Newsletter
- March 08
A message
from The Book Monkey
Stop all
the clocks
I thought Team B were
losing the plot when I heard they were getting in Simon Cowell to come
to talk. What on earth could they be planning? Book Idol? The B Factor?
It turns out it's legendary stage actor Simon Callow who's taking time
out from keeling over at weddings to come for a double-bill at Mr B's
and The Little Theatre in celebration of Orson Welles. See below for
more details - as well lots of reviews, a new independent publisher of
the month, a new country of the month, a chance to vote for your
favourite book and much more.
Just click one of the green links below, or scroll down to your section of
choice.
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Events at Mr B's
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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. Only a
few tickets left so grab yours now!
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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
A collection of
fiction, exploring the allure of the exotic
"The Fifth Quarter"
by Richard Selby
A collection of
fiction & poetry, celebrating Romney Marsh, Kent
"Iona"
by Mary Palmer
(cover image to follow)
A collection of
poetry, celebrating the isle of Iona
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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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Friday 9th May
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 Mr
B's & The Little Theatre
Cinema present
an afternoon double-bill with
Simon Callow
celebrating Orson Welles
12.30 - 1.30pm at Mr B's -
Tickets £5 (including lunchie nibbles and wine)
Simon
will give a reading and answer questions focusing on his acclaimed
biography of Orson Welles.
2:30pm
at The Little Theatre Cinema Tickets
£6.20
Simon
will introduce the classic Orson Welles film
The
Magnificent Ambersons.
TICKETS FOR BOTH EVENTS £10
(Concession and
student prices available)
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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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The Bridge by
Geert Mak
This beautiful small hardback book is an ode
to the Galata bridge that has connected Asia and Europe in the
centre of Istanbul for more than 14 centuries. Mak looks at the
role the bridge has played in Istanbul’s history and uses it to
explore the incredible dynamics of Istanbul as a city split
between two continents and simultaneously influenced by the East
and West. But the real charm of this book lies in its look at
the characters that inhabit the book in the present day – the
pick-pockets seeking out hapless tourists, the tradesman selling
everything and anything and the locals plunking their rods over
the edge to catch their dinner on the way home.
Forgive Mak his
no-show at this year’s Bath Literature Festival – even the
greatest travellers occasionally miss a flight – and try out
this great piece of travel-writing by one of Holland’s best
current non-fiction authors.
Small Hardback - Vintage -
£10 -
Click here to buy online
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Then We Came to the End
by Joshua
Ferris
A superb and entertaining debut novel set in
the gossip-crammed corridors and cubicle doorways of a Chicago
ad agency. From its brilliant first line, “We were fractious and
overpaid”, the novel immerses us into the tense and hollow world
of an office with too little work and even less enthusiasm.
Ferris introduces us to a bizarre range of
office-workers whose equivalent you could find in any office
environment, and explores their obsession with the mundane even
in the midst of job-cuts and serious personal crises. Even with
a boss apparently battling breast cancer and an associate
grieving a murdered child, the most pressing question is whether
Benny is paying too much to store a totem pole.
Paperback
– Penguin - £7.99 - Click here to buy online
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365 Penguins by Jean-Luc Fromenthal
It’s bold, funny, has an environmental message, lots and lots of
penguins and helps with maths – What’s not to like? A family
starts mysteriously receiving a penguin a day for every day of
the year. Cute at first, but increasingly things get noisier and
smellier and they always hog the bathroom. Who is sending these
parcels and why?
I particularly love it when they try to stack them up in dozens,
when they add up the price of food per penguin and when the
penguins dress up in dinner jackets for the New Year’s Eve
party…
All the illustrations are in black and white with splashes
bright vivid orange and pale blue. Oh and look out for Chilly –
the one with the pale blue feet.
Large Hardback -
Harry N Abrams Inc - £9.95 -
Click here to buy online
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This time Juliette's in the middle of....Cryers Hill by
Kitty Aldridge
My reviews always
seem to say "I've not finished this yet but I'm loving it so
far" so I thought I'd make a feature of it. This time, I'm
halfway through "Cryers Hill". I hadn't read her previous
book "Pop" so I didn't know what to expect, but I'm
relishing her delicate use of language. Things are moving slowly
but that's part of the joy - I usually need a more driven plot
to keep me interested but I frankly don't really care what
happens next - I'm just happy wallowing in a lovely pool of
gorgeous writing.
There are two
interwoven stories. The first about Sean, a young boy living in
a half-built housing estate spending his days being insulted by
Ann and dreaming of being on the moon with Neil and Buzz. When a
girl is found murdered in the wood, he is sure he has seen the
murder. Thirty years earlier a young man Walter is wondering
what life has in store, falls in love with the strangest girl in
the neighbourhood and writes poetry he doesn't dare show anyone.
It reminds me of Jon McGregor's "If nobody speaks of
remarkable things" in the uncanny way she is able to get
into people's heads and describe so beautifully the everyday
things you never stop to notice.
Paperback
– Vintage -£7.99
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Click here to buy online.
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Animal,
Vegetable, Miracle (Our year of seasonal eating) by Barbara
Kingsolver
Kingsolver
may be better known for her novels, most notably perhaps the
Poisonwood Bible, but here she jumps on the green bandwagon with
her account of a year of eating food procured almost exclusively
from her own back yard and neighbouring farms.
The book is
a refreshing read on the subject, combining Barbara’s account of
her experiences with recipes and brief essays from her
nineteen-year-old daughter Camille and from her husband Steven,
a lecturer in Environmental Technology.
Kingsolver
deftly navigates the fine line between cliché and preaching,
approaching the subject instead with wit and honesty.
Paperback
– Faber -£8.99
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Click here to buy online.
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A Golden
Age by Tahmima Anam
Another of
the books shortlisted by Mr B and his fellow Costa First Novel
Award judges earlier this year, has just appeared in paperback.
“A Golden Age” is set against the backdrop of the Bangladeshi
War of Independence and is a tense and intriguing novel about
one family’s experience of those turbulent times. The main
character Rehana unwittingly becomes a valuable aide to the
revolutionary effort whilst simply trying to protect her two
children amidst the upheaval and violence. An excellent portrait
of human endurance and spirit against a fascinating historical
backdrop.
If you like
the sound of this you’ll also like “Mosquito” by one of our next
guest authors Roma Tearne – she’ll be talking about her two
novels set in the Sri Lankan civil war at Mr B’s on 24th
April.
Paperback
– John Murray -£7.99
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Click here to buy online.
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Independent Publisher of the Month - Tindal Street Press
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As we're still reeling
from the brilliance of Catherine O'Flynn's debut novel "What was
lost" we decided to bring back our "independent publisher of the
month" feature from its winter holiday by featuring Catherine's
publisher Tindal Street Press.
This tiny publisher
housed in Birmingham's "Custard Factory" seeks out writing talent
from the English regions with remarkable success. Long before the
host of awards gathered by "What was lost", they became the
tiniest press to secure a Booker shortlisting with Clare Morrall's
"Astonishing Splashes of Colour".
2008 is looking like
another great year for them too - we are itching to read the newly
released "Holding my Breath" by Sidura Lucwig and "All the
Dogs" by Daniel Bennett.
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Astonishing Splashes of Colour
by Clare Morrall
A quiet
book exploring relationships with great tenderness and empathy
following Kitty as she tries to piece together her family's
past. Constantly thwarted by the reticence of her painter father
and brothers to divulge information on her mother's death and
why her sister ran away, there is the pain too of the loss of
her own child. Her feeling of isolation is intensified by a
condition she has called synaesthesia, where feelings are
experienced as colour.
The
book's title comes from a line in J.M Barrie's "Peter Pan" -
"For the Neverland is always more or less an island, with
astonishing splashes of colour here and there." For Kitty, life
is a kaleidoscope of messy colour.
Paperback - Tindal Street Press - £7.99 -
Click here to buy online
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Country of the Month -
Nigeria
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Ever since the 1950s
and the hugely acclaimed novel "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua
Achebe, Nigeria has continued to inspire a wealth of talented
writers in English. Its literature has reflected the struggles of
its citizens undergoing the painful process of transformation from
colonial to independent nation. So come with us as we desert stroll
with such eminent names as Ben Okri, Wole Soykina and Chimamanda
Ngozi Adichie.
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Imagine This
by Sade Adeniran
We reviewed this
great debut novel in a newsletter last year and it's since gone
on to win a regional Commonwealth Prize for best first
book - a fantastic achievement for a self-published
book by a young
author.
Lola Ogunwole is
forced to leave behind everything she knows in London to move to
a village with her extended family in Nigeria. Her diary entries
invite us into her pretty harrowing world as she learns to
adjust and deal with tough conditions, physically and
emotionally. It is based in part
on Sade's own
experience of being sent back to Nigeria during her formative
years.
It's great, vibrant
writing with meaty characters and is an amazing achievement for
a debut.
Paperback - SW Books - £7.99 -
Click here to buy online
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Icarus Girl
by Helen Oyeyemi
Oyeyemi is a hugely talented young
contemporary writer who was born in Nigeria and moved to the UK when
she was four. Whilst most of us were chewing on pencils and
worrying about essays, she was secretly writing her first novel,
"The Icarus Girl" whilst studying for her A Levels. It came out to
much acclaim and was nominated for the 2006 Commonwealth
Writers' Prize.
It tells of Jessamy,
a young girl
afflicted with unexplained panic attacks and screaming fits who
is taken to meet her mother’s family in Nigeria. She is drawn to
the old servants’ quarters where one day she meets "TillyTilly",
a mysterious girl who isn't visible to anyone else. Is she a
spirit? An extension of Jessamy's personality? Strange,
increasingly sinister events start occurring as Jessamy tries
desperately to escape the girl who has invaded her life and
dreams.
In exploring
themes of loneliness and separation, Helen uses elements from the
Yoruba belief that twins inhabit three separate worlds - the
Bush ("a wilderness for the mind"), the normal world and the
spirit world.
Her latest book
"The Opposite House" is out in paperback in May 2008.
Paperback - Bloomsbury - £7.99 -
Click here to buy online
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Things Fall Apart
by Chinua Achebe
This is the seminal
African work and one of the first African novels written in
English to receive global critical acclaim. It's a powerful yet
simply told story of the changing face of rural Nigerian life
with the arrival of white missionaries.
Set around the villages of the Igbo ethnic
group, the book follows their leader Okonkwo and his family at
the end of the 18th/early 19th Century. Okonkwo is a brutal,
strong man following to the letter the traditions of the
villages and determined to show he does not have the failings of
his own father. Following years of exile for accidentally killing another clan member,
he returns to years later confronted by the arrival of Christian
English missionaries and to witness the ruining of his people.
Paperback - Penguin Classics - £7.99 -
Click here to buy online
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The Big
Picture: Top 10 Best New Illustrators
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At Mr B's we aim to
promote wonderfully illustrated picture books and we're very
excited that Booktrust has launched a Big Picture campaign to find
the UK's best new illustrators. The Best New Illustrators
Award has been given to 10 illustrators who have been
published in the UK since 2000. The winners have just been
announced at the Bologna Children's Book Fair. They are - Polly
Dunbar, Lisa Evans, Emily Gravett, Mini Grey, Oliver Jeffers,
David Lucas, Catherine Rayner, Joel Stewart, Vicky White.
To find out more,
see their website
www.bigpicture.org.uk
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Have your
say - Vote for your favourite book
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The British Book
Awards are coming up and you can vote for your favourite
short-listed book to win.
Or, if indecision
strikes, you can vote for our favourite book to win the newcomer
award ("What was Lost" by Catherine O'Flynn) as we've run out of
computers on which to vote for it!
Click
here to vote |
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The Ustinov - Special offer for Mr B's Customers
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Award-winning production,
Wish I Had A
Sylvia Plath visits the Ustinov from
Thursday 17 – Saturday 19 April
Edward
Anthony’s one-woman play about the 20th century
American icon, starring Elisabeth Gray.
Loosely based on Plath’s last moments, Esther Greenwood is a
published poet driven to despair by an unhappy childhood,
unappreciative parents, the genius of her husband and his
philandering. Her last ten seconds of hallucinatory madness are
depicted on stage as she discusses her life with the talking
oven in which she has recently placed her head, and provides the
voices for an expertly shot silent film, in which most of the
action takes place.
“The show veers wildly between farce and tragedy … I left the
theatre with a lump in my throat”
Guardian.
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The Ustinov is offering Mr. B’s customers tickets for
“Wish I Had a Sylvia
Plath” at a discounted price of £9 each (usual
price £11).
To book, just call
the Box Office on 01225 448844 and quote ‘Mr. B’s Offer”.
(subject
to availability; no other discounts
apply) |
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You see him
here.....you see him there...
Mr B's as Official Bookseller
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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
2nd May - Sir
General Mike Jackson:
Soldier: The Autobiography
Tickets
and further information–
www.theatreroyal.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: John Kinsella and Polar Bear
Tickets
on the door (from 7.30pm)
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The Book Monkey's Quirky Quiz
- Win £5 off at Mr B's!
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Thanks to those who
guessed February's rather tricky Quirky Quiz question. Some were
close, some closer still but the one who got it right and whose
biscuit was choffed the first was Emma Wager. You get £5 off on your
next visit to Mr B's.
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MARCH QUIRKY QUIZ QUESTION
Question: In
the original Tintin (in French), what is the name of "Snowy" the
dog?
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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Answer to February's Quirky Quiz
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?
Answer: The
Bourne Ultimatum (Robert Ludlum), There Will Be Blood ("Oil" by Upton
Sinclair) and No Country for Old Men (Cormac McCarthy) |
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Noticeboard
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Bath
International Music Festival
21st May - 7th June
- Lots of events all over the city. For more details see
www.bathmusicfest.org.uk
or call 01225 463 362
Master Duncan's Speak Easy - Open Mic Night
Fortnightly at
The Festival Cellar Bar - 16/17 Alfred Street, Bath BA1 2QU - £1
entry
Bath
Recital Artists' Trust - The Pump Rooms, Bath
Sunday 20th April at
8pm- Alice Ko, Luis Becerra and Benjamin Frith (Piano)
Bath Minerva Choir
Saturday 26th April -
7.30pm - "Ikons of Serenity" - Russian choral masterpieces including
movements from Rachmaninov's Vespers, Tchaikovksy and also including
Tavener's Svyati and Song for Athene
Tickets £18 (reserved)
£8 (unreserved) and under 18s £5 -
www.bathfestivals.org.uk
Bath Cantanta Group
Saturday 5th April -
8pm - St Stephen's Church, Lansdown, Bath
Vaughan Williams: Five
Mystical Songs - Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F - Haydn Missa
Cellensis "Mariazellermesse".
Tickets £10
www.bathcantantagroup.com
Asian Poetry Form Workshops with Alan Summers
Saturdays 10-30am -
4.30pm - starting 26 April (Renga)
Murch Room, Bath Royal
Literary and Scientific Institute - 16-18 Queen Square - 0845 223
5274
Art
for Animals Exhibition in aid of Bath Cats and Dogs Home
17th - 20th April and
24th - 27th April (12 noon - 3pm each day)
Drinks reception
Saturday 19th April 6-8pm - all welcome
John Hobhouse Meeting
Room, Bath Cats and Dogs Home, Claverton, Bath -
enquiries@bathcatsanddogshome.co.uk
See what's on at the Little Theatre Cinema in Bath -
Click here to go to website.
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