Halloween done and dusted,
so we all know what come next, and I will draw your attention to this new title
from Armadillo. Christmas Fairy Tales (hb, £10, 978 1861478740) is a collection of twelve traditional
fairytales in very readable retellings by folklore expert Neil Philip (with introductory notes for the
interested). Some, such as The Nutcracker are well known, others such as
the joyous Schnitzle Schotzle and Schnootzle less so; but all offer glorious
views of the true meaning of Christmas. It is exquisitely illustrated by Isabelle Brent with
gold leaf trims to all the pictures, and the pages are beautifully designed
with intricate borders and lots of lovely festive details; you can have a look here.
Finished copies have just come in looking absolutely gorgeous and I would highly
recommend it! Of course, there are plenty of Christmas anthologies around but this
one really is something special and it’s just £10!
A brilliant article in the Observer
last weekend about Patrick McCabe, which
talks a lot about his new book The Big Yaroo (£12.99, pb, 978 1848407411) which is published by New
Island Books this month. Here's
another
piece on New Statseman.com by the same writer (Megan Nolan, also an
Irish author who’s just signed a big book deal, and is quite in vogue right now)
explaining exactly why this sequel is something to be thrilled about and why The
Butcher Boy, published in 1992, was such a turning point for Irish
literature. The Big Yaroo is a roller-coaster of a read, it’s uproariously
funny, terrifying and profound. As Nolan says, it reminds you of ‘the joy of
McCabe’s sentences, and … how dangerous and thrilling Irish writing can be.’ Nicole
Flattery called it ‘dark, irreverent, sharp and energetic—Pat McCabe’s
exceptional gifts remain unparalleled’ and I’m sure there will be more rave
reviews to come.
Author Simon
Parkin is on a bit of a roll at
present, he’s got a non-fiction title A Game of Birds and Wolves out
from Sceptre this month, which is currently being turned into a film by Steven
Spielberg's production company! He’s also a regular contributor to the Guardian's
Long Read, a contributing writer for the New Yorker, and the game critic
for the Observer. A good time therefore to flag up a new edition of his
blockbusting Lorenz title, An Illustrated
History of 151 Video Games (978 0754823902, £14.99, hb) which has just
been published in a new and updated edition. Beginning in the early 1970s, the
book charts five decades of the game evolution. The story of each game is wittily
described with loads of great trivia and quotations, and fully illustrated with
over 1,000 photographs, screenshots and artwork. This celebratory reference and
history by the man whom the New Statesman called ‘one of the most
effortlessly masterful voices in video game writing’ will enthral any video
games aficionado whether they are playing as a supersonic hedgehog, athletic archaeologist
or moustachioed Italian plumber!
A major serialisation of May at 10 (£25, hb,
978 1785905179) by Downing Street's official historian Anthony Seldon began
this week in the Times, you can see part
one and
two
here
and there were two more big extracts also. Written by one of Britain's leading
political and social commentators, May at 10 describes how Theresa arrived in 10 Downing Street in
with the clearest, yet toughest, agenda of any Prime Minister since the Second
World War: delivering Brexit. What follows defies belief or historical
precedent. Including a comprehensive series of interviews with May's closest
aides and allies, and with unparalleled access to the advisers who shaped her premiership,
Seldon decodes the enigma of the Prime Minister's tenure. Here’s a review in
the Guardian entitled ‘Theresa May inflexible,
introverted and surly, biography claims’ and also one in the Times
saying ‘Readers of his 640-page account of May’s neuralgic time at the top
may feel less indulgent to this brine-washed limpet of a prime minister, as
incurious and foggy a figure as ever led this country.’
Lots of chat on social media this week
about Labour’s crusade against ‘the elite’ with questions about who exactly ‘the
elite’ are and whether they are necessarily bad! Plenty of reference was made
to BBC Two's recent How to Break into the Elite documentary (available
on the iPlayer here
)
where Amol Rajan looked at how much class matters in Britain's top professions.
It featured Daniel Laurison and Sam Friedman,
authors of The
Class Ceiling.
Sam was described by Amol as ‘the Don when it come to the link between class
and top jobs’ and discussing his research into social mobility, he reveals
stats that are both shocking and depressing. The
Class Ceiling: Why it Pays to be Privileged (978
1447336105, £9.99, pb) is published by Policy Press and the paperback of
is coming inJanuary.
Exciting to see so many Compass
publishers on the Saltire Awards shortlists
this year! 404 Ink, winners of the Emerging Publisher Award in 2017 are
shortlisted for the prestigious Publisher of the
Year Award a Jane Haining’s A Life
of Love and Courage is up for The Saltire Society Scottish Non-Fiction Book of the Year
Award and First
Among Equals for The Saltire Scottish History Book of the Year Award,
both are published by Birlinn. Scotland,
1846: Living an Antislavery Life from Edinburgh University Press
is also shortlisted for the Saltire Scottish History
Book of the Year. Polygon New Poets: Iona
Lee is shortlisted for the Calum Macdonald Memorial Award and Roseanne Watt's
Shetlandic/English collection Moder Dy,
also published by Polygon, is on the on the Poetry
Award shortlist. The winner of
each book award receives a cash prize of £2,000 and goes on to be considered
for the top prize of Saltire Scottish Book of
the Year, receiving a further £5,000.The winners of all eleven
prizes will be announced at a ceremony in Edinburgh on Saturday 30 November.
Congrats to the wonderful City Books
in Hove who won last week’s giveaway, a copy of Thunderbook:
The World of Bond According to Smersh Pod (hb,
£16.99, 978 0957507623) is now on its way to you! The Bond films have
entertained annoyed, excited, bored, aroused and invigorated cinemagoers for
more than fifty years. Who hasn't wanted to kick a big bloke with metal teeth
in the groin? Fly a small plane out of a pretend horse's bottom? Or push a
middle-aged man into space? No one, that's who. Thunderbook
affectionately examines Bond with tongue firmly in cheek and elbow dug in ribs.
Join John Rain as
he goes film-by-film pointing out all the good, the bad, and the double-taking
pigeons contained within Bond's half-century of world domination. It’s out from
Polaris on 7 November.
And if you want to text yourself on your
Bond knowledge – then why not try this quiz from the 007.com website!
Here to Stay, Here to Fight:
A Race Today Anthology (£17.99,
pb, 978 0745339757) which has just been published by Pluto was extracted
in Ceasefire magazine, you can read that one here
and
there’s a brilliant interview which you can watch on YouTube here with one of its authors Leila Howe talking about
the book and also discussing racist and sexist abuse against Dianne Abbott, FBI
infiltration of Black Panther-inspired groups, the knife crime epidemic in
London and the difference between the activism of the previous generations and
the activism today. Fascinating stuff. Here to Stay,
Here to Fight, is the first book-length anthology of its kind, providing
an overview of Race Today's 15-year history, as well as exploring its impressive
legacy in contemporary social movements.
A brilliant review for David Constantine's collection The Dressing-Up Box (hb,
£14.99, 978 1912697212) in the Guardian this week here calling
it an ‘intelligent, unshowy and often moving collection.’ David also
wrote a piece for Big Issue North this week, about his work with the
homeless in the 1960s, and how it inspired him to tell the truth about people
through his stories. The characters in The Dressing
Up Box are all in pursuit of
sanctuary; the violence and mendacity of the outside world presses in from all
sides be it the ritualised brutality suffered by children at a Catholic
orphanage, or the harrowing videos shared among refugees of an atrocity 'back
home'. In each case, the characters withdraw into themselves, sometimes
abandoning language altogether, until something breaks and they can retreat no
further. In Constantine's luminous prose,
these stories capture such moments in all their clarity. It was published by Comma
in September.
Lots of PR for First Aid for Your Child’s Mind (£12.99, pb, 978 1788601177). There will be a feature
in Families Nationwide magazine, Jan/Feb 20, a review in Families SE,
Jan/Feb 20, a double page interview in The Weekly News, a 500 word
feature in Toddle About entitled 'Practical
Techniques and Words to Manage Children's Worries', and a feature in the Spring
2020 issue of Country Child magazine. Alicia Eaton is a Harley
Street practitioner with over fifteen years’ experience of helping children to
feel more confident and as Elaine Halligan (Director of The Parent Practice)
says, ‘This book will come as a huge relief to so many parents by helping
them understand that much anxiety is actually part of everyday childhood
worries and doesn’t need to be catastrophised.’
A great piece about Secret Alliances: Special Operations and Intelligence in
Norway 1940-1945 (978 1785904776, £25, hb) in the Times this
week. Secret Alliances is published by Biteback next week, and is an extraordinary
book in which historian Tony Insall reveals how some of the most striking achievements of
the Norwegian resistance were the detailed reports produced by intelligence
agents living in the dangerous conditions of the country's desolate wilderness.
Offering dramatic details on operations such as the Nazis plans to build an
atomic bomb and the sinking of the Tirpitz in November 1944, Secret Alliances is
an authoritative new perspective on some of the most remarkable exploits of the
Second World War.
A full spread feature for Yorkshire Coast Path by
Andrew Vine (pb, £14.99, 978 0993291180) in
the November issue of Yorkshire Life, which has a circulation of 12,000.
You can see the online version here
and
admire some of the gorgeous pics from this terrific book! This definitive
walking guide maps the whole route on large-scale OS maps and is packed with
colour photos, making it an essential purchase for the long-distance walker and
afternoon stroller alike. It’s published by Safe Haven.
Super piece in the Guardian here
about
how Brian May found
the two missing cards needed to complete the new edition of Diableries: Stereoscopic Adventures in Hell (£60, hb, 978 1999667436). which has just been
published by London Stereoscopic. The tale of how for nearly 30 years,
May has attempted to collect all 182 of the 19th-century French stereoscopic
photography cards featuring scenes such as The Infernal Cavalry, Satan
the Journalist and Bicycle Race in Hell is a fascinating one.
Now that Halloween is over and the
ghouls and ghosties are back in their coffins, I enjoyed this
deliciously
scary read in the Guardian about which books frighten the bejezus out of horror
authors!
And in this week’s Hot Topics, here's James Corden talking to Kanye West in a
special ‘Airpool Karaoke’, here's
the
BBC on the correct etiquette for asking for a celeb selfie, (as Dame Emma
Thompson is said to have been horrified to learn a waiter lost his job for
asking for one with her) and here's a trailer for series three of The
Crown which is starting on 17 November – I can’t wait! That’s all folks,
more next week!
This weekly blog is written for the UK
book trade. If you would like to order any of the titles mentioned, then please
talk to your Compass Sales Manager, or call the Compass office on 020 8326
5696. Every Friday an e-newsletter containing highlights from the blog is sent
out to over 700 booksellers and if you’d like to receive this then please
contact nuala@compassips.london
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