« January 2007 | Main | March 2007 »
The Daily Mirror has a typically forthright and fascinating piece on our very own Tom Reynolds today (typical of Tom, I mean, rather than The Mirror). His book Blood Sweat & Tea
Hopefully this piece will interest some new readers in the book. Tom updates his blog pretty much daily and it is one to bookmark if you haven't already.
Tuesdays and Wednesdays tend to be quite busy. Yesterday I met with a fascinating publisher called Cyan Books. I was a big fan of their business books during my buying days and they wanted to pick my brains about a few things. Hopefully we will be able to do some work together over the coming months. We haven't gone out touting our consultancy service yet, relying instead on word-of-mouth and recommendation, but are building up a decent portfolio and will probably be fully booked by spring which is really good news.
Then we had our Acquisitions Meeting back at the office. This is where we flag up and discuss the books we have just signed, are about to sign or are thinking of signing. It is a really good way to ensure that everyone at TFP is up to speed on all our projects. Clare W and Heather spend lots of time reading the books we are considering and giving lots of feedback which act as useful second opinions and their ideas and suggestions will help to build a plot for the books concerned.
This was quickly followed by our monthly meeting with Ed and Jess from Macmillan. Sales are more or less on budget and the sales team are very confident that they will beat the targets for a number of books we have coming in spring and summer. Our travel book Tuk-Tuk To The Road
Today Clare C and I have a meeting with lots of people in suits. Our lawyers, accountants and the team doing our fundraising are getting together to sort out the fiddly bits of the process. I am trying to tell myself that this will be an enjoyable and fascinating meeting, but even if it isn't it is certainly going to be an important one.
Then off to another publisher who might want consultancy advice.
And then later on I am giving a talk to the Society Of Young Publishers. Iain Stevenson is the main attraction and the two of us will be discussing the current state of publishing and how things might pan out in the years to come. I haven't really prepared a speech as such and assume it will be more of a chat, at least I hope so!
I notice on the Bookseller To The Stars blog (which I am proud to say I bookmark) that Fourth Estate have had to issue an erratum for insertion into Nick Cohen's current bestseller What's Left?: How Liberals Lost Their Way
"On page 358 it is said that Azar Nafisi dedicated her book, Reading
Lolita in Tehran, to Paul Wolfowitz, which is not the case. The book is
dedicated to her family."
Now I know that researching a non-fiction work can be a hard slog and we should forgive any writer the odd mistake, but not opening a book which you can find in any bookshop to check the bloody dedication is simply poor journalism. Could it be that Nick Cohen is a bit shit?
Nick Cohen? Nick Cohen? Why does that name ring a bell? Could he be the same Nick Cohen who wrote this article about me? I guess if he is lazy and unprofessional enough to write a cheap and inaccurate attack on someone he has never met then it shouldn't surprise us that he doesn't get off his arse to check his facts when writing a whole book.
Now, rather than Fourth Estate inserting an erratum into Nick Cohen's book perhaps I could suggest something Nick Cohen could insert himself? I would be happy to lend a hand. Mind you, by the look on his face, perhaps someone beat me to it.
I am an absolute sucker for the Oscars. Yes, yes, I know they are over-commercialised and the best person doesn't always win and there are all sorts of politics involved, but I just don't care. I am unable to explain precisely why I enjoy them so much, it may be down to my love of Hollywood history - Bogart & Bacall, Bette Davis, Frank Capra, James Stewart, the studio system, silent movies et al - and the desire to one day look back on the 'classic' movies and stars of today in the way we revere the legends of old. It may partly be the frocks and cleavage. I really don't know. But that doesn't stop me staying up every year till 5 or 6 in the morning to watch them live.
This year is a rare one in that most of the nominated movies are already out on DVD here so the UK audience has had a decent chance to view them. Not that I have actually got round to that myself. I am a big fan of the Hong Kong movie Infernal Affairs, of which The Departed is a remake, so I would like to see Scorcese's film do well. It is always nice to see some Brits win a statuette and Helen Mirren looks a dead cert but the others may struggle to get a look in.
For a couple of long shots (i.e. they don't stand a chance but I am going to tip them anyway) I reckon Paul Greengrass could sneak Best Director for United 93 as it was a very brave movie to make and Little Miss Sunshine could walk away with Best Film. Although The Departed will probably win both.
But the nominee I will be rooting for more than any other tonight is Kevin O'Connell. He is a sound mixer who has been nominated this year for the 19th time but has yet to win once. Poor bugger. I will raise a bowl of popcorn and toast him warmly whatever the outcome.
The only negative aspect for a UK viewer watching the Oscars is the dire TV coverage. In the US, nation of the cheeseburger, they break for commercials every 33 seconds or something and the UK channel has to produce some filler for these moments. The erratic nature of these ad breaks means lots of C-list special guests being told that 'I must stop you there as we go back to...' and all that gubbins. Fingers crossed that Sky do a bit better this year.
Right, off to arrange my Pringles.
I wasn't blogging in 2005, but if I was I would have been shouting about this book.
Ice Trap
The story is intriguing, intelligent and enticing. A 30-something Welsh doctor in a slightly humdrum marriage finds his life hi-jacked by two simultaneous events: a road accident and a letter from a young woman in Canada claiming to be his daughter (one of twins, the other being her brother). He is physically shaken by the first and completely baffled by that second; he knew the girl's mother but they have never slept together so he couldn't possibly be the father. Not that his wife seems convinced.
The chapters in the first half of the book alternate between contemporary Wales and his spell as a doctor in a remote, and very cold, Canadian outpost as a younger man. The reader witnesses the cracks in his marriage that this revelation has opened up get gradually larger, while at the same time being drawn into a Northern Exposure-style back story.
In the second half we are transported to that same Canadian town in the present day as he tries to unravel the mystery of this paternity suit, get to know his possible children and revisit the story and characters from his past
I was reminded of Snow Falling On Cedars by the way in which Sewell marries what is essentially a whodunnit (or whodunn-who?) with a wonderfully evocative sense of place. And, of course, the prevalence of snow. It was a real highlight of the year for me and I gave Simon & Schuster a nudge about it. They have recently published a new mass market edition that has a great cover (although I thought the original was good too) and I understand it is selling very well. Jolly good show.
Kitty has recently sent me a copy of her new book from Honno, written under the pen name Kitty Harri. It is called Hector's Talent For Miracles
I am itching to read this new one (even though the cover is not very good at all - sorry!) but have quite a pile to get through at the moment so with have to wait a short while to scratch that itch.
Here's my problem with Kobe Abe. He thinks up great ideas for books and then writes the most erratic, confused prose, making the whole process of reading them a pain in the arse.
This is what The Box Man is supposed to be about:
A disillusioned Japanese man eschews the material world to spend his life living in a box. This is a long vertical box, the type a fridge would come in, which he wears over his head and down to his knees so that he can walk around quite normally. He cuts a viewing hole in the front and furnishes the inside will all manner of useful items. The novel purports to be the observations and comments that he scrawls on the inside walls of his box as he wanders about Tokyo.
This is what The Box Man is actually about:
A narrator who may, or may not, live in a box presents us with some case studies of certain individuals, including one of a paranoid businessman who shoots a box man with an air rifle only to steal his box and live in it himself. We are led to believe that the narrator may actually be this man but later on he mentions having been shot with an air rifle so perhaps he was the original box man after all. A young nurse who treats him for his injury offers to buy his box from him for 50,000 yen so he finds himself loitering in the alley behind her flat on the agreed date for the transaction to occur. Using a homemade periscope he spies into her flat and watches her in a bizarre erotic stand off with a doctor who is pretending to be a box man and is forcing the nurse to strip naked. Or perhaps she wants to, she can't decide. Even though he is a couple of floors down the narrator starts having a conversation with these two individuals until he admits that he is making the whole thing up. Then nothing much happens for the next 50 pages.
I am a big fan of experimental fiction, and it was the concept of this book which appealed to me. But I should have known better. I had earlier read Abe's novel The Woman In The Dunes
The Box Man
No sooner do I announce the exciting Playing It Safe deal than this news item appears in the Swindon Advertiser. That's cutting edge publishing for you.
I've only gone and signed another book. I have been enjoying the Playing It Safe blog for a while and the creator of that site will be turning his wonderful collection of Health & Safely gone mad clippings into a book for us. We hope to publish it in time for Christmas in order to prepare unwitting holiday revellers for the many dangers that the festive season can bring.
If you have any nuggets you would like to out forward for inclusion then the author, Alan Pearce, would be delighted to hear from you at safety@alanpearce.com.
Do be careful out there.
Hey, you might as well start at the top. This is a copy of an interview I did with Haruki Murakami for WBQ magazine back in 2004, shortly before the publication of Kafka On The Shore. This is actually the first time that the full and accurate interview has appeared anywhere as the editorial team cocked up on a crucial part of one of his answers. I will tell you about that at the end.
Kafka On The Shore was published in Japan in 2002 but the English translation will be published for the first time in January 2005. What are your thoughts on the book now that some time has elapsed since its creation?
Since most of my novels aren’t deeply involved in contemporary, journalistic issues, I don’t think there’s any real problem in having a time lag of two or three years before they appear in English. Translating a novel takes time, so literature is transmitted abroad more slowly than music or movies. I’ve always wanted to write powerful works that go beyond that sort of time lag. What I want to write about in my novels is the universal landscape found in people’s emotions, a shared place that exists beyond time and distance.
Kafka has been seen as a departure from your previous books. Your choice of a 15 year old narrator, and also sections in the third person, are certainly new to your novels. Were you deliberately trying a different approach to writing this book?
Most of my fiction up till now has been first person narratives dealing with a male protagonist (and narrator) in his twenties or thirties. A few years ago, however, I started taking a different direction and began writing in a different voice and perspective. The short story collection after the quake was also entirely in the third person. There’s something about that style of writing that suits me. Most likely this stems from my desire to write from a broader perspective about all kinds of people of different backgrounds, ages, and personalities. In that sense I guess you could say that both Underground and after the quake were turning points for me. In any case, whenever I write a new novel I decide on a theme and attempt to do something new and different.
As a young man you were influenced by the music and writing coming from America, rather than Japanese culture. What were these influences?
I think this is like asking an Englishman like Eric Clapton why he’s so drawn to the blues. If you asked Clapton the same question, I have a feeling he’d shrug his shoulders and say he isn’t sure why.
The reaction in Japan to your novel Norwegian Wood was so overwhelming that you decided to leave the country for several years. How do you handle the desire to find an audience for your work when you are essentially a private man who avoids publicity?
To find an audience for my works I simply try to write books that are interesting and appealing. Books that make readers want to buy my next book when it comes out. And I do my best not to disappoint them. I’ve been writing fiction for twenty five years now and haven’t done anything to speak of beyond writing. And thankfully the number of my readers is growing steadily. It isn’t me seeking out readers, rather the books themselves that find the readers. That’s how I see it. To tell the truth, I don’t particularly like appearing in front of people. I just want to live a normal life like anybody else. Everyday I take the subway, ride buses, go shopping and go for walks. What I’d hate most would be to have that freedom taken away from me.
The majority of your books, primarily your non-fiction, have never been published in English. I suspect you enjoy being able to control which books we get to read in the West. What sort of subjects have you tackled with our non-fiction and will we ever get the opportunity to read them?
I’ve published quite a few books of essays and travel writings in Japan, but unlike my fiction I don’t feel there’s any point in publishing translations of these abroad. Most of these books are light entertainment, with Underground, with its overarching theme, being the exception. These books deal with everyday, local themes, and often contain a lot of word play, so I suspect there would be many places in them that foreign readers would have trouble following. One thing I can say is that whatever is best about me as a writer is found in my novels.
Waterstone's booksellers voted your novel The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle as one of the 20 greatest books of all time. How important was that book in your career?
As far as my career is concerned, certainly The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is one of my most important novels. I’m sure that my importance as a novelist would have been greatly affected if this book hadn’t appeared. Completing that novel took an enormous amount of time and effort, and I have a strong sense that the process has raised me to the next level as a novelist.
Some of your early books and stories were made into films in the 80s. After a very long gap you have allowed some more adaptations - The Elephant Vanishes stage show and Tony Takitani the movie - are you happy with what these directors made of your work and can we expect to see any more Murakami books on the big screen soon?
I make it a rule not to see film and stage versions of my works. When I write a work, I’m already creating a movie or play in my mind and don’t feel like watching someone else’s new movie or stage version. These may be very well done; all of my friends, for instance, told me that Simon McBurney’s adaptation of The Elephant Vanishes for the stage was wonderful. But I prefer holding onto the mental image I’ve created myself.
The issue of making a film or play out of my works has come up several times, and at present some of these are going forward and others we’re in the process of negotiating. Still, I think making a film or drama out of one of my novels must be a difficult task, and I don’t see it easily materializing. Honestly, I’m not all that enthusiatic about seeing my work turned into films. Of course, if Woody Allen directed after the quake or David Lynch made a version of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, then I might want to see those.
What elements of contemporary culture excite you nowadays? What are you listening to and reading in 2004?
I don’t think that very much in contemporary culture has attracted me in the past year. Mostly I’ve been listening to old music on old analog records, and rereading books that I read in the past. I’m not trying to intentionally avoid new things; it’s just that I don’t feel the necessity of bringing in new things into my life all the time. So I always end up reaching out for the old. I will say, though, that I always have the lastest recordings by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ryan Adams, and R.E.M. in my car stereo, and the latest Elmore Leonard novel with me when I travel.
And finally, what can English readers expect from the pen of Murakami in the next few years?
In September, 2004 I published a short novel called After Dark in Japan.This novel is written from beginning to end in third person, in present tense, and follows a nineteen year old girl in downtown Tokyo on one night. My wife tells me she prefers this novel to anything I’ve ever written, but I don’t know how much the public’s reaction will overlap with hers. Next spring I’ll also be bringing out a children’s book entitled The Strange Library. The Sheep Man appears in this one. The story’s about a boy who comes to borrow a book from a library and is taken captive by a weird old man who lives in the basement of the library. It’s an illustrated book.
In the U.S. and England in 2006 we’ll be bringing out a new short story collection of mine, the second one in English after The Elephant Vanishes. And then After Dark will be translated and published after that, in 2007.
That interview was translated from the Japanese by Philip Gabriel. When it appeared in the magazine the acclaimed American singer songwriter Ryan Adams was printed incorrectly as, you guessed it, Canadian chart topper Bryan Adams. This was despite the fact that the editors checked with me for the correct spelling beforehand and I had assured them that Ryan Adams was a real person and that it made a big difference if they added a B.
Off to Kings Cross this afternoon to take the Macmillan sales reps through our May, June and July books. This was the first time I'd met them all up close and they were just as nice as at a distance, only a bit larger.
They were very positive about all the books and seemed particularly keen on My Boyfriend Is A Twat
Macmillan have a big television screen set up in their reception with a rolling presentation of some of their big books. So I sat back and watched the show until Michael Bloody Flatley appeared with his unpleasant chest and studded leather trousers. Appeared on screen I mean, not in person. The least they could have done was flash a quick warning beforehand. Most inconsiderate. All they had was something like 'a remarkable showbiz memoir from one of the most popular entertainers in the world' - the last person I was expecting was old sweaty chops. Visitors of a less robust constitution may have rediscovered their lunch at that point.
But apart from the unwelcome appearance of the Lord Of The Dance it was a very good day.
My house is full of the sound of Mika. My kids became obsessed with Grace Kelly when they saw this performance of the song on Jools Holland last year...
...and a mighty fine rendition it is too: witty, inventive, and annoyingly clever. Ethan and Martha made me play it back repeatedly as there was no CD available at the time. I emailed Mika on MySpace to let him know about his tiny fans and he was kind enough to reply.
And then last week Auntie Caroline Mileham bought them a copy of his album Life In Cartoon Motion
Just back from The Fat Duck, occasionally hailed as the best restaurant in the world, having taken my other half for her birthday lunch. Her birthday was the 3rd Jan but this was the closest date I could get.
We partook of the tasting menu which has become notorious due to chef Heston Blumenthal's experimental dishes. These include snail porridge...
...green tea mousse cooked at your table in liquid nitrogen...
...and a miniature ice cream cone made to a Victorian recipe which turns up half way through your meal.
There were about 18 courses in all and we left the restaurant at 3.15 having sat down at midday. It was quite an experience and one I would recommend should you be that way inclined. My favourite dishes were the hot and cold tea - a glass of tea in which half the liquid was cold and half hot, as if by magic - and the scrambled egg and bacon ice cream.
Mind you, I quite fancy some tea and cake now.
Well, I have finally officially signed my first book for The Friday Project. I have a good dozen or so books provisionally agreed and in progress but the ink is dry on this one so I can shout about it.
Attention. Deficit. Disorder by Brad Listi is an exciting debut from an American author you will be hearing a lot more about in the year to come, albeit a great deal of that from me. A friend of mine from Greece actually turned me on to the novel and the author's website which you can see here. I contacted his agent, she sent me a copy and I read it in just a couple of days. I knew I wanted to publish it after the first few chapters Here is what the US hardback looks like:
It was an LA Times bestseller in hardback has just come out in paperback in the States in a somewhat less attractive jacket (sorry Brad):
So what about the book? When 20-something Wayne Fencer, failed day-trader and idling pizza delivery boy, flies back to San Fransisco for the funeral of his ex-girlfriend it sets in motion a seemingly random chain of events which sees him visit Cuba for a Hemingway tour, and end up at the bizarre Burning Man festival (part Glastonbury, part Wicker Man) in the middle of the American desert.
I was most struck by Listi's narrative style which is fresh and energetic without being annoying. He tells a good story too.
Jim Carroll, author of The Basketball Diaries, describes the book as "Quirky, evocative, and clever...something genuinely different and defiantly genuine.... A perfect book." Now, no book is perfect, but it was nice of him to say so.
We will publish a limited edition collector's hardback at the end of this year which will be gorgeous and lovely and signed and numbered and anything else we can think of to make it a desirable object. An unlimited, although still attractive and appealing, paperback will be hitting the shelves in February 2008.
Anyway, I will shut up for now and save more detail for later. I hope to interview Brad on this blog soon and he may also post the occasional guest entry in the coming months.
Now, off to sort out the cover design.
I am addicted to Threadless. It is the t-shirt site where designers put up their designs and members vote on them. The most popular get made into shirts and you get mailed out about once a fortnight or so with news of new designs. I have mentioned it here before but am repeating myself because the latest newsletter contained this work of genius.
I must have this. They now do kids shirts as well.
FULL DISCLOSURE: If you click through and buy anything yourself I get a point. I assume that if I get enough points I get a prize. Don't feel obliged though, I just had to share this one with you - it's fab.
Miss Read: Winter in Thrush Green
Comfort reading? Perhaps, but there is nothing wrong with that. Miss Read revisits Thrush Green for the first time in this novel from 1961. Some wonderful lines but not as much of the barbed sentiment of her previous work. (***)
J M Coetzee: The Childhood of Jesus
When this isn't being allegorical it is being philosophical. Neither approach really goes anywhere. (***)
Marc Leverton: Glastonbury Festival Myths and Legends
Fun little pocket book with snippets of stories from across the many years of the festival. To be honest, it could have all been covered in a magazine article but might be a nice memento of your visit. (***)
Miss Read: Fresh from the Country
A standalone novel, outside her two main series, about a young teacher's first job in a big school in a large town. Good story, lots of great characters. Surprised she didn't follow this up with any more. A shame. (****)
Brian Aldiss: Frankenstein Unbound
A somewhat bonkers sequel which is hugely more entertaining than the original. (****)
Mary Shelley: Frankenstein
God, what a disappointment. Plot holes the monster could walk through without having to bend down. Ridiculous. (**)
Will le Fleming: Central Reservation
A remarkably measured and accomplished debut. A story about loss, families, survival and that awkward transition into adulthood. A writer to watch. (****)
Kerry Hudson: Tony Hogan Bought Me an Ice-cream Float Before He Stole My Ma
Best first line I've read this year: 'Get out, you cunting, shitting, little fucking fucker!' were the first words I ever heard. And the rest of it is just as good. (****)
Jen Campbell: More Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops
It arrived in the mail, I opened it up to dip in, next thing I knew I had finished the whole thing. (****)
Peter F. Hamilton: Misspent Youth
What a science fiction novel would be like if written by Judith Krantz. Utterly ridiculous but actually quite good fun. (***)
Miss Read: Thrush Green
Part of my Reading Miss Read challenge. The first in a parallel series to the Fairacre books and of an equally high standard. Looking forward to finding out what happens next. (****)
Miss Read: Storm in the Village
Latest instalment in my quest to read all the Miss Read books this year. This one moved away from the school setting somewhat and focused more on goings on in the village. A bit more gossipy and less social commentary as a result. Enjoyable comfort reading. (***)
Angela S. Choi: Hello Kitty Must Die
A novel about traditional Chinese families in modern America with a bit of hymen reconstruction surgery and serial killing thrown in for good measure. (****)
Carlene Bauer: Frances and Bernard
An epistolary novel based on the friendship between Robert Lowell and Flannery O'Connor. I picked it up and found it hard to put back down again. Polished it off in three short sittings. Excellent stuff. (****)
Jeremy Paxman: The Political Animal: An Anatomy
Genuinely enlightening study of politicians in the this country. Why they do it, what makes them tick, what their jobs entail and what happens when they are booted out. (****)
Richard Cowper: A Dream of Kinship
Second in an almost forgotten fantasy trilogy. Not quite as good as the first but still a cracking tale. Looking forward to the final part. (****)
Gilbert Adair: The Death of the Author
A murder mystery which doubles up as a satire on the world of literary criticism. A niche market, perhaps, but I really enjoyed this. (****)
Fiona Maddocks: Hildegard of Bingen
Fascinating biography of a 12th Century abbess who is recognised as one of the first composers as well as being a visionary, naturalist and feminist. (****)
Miss Read: Village Diary
Book two in my reading challenge and every bit as entertaining as the first. (****)
JMR Higgs: KLF: Chaos Magic Music Money
Witty, thought-provoking, jaw-dropping at times, this is one of the best books about the music industry you will ever read. (****)
Jennifer Egan: A Visit From the Goon Squad
I had no idea what to expect when I started reading this, I didn't even know what it was about, but was most pleasantly surprised. An original piece of storytelling which never forgets it is trying to tell a story. (****)
Miss Read: Village School
A year in the life of a fictional village school during the 1950s. A much misunderstood modern classic and a fascinating slice of social history. (****)
Stephan Mendel-Enk: Oh Sweden! Oh Israel!
One of the most accessible Jewish novels (for me as a non-Jewish reader) that I have come across. A quirky family story. Very short. Not amazing but some impressive stuff in there. Thought the £12.99 RRP for a book coming in at under 150 pages was a bit steep. (***)
Apostolos Doxiadis: Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth
A graphic novel about Bertrand Russell. I shit you not. And it is proper fascinating and everything. (****)
Guy Delisle: Burma Chronicles
An account of a year the author spent living in Burma told in comic book form. Genuinely interesting and engaging if not particularly earth shattering but well worth a read if you want to find out a bit about the country and its people. (****)
Junichiro Tanizaki: Some Prefer Nettles
A somewhat restrained novel about the breakdown of a marriage in 1920s Japan. Offers considerable insight into Japanese society at the time. (***)
Kent Haruf: Benediction
A quiet masterpiece. (*****)
Alison Moore: The Lighthouse
Simple, unpretentious prose. Beautifully observed. Slightly off-kilter story. Really rather splendid. (****)
Brian Aldiss: Bury My Heart At W. H. Smith's
A memoir, of sorts. A glimpse at a writer's life. Full of great anecdotes and shameless namedropping. (****)
Brian Aldiss: The Brightfount Diaries
The diary of a fictional bookseller. Brian's first published book started out as a series of columns in The Bookseller magazine in the 1950s and is a delightfully amusing portrait of bookselling in the middle of the last century, much of which hasn't really changed a great deal. (****)
21st Century Dodos
A guide to the many inanimate objects that are sadly on the verge of extinction. The Guardian called it ‘chummy 1970s and 80s nostalgia’.
It Is Just You, Everything's Not Shit
My first book was published way back in 2007 and is an optimist's encyclopedia, of sorts.
21st Century Dodos
Also available as an ebook. How very modern.
It Is Just You, Everything's Not Shit
The ebook is currently only 99p, so what are you waiting for?
Darren Craske: The Equivoque Principle
'Boisterous comedy and hairpin plot twists.' THE TIMES
David Bellos: Is That a Fish in Your Ear?: The Amazing Adventure of Translation
He has translated most of Perec's work so I am intrigued by this book on the art of translation itself.
Kuhaku & Other Accounts from Japan
A beautiful collection of non-fiction pieces from and about Japan.
Julian Barnes: Through the Window: Seventeen Essays (and one short story)
So far, an entertaining collection.
Simon Gough: The White Goddess: An Encounter
Awful cover, especially for an ebook, but the contents are really rather interesting. The author grew up in the 40s and 50s, his parents were actors and his great-uncle was Robert Graves. In later years he became a book dealer and battled with serious illness. Like what I have read so far. (****)
David Harvey: Rebel Cities: From the Right to the City to the Urban Revolution
An introduction which proves to be dense and impenetrable - unless you have an extensive knowledge of philosophy, town planning and the history of Paris - means I won't be reading this one any further. (**)
No 1
Christina Vantzou: No 1
Ambient weirdness. (****)
Anais Mitchell: Young Man In America
Sounds like my old Victoria Williams records, and that is no bad thing at all. (****)
Various: Adventure Rocketship
Great concept, brilliantly executed: a paperback anthology of SF writing including essays, stories and interviews themed around the subject of music. One for all SF fans and musos. Lots to enjoy here. (****)
Samantha Shannon: The Bone Season
The first in a much-hyped new YA series which bombards you with so many concepts and so much made-up technology in the opening pages that you almost miss the fact that the writing is pretty ordinary. (**)
Rayya Elias: Harley Loco
Not sure how well this New York post-punk memoir of sex, drugs and hairdressing will travel, and it will be massively reliant on publicity if it is going to work at all, but it has some remarkable episodes and it is an entertaining read. (***)
M. Jonathan Lee: The Radio
The author seems like a nice chap on Twitter but I have to be honest, this has a terrible cover, including a typo on in the blurb, and it is perhaps one or two drafts away from being able to punch its weight alongside more professionally published fare. (**)
Marianne Levy: Ellie May is Totally Happy to Share Her Place in the Spotlight
The latest in this very funny series. Perfect reading for daughters, precocious or otherwise. Sons might like them too. (****)
Jessica Soffer: Tomorrow There Will be Apricots
Pitched as the new Elegance of the Hedgehog, this tale of the unlikely friendship between an elderly widow and the troubled teenager she teaches to cook definitely has a similar charm. A book that mothers will buy for their daughters and vice-versa. (***)
Kenneth Harris: Attlee
I know nothing about him, really, so when his name started popping up everywhere after Maggie shuffled off I ordered this. On first inspection it is proving to be a most interesting biography. (****)
Angela Jackson: The Emergence of Judy Taylor
As honest a portrait of a marriage as I have read in a long time. This one could be a bit special. (****)
Thomas Wright: Circulation: William Harvey's Revolutionary Idea
This book beat one of mine to the Wellcome Trust Book Prize. Despite my deep-seated and understandable resentment I must confess that this is really rather good - accessible and fascinating. (****)
Tim Willocks: The Religion
Big, solid, earthy historical fiction. Need to see where the plot goes before knowing for sure but pretty good so far. (***)
John Fuller: Who Is Ozymandias?: And other Puzzles in Poetry
A challenging look at the art of reading a poem. I do not agree with the author's central premise - that the best poetry is a puzzle that needs solving - but am prepared to go with it for now as he makes some interesting points. (***)
Jasper Gibson: A Bright Moon for Fools
A novel written by one of the founders of The Poke. It is very funny and reminded me of the Mortdecai trilogy. (****)
Peter F. Hamilton: Great North Road
I found Hamilton's frankly daft Misspent Youth oddly entertaining. This 1000-page novel is a different beast entirely by the looks of it. More Science Fiction and less Shopping and Fucking. (***)
Adam Thorpe: Flight
The Times quote 'A breakneck, knuckle-whitening thriller' could be rendered more accurate by adding the words 'This is not' at the beginning. (**)
David Vann: Dirt
The problem with novels that feature New Age characters is that they are often as annoying as New Age people are in real life. (**)
Tim Parks: Sex is Forbidden
Chaste commune fiction lacks any real punch. (***)
Diana Souhami: Coconut Chaos
A hybrid novel/history/biography concerning the Bounty and the fate of its mutineers and their descendants. (****)
Ciarán Collins: The Gamal
So far this is a really quite exciting debut. Original. Different. I like it a lot. (****)
Various: London Fictions
If you can get past the terrible cover then this is an interesting book in which various Londoners write about books set in London. (***)
Philip Sington: The Valley of Unknowing
A novel about an East German novelist. Really lovely font used in this. The actual words are pretty good too. (****)
Ben Marcus: The Age of Wire and String
The most pointless and pretentious collection of so-called stories it has ever been my misfortune to read. (*)
Charles Rangeley-Wilson: Silt Road: The Story of a Lost River
There is a real resurgence in natural history writing at the moment, especially examples written in a high literary style. This is a bit too high for my tastes but if you are part of the New Wave of British Natural History then this will be right up your dyke. (***)
Wu Ming-Yi: The Man with the Compound Eyes
Set on the coast of Taiwan. Lovely cover.
Tanya Byrne: Follow Me Down
Latest novel from a two-time Book Swapper!
Sharky & George: Don't You Dare
An activity book for kids. Looks suitably daft. Martha has nicked it.
Ben Mezrich: Straight Flush
The new one from the bloke who wrote Bringing Down the House. This time about online poker.
B.W. Jones: All Woman and Springtime
A novel set in North Korea. Interesting.
Various: Adventure Rocketship
A weird little anthology of SF-related stories, interviews and essays.
Marc Leverton: Glastonbury Festival Myths and Legends
A dinky little book with some stories from the festival.
Matt Delito: Confessions of a Police Constable
The next in the successful series of true life stories. Over 500,000 of them sold so far.
Harry Karlinsky: The Evolution of Inanimate Objects: The Life and Collected Works of Thomas Darwin (1857-1879)
Paperback edition of the Wellcome Trust Book Prize longlisted novel.
Brian Aldiss: Dracula Unbound
Brian's take on the Dracula story.
Rosie Dixon: Confessions of a Night Nurse
Reissue on ebook of a 70s sex comedy.
Brian Aldiss: Finches of Mars
He claims this will be is final science fiction novel.
Moneyball
I know very little about baseball but found this fascinating. (****)
Crazy, Stupid, Love
A cut above your usual romantic comedy courtesy of some fine actors putting in good performances and a clever script with a couple of nice twists. (****)
The Place Beyond The Pines
From the director of Blue Valentine. It's a mighty fine piece of film-making. (****)
Land of Plenty
A Wim Wenders film that had passed me by. Two excellent central performances. A bit bleak but good. (****)
A Late Quartet
A beautifully crafted piece of work. Quiet, subtle, splendid. (****)
Confessions of a Pop Performer
This one actually has a lot less sex than the first, although it is still basically a 70s sit-com with added tits. (***)
Confessions of a Window Cleaner
Watched this on YouTube as I have republished the ebooks. Was not without some charm. (***)
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
Quietly bonkers art movie which fails to be anything more than an oddity really. Some bits were great though. (***)
Withnail and I
It is probably best to watch this with a room full of people who have seen it hundreds of times. But it is good to watch it in your front room at the weekend as well. (****)
