Newsletter
April 07
A message from The Book
Monkey
Welcome to the
April Newsletter - slightly late but what's a day between friends? We hope the spring has
put a spring in your step. Certainly the mood at Mr B's is bright and
rosy as we wait to hear whether we win the national Independent Bookshop
of the Year tonight (eek!).
Nic has been off
on a shin-dig to help choose the
Guardian's 50 books that defined their era,
Juliette has been designing our new bookmarks and Vlashka has been as
useful as ever, keeping squirrels from the door and barking at hot-air
balloons.
Just click one of the links below, or scroll down to the section you
want to see.
Events ~
WottaLotta PotterPoints!
~ The
Book Monkey's Very Own Silly Harry Potter Rhyme
Reviews
~
New Independent Publisher of the Month
~
Quirky Quiz
~
Noticeboard
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Events - What's Mr B got in store?
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Sadly,
our Susan Hill event has had to be postponed. We'll keep you posted in
future newsletters
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A
poetry evening with Helen Dunmore
You've read her beautiful novels, now come and delight in her new
collection of poetry. Helen's latest novel House of Orphans was
chosen as Bath's Big Read during the recent Literature Festival but she is
a not just a big name in prose. Her poetry has been much acclaimed and we're
thrilled to be able to offer you the chance to hear her read from her new
collection "Glad of These Times" in such a cosy, intimate setting as Mr
B's! Glad
of These Times is full of haunting, joyous and wry narratives.
Her new poems "explore the fleetingness of life, its sweetness and
intensity, the short time we have on earth and the pleasures of the earth,
and death as the frame which sharpens everything and gives it shape."
Thursday 17th May - 6.30 p.m. at Mr B's
Tickets in
advance £3 (includes a glass of wine and nibbles) ~
* Limited availability so book early! *
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Award-winning
author
Matthew Kneale introduces his new novel
Meet & chat with the
brilliant writer of the Whitbread-winning English Passengers as he
introduces his latest novel When we were Romans. We are massive
fans of English Passengers at Mr B's
(Click here to see review/buy online), a multi-layered,
darkly humorous novel of adventure and colonial brutality in which a zany
clergyman inadvertently charters a smuggler's ship to sail to Tasmania,
where he firmly believes he will find the garden of Eden, whilst Peevay
(and other Tasmanian natives) deal with the arrival, and grotesque
behaviour, of British convicts and settlers.
When we were
Romans (to be published 1st June 2007) is narrated by a young boy obsessed
with the stars and Roman Emperors, as he is driven through the night to Rome by his mother, who is paranoid that
his father is
stalking them. What begins as an adventure ends in imprisonment and a
desperate attempt finally to break free. Sounds great and we can't wait to
hear Matthew talk about it a few days after publication. Hope you can join
us!
Wednesday 6th June - 6.30 p.m. at Mr B's
Tickets in
advance £3 (includes a glass of wine and nibbles) ~
* Limited availability so book early! *
¶
Best-selling
author Patrick Gale introduces his new novel
We are over the moon to
announce that we have best-selling author Patrick Gale coming to Mr B's to
read from and sign his new novel Notes from an Exhibition. His
previous novels include Rough Music,
The Aerodynamics of Pork
(click for review), and
Tree Surgery for Beginners; he is also Armistead
Maupin's biographer. He lives near Land's End and raises cattle for open
market and grows broccoli for Sainsbury's! Clearly such a renaissance man cannot fail to inspire us all.
Thursday 19th July - 6.30 p.m. at Mr B's
Tickets in
advance £3 (includes a glass of wine and nibbles) ~
* Limited availability so book early! *
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Calling all Witches and Wizards!
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Harry Potter at Mr B's! ¶
Grab the nearest
passing owl/dragon/rat and get on down to Mr B's!! Muggle-minded we are not.
We're
having a midnight party and
giving out special WottaLotta PotterPoints
cards (see below)!
Despite initial scepticism
from both Vlashka (concerned over talk of Dragons)
and the Book Monkey (worried he'll be dressed up as an owl), Mr B's
will be hosting a...
* Potions &
Commotions Party *
on Friday
20th July from 11.15pm
with
prizes for the best-dressed witches and
wizards, a Grand Golden Snitch Hunt, a Quirky Quidditch Quiz and much
more. For one night only, John Street will become Diagon Alley and two
mysterious dark figures will unveil the very last HP at one minute past
midnight!
Pre-order
your Harry Potter 7 at Mr B's!
The books will be hotter than the hottest of potions
that night, so you will have to reserve your copy beforehand.
Reserve your copy at Mr B's
for just £3 deposit and as well as an invite to the best Harry
Potter Party in town, you get a WottaLotta PotterPoints Card - get money
off your HP for every point you collect by shopping at Mr B's between now and 20th
July - collect all points and get your HP
absolutely FREE!
Be there
or be a muggle!
¶
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The Book Monkey's Very Own Silly Harry Potter Rhyme
Would you be Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw?
Slytherin or Gryffindor?
Which would you pick,
A wand or a broomstick?
Would you Chase or Seek, Beat
or Keep?
Or suck an acid pop in your
sleep?
Maybe Dumbledore can help you out
Charms with Flitwick?
Herbology with Sprout?
Or maybe, if boredom was rife,
And you fancied risking your life,
You'd fight a Horntail,
Dementor or Crup?
Or perhaps your mind is not yet made up?
My wonderful, wise, wizarding friend,
whichever you choose, you can depend
On a magical night at Mr B's
On Friday 20th, if you please.
The Deathly Hallows clock will tick
With our very own Nearly Headless Nic!
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Reviews
This month, we will
be going for a treat at Bath Spa (uni) , whisking you to seventeenth
century India, helping you escape from behind enemy lines, hanging
out with a Alistair Cooke and some lumberjacks, being very non-PC
with a US lawyer and spray-painting things gold with a
Welsh-Japanese lover of Macaroni cheese.
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A day
at the spa
"Spring":
New Writing from Bath Spa
Bath Spa University's
creative writing programme has a fabulous reputation and this anthology
showcases some of the sparkling new literary voices to graduate in 2007.
This fresh mix of short stories, extracts from novels, poetry and
narrative non-fiction has got the Book Monkey all excitable. With titles
as intriguing as "Nomad" by Tara Diamond, "Bringing Back Borges" by
Stephanie Cage and "The Roller of Big Cigars" by Jennifer Russell, who
can resist?
Indeed, so fresh and funky
are these new talents that when they break through into the global book
market and start winning awards, just remember....you saw them here
first!
Large Paperback - Bath Spa University Press - 2007. £8.99
- Click here to buy online
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A visit to an exotic land
A Teardrop on the Cheek of Time: The Story of the Taj Mahal
by Diana and Michael Preston
It's one of the
most magnificent and recognisable buildings in the world. Diana
looked mournful in front of it, the English have pillaged its
jewels and there is a fascinating history behind the Taj Mahal.
Shah Jahan, a Moghul emperor, heartbroken at the death of his
wife commissioned a monument of unsurpassed splendour in her
memory. A mere twenty years and 20,000 labourers later he had
created a milk-white marble and bejewelled palace. Family
arguments worthy of the
best of soap operas kicked in with brothers,
sons and fathers all falling out. The emperor finished his
days imprisoned by his own son in Agra Fort, gazing across the
river at his beloved monument.
Hardback
- Doubleday - 2007.
£16.99
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Click here to buy online
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A journey back in time
Alistair Cooke's
American Journey: Life on the Home Front in the Second World War
Alistair Cooke,
well known journalist and broadcaster, journeyed across the U.S.
as World War II broke out, talking to all the ordinary folk he
came across, from miners to lumberjacks, recording a fascinating
picture of American life and mentality at the time. It was only
a few weeks before his death in 2004 that the manuscript was
re-discovered and first published.
Cooke trivia: He
was yards away from JFK when he was shot and Charlie Chaplin was
supposed to be his best man (chosen for his ready supply of
black suits) but vanished at the last minute.
NEW in Paperback - Penguin - 2007. £8.99 -
Click here to buy online
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A day in the
office
Anonymous Lawyer by
Jeremy Blachman
“Bad day at
the office? Had a run in with your boss? Buy this book. It’ll
cheer you up no end because at least you don’t work for this
guy! The anonymous lawyer is a recruitment partner at a
U.S. law firm and “PC” or “model employer” he is not. He doesn’t
like you taking sweets from the jar on his secretary’s desk, he
thinks blackberries mean instant replies can be expected 24
hours a day and he won’t even try to remember your name, to him
you’re just “The One who Can’t Apply Make-up Properly” or “The
One Who’s Never Getting Married”.
How’s this
for his reaction to a fellow partner bringing his dog to the
office “Someone gave the dog a piece of his muffin from the
attorney lounge. The muffins aren’t for dogs. We don’t even let
the paralegals have the muffins. The muffins are for
client-billing attorneys. They’re purely sustenance to keep the
lawyers from having to leave the office for breakfast”.
The book
follows Anonymous Lawyer’s no-holds-barred blog as he battles
with rival partner “The Jerk”, tries to control the voracious
spending of “Anonymous Wife” and begins to panic as someone
within the firm seems to be on to him and his anonymity is
jeopardised.
Admittedly
a predictable recommendation for a bookshop run by ex-lawyers,
but highly entertaining reading for all office dwellers
nevertheless.
Paperback -
Vintage - 2007. £7.99
- Click here to buy online
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A drama behind
enemy lines
Home Run: Escape from Nazi Europe
by John Nichol & Tony Rennell
You have just
parachuted out of a burning bomber, only to land on your own in
the dark, behind enemy lines. You are happy to be alive but not
that happy about anything else. You've just been stranded alone
on the beach after the chaotic evacuation of Dunkirk. Where do
you go? Who can you trust?
This is a
collection of true tales of those who tried to make it back to
safety, by hook or by crook - precarious sea-crossings, dodging
enemy patrols and trusting their lives to brave strangers. Some
made it, some didn't. All sound like stories out of a movie -
except these are real.
Hardback - Penguin/Viking - 2007. £20 -
Click here to buy online.
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A funny trip to
the seaside
Gold by Dan
Rhodes
Another hilarious,
characterful book by Mr Rhodes, this time following Miyuki
Woodward, a lover of pub-quizzes, macaroni cheese and pints as
she holidays in her regular seaside village. But this year,
armed with some gold spray paint, she takes part in perhaps the most
turbulent event the village has ever seen. With
characters such as "Short Mr Hughes", "Tall Mr Hughes", "Septic
Barry and the Children from Previous Relationships", this is
seriously funny, tinged with serious.
Paperback - Canongate - 2007. £9.99
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Click here to buy online
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A
stay in the hills
Ten days in the
Hills by Jane Smiley
Having already transposed the King Lear story
into the cornfields of Iowa in her brilliant Pulitzer-prize
winning “A Thousand Acres”, Jane Smiley has gone a couple of
hundred years further back for her inspiration this time around.
Taking the structure of Giovanni Boccaccio’s “Decameron”, in
which 10 plague-fleeing chums titillate one another with tales
of debauched nuns and the like for 10 days in the hills above
Florence, Smiley has moved the clock forward 659 years and
shifted the action to the Hollywood hills.
The day after the Oscars fading-fame director
Max and his lover, Elena, are invaded by guests. Just as
over-sexed as their 14th century counterparts, the ten friends
spend ten days talking about the new Iraq war, sex, books,
movies and their Hollywood lives and, each in their own way,
finding their life transformed by the experience.
Hardback
- Canongate - 2007. £9.99
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Click here to buy online
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(Actually not) a trip to
the butchers
The Aerodynamics of Pork by
Patrick Gale (who will speak at Mr B's on 19 July 2007)
Two addictive stories run side by side in Gale’s
first novel, and then gradually intertwine as they hot up. Neither,
bizarrely and a little disappointingly, involve anyone testing the
flight properties of a pound of streaky bacon. Instead, on the one hand
we follow Mo, a police detective investigating a series of puzzling
thefts from the homes of leading London astrologers and at the same time
embarking on a new love affair with Hope, lead-singer of a popular
lesbian duo.
Simultaneously we are introduced to the Peake family as they travel down
to a small Cornwall town to organise their annual music festival. While
their mother busies herself with the arrangements, Venetia begins to
panic about her apparent immaculate conception and Seth falls steadily
in love with a sculptor.
Paperback - Flamingo - 2002. £5.99
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Click here to buy online
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*
ELAND *
Mr B's
New Independent Publisher of the Month
We love Eland and all
they stand for. Born out of the founder's bitterness that no-one was
republishing Norman Lewis or Martha Gellhorn's fabulous travel
writing, Eland still specialises in keeping great works of travel
literature in print. The spirit of adventure oozes from the pages of
previously forgotten classics like Gavin Maxwell's "A Reed Shaken by
the Wind" and Mungo Park's "Travels into the Interior of Africa".
Nowadays their beautiful editions also feature excellent biographies and fiction
titles like Leonard Woolf's "The Village in the Jungle" that might
otherwise be lost to the great out-of-print pulping machine in the
sky.
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The Way of the World: Two men in a car from Geneva to the Khyber
Pass
by Nicolas Bouvier
You want a road trip? I’ll give you a road
trip. In 1953 Nicolas Bouvier and artist chum Thierry Vernet
pulled out of Geneva in their Fiat and drove all the way to the
Khyber Pass. Eat that, Kerouac.
All the necessary ingredients to be a
would-be traveller’s ultimate inspiration – muddling by on low
funds (they sold paintings when times got tough), mingling with
local drinkers and musicians wherever possible (no ex-pat jolly
this). A cult classic in France, Eland have just published this
new English edition of Bouvier’s fantastically passionate and
evocative travelogue so we can all vicariously make the grand
journey we wished we could if only we weren’t so busy running
fabulous bookshops.
Eland - Large Paperback - 2007. £12.99 -
Click here to buy online
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The Last Leopard:
The life of
Giuseppe di Lampedusa
by David Gilmour
If you haven’t discovered Giuseppe Tomasi di
Lampedusa’s “The Leopard” yet, then it’s really time you did
(click
here to see review).
Published the year after the then unknown author’s death in 1957
it has since become recognised as one of the masterpieces of
twentieth century Italian literature. (Naturally, therefore, you
can buy it in both English and Italian at Mr B’s).
This new Eland publication is the biography
of the author no customer attempts to pronounce. Based on
Lampedusa’s private papers and diaries Gilmour describes the
life and character of this Sicilian prince and the local
controversy that surrounded the posthumous publication of his
landmark novel, which paints a far from complimentary picture of
his island.
Eland - Large Paperback - 2007. £12.99 -
Click here to buy online |
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The Book Monkey's Quirky Quiz
So...who
won March's quirky quiz ?!
Vlashka was back
in the hot seat this month. A little disappointed by the number of
correct answers, she was nevertheless true to form and didn't hesitate
to take up the challenge. This time, she scoffed Jill Bennett's
biscuit first and so you win a heart-warming £5 off your next
purchase at Mr B's.
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Answer me this, book-lovers, and you could
get
£5 off your next purchase from Mr B’s
QUIRKY QUIZ QUESTION
If
you know the answer, email us on
books@mrbsemporium.com or pop into the shop.
Question: In
Matthew Kneale's
English Passengers, what
is the wonderfully ironic name of the ship on which The Reverend
Geoffrey Wilson sets sail to Tasmania?
The first ten people to answer correctly will be allocated a dog
biscuit in Vlashka’s dinner bowl. The first person’s biscuit to
be eaten will be the winner!
The lucky winner will be announced in next month’s newsletter
and will get £5 off their next purchase at Mr B’s shop in
Bath
or off an email book order.
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Answers to March's Quirky Quiz
Question:
Which Sebastian
Faulks' novel would make a good gift on April 1st? AND...Which
Jane Simmons' kids' book would be good for April 8th?
Answer:
"A Fool's Alphabet" and "Daisy and the Egg"
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Noticeboard
Don’t miss out on some of the great things our neighbours
are getting up to …
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Open Mic - Word at
"the egg"
30th
May & 20th June - 7.30 - 9.30 pm
Concerts
Pump Room Recitals -
Wells Cathedral School - distinguished piano pupils (including
finalists from 2006 BBC Young Musician of the Year)
Sunday
13th May - 8pm -
www.bathrecitals.com
The Theatre Royal,
Bath - Special Events Program (with Mr B's selling the books)
Friday
18th May - Swords & Ploughshares: Bringing Peace to the 21st
Century with Paddy Ashdown
Friday
25th May - More than a Game: The Story of Cricket's Early Years
with John Major
Friday
1st June - Young Stalin with Simon Sebag Montefiore
Friday
15th June - Robert Peel with Douglas Hurd
The Bath Science Cafe
Informal talk & audience discussion on science & technology
- Upstairs in the Raven Pub, 7 Queen Street, Bath - on the 2nd
Monday of every months
Cinema
See what's on at the Little Theatre Cinema in Bath -
Click here to go to website.
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