The crippling
anxiety that many young people suffer from – as well as the mental health the
nation in general, is something of a hot topic at present – and We’re All Mad Here: The No Nonsense Guide to Living with
Social Anxiety by Claire Eastham (pb,
£12.99, 978 1785920820) published this month by Jessica Kingsley has
clearly struck a chord with many readers, as it is currently a number one
bestseller on Amazon! So please do stock it – it’s a title which deserves as
wide a readership as possible – and as the many heartfelt reviews confirm, it
is a “fantastic book. Honest and accessible … very helpful and practical
whilst keeping a good sense of humour throughout. Brilliant.” It’s been
receiving some superb publicity this week: the author was interviewed on
Tuesday by Philip Schofield and Holly Willoughby on This Morning, with
an audience phone-in; you can see a short version of that interview
here
and a longer version here. She was
also on a Radio 1 panel discussing her book at the end of last week.
Claire has an award-winning blog with thousands of followers www.weallmadhere.com. Social anxiety is
an increasingly common condition, but personal accounts are rare, and this very
readable mix of honest personal insights, practical advice and humour comes
with glowing recommendations from all the mental health charities. The JKP
website crashed under the weight of orders they received following Clare’s
appearance on This Morning – such is the enormous demand for this title!
Maybe it’s
because we need something to take our minds off reality, but whatever the
reason, theatre is booming right across the UK at the moment. The Time Traveller's Guide to British Theatre by Aleks Sierz and Lia Ghilardi published by Oberon (£9.99, 978 1783192083,
£9.99) would make an excellent Christmas gift for the many luvvie lovers all
over the country. The Guardian called this “an immensely
entertaining, informative guide” and other reviewers have described it as
“a cheerful romp, an excellent gift for the theatre-mad among your family and
friends” and “a fast-moving ride on a theatre-go-round — only much more
informative. The gossip is fun, too.” The Stage said “I am bowled over
by The Time Traveller’s Guide to British Theatre...
never before have I chortled and marvelled my way through anything quite so
informative and entertaining.”
Personally, I
love a musical. But what are the best songs EVER in any musical? Have a
look at these ten belters
and find out if the hills are alive or whether life is a cabaret and all that
jazz, one day more, tomorow!
There has been
some good publicity for Istanbul Istanbul by Burhan Sönmez (978 1846592058, pb, £8.99) which was published by Telegram
this week. This is something of a love song to Istanbul from this
internationally award-winning author, inspired by his own experiences of being
imprisoned after a military coup. There was an event to launch it at Waterstone’s
Piccadilly and interviews with Burhan Sönmez on Monocle 24 radio, on the BBC World
Service, on BBC Cambridge, on BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking
Books in Translation programme and on RTE. It was featured in the Reader’s
Digest November Round-Up and the Guardian said it was “destined
to become a classic” – you can read that entire piece here.
Never mind
Black Friday, it’s all about Blue Monday – that is to say The Blue
Monday Diaries: In the Studio With New Order
(£14.99, pb, 978 0859655460) by Michael
Butterworth; which is a memoir of the time he spent with New Order
in 1982 whilst the band was recording Blue Monday and Power,
Corruption and Lies. Butterworth kept a handwritten diary documenting this
period, when he was both living with the band and going with them to the
Britannia Row studios and this diary forms the centre of the book. You can
read selected passages from The Blue Monday
Diaries on Michael’s entertaining
blog here and the
book is published next week by Plexus.
An interesting
interview with author and MP Liam Byrne in the Guardian recently, talking about his
new book Black Flag Down (hb, £12.99 978 1785900952) and discussing his view
that Islamophobia is growing as anti-extremism policy fails, and that
supremacists will thrive unless government sees that grievance rather than God
inspires many to violence. You can read that article here
and there have also been pieces by Liam in The
Guardian the Times,
and the Mirror. You can hear Liam Byrne talking about this on the Radio 4, Today Programme
and on the BBC Daily
Politics show. Black Flag Down is published by Biteback.
What would you
say are the ten most shocking children’s books? Of course, “shocking”
can be somewhat subjective – one person’s deepest darkest nightmare is someone
else’s “ho hum is that the best you’ve got?” Have a look here
to see which ones you’ve read – and if you agree!
A
Knight with a Big Blue Balloon
by Ranjit Bolt (£8.99,
pb, 978 1783341382) published by Gibson Square will be in the Telegraph
round-up of top Christmas books tomorrow. Robert McCrum in the Observer
called Ranjit “a literary lion... a parable of print and paper in the age of
ebooks and social media...” while Simon Callow said he was “a limericist
extraordinaire.”
In the
post-Brexit world, intergenerational conflict has become a visible phenomenon.
There is an overwhelming sense of blame from younger generations: it was 'the
wrinklies', who voted Leave; who are overburdening hospitals, shutting the
youth out of the housing market and hoarding accumulated wealth. By 2020, one
in five Britons will be pensioners, and living a longer retirement than ever
before. 'A good thing', politicians add, through gritted teeth. The truth is
that for them, 'the old' are a social, economic and political inconvenience. In
a new Provocations title from Biteback: The War on the Old (£10.00,
pb, 978 1785901713) John Sutherland (age 78, and feeling keenly what he writes about)
examines this intergenerational combat as a new kind of war in which
institutional neglect and universal indifference to the old has reached
aggressive, and routinely lethal, levels. This is a book which sets out to
provoke but in the process, tells some deep and inconvenient truths. John Sutherland has
had opinion pieces talking about his book in the Daily Express, Big Issue,
and New Statesman – and a massive double page spread in the Daily
Mail – entitled How the Young Declared War on the Old .
Talking of
controversial oldsters, who said “It takes two to lie. One to lie and one to
listen”? No, it’s not the US President Elect for a change – it’s that guru
of the modern soundbite, Homer Simpson. Have a look here
for 40 of the best ever Simpson quotes – I particularly love “You tried
your best and you failed dismally. The lesson is, never try.”
Compass are
very pleased to welcome Red Door Publishing to the team! Red Door
are a new and innovative publishing house with an award-winning team
who are creating a strong list of brilliant fiction, excellent commercial
non-fiction and ground-breaking business books. You can find out more about
them at www.reddoorpublishing.com.
One of their
autumn titles is the beautifully written Dust,
by Mark Thompson (£8.99, pb 978
1910453223). This debut novel would not be out of place alongside the work of
Steinbeck and Philipp Meyer’s American Rust. At turns funny,
and at others heart-achingly sad, the story follows two 10-yr old boys in
small-town New Jersey in the 1960s, against the backdrop of the Vietnam war. As
they smoke their Kents out on an abandoned cannery dock and watch the
gulls sway on rusting buoys in the sea; they dream of adventure. Through the
dry heat of a formative summer, they face religious piety, alcohol, girls, sex,
loss, tragedy – all the tiny things that combine to make life what it is
for the two friends. But it’s a road trip through the heart of
southern America that truly reveals a darker side – the two halves of a
divided nation, where wealth, poverty and racial bigotry
collide. Lots of enthusiasm online on social media for this novel “Just
finished the fantastic Dust by
@marktwrites . Very much recommended” and “one of those rare timeless
books that people will discover in years to come and wonder why they never read
it first time around” are typical endorsements. It has a striking and
evocative cover – one to watch I think.
To celebrate
the arrival of Red Door Publishing, let’s finish with the top five songs
about doors. Well, first up should be the Red Door that the Stones are
determined to paint it
black and then who wouldn’t want to step through the Monkees’ door into summer? Who
doesn’t love knockin' on
heaven's door or want to find out what’s behind the green door? But
I think the best door themed song ever must be this one! Ha ha ha ha!!
Compass is on Twitter! Follow us @CompassIPS. Here are some of
our favourite tweets from this week...
Guardian
Books @GuardianBooks John Bird
slams absence of library funding in autumn statement
andrew
smith @andrewaxiom Last week
@BigIssue asked me to choose five books on immigration, this was the third:
Becoming British @thom_brooks
Polygon
Books @PolygonBooks Cheesing
for @Detroit67Book - his Young Soul Rebels have raved their way to the longlist
for @PenderynPrize!
Red
Lion Books @RedLionBooks 'It is
never too late to be what you might have been.' George Eliot, born on this day
in 1819.
Birlinn Books
@BirlinnBooks That's oor @JimHunter22 up there accepting a very well deserved
@Saltire_Society award last night for History Book of the Year:Set Adrift Upon
the World:The Sutherland Clearances! Chuffed!
Help
For Writers @HelpForWriters Harry and
Beatrix Potter face off on eclectic Waterstones book of the year shortlist
Comma
Press @commapress The New
York Times notable books of 2016 includes David Constantine's The Life-Writer,
published by Comma in the U.K.!
GuardianSmallBiz @GdnSmallBiz Bookshops are gearing up for
#civilisedsaturday, the brainchild of @booksaremybag
That’s all for now folks! More next week!
This blog is taken from a
newsletter which is 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
talk to your Compass Sales Manager, or call the office on 020 8326 5696
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