Newsletter
September 06
A message from The
Book Monkey (Editor)
Back from your
holidays? Slightly glum? Well, here’s a little cheeky something to chase
away the end-of-summer-blues!
I bring you today
an enticement of events,
a rave of reviews,
a whiz through
what's new and a quirk of a
quiz
(with prize!). Just scroll down.
Firstly -
Who won last month’s quirky quiz?!
Many thanks
to all those who answered last month’s quirky quiz question which was
“In PG Wodehouse’s “Code of the Woosters” from whom or what is Wooster
escaping when he climbs on top of a chest of drawers?”. The answer was
Stiffy Byng’s dog (called Bartholomew). Out of all the entries,
Vlashka gobbled down Leslie Currie’s biscuit first! So congratulations
Leslie! We’ll be in touch to let you know how to claim your prize!
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Events - What's Mr B got in store?
Launch of Mr B’s
Booktastic Hour for Kids!
Saturday 23rd
September 2006 at 10 a.m.
* A pirate
extravaganza! *
Local author Joanna Nadin reads the
funniest & goriest bits from her fourth book
“Jake
Jellicoe and the Dread Pirate Redbeard”
Ages around 6+
Absolutely FREE entry but
limited spaces so SIGN UP NOW to reserve your place!
(Call
01225 331155, email
books@mrbsemporium.com or pop into the shop).
Coming up next month….
More author events
(to be announced)
Launch of Mr B’s Delightful Book Club
– an informal chit-chat about a particular book or author to be held
once every six weeks at Mr B’s with wine and nibbles. Please let us
know if you might be interested and we will send you more
information. |
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Reviews
What's Mr B discovered for you this month?
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Roseanna
by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo
Given the success of Henning Mankell’s books in recent
years it’s no surprise that Harper Perennial have opted to begin
a stylish reissue of an earlier Swedish crime series that helped
inspire Mankell.
Sjowall and Wahloo were a husband and wife team who
created ten novels in ten years that together make up a
brilliantly structured 300 chapter series starring dour and
cynical
Stockholm
detective Martin Beck.
This first novel introduces Beck and his equally gritty
colleagues as they set about piecing together the crime behind
the newly discovered body of a young woman. As with the whole
series the novel shows a more realistic view of detective work
than many crime series – one where a case is solved by gritty
hard work trawling through the detail, rather than sudden
moments of genius.
The second in the series, “The Man Who Went up in Smoke”
is also available while the third and fourth are scheduled to
follow in January 2007.
£6.99 – Paperback - Harper Perennial
Click here to buy online |
The
Collector
by John
Fowles
A powerful,
dark and brilliant book about a misfit who turns his attention
from collecting butterflies to kidnapping a young girl and
keeping her locked away in his basement room.
The anguish
is all mental. There is no blood and gore, just disturbing
insanity and extreme despair.
The book
switches between his and her versions of events - He oscillates
between insecure attempts to win her affection and cold anger
when she tries to escape. She wrestles with despair as her
evasion attempts become ever more desperate and ever less
hopeful.
Not a
chirpy read but a brilliantly written one.
Peculiar
parallels too with the awful experiences of Austrian teenage
kidnap victim Natascha Kampusch.
£7.99 – Paperback - Vintage Classic
Click here to buy online |
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A stylish series of books
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Pushkin Press – Our new Independent Publisher of the Month
This relatively new publisher is publishing some
absolute gems. Stylishly published, their focus is on quality
writing, introducing previously unpublished works by some of the greats,
such as Henry James, as well as new translationsn of critically acclaimed
European writers such as Stefan Zweig and Florian Zeller. For more
information see
www.pushkinpress.com
A selection
of these titles will be on display in our window for the next
month and many more will be available inside the shop. |
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Journey by Moonlight
by Antal Szerb |
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Venices by Paul Moraud
Part of a number of Pushkin Press
books on
Venice |
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Children’s Books
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Classic Picture Book 2+
Harry the
Dirty Dog by Gene Zion
The Harry
books (there are 3 in still in print in the UK) are simply
wonderful picture book stories about a little black and white
spotted dog. In this, the original story, Harry loves everything
except having a bath and so buries his bath brush in the garden
and runs away when at bath time. After lots of getting dirty on
coal trucks, playing in the mud and generally causing havoc he
returns home…only to find his family can’t recognise him under
all that dirt! All of a sudden, Harry wants a bath after all!
Although the
cars and people are decidedly in 50s/60s style, the pages are
full of kids, animals, trucks, lorries and of Harry getting
dirty – all of which kids love. The other two in the series are
“No Roses for Harry” (where Harry tries to get rid of a knitted
jumper from Grandma) and “Harry by the Sea” (where Harry gets
covered in seaweed and mistaken for a sea-monster).
£5.99 – Paperback – Red Fox
Click to buy online |
Picture Book 3+
My Very
Own Lighthouse by Francisco Cunha
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.
This is one
of six lovely books by foreign authors of children's books
published by independent publishers Winged Chariot Press. To
find out more about this and their other books, go to www.wingedchariot.com.
£10.99 – Hardback – Winged Chariot Press
Click to buy Online
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What the Book Monkey’s been Reading?
(Highlights from
the Book Monkey’s Book of the Week feature at Mr B’s Emporium)
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The
Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana by Umberto Eco
Not just another great Eco read, this is a really beautiful
paperback too. It has a gorgeous cover and has terracotta
coloured chapter divides and vivid illustrations from old
cartoons, record sleeves and other ephemera dotted throughout
the text.
The story centres on a rare-book dealer's search for his lost
childhood - lost because he suffers from a form of amnesia which
means he can remember only what he has read and not what he has
lived through.
£7.99 - Paperback – Vintage – 2006
Click here to buy online |
Mr
Thundermug by Cornelius Medvei
This new novella is a superb fantastical fable about a charming
talking monkey who appears in an un-named but seemingly
far-Eastern city. The reactions of the locals to Mr Thundermug
are superbly understated throughout - no widespread panic
and disbelief, just bemused and slightly prejudiced acceptance.
The back cover really does pick out one of the best quotes in
this instance - reporting an exhange between a journalist and
one of Mr Thundermug's neighbours - so we'll repeat it here:
"I know it sounds strange now" someone else said, "but he spoke
our language so well and he had such nice manners, we didnt
suspect anything. I suppose I thought he was a civil servant or
something". "But he was four feet high," I pointed out, "and
covered in hair". "Well, I assumed he must just be very good at
his job".
Beautifully published small hardback with the authors own
lithographs dotted amidst the text. An inspired debut by
Cornelius Medvei.
£10.00 – Hardback – Fourth Estate - 2006
Click here to buy online |
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What’s new at Mr B’s
By the Book
Monkey
It’s beginning to dawn on me just what I’ve
signed up to by agreeing to work for this chump of a boss. Not three
minutes back from hauling my sorry self across to the
Rockies to gather books for the Canadian Country of the Month
feature and he’s cracking the whip again. New this, new that, every
blinking day. What’s more, he’s now being all la-di-da, “I’ve got my
own slot on radio” etc, leaving muggins here to run the real show
in the shop and put in place all the new stuff he’s harking on
about.
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New! Mr B’s on
the Radio - Every Friday at 3.30pm
Every Friday at
3.30pm Mr B chats about and reads from books on BBC Somerset
Sound Radio.
Listen live
online
or by tuning in to 1566AM.
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New! Shop by
category
Mr B’s Online Bookshop now has a new feature
(suggested by my good self) where you can shop by category
(currently Fiction, Non-fiction, Travel, Children’s and
Poetry/Drama) as well as by Mr B’s funky “lists”. Click
here
to go to the online bookshop.
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New! All sorts
of stuff on our internet site
- www.mrbsemporium.com
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New! Quick new
access to lots more American books
Mr B has finally agreed to halt the
ridiculous weekly ritual of me flying over to the States to
bring back customer orders of
U.S. books. The jetlag was interfering with my performance, he
said, and set me the task of finding a
U.S.
supplier. Thanks to my brilliant negotiation skills and
excessive charms, we now have one and this gives us decidedly
quicker access to many more American titles.
You get everything from new
U.S. releases to more obscure books on the corn farmers of Iowa
and the like. I get more sleep and eat less airplane food.
Everyone’s a winner!
Email (books@mrbsemporium.com)
or call (01225 331155) to order a book.
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New!
Independent Publisher of the Month – Pushkin Press
- Click here to read all about it!
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New! Girl in
the Bath
The Girl in the
Bath photo adorning our shop window has been changed. Equally
relaxed and indulging in a reading delight but will suit those
non-Gentlemen who prefer Brunettes!
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The Book Monkey's Quirky Quiz
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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
Can you identify these three
canine-sounding novels from their excellent last lines?
“Might I
trouble you then to be ready in half an hour, and we can stop at
Marcini’s for a little dinner on the way?”
“And I
know I can do this because I went to London on my own, and
because I solved the mystery of Who Killed Wellington? and I
found my mother and I was brave and I wrote a book and that
means I can do anything.”
“Each of
us bathes by himself”
If
you know the answer, email us on
books@mrbsemporium.com or
pop into the shop.
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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Noticeboard
Don’t miss out on some of the great things our neighbours
are getting up to …
Theatre
(16 September
at 7.30pm)
“Jane Austen Makes a Match”
(a new play by Joanna Norland)
The Mission Theatre, 32 Corn Street, Bath - See
www.janeaustenfestival.co.uk
for more details
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Exhibitions
The Building of Bath
Museum
(28 August – 30
November) Poetry in Stone – Betjeman on Bath
An exhibition, series of recitals, talks and workshops
-
www.bath-preservation-trust.org.uk
Atticus Arts
-
11a Queen Street
(9 September –
15 October) “Attractive Opposites” Exhibition of work by Lesley
Coates Jones and Ken Jones
Adam
Gallery
–
13 John Street
(Throughout
September)
Adam Gallery
will be displaying a selection of twentieth century and contemporary
fine art. The gallery regularly has in stock work by some of the
twentieth century's most important artists such as Picasso and
Matisse, and Henry Moore and Ben Nicholson. Contemporary artists
include Barbara Rae RA, Fred Cuming RA and Richard Cartwright. www.adamgallery.com
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Lectures,
Readings,
Recitals
Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution (BRLSI)
–
16-18 Queen Square
Throughout September - Lots of readings and lectures – see
www.brlsi.com
for details
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Concerts
The
Bath Recital Artists Trust
–
Pump Rooms
(Sunday 24th
September at 8 p.m.) Simon Callaghan and Hiraki Takenouchi playing piano duets
(Delius, Schubert and Barber) –
boxoffice@bathfestivals.org.uk |
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