We were so sad
this week to hear of the death of the popular critic and broadcaster,
bestselling author and much-loved poet, Clive James.
Ian Shircore’s So Brightly at the Last (£18.99,
hb, 978 1913062071) the first poetic biography of Clive, has been brought forward
and was published yesterday by Red Door Press. So Brightly at the Last is
a fond and revealing account of James’s 60-year poetic career, from early
successes like The Book of My Enemy Has Been Remaindered to recent
internet hits like Japanese Maple and Sentenced to Life. In the
book, James talks for the first time about his nightmare experience of being
locked up in a mental hospital for two months. He also explains why he turned
his back on his lucrative TV career and how his ten-year battle against
leukaemia, emphysema and several other life-threatening conditions led him to
focus his energy on the poems that have established him as ‘a major minor
poet’. Oxford Professor John Carey has called So
Brightly ‘terrific’ and said he ‘read it with astonishment
and learnt a huge amount’. Clive himself was able to read a pre-publication
copy in the days before his final illness and called it ‘a wonderful book, energetic,
informal and beautifully written’ and said he was ‘thrilled and
delighted’ with its exploration of his work. I think this will do extremely
well – order it today and it will be in your shops by Monday!
And here is Clive, reading
what has been described as his ‘farewell poem’, and from which the lines
‘So brightly at the last’ are taken; Japanese Maple.
An absolutely ace review in The Irish
Catholic for A Matter of Interpretation (£12.99, hb, 978 1912054701) which has
just been published by Fairlight. You can read the whole thing here but the highlights are: ‘Elizabeth
MacDonald’s absorbing novel is built up around the character of the celebrated
Michael Scot and his relations with the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick
Hohenstaufen II and various other players in the Middle Ages, the Church, the
Arabs, the Jews and the plotting and conniving that was all so important an
aspect of ecclesiastical and academic life. Very powerful indeed …this is a
book which anyone interested in the development of Europe will want to read … this
is a book filled with interest … very thought provoking …those who read will
long keep it in mind. Here one suspects is something very close to the truth,
and the truth is always interesting, and often astonishing.’ There has also
been a review this week in the RTE Christmas Guide.
Great to see as Isabel Galleymore’s Harvest
as Poem of the Week this week in The Guardian! You can read it here. It’s from Significant Other (£9.99,
pb, 978 1784107116) which is published by Carcanet. The Guardian writes ‘Significant
Other observes a range of fauna and flora with a 19th-century collector’s
loving alertness. Galleymore’s reach extends to the Amazon rainforest, but
there’s a particularly intense focus on marine life (the slipper limpet, the
goose barnacle, the spiny cockle). These studies, sometimes interwoven with wry
reports on human specimens emphasise the strangeness and uniqueness of some of
our less noticed housemates on Earth. Harvest thoroughly deserves its place
among the exhibits.’
William Roache was a ‘big guest’ on
Steve Wright in the Afternoon on Radio 2 this week, talking about Life and
Soul: How to Live a Long and Happy Life (pb, £12.99, 978 1788173537) which is
new in paperback from Hay House. You can listen again to that here. Steve Wright has a massive listenership
of 8.1 million listeners, so this really is a fantastic promotion for the paperback
of this bestselling book and Roache talked very engagingly, sharing his strategies
for keeping fit and healthy, maintaining his youthful looks and coping with
life's most challenging times. He spoke about the power of love, kindness and
positive thinking and said his top bit of advice is ‘life is to be enjoyed.’
Hear hear Bill!
A super review in the Irish Times this week for Nayrouz Qarmout's The Sea Cloak (£9.99, PB, 978 1905583782). Brian Maye said of the collection, 'These stories give insights into life in Gaza, without melodrama or exaggeration, and in language that is clear and rich.' You can read the full review here.
A summary of all the great publicity
for Alicia Eaton’s First Aid for Your Child’s Mind (978 1788601177, pb, £12.99)
is available to view here. Highlights include a feature in Raring
2 Go, 'Keeping Kids Calm and Happy in an Age of Anxiety' , a piece in Daily
Telegraph 'How taking risks in sport is good for kids mental wellbeing and
why?' and interview feature in Women's Weekly and a ‘How to Support a Worried
Child' feature in Families nationwide magazine. It was published last month by
Practical Inspiration and is packed full
of practical suggestions and common sense for all those parents who want to
encourage their children to be well-rounded, independent thinkers.
The year is 2013, and Crumlin-born
mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor is sitting in McDonald's as he enjoys
his weekly coffee, a treat in the eyes of a dedicated fighter. He’s not yet
cashed his £60,000 prize money after his maiden UFC victory, but he savours the
win, since only recently had he found himself in the social welfare queue. Five
years on and McGregor is late for his own press conference before eventually
launching into a diatribe against his opponent, which turns into a sales pitch
for his own brand whiskey. Somewhere along the line, the fighter has become a
stranger to his art. But what is McGregor? Dedicated athlete? Cultural
phenomenon? Troubled soul? Narcissist? Arrogant thug? Or sporting icon? In Chaos
is a Friend of Mine: The Life and Crimes of Conor McGregor (£14.99, hb, 978 1909245907),
former Irish Sportswriter of the Year, Ewan MacKenna examines McGregor's
journey, from his upbringing in the Irish capital, to his early days as a prodigiously
talented martial arts obsessive, to his recent antics outside the ring which
have seem him grow bigger than the sport itself, but threaten to spiral out of
control. The Independent called it ‘a supremely written book, that touches
topics way beyond the character at the centre of it all’ and it’s just been
published by De Coubertin.
A fantastic spread in the Express for
Night Sky by Robert Harvey (hb, £19.99, 978 1782749189) showing off just a selection
of the two hundred outstanding colour photographs of stunning nocturnal vistas,
in this this amazing book of astronomical wonders It’s published by Amber.
And in this week’s Hot Topics, here's ET coming home for Sky, here's the Rise of Skywalker and here's Artist of the Year Taylor Swift performing
live at the American Music Awards and here's Elton John talking about what its like to be
bald!
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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