Newsletter
- February 08
A message
from The Book Monkey
Whilst the rest of England
trembled with an earthquake, we experienced our own shockwaves of
delight this week with the news that Mr B's was announced once again in the regional
shortlist for the 2008 Independent Bookshop of the Year. A big thank you
to all of you who were kind enough to vote for us at the end of last
year. Your support and loyal custom is MUCH appreciated.
We're also very excited
about the new venue for our Catherine O'Flynn event - the book is set in
and around a huge shopping centre and as demand for tickets has been so
great, we've changed the venue from Mr B's to a very apt setting - an
empty unit in Shires Yard Shopping Centre on Milsom Street (with Roz's
help - thank you!). It should be a great night so grab your ticket now!
Still just £3 and there will be wine and nibbles as usual.
Happy Browsing!
Just click one of the links below, or scroll down to your section of
choice.
Events at Mr B's
~
Reviews
~ Country
of the Month ~
Next Generation of Book Reviewers!
Quirky Quiz ~
Mr B's as Official Bookseller
~
Noticeboard
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Events at Mr B's
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Wednesday 26th March - 7pm at Mr B's
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 Alastair
Sawday
introduces Go Slow England: Special Places to Stay, Slow
Travel and Slow Food
The travel expert
and master guidebook creator Alastair Sawday is coming to Mr B's
to talk about his new travel book which celebrates the "slow"
philosophy of life. He will be talking about what the "slow" way
of life means today and telling us why and how he selected the
places and recipes he chose as well the people who live in
Special Slow Places and what they do. You will meet farmers,
literary people, wine-makers and craftsmen - all with rich
stories to tell. "Go Slow England" celebrates fascinating
people, fine architecture, history, landscape and real food.
Alastair will be
talking in the shop and answering questions
Tickets £3 (includes wine & nibbles)
See Alastair's blog about "Go Slow England" on
http://goslowengland.wordpress.com/
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Thursday 3rd April - 6.30pm at Mr B's -
Tickets £3 (includes wine & nibbles) |
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 Jean
Sprackland - Winner of the Costa Poetry Award 07
Jean will be reading from
her award-winning collection of poetry "Tilt" describes a world in
free-fall - Chaos and calamity are at our shoulder,
in the shape of fire and flood, ice-storm and hurricane; trains stand
still, zoos are abandoned, migrating birds lose their way – all surfaces
are unreliable, all territories unmapped. These poems are raw, distressed
and beautiful, a hymn to the remarkable survival of things in the face of
threat.
Join
us for an evening with a remarkable poet.
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Wednesday 16th April - 6.30 - 8.30pm at Mr B's -
Free Launch Party! - Wine & nibbles |
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Come and help us
celebrate the launch of three great new books by local publisher
Awen publications
"Exotic Excursions"
by Anthony Nanson
"The Fifth Quarter"
by Richard Selby
"Iona"
by Mary Palmer
(cover image to follow)
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Thursday 24th April - 6.30pm at Mr B's -
Tickets £3 (includes wine & nibbles) |
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 Sri Lankan artist
and author Roma Tearne
Roma will be
visiting Mr B's to celebrate the launch of her new novel
"Bone China" and to discuss her Costa First Novel
short-listed novel "Mosquito" (out in paperback in April).
 Roma's
first book, "Mosquito" is a powerful love story with the
Sri Lankan civil war as a backdrop. Roma's talents as a painter
shine through in her writing with evocative descriptions of her
homeland and her vivid style won her a shortlist at this year's
Costa First Novel award.
Sri-Lanka is also
the primary setting for "Bone China", a moving tale of a
family uprooted and struggling to maintain unity through
cultural clashes, shifting ambitions and heartbreak.
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Sunday 1st June - 6pm - Elwin Room, BRLSI, 16-18 Queen Sq, Bath
- Tickets £5
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 Ismail Kadare
A rare major
literary appearance by the world-renowned
Albanian poet and novelist and winner of the Man International
Booker Prize
- in conversation
with his translator David Bellos
To celebrate the first ever
English translation of his most powerful novel "The Siege" and to
talk about his other great works including The Palace of Dreams, The
Successor, Agamemnon's Daughter and Broken April.
Kadare's "The
Siege" chronicles the bloody and complex struggle between
the Ottoman Army and the inhabitants of a Christian Fortress in
the mountains of Albania that ends in defeat and desolation for
both sides. A long meditation on human relations, human folly,
the ambiguities of power and the meaning of history.
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Successor is simultaneously a mystery novel and a historical
novel based on the sudden, mysterious death of the man who had
been handpicked to succeed the hated Albanian dictator Enver
Hoxha. Did he commit suicide or was he murdered?
 Agamemnon's
Daughter is the prequel to
The Successor, written in Albania and smuggled into France a
few pages at a time in the 1980s. A
psychologically incisive tale of a disappointed lover's odyssey
through a single day, we are given a true sense of how hard it
can be to remain human in a world ruled by fear.
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Reviews
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No Country for Old Men by
Cormac McCarthy
"He raised his
head and looked out across the bajada. A light wind from the
north. Cool. Sunny. One o'clock in the afternoon. He looked at
the man lying dead in the grass. His good crocodile boots that
were filled with blood and turning black." No-one can juxtapose
violence and human evil against the calm and beauty of the
natural landscape like Cormac McCarthy. Not even the Coen
Brothers.
It doesn't take
Llewelyn Moss too long to decide on his next move after finding
bodies, drugs and a whole lot of cash lying near his hunting
grounds by the Rio Grande, and it doesn't take too long for him
to realise the terrifying consequences of the move he chooses!
Paperback - Picador - £7.99 -
Click here to buy online
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Memory: An Anthology
- Edited by
Harriet Harvey Wood
As someone said,
life is just a moment with memories. This new anthology
introduces us to the range of essays and arguments about memory,
false-memories and forgetting; about how we sort and arrange our
memories and about who we are when are thinking about memories.
The first part of
the book is a series of specially commissioned essays by experts
on such aspects of memory as the chemistry/neurobiology of the
brain, psychoanalysis, music, literature, etc. The second part
is a series of many extracts on memory, imagination, memory and
science etc. from great writers from Plato to Philip Larkin,
from E.M. Forster to Proust.
Hardback
– Chatto & Windus - 2008 £25 - Click here to buy online
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Bog Child by Siobhan Dowd (Teenage/Adult crossover)
Siobhan Dowd was
becoming a highly respected new talent on the children's
literary scene before she tragically died whilst only in her
forties. This was one of the two unpublished works at her death
- a superb read for teenagers and adults alike.
Set in Northern
Ireland during the "Troubles" in the early 1980s, the main
character is a 17 year old boy who comes across a medieval "bog
child" whilst digging for peat - a child whose voice he starts
to hear in his dreams. Struggling to come to terms with his
brother's decision to go on hunger strike in prison and starting
to fall for the archaeologist's daughter, he finds a kind
of solace in the voices from beyond the grave. Wonderfully
evocative of the bleak windswept landscape, it's about sacrifice
and belonging and about questioning one's own sense of morality.
I loved it.
Hardback -
David Fickling Books - 2008 £10.99 -
Click here to buy online
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Between Two Seas by
Marie-Louise Jensen (Teenage)
A brilliant debut
novel by Bath Spa graduate Marie Louise Jensen. Winning all
sorts of praise, this is sure to be up for many an award. It's
an emotionally rich historical novel about an illegitimate girl
who promises her dying mother that she will travel to Denmark in
search of her a father she has never met and about whose past
she knows only through bed-time stories. Terrified and alone,
she embarks on her voyage across the seas to an uncertain
future. Her style is simple but extremely evocative of the
lifestyle and landscape of the Danish coastal village where
Marianne's new life starts to take shape.
Paperback
– Oxford Uni Press - 2008 £5.99
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Click here to buy online.
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Panicology by
Simon Briscoe & Hugh Aldersey-Williams
With such a wide
range of things to worry about currently on offer it is
sometimes difficult to decide which most deserve our sleepless
nights and nervous energy.
Written by two
statisticians, Panicology is a witty and informed analysis of
forty of the current front runners to help you worry only about
the very best. Separate the wheat from the chaff, including
obesity, bird flu, terrorism, cot death, nuclear power, the
pensions crisis, and many more.
Hardback
- Penguin - 2008 £18.99 -
Click here to buy online
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Trickster Makes this World: Mischief, Myth and Art by
Lewis Hyde
An interesting
examination of the role of the trickster in myths and literature
across the world and how figures such as Prometheus, Monkey,
Hermes and many others have influenced art, culture, literacy
and generally facilitated progress and new ideas by operating on
the boundaries of the accepted.
A welcome
republication of this intriguing book to follow-up last year's
much lauded re-release of Hyde's "The Gift".
Hardback
- Canongate - 2007 £16.99 -
Click here to buy online
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The Sacred Book of the Werewolf by Victor Pelevin
An intriguing new
satirical novel by a contemporary Russian author of huge
acclaim. Hu-Li is a centuries old beautiful fox-woman prostitute
on the run in Russia when a client goes inexplicably and fatally
beserk.
Acclaimed as
Pelevin's best novel to date this satire on the corruption of
modern Russia is in the fantastical, funny, sad, metaphysical
tradition of Gogol, Goncharov, Zamyatin, Voinovich and Bulgakov.
There are some truly virtuoso passages.
Paperback
- Faber & Faber - 2008 £12.99 -
Click here to buy online
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Piano by
Jean Echenoz
As we're fond of
the small, quirky translated fiction title, this is another
little gem you could read in a short train journey. Recommended
by a good customer as their favourite foreign author, I was
intrigued and rather delighted by this sharp and playful little
book reminiscent of the short stories of Gogol and of Marcel Aymé.
Max is a
slightly eccentric pianist who lets opportunities pass him by
and who is frequently paralysed by terrible stagefright. He bumbles
through life, day-dreaming about the girl he never told he loved when
one night he gets attacked and things take a very surreal turn. Deadpan, witty and
elegant.
Paperback
- Vintage - 2005 £7.99 -
Click here to buy online
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Country of the
Month - The Netherlands
In
honour of our own delightful tulip, Caroline, and of the Dutch theme
at the Bath Literature Festival, we have made The Netherlands Mr B's
Country of the Month. Here are a couple of highlights from our full
selection of all things Dutch - so join us as we pedal along the
clogged cycle-path of Dutch writing and get the windmills of your
mind milling.....
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Amsterdam: The Brief Life of a City
by Geert Mak
In
On Europe, Mak
traverses the continent in an attempt to define Europe as it
enters the 21st century. In
Amsterdam, he stays
closer to home as he gets under the skin of the city in a way
which might even offer new insight to its own residents.
Mak
explores its social and cultural history in a style both
compelling and accessible, and goes at least some way to
explaining and justifying the disproportionately high profile of
the capital city of such a relatively small country! The reader
is left with a sense of familiarity with a fascinating city
which knows how to punch above its weight!
Paperback - Harvill Press - £8.99 -
Click here to buy online
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Nomad's Hotel: Travels in Time and Space by Cees
Nooteboom
The Dutch
author with the unpronounceable name, whose work includes novels
and poetry as well as travel writing, here turns his hand to a
collection of short pieces drawn from his experiences travelling
the world.
He meanders from Venice to the Sahara and from Munich
to Mali, on the quest for the perfect
Nomad’s Hotel.
Mixing philosophy and observation with poetic description and
insight into different cultures, it is no wonder Mr B’s special
Dutch book monkey chose this book to read!
Paperback - Vintage - £7.99 -
Click here to buy online |
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The Next Generation of Book Reviewers has arrived!
Just when you thought the next generation would never take their
faces out of facebook for long enough to get their face in a real
book, Mr B's is here with great news. The next
generation are a simmering pot of book-lovers just waiting to
spend their adulthood dropping their paperbacks in the bath like
the rest of us.
How do we know? We've been up to one of
Bath's schools - the ridiculously stunning Prior Park College -
talked books with some of their pupils for a bit and received in
return a dazzling array of enthusiastic mini-book reviews. The
reviews are all on display at Mr B's at the moment so do come
and have a read. We've picked out our 5 favourite reviews to
receive £5 Mr B's vouchers and we thought we'd post them here
for you to see.
Do let us know if
you're itching to spread the word about a particular book you've
loved and we'll post your review up in the shop too!
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Eldest by Christopher
Paolini - Reviewed by William Hunt (Aged 13)
The sequel to Eragon is the
spellbinding tale of a boy and his dragon. This is a book that
everyone can enjoy as it contains all the genres of literature -
fantasy, adventure, thriller, mystery, action, romance and
horror. A unique book.
(This review also contained an
excellent drawing of a dragon which we can't reproduce here
unfortunately - come see for yourselves!).
Paperback - Corgi - £6.99 |
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City of the Beasts by Isabel Allende - Reviewed by
Christine Bovill-Rose (Aged 13)
A book of
adventure, with enough magic and reality to glue you to the
pages. A book for teenagers, both boys and girls. The story will
keep your mind satisfied, the way that it is written will
capture your heart.
Paperback - Flamingo - £7.99 |
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Lionboy by Zizou Corder - Reviewed by Anna Haskins (Aged
12)
A series on
a fantastic journey. An exciting adventure about a boy and
lions. Every chapter is a puzzle-piece which finally fits
together. It is bursting with different emotions. When you think
it has just ended, the story has just begun...
Paperback - Puffin - £6.99 |
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Northern Lights by Philip Pullman - Reviewed by Tara
(Aged 13)
The first of
three magical, mystical, emotional books that tip you into a
world you wish was real, characters you wish could be your
friends and an adventure you truly and wholly want to be part
of.
Paperback - Scholastic - £6.99 |
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Atonement by Ian McEwan - Reviewed by Sarah Dalrymple
A word which
captures the essence of jealousy, spite and love. One
misconception, two lovers and three lost souls. Ian McEwan
combines beautiful English serenity, the horror of war and
selfish bitterness to create a modern day classic.
Paperback - Vintage - £7.99 |
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You see him
here.....you see him there...
Mr B's as Official Bookseller
Here are some
of the great local literary events coming up where Mr
B's will be the official bookseller.
For tickets to
these events, click on the links provided below.
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Theatre Royal Special Events
Every few
weeks Bath’s Theatre Royal invites a prominent author to speak
about their book in the Theatre prior to a sit-down lunch in
The Vaults restaurant. |
Coming up
18th
April: Faberge's Eggs - An illustrated talk with Toby
Faber
The story
of Faberge's imperial Easter eggs - of their maker, of the
tsars who commissioned them, the men who sold them and the
collectors who fell in love with them
Tickets
and further information–
www.bathlitfest.org.uk.
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Calcot Manor Hotel Meet-the-Author
Lunches
Monthly
lunches followed by author talk and book-signing in this
beautiful Cotswold hotel and spa near Tetbury, Gloucs.
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Coming
up
7th
April: Fay Weldon discusses her latest novel
“The Spa Decameron”
Tickets
and further information –
www.calcotmanor.co.uk. |
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Bath Spa Poetry Society
Monthly
poetry readings by renowned poets, generally held at the Bath
Royal Literary and Scientific Institute at 16-18 Queen Square,
Bath.
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Coming up
10th
April: Tom Raworth and Polar Bear (both to be
confirmed)
Tickets
on the door (from 7.30pm)
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The Museum of East Asian Art
12 Bennett
Street, Bath BA1 2QJ
01225 464 640 |
Coming up
6th March -
5.30- 6.30pm: The Book of Chuang Tzu
Talk and book
signing by Martin Palmer
Tickets free
with admission (£4 for adults) |
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The Book Monkey's Quirky Quiz
- Win £5 off at Mr B's!
Thanks to all of you
who sent us silly four-line love poems.
The one that made us laugh
the most was from Pamela Williams so you get £5 off your next
purchase at Mr B's!
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QUIRKY QUIZ QUESTION
Email us on
books@mrbsemporium.com:
Question: Three
films adapted from novels won more than one gong at last month's
Oscars. What were they? And who wrote the novels that they were
adapted from?
Email us on
books@mrbsemporium.com with your answer.
The first ten to answer correctly will be allocated a biscuit in
Vlashka's bowl and the winner will be the first to be eaten! 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 friends and neighbours
are getting up to …
Master Duncan's Speak Easy - Open Mic Night
Fortnightly at
The Festival Cellar Bar - 16/17 Alfred Street, Bath BA1 2QU
Thursday 28th
February - £1 entry
Bath
Recital Artists' Trust - The Pump Rooms, Bath
Sunday 30th March at
8pm- Isata Kanneh-Mason, Charlotte Stephenson and Timothy End
Bath Choral Society - St John Passion
Wednesday 19th
March: Bath Abbey - 7:30 See
www.bath-choral-society.org.uk
Cappella Nova
Saturday 15th March -
7.30pm
Charity concert in aid
of Breast Cancer Care - "It was a lover and his lass" in words and
music - Cleeve House, Seend - Tickets £10 call 01225 482 693
See what's on at the Little Theatre Cinema in Bath -
Click here to go to website.
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