harris

The Second Bell by Gabriela Houston

The Reader by Bernhard Schlink

Mill on the Floss by George Eliot

The Sisters Grimm by Menna van Praag

Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin

Sisters by Daisy Johnson

The City and the Stars by Arthur C. Clarke

When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill

Dream Songs by George R.R. Martin

Dark Tales by Shirley Jackson

Rain and Other Stories by W. Somerset Maugham

Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin

Salem’s Lot by Stephen King

The Art of Miyazaki’s Spirited Away

Into the Water by Paula Hawkins

The Crystal World by J.G. Ballard

The Lifted Veil by George Eliot

Amongst Our Weapons by Ben Aaronovitch

Star Mother by Charlie N. Holmberg

The Art of War by Sun Tzu

Reread: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

The Book of Rumi

Reread: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

Reread: Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Fear Nothing by Dean Koontz

The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson

The Night Ship by Jess Kidd

Mist in the Mirror by Susan Hill

False Value by Ben Aaronovitch

Ulysses by James Joyce

Crime and Punishment by Fjordor M. Dostoevsky

Reread: DNA by Dennis Kelly (a play)

Reread: The Canterville Ghost by Tim Kelly (a play)

Gwendy’s Button Box – a novella by Stephen King and Richard Chizmar

Tales of Ancient Egypt by Roger Lancelyn Green

The Fog by James Herbert

Terry Pratchett: A Life With Footnotes: The Official Biography by Rob Wilkins

Vampire Horror! A collection of short stories: Vampire Horror! by John Polidori / The Wailing Well by M. R. James / The Blood is the Life by F. Marion Crawford /An Episode of Cathedral History by M. R. James

The Pear-shaped Man – a short story – by George R.R. Martin

The Search for Omm Sety by Jonathan Cott

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Reading Log 2022:

Things in Jars by Jess Kidd

The Secret History of Christmas by Bill Bryson

Metamorphosis by Kafka

Lies Sleeping by Ben Aaronovitch

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

Oh Whistle and I’ll Come to You by M. R. James

Monsters – A Bestiary of the Bizarre by Christopher Dell

Take a Chance on Me by Beth Moran

Christmas Every Day by Beth Moran

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

Chocky by John Wyndham

Mythos by Stephen Fry

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

A Rare Book of Cunning Device by Ben Aaronovitch

A Boy Called Christmas by Matt Haig

The Sandman Act III by Neil Gaiman

The Sandman Act II by Neil Gaiman

The Sandman Act I by Neil Gaiman

The Black Death by Dorsey Armstrong

Reread Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery

Reread Black Beauty by Anna Sewell

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

The Queen’s Gambit by Walter Tevis

Deeplight by Francis Hardinge

The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius

The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson

Witchcraft of Salem Village by Shirley Jackson

The Penguin Book of Norse Myths: Gods of the Vikings by Kevin Crossley-Holland

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

Strangers by Taichi Yamada

The Midwich Cuckoo by John Wyndham

How To Be A Woman by Caitlin Morgan

Skeleton Crew by Stephen King

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

The Sanctuary by Andrew Hunter Murray

Black Beauty by Anna Sewell

Reread: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Girl on a Train by Paula Hawkins

The Lodger by Marie Belloc Lowndes

Peaches for Monsieur Le Cure by Joanne Harris

Storyland by Amy Jeffs

Lollipop Shoes by Joanne Harris

Reread Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights (just because)

2:22 – A Ghost Story – play by Danny Robins

Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson

Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

Cat and the City by Nick Bradley

2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Anne of the Island by L M Montgomery

Anne of Avonlea by L M Montgomery

Anne of Green Gables by L M Montgomery

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

The Hanging Tree – Ben Aaronovitch

The Iliad by Homer

The Shepherd’s Crown – Terry Pratchett

Dracula – Bram Stoker

Normal People – Sally Rooney

Books Read 2021:

The Fifth Doll by Charlie N. Holmberg

Stories To Make You Smile – compilation of short stories by:

Jenny Éclair

Mark Watson

Veronica Henry

Eva Verde

Richard Madeley

Katie Fforde

Dorothy Koomson

Vaseem Khan

Helen Lederer

Rachel Hore

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

The Odyssey by Homer

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

1984 – George Orwell

Animal Farm by George Orwell

The Time Machine by HG Wells

All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Chocolat by Joanne Harris

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

The Strawberry Thief by Joanne Harris

The Road to Hell Series by Brenda K. Davies:

Book 1 – Good Intentions

Book 2 – Carved

Book 3 – The Road

Book 4 – Into Hell

Reread: The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde

The Railway Children by E Nesbit

The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry

Sign of the Four – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Reread: The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham

Orlando by Virginia Woolf

We Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

Foxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovitch

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

Jane Austin’s Pride and Prejudice

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Fenn – Daisy Johnson

The Turn of The Screw – Henry James

Reread: Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte (Just because…)

Fox 8 – George Saunders

One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest – Ken Kesey

Fevre Dream by George RR Martin

Others by James Herbert

The Hotel by Daisy Johnson

Aldous Huxley’s, Brave New World.

Stephen & Owen King’s Sleeping Beauties

Haunted by James Herbert

Reynard The Fox by Louise Avery

The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse, Charlie Mackesy

The Haunting of Alma Fielding by Kate Summerscale

Saving Missy by Beth Morray