2007'S BESTSELLERS AT THE BOOK CASE

DECEMBER 2007's and the YEAR'S BESTSELLERS 

December’s bestsellers at The Book Case were a mixture of local interest and humour, plus the ever-present We’moon Diary. Unsurprisingly, Harry Potter emerged as 2007’s bestseller, but Phyllis Bentley was hot on his heels and the remainder of the bestsellers were local, Yorkshire or Northern, with an award-winning novel as the only exception.

1. Gold Pieces - Phyllis Bentley, £5.95. Our reprint of the exciting 1968 children’s classic about the Cragg Vale Coiners is still our bestseller.

2. I Think the Nurses are Stealing My Clothes - the very best of Linda Smith, £8.99. Witty compilation from the late lamented Linda Smith.

3. We’Moon Diary 2008: Gaia Rhythms for Womyn, £15.99. Always popular, this colourful astrological moon calendar and datebook; this one is on "Mending the Web".

4. Folktales from Calderdale Vol. 1 - John Billingsley, £7.50. Back in the top ten, local folktales. The Witches of Eagle Crag, the Cliviger Boggart, the Bride Stones, the Eve Stone, Stoodley Pike, Great Rock, Tom Bell's Cave, the Miller's Grave and Churn Milk Joan are included.

5. Fabrics, Filth and Fairy Tents - Angus Bethune Reach, ed. Chris Aspin, £6.95. An eloquent eyewitness description, with interviews, of the conditions of textile workers around West Yorkshire in 1849. Our first publication. Reach’s report on the textile towns around Manchester is due out soon.

6. Pies and Prejudice - Stuart Maconie, £10.99. Exiled Northerner tours the North (including Hebden Bridge) to find his own Northern soul ...

7. Rebel Girls - Jill Liddington, £14.99. Nice to see our 2006 bestseller about Northern suffragettes back in the Top Ten!

8. Letters of Ted Hughes, ed. Christopher Reid, £30 (£25 at The Book Case). This selection begins when Ted Hughes was seventeen, and documents the course of his resolutely private life. Critics’ choice for 2007.

9. Crap Cycle Lanes: 50 Worst Cycle Lanes in Britain, £4.99. Hilarious collection of photos of cycle lanes designed to challenge (or possibly exterminate) the unwary cyclist.

10. A Pig with Six Legs and other clouds - ed. Gavin Pretor Pinney (£10). From the Cloud Appreciation Society, a delightful little book of colour photos of cloud formations that look like something (with captions).

BESTSELLERS OF 2007: 1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J K Rowling; 2. Gold Pieces by Phyllis Bentley; 3. Folk Tales from Calderdale by John Billingsley; 4. Fabrics, Filth and Fairy Tents by Angus Bethune Reach, ed. C. Aspin; 5. Rebel Girls by Jill Liddington; 6. Gone Walkabout by Anna Carlisle; 7. Pies and Prejudice by Stuart Maconie; 8. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie; 9. Infamous Yorkshire Women by Issy Shannon; 10. A Village Childhood by Gertrude M. Attwood

NOVEMBER 2007 BESTSELLERS 

Another good month at The Book Case for items with local connections - seven again if we include a book of poems by a local author! With two hardback novels, unusually, and the ever-popular We’moon Diary.

1. Gold Pieces - Phyllis Bentley, £5.95. Selling fast, our reprint of the exciting 1968 children’s classic about the Cragg Vale Coiners from the well-loved Halifax novelist.

2. Fabrics, Filth and Fairy Tents - Angus Bethune Reach, ed. Chris Aspin, £6.95. An eyewitness description, with interviews, of the conditions of textile workers around West Yorkshire in 1849. Our first publication

3. We’Moon Diary 2008: Gaia Rhythms for Womyn, £15.99. The theme of next year’s edition of this popular and colourful astrological moon calendar and datebook is "Mending the Web".

4. Infamous Yorkshire Women - Issy Shannon, £12.99. Well-known local journalist’s colourful collection of remarkable women with Yorkshire connections - ranging from Queen Cartimandua of the Brigantes to Mary Newall of the Cragg Vale Coiners. Got three pages in Yorkshire Life!

5. A Village Childhood - Gertrude M. Attwood, nee Ogden, £12. A personal recollection of Mytholmroyd and Hebden Bridge in the 1920s and '30s. Gertrude looks back at those early years and describes how they influenced her life. Lots of fascinating detail about everyday life and contemporary illustrations.

6. Hebden Bridge Calendar - Geoff Boswell, £4.50. The colourful collection of well-chosen local scenes is as always selling well.

7. The Gathering - Anne Enright, £10.99 at The Book Case. The nine surviving children of the Hegarty clan gather in Dublin for the wake of their wayward brother Liam. It wasn't the drink that killed him - although that certainly helped - it was what happened to him as a boy in his grandmother's house. Booker Prize winner and still selling well.

8. On Chesil Beach - Ian McEwan, £10.99 at The Book Case. A honeymoon couple at a seaside hotel in 1962. A story about how the entire course of a life can be changed by a gesture not made or a word not spoken.

9. Over the Land - John Killick, illustrations by Alison McGill, £10. Hebden Bridge-based John Killick is best known for his work on communication with people with dementia. This collection contains 23 poems inspired by the Scottish landscape with images from pastel drawings and oil paintings by a young Edinburgh artist, Alison McGill.

10. Letters of Ted Hughes, ed. Christopher Reid, £30 (now £25 at The Book Case). This selection begins when Ted Hughes was seventeen, and documents the course of his resolutely private life. Recently read on Radio 4.

OCTOBER 2007 BESTSELLERS 

We aren’t complaining, but half of October’s bestsellers at The Book Case are the same as September’s, just in a different order. Seven have local connections, and the remaining three are novels, including one from the ever-popular Mark Haddon.

1. Fabrics, Filth and Fairy Tents - Angus Bethune Reach, ed. Chris Aspin, £6.95. Our own first publication, an eyewitness description, with interviews, of the conditions of textile workers around West Yorkshire in 1849.

2. Gold Pieces - Phyllis Bentley, £5.95. A reprint of the exciting 1968 children’s classic about the Cragg Vale Coiners from the well-loved Halifax novelist. Our second publication!

3. Power in the Landscape: water-powered mills in the Upper Calder Valley, £5. Still selling well, this colour-illustrated pamphlet from Hebden Bridge Alternative Technology Centre with the history of watermills in the area.

4. Island of Lost Souls - Martyn Bedford, £7.99. From a West Yorkshire author, a novel about a draft dodger on the run and the effect war can have on individuals and communities. Martyn Bedford recently talked about his book at Halifax Library.

5. Infamous Yorkshire Women - Issy Shannon, £12.99. Still selling well, this collection of remarkable women with Yorkshire connections - ranging from Queen Cartimandua of the Brigantes to Mary Newall of the Cragg Vale Coiners. The author is a well-known local journalist.

6. A Village Childhood - Gertrude M. Attwood, nee Ogden, £12. A personal recollection of Mytholmroyd and Hebden Bridge in the 1920s and '30s. Gertrude looks back at those early years and describes how they influenced her life. Lots of fascinating detail about everyday life and contemporary illustrations.

7. Spot of Bother - Mark Haddon, £7.99. The "dignified man trying to go insane politely" remains popular. From the author of 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time'.

8. The Gathering - Anne Enright, £10.99 at The Book Case. Booker Prize winner. The nine surviving children of the Hegarty clan gather in Dublin for the wake of their wayward brother Liam. It wasn't the drink that killed him - although that certainly helped - it was what happened to him as a boy in his grandmother's house.

9. Calder Valley Offcuts Series, £2.50. This series of pamphlets based on local history lectures by Leslie Goldthorp and transcribed by Irene Mallinson has been selling well and has now reached No. 9 and the nineteenth century. One to come!

10. Scent Trail - Celia Lyttelton, £15.00. From a Hebden Bridge-based author, one woman's journey across the world as she explores the magic and history behind the ingredients of her own bespoke perfume. Celia Lyttelton recently spoke at an event organised by Halifax Library. Tied with We’Moon Diary 2008.

AUGUST 2007

The five "local interest" books in The Book Case’s bestsellers in August included two from our own stable, with folktales, watermills and walks making up the rest. Three of our promoted novels were especially popular, one classic children’s book sold well, and customers were still intrigued by the little 1913 marital harmony books.

1. Fabrics, Filth and Fairy Tents - Angus Bethune Reach, ed. Chris Aspin, £6.95. A pungent account of the conditions of textile workers around West Yorkshire in 1849. Our first publication as Royd Press has been racing off the shelves!

2. Folktales from Calderdale Vol. 1 - John Billingsley, £7.50. Another month near the top for local folktales. The Witches of Eagle Crag, the Cliviger Boggart, the Bride Stones, the Eve Stone, Stoodley Pike, Great Rock, Tom Bell's Cave, the Miller's Grave and Churn Milk Joan are included.

3. Half of a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, £7.99. Holding third position. In the context of the 1960s Nigerian civil war, a young houseboy, a university lecturer and her professor lover, a shy Englishman and the lecturer’s sister are pulled apart and thrown together. This year’s Orange Prize winner and a 3/2 choice.

4. Power in the Landscape: water-powered mills in the Upper Calder Valley, £5. Colour-illustrated pamphlet from Hebden Bridge Alternative Technology Centre with the history of watermills in the area. 48pp, colour and b-&-w illustrations, nicely produced. Now accompanied by a DVD and CD-rom.

5. Don’ts for Wives, £2.99. An entertaining little book from 1913 full of good advice for a harmonious relationship. There’s another one for husbands!

6. Gone Walkabout - Anna Carlisle, £6.00. Popular collection of 24 walks in the Upper Calder Valley, holding sixth position.

7. Spot of Bother - Mark Haddon, £7.99. Another 3/2 choice holding the same position as last month. A disturbing yet very funny portrait of a dignified man trying to go insane politely. From the author of 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time'.

8. Silver Sword - Ian Serrailier, £4.99. Alone and fending for themselves in a Poland devastated by World War Two, Jan and his three homeless friends cling to the silver sword as a symbol of hope. As they travel through Europe towards Switzerland, where they believe they will be reunited with their parents, they encounter many hardships and dangers.

9. Calder Valley Offcuts Series, £2.50. This series of pamphlets produced by Royd Press on various aspects of local history since Norman times has been selling well.

10. Black Swan Green - David Mitchell, £7.99. Charts thirteen months in the black hole between childhood and adolescence, set against the sunset of an agrarian England still overshadowed by the Cold War. A 3/2 choice.

Harry Potter went through the roof at The Book Case in July, but local titles and "3 for 2" novels and biographies were still strong. Other popular books included advice for husbands in 1913 and prayers for peace.

It was a photo finish between local folklore and the Orange Prize winner but the local book pulled ahead on the last day! The first Ted Hughes Festival which included an appearance by Simon Armitage made its mark, and so did our popular "3 for 2" offer which continues over the summer. Our customers went on "searching for the North" and others were interested in how their blood type affected their ideal diet. Our popular bargain nature guides still sold well but just slid off the Top Ten.

1. Folktales from Calderdale Vol. 1 - John Billingsley, £7.50. For the second month, local folktales top the list. The Witches of Eagle Crag, the Cliviger Boggart, the Bride Stones, the Eve Stone, Stoodley Pike, Great Rock, Tom Bell's Cave, the Miller's Grave and Churn Milk Joan are included.

2. Half of a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, £7.99. In the context of the 1960s Nigerian civil war, a young houseboy, a university lecturer and her professor lover, a shy Englishman and the lecturer’s sister are pulled apart and thrown together. This year’s Orange Prize winner and a 3/2 choice.

3. Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid - Bill Bryson, £7.99. Bill Bryson travels back in time to explore the ordinary kid he once was, and the curious world of 1950s America. A 3/2 choice.

4. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - Simon Armitage, £12.99. The strange tale of a green knight who rudely interrupts King Arthur's Christmas festivities - a retelling of the medieval poem. Simon Armitage appeared at Calder High for the Ted Hughes Festival.

5. Progressive Patriot - Billy Bragg, £7.99. What does it mean to be English? What does it mean to be British? An urgent, eloquent and passionate response to the events of 7 July 2005. A 3/2 choice.

6. Ted Hughes’s Poems selected by Simon Armitage, £3.99. With the well-known Fay Godwin photo of the path above Lumbutts on the front cover.

7. Pies and Prejudice - Stuart Machonie, £10.99. A northerner in exile, stateless and confused, goes in search of the new North. I keep seeing people reading this on trains ...

8. Book of Dave - Will Self, £7.99. Novel based around the rants of Dave Rudman, a disgruntled East End taxi driver, who writes his woes down and buries them only to have them discovered 500 years later and used as the sacred text for a religion. A 3/2 choice.

9. Inheritance of Loss - Kiran Desai, £7.99. In the north-eastern Himalayas, the life of an embittered old judge is complicated by the arrival of his orphaned granddaughter, Sai, and the son of his chatty cook. A 3/2 choice and Booker Prize winner.

10. Eat Right 4 Your Type - Peter D’Adamo, £7.99. Your blood type (A, B, O, AB) plays a part in losing weight, avoiding disease and promoting fitness and longevity. This book provides a set of blood type-specific diets so you can choose the food that suits you.

1. Folktales from Calderdale Vol. 1 - John Billingsley, £7.50. Our May Non-fiction Book of the Month - a collection of tales from the moorlands of the Upper Calder Valley. The Witches of Eagle Crag, the Cliviger Boggart, the Bride Stones, the Eve Stone, Stoodley Pike, Great Rock, Tom Bell's Cave, the Miller's Grave and Churn Milk Joan are included. (£7.50)

2. Collins Nature Guides: Trees of Britain and Europe - G. Aas and A. Riedmiller, £2.99. One of the our extremely popular pocket illustrated nature guides - and most of the rest of the range also sold well. Still at this very low price while stocks last!

3. Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier, £7.99. A reading group chose this 1938 classic. Daphne du Maurier was born 100 years ago last month.

4. Pies and Prejudice - Stuart Machonie, £10.99. "In search of the North" - a riotously funny journey in search of where the cliches end and the truth begins, from a northerner in exile.

5. Artemis Fowl and the Lost Colony - Eoin Colfer, £5.99. Has the teenage criminal mastermind finally met his match? A second juvenile genius has discovered that fairies do exist and she is determined to trap a demon, the most human-hating species known to mankind.... This was our May Children’s Book of the Month.

6. Poems from a Northern Soul - John Siddique, £6.95. From the local poet, a powerful collection of "poignant homecomings, cinematic street scenes and candid portraits".

7. Book of Dave - Will Self, £7.99. Novel based around the rants of Dave Rudman, a disgruntled East End taxi driver, who writes his woes down and buries them only to have them discovered 500 years later and used as the sacred text for a religion.

8. When We Were Orphans - Kazuo Ishiguro, £7.99. Another reading group choice: in 1930s England, a celebrated detective tries to solve the puzzle of his own parents’ disappearance in old Shanghai.

9. A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini, £13.99 at The Book Case while stocks last. From the author of "The Kite Runner", a riveting, and haunting novel about the bond between two women in Afghanistan who are brought together by war, loss, and fate. On special offer at present.

10. Don’t Wear It On Your Head - John Siddique, £13.95. ... Don’t Stick It Down Your Pants! A book of poems for young people with a great cover - currently shortlisted for the CLPE Poetry Award.

1. Rebel Girls: How Votes for Women Changed Edwardian Lives by Jill Liddington, £14.99
Young Northern suffragettes still lead the field! This detailed account of the local fight for women's suffrage was our overall bestseller for 2006 - and includes Lavena Saltonstall of Hebden Bridge.

2. Collins Nature Guides: Wild Flowers of Britain and Europe - W. Lippert & D. Podlech, £2.99
One of the pocket illustrated nature guides we have on special promotion this month. Also popular in the same series was "The Night Sky". The promotion runs throughout May.

3. South Pennines and the Bronte Moors - Andrew Bibby, £7.99
The most local of the Freedom to Roam walking guides produced in association with the Ramblers' Association, by local author and journalist Andrew Bibby, with 12 free-range rambles. The Freedom to Roam guides were on special promotion in April. "Pennine Divide" and "Forest of Bowland" were also popular.

4. Born on a Blue Day - Daniel Tammet, £6.99
"The Gift of an Extraordinary Mind." Daniel Tammet has the extremely rare condition Savant Syndrome, but despite his amazing gifts and limitations, he is capable of living a fully functioning, independent life.

5. Six Degrees - Mark Lynas, £12.99
"Our Future on a Hotter Planet." An eye-opening and vital account of the future of our earth and our civilisation if current rates of global warming persist

6. A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian - Marina Lewycka, £7.99
Entertaining novel about two Ukrainian sisters, their father and his new wife in Peterborough makes it to the Top Ten yet again.

7. Children of Hurin - J R R Tolkien, £13.99 at The Book Case while stocks last.
Painstakingly restored from Tolkien's manuscripts and presented for the first time as a fully continuous story, the epic tale of 'The Children of Hurin'. One of this month’s special offers.

8. Pace Egg Plays of the Calder Valley - Eddie Cass, £6.99
The history and revival of the play in the Calder Valley. Texts of both the Midgley and the Heptonstall versions are included.

9. Tenderness of Wolves - Stef Penney, £7.99
This year’s Costa winner, an atmospheric mystery thriller set in the Canadian tundra.

10. Old Stones of Elmet - Paul Bennett, £13.95
The old stone sites of Elmet, including Todmorden, Mytholmroyd, Luddenden, Hebden Bridge, Blackshawhead and Halifax area.