“Go wild for summer” said
India Knight recently in the Sunday Times, and recommended that everyone
“read the Wild Guides books for the best secret places in Britain to sleep,
swim or roam. Invaluable.” She’s absolutely right! Look at this fab display in Blackwell’s Oxford (thanks very much!) of these titles –
don't they look highly tempting all grouped together! The latest compendium of
adventures from this best-selling series is Wild
Guide Scotland: Hidden Places, Great Adventures & the Good Life (£16.99, pb, 978 1910636121) by Kimberley Grant, Richard Gaston and David Cooper which has just been published and is already a number
one bestselling travel book on Amazon – get some of those sales for yourself!!
Scotland is one of Europe's fastest growing adventure holiday destinations and
this bumper book with its dazzling photos explores the hidden parts of its
better-known tourist areas, as well many more remote regions. Guiding you to
over 800 wild swims, ancient forests, lost ruins and hidden beaches the title
includes inns, wild camping, local crafts, artisan whisky distilleries and lots
of wonderfully romantic places to stay. There is a feature this title on the
BBC website here which
shows off lots of the stunning pictures. And here's
a great piece in the Sunday Post featuring the author of another
recent Wild Things bestseller; The Scottish
Bothy Bible (£16.99, pb, 978
1910636107). Every single one of these inspiring Wild Things books makes
you wants you to set off on an adventure right now – have a look at this really lovely little five-minute
film entitled Mermaid about the author of Wild
Swimming Ireland (pb, £17.99, 978
1848892804) Maureen McCoy. Now if that doesn’t tempt you into the water this
summer nothing will!
Have you discovered the DCI
Daley thrillers yet? This atmospheric
crime series by Denzil Meyrick has had
rave reviews, and the latest one, Well of the Winds (pb, £8.99, 978 1846973727) has just been published
by Polygon. The Times said: “Past meets present in Well of the
Winds. Two investigations involving thoughtful intuitive coppers are presented
in parallel as the tale unfolds across the decades … Fictional Kinloch creates
a different atmosphere to conventional "tartan noir" thrillers. This
is a crime setting far from smoky pubs and the bookies' shops of the average
city. Little fishing boats are more important in this tale than black marias.”
and the Wall Street Journal said that Mayrick’s writing revealed “universal
truths ... an unbuttoned sense of humour ... engaging and eventful.” Waterstone’s
called this author “Scotland's best new crime writer” and Liz
Robinson on the LoveReading blog said “I found raised eyebrows,
wry smiles, and chuckles followed Meyrick's trademark humour... if you've not
yet met Daley and Scott, do sink into the pages and introduce yourself.” Very
much for fans of Ian Rankin, MacBride and Oswald, there are now five books in
this terrific series, and the first one Whisky From
Small Glasses has also been picked
for the very first UK Together We Read campaign, which is a library
reading promotion running across the whole of the UK from 11 – 25 May. As part
of this, Denzil Meyrick will be interviewed for the Book Nerds
podcast, and there will be a Google Live event – all of which should give this
excellent author even more exposure. I love the evocative brooding covers of
these paperbacks; see the whole set above!
If that’s put you in the mood for a bit of Scot lit – then
why not listen to the latest podcast from Vikki and Kirstian – the latest
episode of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Scottish Literature is now available
on the Birlinn website here!
If modern life is starting to grind you down a bit, then
what you undoubtedly need in your life is an inspirational quote from
literature. But which is your favourite go-to message? Many choose Oscar
Wilde’s wise words from Lady Windermere's Fan: “We are all in the
gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” Some of you may prefer
what L.M. Montgomery said in Anne of Green Gables: "Isn't it
nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?” I
personally like Cormac McCarthy, who wrote in No Country for Old Men
that “You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from.” Have
a look at lots more here
and add your own comments!
Congratulations to And Other Stories, who have not
one but TWO titles on the Oxford-Weidenfeld
shortlist which has just been announced. The prize is for book-length literary
translations into English from any living European language and aims to honour
the craft of translation, and to recognise its cultural importance. There were
127 entries to the prize, and And Other Stories are the only publisher
to have two titles on the shortlist of 8 – you can find out more about the
prize here
The two titles are Bret Easton Ellis and
Other Dogs by Lina Wolff, translated by
Frank Perry (£9.99, pb, 978
1908276643) and The Transmigration of Bodies by
Yuri Herrera, translated by Lisa Dillman (£9.99, pb, 978 1908276728) Well done all!
How long do you think it would take to change your life?
Well, I have good news for all you busy booksellers; yoga teacher and author Rebekah Borucki reckons
it can be done in just four minutes! Yep, peace and clarity can all be achieved
with You Have 4 Minutes to Change Your Life: Simple
4-Minute Meditations for Inspiration, Transformation and True Bliss (£12.99,
pb, 978 1781806357) which has just published by Hay House. Rebekah has
taught hundreds of thousands of people how to create simple yet powerful meditation
practices and they're designed so that even the most harried people can fit
them in. In this book, she guides you through 27 different meditation practices
and provides technical information about props, postures and mantras; together
with tools to cope with complex issues such as grief, body acceptance and
relationships. The Daily Express newspaper have recently featured this
title as their cover feature for their Express Woman section with lots
of extracts directly from the book inside – they have a circulation of over
half a million readers so this is great publicity for this title, which has
been much praised: “Rebekah not only breaks down all the pathways to
meditating more, but also shares her busy-mother-of-five-tested practical and
doable strategies to actually take the time to connect to yourself in a
meaningful and consistent way” said author Alisa Vitti.
The UK “hummus crisis” made many headlines last week and
was reported at length in The
Telegraph the Guardian
– in fact pretty much everywhere! Now it all seems to be over, it’s the
perfect time to display the very excellent The
Hummus Cookbook: Deliciously Different Ways with the Versatile Classic
(hb, £9.99, 978 0754832836) which was published by Lorenz earlier this
year. This beautiful hardback really is superb value, it contains 144 pages of
stunning full colour spreads showing you how to make hummus; there are loads of
fab new versions and great recipe ideas for different ways to use the dip too.
Lots of you were off to the polling booths yesterday of
course, and then in a month another election is coming for all of us. Again. So
let’s cheer ourselves up by looking at these 18 Photos Of British Politicians
Improved By Game Of Thrones Quotes on
Buzzfeed here!
Great to hear Pluto Press author Dave Randall on the
Radcliffe and Maconie show on BBC6Music last week, talking about his
frankly brilliant title Sound System: The Political
Power of Music (978 0745399300,
£12.99, pb). Have a listen here
- Dave appears at 1 hour 35. It a fascinating listen and an equally
impressive book: the story of one musician’s journey to discover what makes
music so powerful. Dave discusses remarkable examples of music as a force for
social change as well as something that has been used to keep people in their
place throughout history. This is a book of raves, riots and revolution, taking
the reader from the Glastonbury Festival to the Arab Spring, Pop Idol to
Trinidadian Carnival. Dave finds political inspiration across the musical
spectrum and poses the question: how can we make music serve the interests of
the many, rather than the few?
We love booksellers – and we love a bookshop blog or
twitter feed! One entertaining example Compass Points has recently
discovered is Secret Bookseller, which you can read here. The
latest (very funny) post is on why this particular indie bookseller does NOT
want to win a Nibbie – or any other award thank you very much! The Secret
Bookseller blog is anonymous – allowing her to be slightly franker and more
forthright about our wonderful industry – have a look and see if you agree with
her views! On the subject of anonymity, many of you may think
that this Compass Points newsletter and blog comes from the Compass
sales rep who sent it to you – or maybe from our wonderful office manager Pat
Vance. But in fact, this is not the case, and I too am an anonymous writer (cue
evil genius laughter) known only as Compass Rose…
Compass is on Twitter! Follow us
@CompassIPS. Here are some of our favourite tweets from this week …
Compass
Academic @CompassAcademic Print
lives on! *cheers* How eBooks lost their shine: 'Kindles now look clunky and
unhip' theguardian.com
And Other Stories @andothertweets Are you a bookseller? Do you know about
Yuri Herrera? Would you like to read his new book Kingdom Cons? Email nichola@andotherstories.org!
UrbanePublications @urbanebooks @Felipewh will be signing copies of the
brilliant Marching on Together at @LUFC store this Wednesday!
Comma Press @commapress Fans of science & fiction who enjoy a
hot drink and a book, our event at Cafe Scientifique in Manchester is the one
for you.
Arcadia Books @ArcadiaBooks Donald Trump is 'worse than any horror
story I've written', says Stephen King.
Darren Young @darrenyoungbook With #ChildTaken I always said that I
wrote a Word Document and it was @RedDoorBooks that turned it into a book. And
here's the proof!
Graham Wettone @grahamwettone Shameless plug for my book How to Be a
Police Officer due out 8th June published by @BitebackPub. No cute pics of
spaniels or family members used in this ad!
Matthew at Urbane @urbanepub Urbane author and actor Steven Berkoff
will be the guest of Jonathan Ross on the @BBCRadio2 Arts Show on 15th June at
1.15pm.
Stanfords @StanfordsTravel 5 reasons why Scotland is the best holiday
destination this summer by @wildthingsbooks.
Ninja Book Box @NinjaBookBox Favourite publishers to talk to & work
with (follow them!) are @SerenBooks @MyriadEditions @BelgraviaB
@TiltedAxisPress @LinenPressBooks
Red Lion Books @RedLionBooks “Social progress can be measured by the
social position of the female sex.” - Karl Marx, born #onthisday in 1818.
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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