THIS MONTH'S NEWSLETTER

Dear Book Case customer or friend,

 

It's been another busy month! Kate reports on the Tia Greyhound and Lurcher Rescue event:

 

 

 

Richard Bunzl's new book In Search of Thinking - a thought-provoking examination of memories, feelings and ideas written in vivid, down-to-earth language - had a successful launch at the Rudolph Steiner Centre and is near the top of our bestsellers list.

 

Jean Illingworth's new book, Growing Up in Sowerby ... and More, met with a packed and enthusiastic reception at its launch at Halifax's Imperial Crown Hotel, and book's about to be reprinted. Comments so far include the following: 

 

" ... it's lovely. Brings Sowerby to life, and I love the photos" - Austin Mitchell MP; "Charming and gripping" - Linda McDougall, journalist and author; " ... a wonderful collection of events, characters, chunks of social history and personal memories which will have readers sighing with nostalgia" - Virginia Mason, Evening Courier

 

And for July?

Hebden Bridge Arts Festival of course has already started, with Blake Morrison appearing at Hebden Bridge Picture House this evening, and Andrew Bibby and John Morrison talking about their bestselling book The Backbone of England at Artsmill on Monday 7th July (but it's sold out already). The website is at http://www.hebdenbridge.co.uk/festival/2008/index.html

 

Richard and Judy are presenting their final Summer Reads before departure - see the list below.

 

We now have another of our displays of bargain quality nature books, a 3/2 summer reads offer, and many more quality books at silly prices - including our few remaining copies of Elaine Feinstein's biography of Ted Hughes, half price at £10 and some lovely big Yorkshire picture books. We continue to order in the latest Oxford University Press's relaunched World's Classics (click here for this month's listing).

 

Our Readers' Opinions board on our centre table this month has people enjoying Philip Pullman, Barry Unsworth's "A Ruby in Her Navel" (its third recent mention), "The Country of Pointed Firs" (Cranford-on-Maine) by Sarah Orme Jewett, "To the Lighthouse" by Virginia Woolf, "Time Traveller's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger, "I Love You" by Celia Ahern, "The Prodigal Summer" by Barbara Kingsolver and Winnie the Pooh.  There was lack of enthusiasm for Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mocking Bird", Neil Gaiman, "Memory Keeper's Daughter" by Kim Edwards and Virginia Woolf's "The Waves".

 

This month's Literary Quiz is on Bridges. See below.

If you do not wish to receive this monthly mailing, please click on Reply and type CANCEL in the Subject box.)

 

---

THIS MONTH'S FEATURED BOOKS

We highlight every month books we think are of particular interest: from adult fiction and non-fiction, a children's book and a CD.

Adult fiction: The Road Home by Rose Tremain (£7.99) -  a wise and witty look at the contemporary migrant experience, as we follow the story of Lev, newly arrived from Eastern Europe and looking for work.

Adult non-fiction: Narrowboat Dreams by Steve Haywood (£7.99) "A cantankerous old git" travels by traditional narrowboat from Banbury to "the trendy affluence of Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire's answer to London's ciabatta belt". He's rude about Huddersfield and Mytholmroyd and has an exciting time in a pieshop in Brighouse. (£7.99)

Children: Percy Jackson & The Battle Of The Labyrinth - Rick Riordan (£9.99). Percy Jackson, young demi-god, is back in a 4th adventure and with a striking new foil cover look. A dangerous enemy has found his way through an ancient labyrinth built by the legendary Daedalus, and is intent on destruction. Can Percy and his friends find Daedalus and unlock the mysteries of the maze? Ages: 10+.

 

CD: Othello by W Shakespeare - With Chiwetel Ejiofor and Ewan McGregor. From the acclaimed Donmar Warehouse production in London. (£13.99, 2 CDs & DVD of interviews with the cast and the creative team)

 

---

 

The Romans Came This Way - by Norman Lunn, Bill Crosland, Bonwell Spence and Granville Clay, pub. Huddersfield and District Archaeological Society (£12.99)

The story of the discovery and excavation of a Roman Military Way across the Yorkshire Pennines. The fascinating story of how a dedicated group of amateur archaeologists found themselves challenging all the accepted theories of where and how the Roman army built a major military way across the Pennines. A4, many colour photos and maps, CD with extra info. Roman Emperors passed this way ...

The Yorkshire Water Way 2 - South Pennines and Peak District - Mark Reid (£3.99)
A 62-mile walk between Ilkley and Langsett, via Haworth, Hebden Bridge and Marsden. Instructions, line drawings and sketch maps.

Local Authors

Teach Yourself Creative Writing - Stephen May (£9.99)

From a director of Lumb Bank Creative Writing Centre in Heptonstall, a guide to unlocking your creativity, finding your voice and choosing a genre of writing that suits you best. Fourth edition.

Cross-Stitch Countryside Collection - Carol Thornton, Claire Crompton, Caroline Palmer and Lesley Teare (£18.99)
Eight detailed cross stitch designs capture moments of timeless tranquillity, including one of our local canal and a West Country harbour from Book Case member of staff and artist Carol Thornton. Each major design has a collection of matching keepsake gifts to make.

Anatevka - Joseph Krasniansky (£9.50)
"From Russia with Love. And Death."  A first novel from an author based in Hebden Bridge.

Rhyme and Storytime - Kathleen McBurney (£6.99)

Verses, thoughts and memories with colour photos from a Halifax great-grandmother. This collection includes Ackroydon Model Village, Halifax Borough Market, Banksfield Museum and more!

The Daily Mail Book Club

June's Book of the Month is Ghost by Robert Harris (£7.99)  Britain's former prime minister is holed up in a remote, ocean-front house in America, struggling to finish his memoirs, assisted by a professional ghostwriter - a man more used to working with fading rock stars and minor celebrities than ex-world leaders. The Book Case will accept Daily Mail National Book Tokens against one-half of the cost of this month's recommended title.

Richard and Judy Summer Reads

All in stock at The Book Case!

25th June The Outcast  - Sadie Jones £7.99
On a summer day in 1957, a young man stands alone at Waterford railway station. A portrait of small-town hypocrisy, transgression and redemption

2nd July No Time For Goodbye - Linwood Barclay £7.99
You wake up. Your house is empty. Your family has disappeared ...

9th July East Of The Sun - Julia Gregson £7.99
In the autumn of 1928, three young women are on their way to India, each with a new life in mind.

16th July Down River - John Hart £7.99
Banished for a murder he didn't commit: now he's coming home ...

23rd July The Pirate's Daughter -  M. Cezair-Thompson £7.99
When legendary swashbuckler Errol Flynn washes ashore in his yacht in Jamaica, teenager Ida Joseph makes it her business to meet him.

30th July The Private Lives Of Pippa Lee - Rebecca Miller £7.99
Pippa seems to have everything in life. But suddenly she finds her world beginning to unravel. Amid the buzzing lawnmowers and suburban coffee mornings, she starts to wonder how she came to be in this place.

6th August Addition - Toni Jordan £7.99
Grace counts everything because that way there are no unpleasant surprises.

13th August The Resurrectionist - James Bradley £7.99
Gabriel Swift arrives in the city to study with a great anatomist but instead he finds himself drawn to the most powerful of the city's resurrectionists and ruler of its trade in stolen bodies.

---

LITERARY QUIZ: this month's quiz from Betsey and Geoffrey Parker is on Bridges. To find it online, click here: http://www.bookcase.co.uk/competition.htm 
 
The answers to last month's quiz on Rain are: 1. The Mill on the Floss - George Eliot; 2. The Power and the Glory - Graham Greene 3. A House for Mr Biswas -  V S Naipaul 4. Bleak House  - Charles Dickens 5. My Family and Other Animals  -  Gerald Durrell

And if anyone else would like to send in a set of five quotations on any theme to make a literary quiz, please email them in!

 

---

NEW TITLES

July's novels new into paperback include Rose Tremain, Alan Bennett, Ben Okri, Jane Gardam, Robert Harris, Irvine Welsh, John Mortimer, Jeanette Winterson, Ruth Rendell, Michael Dibdin and David Baldacci to name but a few - another good month for fiction!  Amongst reissues are Philip K Dick, and from Oxford, the Brontes, Zola, Wilkie Collins, Checkhov and Erskine Childers. Click here for the full list.

Non-fiction:

For a fuller listing, click here: http://www.bookcase.co.uk/new_title_bc.htm

E-mail, phone or fax us to reserve any of these new titles.
______________________________________________________________________________________________

What you've been buying: JUNE 2008's bestsellers at The Book Case

A wide range of books were popular at The Book Case in June - the greyhound pulled ahead of the philosopher, five books of local interest continued to sell well, an Iranian comic-strip autobiography was popular, people were keen to identify sheep, and a local author’s football detective story made up the ten.

1. Born to Run - Michael Morpurgo, £5.99 - Bittersweet tale for children of a champion greyhound's journey through life, featured in our Doggy Saturday to raise money for greyhound rescue.

2. In Search of Thinking - Richard Bunzl, £10.95 - From a local author, a thought-provoking examination of memories, feelings and ideas written in vivid, down-to-earth language.

3. Ned Carver in Danger - Phyllis Bentley, £5.95 - The second of our reprints of Phyllis Bentley’s exciting historical novels for young people - a 13-year-old boy finds himself supporting the Calder Valley Luddites in 1812.

4. Power in the Landscape: water-powered mills in the Upper Calder Valley, £5.00 - This well-researched and illustrated history of watermills in the area continues to sell steadily.

5. A Century of Stars: Hebden Royd Red Star AFC 1908-2008 - Peter Thomas, £4.00 - Hebden Royd Red Star AFC, under its various names, is the oldest continuously-existing club in the Halifax League and celebrates its centenary in October this year. This colourful new book is full of memories, interviews, anecdotes and photographs.

6. Hebden Bridge: a short history of the area - Peter Thomas, £5.99 - This illustrated history of the town and area shows how we have changed over the centuries. A Royd Press publication by a well-known local author.

7. The Backbone of England: Landscape and Life on the Pennine Watershed - Andrew Bibby and John Morrison, (£14.99) - Still selling well, this illustrated hardback on the Pennine watershed by local author and journalist Andrew Bibby with photos by ex-HB photographer and author John Morrison. Andrew and John will be discussing the book at the Hebden Bridge Arts Festival.

8. Persepolis 1 & 2 - Marjane Satrapi, £7.99 - Growing up in Iran during and after the Islamic revolution all done through drawings - the film was recently shown in Hebden Bridge.

9. Know Your Sheep - Jack Byard, £4.99 - Colour photographs of and notes on the 41 breeds of sheep most likely to be found on British farms. "Know Your Tractors" is now also available.

10. Foul Play - Tom Palmer, £5.99 - From the Todmorden-based writer and reader-developer, an exciting new football detective story for young readers, chosen by the Booked Up campaign.

Best wishes from your local independent bookshop,

The Book Case
29 Market Street, Hebden Bridge HX7 6EU
Telephone 01422-845353
Fax 01422-844295
email: bookcase@btinternet.com  
url: www.bookcase.co.uk

"James Harding's book Alpha Dogs is not a searing, gripping novel as we said in a diary item, page 31, June 26. It is a work of non-fiction about a firm of US political strategists."

- Guardian Corrections and Clarifications, Sat. 28 June.

Arising from this, we'd like to hear from anyone who has ever been seared by a novel and what it felt like. It seems to happen a lot these days.