Newsletter
May 07
A message from The Book
Monkey
May, hey? May the
nice weather continue. May my next trip be to the Italian Lakes. May the
next book by the Kite Runner guy be as good as his first. May all of
Bath's traffic wardens retire. May the Big Brother house be boarded up. May Katie
be fired. May I win the Quirky Quiz (even though I'm banned from
entering). May the spotlight for once not shine on Vlashka and her
ridiculous fluffy noggin. May my carbon paw-print be small.
And may this little
newsletter shine a ray of literary light on your day.
Just click one of the links below, or scroll down to your section of
choice.
Events ~ You
and Your Big Mouth!
~ Reviews
~
Coming
up in June ~
Country of the Month ~
Quirky Quiz
~
Noticeboard
And don't forget to pre-order your Harry Potter!
Click here to find out more!
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Events
Matthew Kneale ~ Julia Hailes
~ Patrick Gale
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Award-winning author of
"English Passengers"
Matthew
Kneale
introduces his new novel
Wednesday 6th June - 6.30 p.m.
at Mr B's
Tickets in advance £3
(includes a glass of wine and nibbles)
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Hurry and book your tickets
now to meet & chat with
Matthew Kneale, 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 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,
convinced that their father is
stalking them - it's a brilliant psychological family drama and we can't wait to
hear Matthew talk about it a few days after publication. Grab the last few
tickets!
Click here to see a review
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Click here to buy online
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Environmental guru &
author of the New Green Consumer Guide
Julia
Hailes
Thursday 21st June - 6.30 p.m. at Mr B's
Tickets in advance £3
(includes a glass of wine and a slice of our birthday cake - Mr B's is one
year old that day!)
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Mr B’s
is delighted to be hosting Julia Hailes to come and talk about her
book
The New Green Consumer Guide
and to
give advice and answer all manner of questions on green-living.
Many moons ago, before we were all familiar with carbon
footprints and the airmiles of South African strawberries, a
lady called Julia Hailes wrote the Green Consumer Guide
to give us all advice on what we could do to make a difference
and why it all mattered.
A few years on and we are all a bit more eco-savvy. Julia is
back to help with a new, fully up-to-date guide to help us
tell facts from myths, explain products and brands and to show
us what it really all means and how to get it right. She’s aware
that we are all busy, busy folk and so it’s practical and
realistic with lots of tips, ideas and checklists.
Click here to buy online |
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Best-selling author
Patrick Gale
introduces his new novel
Thursday 19th July - 6.30 p.m. at Mr B's
Tickets in advance £3
(includes a glass of wine and nibbles)
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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.
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You and Your
Big Mouth
J
¶
Customer reviews at Mr B's
¶
We’d
like you to share your thoughts with our other customers. Everyone likes
to spread the word on a great book, so we’re inviting you to send us an
email with a quick review of any book you’ve liked.
We’ll
write it onto a Customer Thoughts card
which we’ll stick on our shelves for others to muse over. Or else
come into the shop and fill in a customer thoughts card yourself.
Thanks!
Anything up to about 40 words.
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Reviews
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Itchy Bath 2007
by the Itchy Team
The
latest incarnation of this excellent back-pocket sized guidebook to Bath
is now out and seems more handy, colourful and full of wise tips than
ever. Not only is it the perfect addition to your guest room (to save
you having to explain, again, how to get to the Roman Baths) but it’s
also rather useful for you too, thanks to its excellent restaurant, bar
and shop recommendations.
Shop
recommendations did you say? Well yes, I did. Any in particular?
Now you mention it, page 57’s guide to bookshops does begin with a
particularly fine example of the Itchy guide’s astute reviews, but I’m
not sure I have space to quote from it. Oh go on! Well, since you
insist, the review starts….“Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights – The
best bookshop in Bath, and possibly the world”.
In
summary, the best guidebook on Bath, and possibly on anywhere.
Paperback - Itchy Guides -
£3.50 -
Click here to buy online
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All-Round Genius: The Unknown Story of Britain’s Greatest Sportsman
by Mick Collins
Now,
I'm not too bad with the old leather and willow for a monkey, and I can
hold my own on the snooker table down at the Jungle Inn - but the
subject of this biography, Max Woosnam, puts every one of us to shame.
He was so outrageously talented in every form of sport it is just silly.
Whilst we were winning our plastic javelin trophy on sports day, Max was
playing cricket at Lords. Whilst we beamed at beating puffed out old
uncle Henry on the local tennis court, he won an Olympic gold medal at
tennis and then won Wimbledon Doubles Champion. He played for Chelsea
and Manchester City and then for England, won a shooting gold medal and
was just irritatingly good at snooker, table tennis, golf, squash…..Oh,
and he fought on the Western Front and held down a full-time job at ICI.
He’s
also solved the question of what to get your dad for Fathers’ Day this
year!
Paperback - Aurum Press – £7.99 -
Click here to buy online
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When We Were Romans
by Matthew Kneale
* Out 1st June *
I’ve just finished this and loved it. I wasn’t at all sure for
the first 30 pages, predominantly as it’s written in the style
of a nine year old boy, complete with spelling errors and ropey
punctuation. But stick with it and you are very well rewarded.
It’s a brave step to write as a kid but he uses the technique to
brilliant effect.
Lawrence, his hamster and his younger, headstrong sister are
bundled off to Rome by car by their mother who believes her ex
(their father) is stalking them. Once there, she contacts her
old friends from her days living there and the family and their
boxes are shunted from flat to flat, trying to settle into a new
life. But it seems that old mysteries follow them wherever they
go.
Desperately trying to be in-control and protect his family,
Lawrence struggles with his mother’s behaviour which he can’t
quite understand, however grown-up he feels. As a reader you
start to piece things together through the little things he
observes and start to understand what he cannot see. As his
world becomes ever more unstable, his desperation to build some
kind of wall around his family is interlaced with funny and
ironic snatches from his boyhood interests – powerful but
delusional Roman Emperors, black holes and galaxies. I reckon
this very different and bold style is going to be talked about a
lot this summer.
Remember! Matthew Kneale will be coming to read from his new
novel at Mr B’s on Wednesday 6th
June.
We can’t wait. Tickets only £3 including a glass of wine. Book
now!!
Hardback – Picador - 2007 - £16.99 - Click here to buy online
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A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
The Kite Runner became one of those word-out-mouth
sensations by first time Afghan novelist Hosseini and this is
his much anticipated second novel. I’ve only just started it,
but love-love-loving it so far. I’m particularly intrigued to
see how he writes from a female perspective, since the The Kite
Runner was mostly about two boys and a father/son relationship.
This book focuses on the lives of two Afghan women, thrown
together by fate. Mariam, the illegitimate daughter of a rich
man, who is eventually rejected by him and married off to an
older man - and Laila, an attractive young girl who becomes part
of Mariam’s husband’s household.
Spanning several decades pre-Taliban to present day Afghanistan,
it encompasses suffering, humanity, war and politics.
Hardback - Bloomsbury - £16.99 -
Click here to buy online
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More Than a Game: The Story of Cricket’s Early Years by
John Major
The Bath Theatre Royal’s literary lunch
events programme is bearing a striking resemblance to a mid-90s
Spitting Image sketch schedule. A fortnight ago we were selling
Paddy Ashdown’s new book Swords and Ploughshares, in June
we’ll be welcoming Douglas Hurd and William Hague to Bath to
talk about their new biographies of Robert Peel and William
Wilberforce respectively, and the Mr B’s team
spent last Friday morning desperately refraining from all the obvious jokes in preparation
for meeting Sir John Major.
And not only was he rather witty and
charming, his book is an excellently researched and beautifully
presented addition to any cricket-fan’s library. Starting with
the earliest records of the game he paints a clear but detailed
picture of its development right through to 1914 (where he
pauses neatly to allow for the sequel). He also analyses and
dismisses many “rural myths” about the early game and introduces
us to WG Grace and various other unfeasibly unsporty looking
cricketing heroes.
Another obvious choice for Fathers’ Day, especially as we have
SIGNED copies in store.
Hardback - HarperPress - £25 -
Click here to buy online
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The
Howling Miller by Arto Paasilinna *
Out mid-June *
Mr B is cock-a-hoop
with his first new “whacky but brilliant translated fiction”
find for some time. This is only the second of this Finnish
author’s books to be translated into English and about time
since it has already been translated into 40 other languages.
The novel follows the tribulations of the kind-hearted, but
slightly bonkers, Gunnar Huttunen as he arrives in a Lapland
village and sets about restoring the old watermill. The locals
are at first-intrigued but then increasingly suspicious of and
hostile towards their new neighbour. Repeatedly peaceful
acceptance looks possible, but is then snatched away by Gunnar
doing something a bit barking (although often no more barking
than what anyone else is up to).
A comical tale of a
misunderstood man striving to live his life against the world
which also perfectly depicts the petty prejudice and
little-mindedness that could be going on in your village, never
mind the woods of post-war Finland. Anyway, I loved it and I’m
going to be recommending this long after I’ve given up trying to
spell (or pronounce) the author’s name.
Paperback – Canongate - £7.99
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Click here to buy online.
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Michael Tolliver Lives by Armistead Maupin
*
Out mid-June *
Nearly 20 years after he apparently wrapped
up his ground-breaking Tales of the City series,
Armistead Maupin has delighted fans by suddenly dishing out a
seventh volume in the form of his new novel Michael Tolliver
Lives. As the title suggests Maupin gives what we presume to
be the final word to perhaps his most loved character Michael
“Mouse” Tolliver.
Once you get past the shock of Mouse being in
his fifties and of everyone having grown out of calling him
“Mouse”, anyone familiar with Maupin’s earlier books will soon
be relaxing again in the company of his eccentric and outspoken
circle of San Franciscan characters. Predictably the author
avoids making this novel an exercise in nostalgia by pulling as
few punches as he ever has describing the physical and emotional
relationships of his gay, straight, bisexual and transsexual
cast. Do you need to have read the earlier books? No, but it may
add something and if you haven’t yet read them, you should be
running out to buy the first one (from Mr B’s!) today.
Hardback – Doubleday - £17.99
Pre-order from Mr B’s & get 10% off! (Just call or email)
Click here to buy online
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Our pick of other titles to be
released in June ...
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New in Hardback in June -
* 10% off *
if you pre-order at Mr B's |
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William Wilberforce by William Hague
A new biography of the great Anti-Slave trade campaigner.
William Hague will be talking at the Theatre Royal on 29th June
and, as official bookseller to the event, Mr B’s will have
signed copies for sale afterwards.
Hardback -
Harperpress - £25
Pre-order from Mr B's and get 10% off!
– Just email or call |
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After Dark by Haruki Murakami
He’s back - The Japanese master of imagination and author of
fantastically edgy, modern novels. This time with some strange
nocturnal happenings – or a trick of the night?
Hardback - Harvill Press - £14.99
Pre-order from Mr B's and get 10% off!
- Just email or call. |
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Peeling the onion by Gunter Grass
Now translated into English, this honest memoir by the author of
The Tin Drum caused a huge kafuffle when published in Germany
for its disclosure of the Nobel literature laureate's Waffen SS
membership.
Hardback -
Harvill Press - £18.99
Pre-order and get 10% off! -
Just email or call.
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Out in Paperback from 7th June |
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Theft: A Love Story by Peter Carey
A book about art, fraud and friendship, from Australia to
Manhattan via Tokyo.
Paperback - £7.99 – Faber & Faber |
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A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon
Great second novel by the author of “that dog book” aka The
Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time.
Paperback - £7.99 – Vintage |
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The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
The 2006 Booker Prize winner is coming out in paperback – set in
the mountain mists of the Himalayan foothills.
Paperback - £7.99 – Penguin |
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*
EGYPT *
Mr B's
New Country of the Month
When hunting for the world’s best literature, it’s no felluca that I
took a detour to Egypt. Rich in cous-cous, falafel and first-class
authors, I had no trouble in picking up some literary (and culinary)
treats.
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Get swept away with desert love in Ahdaf Soueif’s Map of Love
Paperback - Bloomsbury 2007. £6.99
Click here to buy online
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Wander back into 1930s Egypt in the modern Arabic classic
Egyptian Earth as a schoolboy returns home to his village to
find it torn apart by feuding and fear.
Paperback - Saqi
Books - £9.99
Click here to buy online
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Step into the bustle of modern day Cairo in The Yacoubian
Building, the best-selling novel in the
Arabic language.
Hardback - Fourth Estate - 2007. £14.99 -
Click here to buy online |
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Or immerse yourself in Nobel-Prize winning novelist Mahfouz’s
Cairo Trilogy – a sweeping family saga leading up to
Egyptian Independence from British rule. The trilogy is made up
of Palace Walk, Palace of Desire and Sugar Street.
Paperback -
Black Swan - £9.99
Click
here to buy online |
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The Book Monkey's Quirky Quiz
So...who
won April's quirky quiz ?!
Vlashka's tummy is
still rumbling from lack of correct answers to last month's quirky quiz
which gives us our second ever ROLL-OVER! Yes, not £5, not £6, not even
£7, but a preposterous £10 off your next
purchase from Mr B's if you can answer this month's literary
puzzle.
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QUIRKY QUIZ QUESTION
If
you know the answers to the following, email us on
books@mrbsemporium.com or pop into the shop.
Are the following authors
men or women?
A.E.Homes
Ahdaf Soueif
Pat Barker
The first ten people to answer all three 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 £10 off their next purchase at Mr B’s shop in
Bath
or off an email book order.
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Answers to
April's Quirky Quiz
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?
Answer:
"The Sincerity"
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Noticeboard
Don’t miss out on some of the great things our friends and neighbours
are getting up to …
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Concerts
Duruflé Requiem -
Vaughan Williams Serenade to Music and Holst Rig Veda (Set
III) - A Handful of Singers with the Auriga Ensemble, conducted
by Christopher Finch.
St Stephen's Church,
Lansdown - Bath Festivals Box Office - 01225 311 773
Saturday
23rd June - 7.30pm
The Theatre Royal,
Bath - Special Events Program (with Mr B's selling the books)
Friday
1st June - Young Stalin with Simon Sebag Montefiore
Friday
15th June - Robert Peel with Douglas Hurd
Friday
29th June at Bath Abbey - William Wilberforce: The Life of the
Great Anti-Slave trade Campaigner with William Hague
Exhibitions
Corvus Corax - An exhibition of art inspired by the work of Edgar
Allan Poe
The Raven Pub, 7 Queen Street, Bath
Friday 25th May
- Sunday 10th June
Bath Festival of
Walks
Guided walks by
Kirsten Elliott and Andrew Swift to coincide with the Bath
International Music Festival
Bath Festivals Box
Office - 01225 463 362
20th
May - 2nd June
Reading Group
Scott M Thomas will
moderate a discussion on Rowan Williams' new book "Tokens of Trust"
from 7pm on Monday evenings in June in Charlcombe Church's Quiet
Garden. No need to register but bring the book and a rug!
4th,
11th, 18th and 25th June
Cinema
See what's on at the Little Theatre Cinema in Bath -
Click here to go to website.
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