Newsletter
March 07
A message from The Book
Monkey
Ladies and Gents,
I'm back! Venturing South is always a plus at this time of year and I'm
all refreshed and glowing from my latest jaunt - this time to Portugal.
You can amuse yourselves at my exploits in
my latest blog, right
down to the monster bag of almonds and the bearded lady. Back
at Mr B's camp, the team are all buzzing from being
* Regional Finalists
for Independent Bookshop of the Year * - Vlashka is claiming
it's all down to her marketing talents whilst the others are claiming it's due to their
customer care skills. No mention, naturally, of yours truly without whom the whole thing would clearly fall apart.
So, high on their
own jubilation and not at all thinking straight, they are offering all
sorts of new things and coming up with all manner of new ideas and
events to keep me mad busy for months to come.
Just scroll down or click
on these links to go to a section directly.
Events ~ Mr B's Particularly Delightful Loyalty Card
~
New Country of the Month ~
Reviews
Quirky Quiz
~
Noticeboard
|
Events - What's Mr B got in store?
¶
Local author, translator
& journalist Maureen Freely discusses her new novel "Enlightenment"
Wednesday 18th April - 6.30pm at Mr B's
Maureen grew up in Turkey and now lives just outside Bath. She is a
regular contributor to several London broadsheets and is the author
of several novels. She is also well known to many as the English
translator of Orhan Pamuk's recent novels (including Snow).
"Enlightenment", her new novel, is set in present day Turkey. An
investigative journalist returns to Istanbul, the scene of her early
love affair with Sinan. A tense thriller involving a retired secret
service informer, a mysterious ‘trunk’ murder, and a group of young
students involved in subterfuge, but now tackling a real crisis,
this novel shows that in Turkey, nobody is who they say they are,
and everyone is a suspect.
Maureen is a controversial writer who is not afraid to criticize the
Turkey she loves. She defended Orhan Pamuk when he was prosecuted
under Article 301 for "un-Turkish" behaviour, and has also assisted
Turkish authors Perihan Magden and Elif Shafak who were prosecuted
under similar articles.
Click here to buy her book online
Tickets in
advance £3 (includes a glass of wine and nibbles) ~
* Limited availability so book early! *
¶
An evening
with Susan Hill
Susan Hill is coming to Mr B's
to discuss "Woman in Black" & to meet her readers
Thursday 3rd May - 6.30 p.m. at Mr B's
Susan Hill's gripping Booker
Prize-winning novel has been adapted into
a hugely successful
West End play, now in its eighteenth year. It returns to the Theatre Royal in
Bath from 30th April to 5th May. A rare opportunity to meet and chat with
such a renowned author in a small, intimate setting. It should be a very
special evening. Even Vlashka has promised to be on her best behaviour.
Tickets in
advance £3 (includes a glass of wine and nibbles) ~
* Limited availability so book early! *
¶
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 collections are well acclaimed and we're
thrilled to be able to offer the chance to hear her read from her new
poetry 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! *
¶
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 where 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 Roman Emperors and the stars, driven through the night across the
continent to Rome by his mother who is paranoid that their 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! *
|
* * *
|
Mr B's
Particularly Delightful Loyalty Card
* New
from 10th April *
Aptly after 9 months, Mr B's
is spawning its first loyalty scheme to thank you all for shopping at
Mr B's and of course to encourage you to keep coming back to sample our
ever-varying shelves of bookish goodies!
So, from 10th April, grab
your new "Mr B's Particularly Delightful Loyalty Card" which you can then
put alongside the other, inferior loyalty cards in your wallet.
You're all familiar with the
stamping of little squares to get freebies and it's just the same (but
better, obviously) at Mr
B's - Each card has 9 squares - for every £10 you spend at Mr B's, you get
a square ticked off - Fill all 9 and get £5 off your next purchase at Mr
B's. Delightful!
|
* * *
* * *
|
Reviews
This month, kidnap a
Nazi commander in Crete, hang out with some Ukranian strawberry
pickers, drip sweat and tears building the Panama
canal, go va-va-voom in vintage, pick out some brains and get lost
in the modern contradictions of Egypt.
|
 |
Brand New History Title
Panama Fever:
The battle to build the canal by Matthew Parker
More than 25,000 people died building the
Panama Canal. 25,000! Now I like a stroll along the Kennett &
Avon as much as the next person, but that seems an excessive
human cost to pay for a canal. Fortunately this wonderful new
history of the Panama Canal by Matthew Parker explains not just
how such an appalling death toll occurred but also why it was
that the Panama Canal was regarded as so strategically important
that someone was always going to try and build it, whatever the
financial and human consequences. Parker begins with the
earliest explorations of the forbidding jungle-covered region
and the years of international diplomatic wrangling and
surveying expeditions, moves on to discuss the first disastrous
French attempt to construct the canal and then covers the
ultimately successful construction of the present-day canal. A
compelling read even if this is a subject which (like me) you
previously knew nothing about.
Hardback - Hutchinson - 2007.
£20 -
Click here to buy online |
|
 |
Brand New
Fiction
Two Caravans
by Marina Lewycka
This has JUST come in and we haven't had a chance to read it yet
but we thought we should let you know about it anyway. The
second novel from Marina Lewycka, author of surprise
sales-sensation "A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian" or
"That Russian tractor book" as it tends to be known to many
customers out looking for it for their next book group meeting!
Anyway, she's
back. This time with what looks - from reviews and a quick dip
in just now - a very timely, entertaining and pithy novel about
2 strawberry picking caravans in Kent. Not tempting? How about
throwing into the caravans an eccentric and tension-packed mix
of exploited immigrant fruit-pickers (including a voluptuous
Pole, a Malawian teenager searching for his sister and, you've
guessed it, a couple of Ukrainians) and some nasty gang-masters?
Looks like a great follow-up to a massively successful debut to
us.
And at
least she's gone for a snappier title this time - although you
lot will still call it "That new book by the woman who wrote the
Russian tractor book" of course!
Hardback
- Penguin Fig Tree - 2007.
£16.99
-
Click here to buy online
|
|
|
The star of our
new Sparkly-as-a-Sequin "Fashion" section
Vintage
Fashion: Collecting and Wearing Designer Classics -
Foreword by Zandra Rhodes
Now you wouldn't usually
turn to the Book Monkey for fashion advice and now is no exception.
However, so many (more fashion-aware) customers love this book that he
thought it was time to dip in and see what all the fuss is about. No
coincidence also that due to customer demand for more fabulous fashion
books, Mr B's has started a sparkly-as-a-sequin,
small-but-perfectly-formed fashion section alongside its art and design
books.
This coffee-table star of
our new fashion section traces 90 years of fashion development from the
belle époque to the arrival of the 1980's power suit. Text and
photographs explain and illustrate the prominent designs, cuts and
styles from throughout the 20th Century. The book ends with a guide on
where to shop for and how to look after vintage fashion.
The Book Monkey's
personal tips for vintage fashion fabulousness: 1950s
coloured net petticoats - Ossie Clark's tulip-shaped skirts &
Dior's Divine Disco red slit-thigh dress with blouson bodice in silk
jersey.
Hardback - Carlton - 2006. £20 -
Click here to buy online
|
|
 |
A building full of
characters
The Yacoubian Building by
Alaa Al Aswany
Now the
best-selling novel in the Arabic language, this continues its
well-deserved success in translation. Set in modern day Cairo
and centred on a once grand, now dilapidated building its
colourful characters include a shoe-shiner turned wealthy
businessman, the aristocratic closet-gay editor of Cairo's
French newspaper and an ageing playboy. The focus is on Taha, the
doorman's son, living in shacks on the roof who dreams of one
day becoming a policeman. Increasingly embittered once rejected,
he seeks solace in a student Islamic organisation leading to
terrible consequences. Captivating, it brings together the
contradictions of modern Egypt and is being heralded as one of
the most important works from the region since Mahfouz's Cairo
trilogy in the 1950s.
Hardback -
Fourth Estate - 2007 - £14.99
- Click here to buy online
|
|
 |
Another day in the
Frontal Lobe: A brain surgeon exposes life on the inside
by Katrina S. Firlik
Written in a very
witty style, this book gives us a unique insider's memoir into
the fascinating profession of the neurosurgeon, for which you
need a strong stomach, a good deal of dexterity and a lot of
confidence - "they're the kids who never lost at musical
chairs". The book takes in her background and path to all things
cerebral, a "day at the office" as well as the ethics and
dilemmas of the profession. There are some highly entertaining
accounts of certain cases you really hope never ever ever happen
to you, such as the particularly nasty incident of the nail-gun
through the head. Not to mention a glimpse into future
techniques like the "brain-lift"(?!). First in the queue book
monkey?
Paperback - Phoenix - 2007. £8.99 -
Click here to buy online.
|
|
 |
A hidden gem -
non-fiction
Ill Met by
Moonlight by W. Stanley Moss
The true
story of the kidnapping of Nazi commander General Kreipe in
Crete in 1943. The plan was dreamed up by the
adventurer, war
hero, scholar, linguist, travel writer extraordinaire and
all-round-legend Patrick Leigh Fermor (later played by Dirk
Bogarde in the film of the same name) and Moss (the author) was
his second in command. Moss’s edited diary entries are as
gripping as many of the great WW2 novels, as he describes his
arrival on Crete, the preparations for and capture of the
general and their attempts to travel through and hide amongst
the island’s mountains with their captive, assisted all the way
by a motley crew of Cretan resistance fighters, shepherds and
sympathetic villagers.
Paperback - Cassell Military Paperback - 1999. £6.99
-
Click here to buy online
|
|
♥
♥ ♥
|
Seven
Salty-cod Specials from Mr B's
Country of the month
Click here to buy any of these online
 |
1. "Tragedy of the Street of Flowers"
by
Eca de Queiroz
- £9.99 - Paperback.
The tragic story of a love affair between a
young law graduate and a beautiful widow told by Portugal’s
greatest 19th Century novelist who was brilliant at
parodying the superficialities of the upper echelons of Lisbon
society. Warning - don't read the introduction first (it has a
big plot give-away in it)! -
Click here to buy online |
 |
2. "The Migrant Painter of Birds"
by Lidia Jorge
- £14.99 -
Hardback.
Contemporary Portuguese novel written in a
beautifully poetic style concerning the gradual break-up of a
family, its property and its position in society. Oh, and a
gorgeous dustjacket illustration!
Click here to buy online |
 |
3.
"All the Names"
by Jose Saramago -
£7.99 -
Paperback.
One of many masterpieces by Nobel Prize
winner Jose Saramago. A repressed minor clerk in the central
registry develops an obsession with one of the names on the
record cards he files all day. A humorous and haunting novel
that might ring a few too
many ominous bells for anyone working in today’s
corporate world.
Click here to buy online |
|
 |
4.
"Aconteceu" - a CD, not a book!
by Ana Moura - £13
Second CD by a young Portuguese songstress
who rejuvenates many traditional mournful Portuguese fado songs
with her distinctively dusky and soulful voice. Available
in-store or e-mail to
order.
|
|
 |
5.
"The Lusiads" by Luis de Camoes -
£8.99 -
Paperback
One of the greatest epic poems of the
Renaissance intertwines classical mythology with an account of
the voyage of Vasco de Gama to India via the Cape of Good Hope.
Click here to buy online |
|
 |
6.
"The Book of Disquiet"
by Fernando Pessoa
- £7.99 - Paperback.
A classic existentialist novel by a
Portuguese literary legend who is perhaps better known for his
poetry. A bookkeeper diarises his thoughts on the striking
difference between his ambitious feelings and the actual
monotony of his existence.
Click here to buy online |
 |
7. "My Very Own Lighthouse" by Francisco Cunha - £10.99 -
Hardback
Set in a little village by the sea, a fisherman's daughter
worries about her father out on the stormy waters. With the help
of her toys and a little star, she builds her own little
lighthouse just for him. Wonderful pictures and a very sweet
story, this book is a real delight. Click
here to buy online |
|
* * *
|
The Book Monkey's Quirky Quiz
So...who
won February's quirky quiz ?!
This month, Vlashka
was on a mini-break with family when it was time to pick the winner of
the quirky quiz and so we had to think of another fair and random way to
decide who won. So, Mr B stepped up to the plate and was duly
blindfolded and placed in front of some very tasty, non-doggy biscuits,
all duly numbered. After a degree of fumbling and a minor incident of
chin hitting against the table, he picked out Claire Dowling's
biscuit, so well done you! You get a life-changing £5 off your next
purchase at Mr B's.
|
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.
Questions:
Which Sebastian
Faulks' novel would make a good gift on April 1st? AND...Which
Jane Simmons' kids' book would be good for April 8th?
The first ten people to answer both questions 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.
|
|
Answers to February's Quirky Quiz
Question:
Who wrote this
poem? -
When I am sad and weary,
When I think all
hope has gone, When I walk along
High Holborn, I think of you
with nothing on.
Answer:
Adrian Mitchell - The poem was
called "Celia Celia"
|
|
* * *
|
Noticeboard
Don’t miss out on some of the great things our neighbours
are getting up to …
--------------------* * *---------------------
Exhibitions
Anna Gillespie - Sculpture, prints and drawings
Chapel Row Gallery,
Bath - 30th March - 4th April (10am - 6pm)
The
Theatre Royal, Bath - Special Events Program (with Mr B's selling
the books)
Friday
13th April - Highgrove: The Elements of Organic Gardening with
Stephanie Donaldson
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
Concerts
Bath Abbey -
Charity Concert - Wednesday 4th April at 6pm
- in aid of Dorothy House Hospice
J.S
Bach - St Matthew Passion -
For tickets, go to
boxoffice@bathfestivals.org.uk
Cinema
See what's on at the Little Theatre Cinema in Bath -
Click here to go to website.
|
|
