The Book Club - Review

Excited at the prospect of a new bookish cafe, I headed expectantly to The Book Club in Shoreditch. And, well... there were no books to be seen! But this aside, its a good place to grab a coffee, quick bite or evening drink, and they host regular music, literary & various other cultural events. The upstairs space is huge, with cosy chairs for lounging in, long tables for eating and even a ping-pong table! There's also a pool table downstairs, and a large space channeling the 'derelict-but-refurbed-East-End' look. (The building was formerly a Victorian warehouse). The Book Club is also not ridiculously over-priced, a mega-bonus in this area - along with the free wi-fi which they are happy for people to hang around and use!

Swedes Do It Better

On a recent visit to Gothenburg, Sweden's "second city", I had a browse through their bookshops and found a huge array of great cover art. It seems like the Swedes' eye for design has carried over into cover art - another asset for Sweden, along with Bjorn Borg (and his underwear range), clean cities, good trams, lots of attractive, tanned people, no crime, good books about crime (see my previous post) and Ikea. Click through to see more Swedey covers.

Like Bees to Honey

Published on 27 May by The Friday Project, Caroline Smailes' new novel Like Bees to Honey is available FREE, in full! You can read the entire novel through a tour of the blogosphere - each chapter has been posted on a different blog. This is a great example of how publishers can give readers content in interesting and innovative ways by embracing the possibilities offered by advances in digital media, and according to The Friday Project is a publishing first.

Lost Classic (1)

As a semi-regular feature, I will be selecting books which I think can qualify as 'lost classics'. Each book I pick will have been found as the result of foraging in second hand bookshops, must be relatively unknown, and a good read. I love buying books second hand - you can nearly always find something unexpected, and hopefully end up reading something you wouldn't otherwise have come across. My first 'lost classic' is Gone to Earth, by Mary Webb. Set in the Welsh borderlands, this is the story of a wild teenage girl named Hazel with an intense love for nature and her own freedom, who becomes caught between the attentions of two men, with tragic consequences. As John Buchan explains in the introduction, Hazel 'suffers because she is involved in the clash of common lusts and petty jealousies...she is a creature of the wilds, with no heritage in the orderly populous world'.

Penguin Classics RED

Penguin have just launched their new Classics RED series. Having partnered with (Product)RED, they are issuing newly designed classics, from the sales of which 50% of profits will go the Global Fund to help eliminate AIDS in Africa. I think the new covers look great, and it's refreshing to see a major publisher seeking to do more than merely bolster their own sales - especially so during an economic depression, and considering that publishing is not an industry which generates huge profits.

Jonathan Kellerman's Top 10 LA Noir Novels

A couple of months back, crime writer Jonathan Kellerman selected his Top 10 LA Noir Novels for the Guardian, focusing on the older generation of noir authors. He took  'LA noir' to cover southern California as a whole, saying:

'LA isn't a city, it's a concept which applies anywhere in the Golden State where nice weather abounds, a chasm yawns between the haves and the have-nots, and delusional blind ambition is habitually confused with work ethic and wisdom.'

As a huge Raymond Chandler fan I wanted to share this list, and also have it as a reminder to myself to read all these books!

The Ballad of Trenchmouth Taggart

Time for another feature on one of my favourite books! This debut novel from M Glenn Taylor introduces us to Trenchmouth Taggart, a man born in West Virginia in 1903 with a lifelong oral affliction and raised on moonshine, snakes, women and the Appalacian foothills. An unforgettable and totally original novel spanning the twentienth century and touching with great energy and sensitivity on issues of race, class, history, exile and the erosion of people, places and traditions by modernity. I guarantee this is a book you'll want to recommend to everyone you know if you read it!

Reading Music

On the New York Times books blog I recently came across their 'Living with Music' series, where authors provide playlists for their works - songs which either evoke their stories or inspired their writing. This got me thinking - how can music enhance or change our reading experience? The idea of soundtracks for books isn't a new one - in 2006 James Patterson produced 100,000 copies of a CD to accompany one of his 'Maximum Ride' titles. But, in 2010 advanced e-book technology offers new opportunities for combining literary and audio experiences. Publishing as a genre is increasingly influenced by other forms of media, and readers are adapting to new ways of reading - could music become a part of our reading practices? And how much can music add to the reading experience?

The Shipping News

All this talk of cold climates in my previous article has got me thinking about one of my favourite novels - The Shipping News, by Annie Proulx. The Shipping News follows Quoyle, a journalist who moves with his daughters Bunny and Sunshine to remote Newfoundland, after the death of his wife. This novel is one of my favourites as it is so many things - sad, funny, profound, uplifting, and above all beautifully written.

Crime in a Cold Climate

For the last couple of years now Swedish crime writing has dominated the UK and US book charts, as well as topping bestseller lists across Europe. In 2009 Stieg Larsson was the no.1 bestselling author in Europe, and Camilla Läckberg came in 6th. With the Swedish films of Larsson's 'Millenium' trilogy releasing this year, it looks like the Swedes could be on top for a fair while longer. With this is mind I tried to find out what's hot in crime writing now in the icy climes of Sweden.

The Crime of Father Amaro: sexing up a classic

Perusing the Guardian's 1000 Books Everyone Must Read, I came across The Crime of Father Amaro, by Eça de Queiroz. I'd watched the 2002 film release, (mainly due to Gabriel Garcia Bernal's presence), the poster for which is shown above, but hadn't realised it was based on a Portuguese classic originally published in 1875. This novel focuses on a young priest in a small Portuguese town, who simply cannot control his manly urges - a problem which has devastating consequences for the girl he becomes involved with, and exposes the hypocrisy and corruption of the priests in the town. Seeing this novel gave me a flash of inspiration: it just looks ripe for reinvention - with a sexy new cover playing up the historical, religious and forbidden lust themes, it could be given a new lease of life.