Which year do you think is the most important in
British history? Well, I’d probably put up a strong argument for 1066, or
possibly 1939. But no – Francis Beckett and Tony
Russell feel that the crucial year is in fact….1956. 1956: The Year That Changed Britain is “a
wonderfully evocative and thoughtful account of a year that saw the ends and
beginnings that explain why and how we got to today” according to Michael
Rosen and this is the story of a defining year that heralded modern Britain. In
the immediate post-war years, many people thought that having conquered the
Nazis, there was little else left to conquer. In 1956, they learned that they
were wrong. 1956 was the end of the Second World War and the start of the ’60s.
It was the year Attlee’s Britain started to crumble and Thatcher’s
Britain Britain and France occupied Suez , and the Soviet Union sent tanks into
Hungary Royal Court
Theatre Britain
You can find out a bit more about this on the Francis Beckett's blog here where he’s talking about
the changing attitudes to sex in the 50’s.
Here are three of my favourite hits from
1956: Louis Armstrong, Count Basie and Nat King Cole . Who needs rock ‘n’ roll! I must say
though, I think Francis
Beckett and Tony Russell might just
be onto something about the importance of this one year – if you look at the
list of hit records from 1956 both the variety and quality is truly
astonishing!
Good news for poet Rebecca Goss. Her
Birth has just been shortlisted for the Portico Prize as well as the Warwick Prize for Writing. You may remember
that it was previously shortlisted for the 2013
Forward Book Prize. This
poetic journal follows the short 16 month life of Rebecca Goss’s newborn daughter Ella who had a
rare and incurable heart condition. She lived for just sixteen months. Her
Birth is a sequence of poems beginning with Ella’s birth, her short life and her
death, and ending with the joys and complexities that come with the birth of
another child. Goss navigates the difficult territory of grief and loss in poems
that are spare, tender and haunting. Her
Birth (£9.95, pb, 978 1847772 381) is available from Carcanet
now.
Let’s move from one sort of poetry – to something
completely different! A Lion was Learning to Ski:
Whimiscal Lines to Brighten up your Day by Ranjit Bolt (hb, 978 1783340828,
£9.99) is a collection of hilarious nonsensical limericks that are the perfect
Christmas humour stocking filler which Stephen Fry has described as "rhythms and delights." Ranjit Bolt is a published playwright, who writes
regularly for the Guardian and Telegraph. Ever since reading
Edward Lear's A Book of Nonsense while growing up in Manchester Canterbury Gibson
Square
Exciting news this week that Rebecca F. John has won the Pen International New Voices Award 2015for her
dark and dazzling debut collection of short stories Clown’s Shoes published by leading indie publisher
Parthian Books. In an interview with Wales Arts Review Rebecca
said: “One of the great joys of the short story is that it can take you
anywhere. The stories in Clown’s Shoes
amble around the globe, trip across history and into the future; they run
through the minds of starving little girls and lost mothers, desperate men and
neglected children; they explore voices and styles that might not be sustainable
over the length of a novel. And though they are small, short stories tackle the
very biggest of subjects with more punch, often, than any novel.”
Congratulations Rebecca – you can read that whole piece here.
Clown’s Shoes (pb, 978 1910409671, £8.99 was published this month
and you can find out more and order it here.
More congratulations due – this time to
author Kirstin Innes and
publisher Freight Books for Fishnet which has just won the Not the Booker Prize (run by the
Guardian). Fishnet (pb, 978
1910449066, £8.99) was published in April, and has been hailed by reviewers. It
is a novel which takes a clear-eyed, meticulously researched, controversial look
at the sex industry and the lives of sex workers, questioning our perception of
contemporary femininity.
The Guardian said of it “Fishnet is a fine
novel … there is some excellent writing in there, as well as real emotional and
political urgency. It’s gripping, it’s humane and it’s the kind of novel that
can actually make you investigate your own prejudices and opinions. I know it
challenged a few of my ideas about prostitution and the vulnerability (or
otherwise) of sex workers. It’s a book that really moves people and really
makes them think. It feels like a novel that has the potential to make a
difference to a lot of lives – if only enough people read it. Hopefully this
victory will help to make that possible. I hope that this book is spread far and
wide – and I’m proud to have been involved in a prize that can ignite that
process.” You can read the whole of that Guardian article and find
out what the judges thought of all the books on the shortlist here.
Are you a nice bookseller? Do you empathise with
others? If not then maybe you need to put down The War of the Worlds and
pick up War and Peace. A new study has found that reading literary
fiction sharpens our ability to understand others' emotions – more than
thrillers or romance novels. Read the whole the whole article here.
Find Me A New Way to Die is the untold story of Edith Piaf by David
Bret (pb, 978 1783199297, £8.99) which is published by Oberon
Books next month and will be serialized in a major national Sunday
newspaper. This book is published to
mark the centenary since Piaf’s birth in Dec 2015 and includes many new and
shocking revelations about Edith Piaf,
from her friends, lovers, colleagues and songwriters, as well as Bret’s close
friend Marlene Dietrich. Since her death
in 1963 Piaf has become a legendary figure with a life story so compelling that
it has become difficult to separate the truth from the hearsay, thanks to a
wealth of stories, plays, films and biographies about her life. For the first
time, David Bret is in a position to
reveal the material on the ‘real’ Edith
Piaf that was too controversial to publish whilst the interviewees
were alive and this new book will mean a significant revision to the Piaf myth.
There are legions of Piaf fans, who will want to read this book and David Bret is a prolific and bestselling author of
revelatory (and often controversial) celebrity biographies – so he knows how to
make a splash. The book is published in November and you can find out more and order it
here.
If you are not completely up to speed with the whole
legend that is Piaf – then you may enjoy
this
four minute film about her life – made in 1963 (the year she died) it
is a very evocative tribute.
There seems to be a bit of a musical theme
developing this week, so let’s move onto Blue Monday: New Order by Michael
Butterworth. This is a firsthand account of the studio sessions for
Blue Monday, New Order’s classic dance track, and Power, Corruption
and Lies and Lies, their acclaimed second album; compiled from the journals
of Michael Butterworth, trusted friend of
New Order who lived and worked with the band. The book documents a string of
notoriously intense sessions at London’s Britannia Row Studios to reveal exactly
what went into the recording of this classic track, (the fastest selling 12”
single ever ) as well as Power, Corruption and Lies. Committed to creating a
minute-by-minute record of the band’s arduous creative process, Butterworth devoted three weeks to living and
working alongside his friends and from beneath a perpetual fug of dope smoke,
speed and alcohol in the band’s miniscule flat; not a single detail is censored.
Blue Monday is an infectious dance anthem that will never date; released
in 1983, it helped cement the band’s identity like no other track. In the wake
of Ian Curtis’ loss – the maudlin, magnetic personality who once fronted them in
the guise of Joy Division – it provided exactly the creative spark needed
to ignite the band’s fledgling career. The book is written with the blessing of
the band, and the market for New Order and Joy Division is still huge: New
Order’s last tour encompassed sold-out stadium shows everywhere from
Chile to California
And here is that classic track – Blue Monday, just the thing for a
Friday!
#bluemonday or #fridayfeeling? Optimist or
pessimist? Are you someone who thinks “hurrah, my bookshop is busy;
excellent” or “damn I’m going to actually have to do some work this
afternoon”? Here are 40 great quotes about life for the cheerily positive among you – and here
are 40 quotes about life for all you
Eeyores!
And to finish, who doesn’t love a bit of Neil Young. He’s 70 in November, and Heart of Gold by Harvey Kubernik is the ultimate tribute to one of
rock music’s true giants. Kubernik charts every aspect of Neil Young’s extraordinary career with exclusive
interviews conducted with fellow musicians, record producers, music journalists,
film directors and loyal fans. It encompasses a spell with the seminal West
Coast band Buffalo Springfield, collaborations with Crosby , Stills and Nash, and a glittering solo career
which began in the 1970s. The scale of Neil
Young’s achievements as a singer-songwriter and his longevity as an
artist have given him a status and an influence that helped shape the history of
popular music and among those featured in this book are musicians Graham Nash,
Nils Lofgren and Richie Furay, filmmaker Jim Jarmusch, photographer Henry Diltz,
producers Jack Nitzsche and many, many more. Along with a retrospective
commentary on every studio and live album, this is a must buy for all fans.
Neil Young: Heart of Gold (hb, 978
1783057900:£19.95) is published by Omnibus Press in November. Find out more and order it here.
I want to live, I want to give. I've been a miner
for a heart of gold. Here’s some classic
1971 footage for you!
Compass is on
Twitter! Follow us @CompassIPS. But if the world of
twitter leaves you just a wee bit cold, then go straight to Buzzfeed to see these tweets that are guaranteed to
make you laugh!
Here are some of
our favourite tweets from this week ...
#APoemIs the nest, the branch, the wind and the
fledgings all at once.
It is absurd to divide people into good and bad.
People are either charming or tedious." #OscarWilde #birthday
'The 5-a-side Bucket List'. No1: Jinhua , China
Enjoy @mrrobnewman's Entirely Accurate Encyclopaedia of
Evolution on @bbcradio4 last night?
Absolutely thrilled to be named the winner of the PEN
International New Voices Award last night! What an honour!
'What poem best explains politics?' Andrew Marr picks
Hillaire Belloc.
'She was the ocean and I was just a boy who loved the
waves but was completely terrified to swim' - Christopher
Poindexter
How to beat Midlife Brain Fog by @DoctorMikeDow for @MailOnline: #BrainFog
The @BitebackPub stand at the Frankfurt book fair. 'Journeyman' in its rightful place
just above Dave and Maggie T!
That’s all for now
folks! More next week!
This blog is taken from a newsletter sent weekly to over 700
booksellers as well as publishers and publicists. If you would like to order any
of the titles mentioned, then please click here to go to the Compass New Titles
Website or talk to your Compass Sales
representative.
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