Dear Book Case customer or contact,
Milltown Memories 2: the Upper Calder Valley captured on camera (£2.50)
The second issue of this quarterly local history journal covers Alice Longstaff's early years, Lloyd Greenwood and Hebden Bridge Station, cinemas of the Upper Valley, snow, hippies, Home Rule for Mytholmroyd, a death on the moors and more, and includes photos of the original Stoodley Pike, the demolition of Bridge Lanes, and Stansfield View.
The Calder and Hebble Navigation - Mike
Taylor (£12.00)
The River Calder rises in the Pennines north
of Todmorden, receives the Hebble Brook at Salterhebble and reaches the Aire
& Calder Navigation at Wakefield. It was made navigable in the 1770s and
became part of the Mersey-Humber trade routes. By the 1940s it was in decline,
but commercial traffic continued till 1981 when shipments to Thornhill Power
Station ceased. The book contains numerous black and white illustrations of
canal boats, furniture and activity along the navigation.
A Walk on t'Cut: a Transpennine Journey on the Rochdale
Canal
(video £12.99; DVD or US-compatible video
£14.99)
A walk along the Rochdale Canal from the centre of Manchester
to Sowerby Bridge, showing the changing landscapes, industrial features, boats
and wildlife, with interviews and aerial views. From Ray Riches and P J
Thornton.
Luddenden Saga: a brief
history of a Yorkshire Village - Vikki Egerton (£7.99)
Based
on the narrative used in the village's celebration of the Millennium, with
b&w photographs.
The Anatomy of Canals: the Mania Years - Anthony Burton and Derek Pratt (£16.99)
Vol. 2 in the series, covering the 1790s to the 1820s when most of the UK's canal network was constructed. Chapter 7 is on "Manchester and the North", including the Ashton Canal, Rochdale Canal (with a special mention for Stubbing Wharf pub) and Huddersfield Canal, amongst others. B&w photos.
Pennine Dreams: the story of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal - Keith Gibson (£16.99)
How and why the canal - which has the longest, deepest, highest canal tunnel in the British Isles - was built, and how it was restored. B&w illustrations.
Ee Up Lad! A Salute to
the Yorkshire Dialect - Len Markham, ill. Richard Scollins
(£5.95)
A feast of linguistic fun including a
Yorkshire take on nursery rhymes and well-known scenes from English
history, superbly illustrated by Richard Schollins, plus dictionary. Ideal
stocking-filler.
Annals of Todmorden 1552-1913 - Dorothy Dugdale (£19.95) A record of people, events and circumstances - a very thorough book of interest to anyone interested in the history of the area
Watergrove - Allen Holt (£10.99) A history of the valley and its drowned village
In December, we expect a new local interest book from Sue Hogg, by Cliviger historian Titus Thornber, entitled Seen on a Packhorse Track, illustrated, £15.00. More details to follow.
Local Authors:
Juliet Barker's follow-up to her mammoth Wordsworth biography is now in stock. Wordsworth: a life in letters costs £25.00 and is a selection of letters and autobiographical fragments introducing us to a very human poet. (See for example p.119 where he tells Dorothy he'd just visited a bookshop hoping to hear how The Excursion was selling, only to be told how everyone prefers Byron!)
Amanda Dalton is one of the authors featured in Comma: anthology of short stories, ed. Ra Page, £9.95
A new collection of Black Performance Poetry (book and CD), Moving Voices edited by Martin and Asher Hoyles, includes work by well-known local poet John Lyons (£16.99)
"***********************************************************Something For The Ghosts by
David Constantine (£7.95)
Ice Age: Poems by Paul
Farley (£7.99)
Voodoo Shop by Ruth Padel
(£8.99)
The Beautiful Lie by Sheenagh Pugh
(£6.95)
.
"***********************************************************
Nestlé Smarties Book Prize 2002 Shortlist
Winners to be announced on December 3rd at the British Library in London. Keep an eye on Philip Reeve who's also on the Whitbread shortlist. This is the only competition where children decide the winners, and over 25,000 schoolchildren are expected to participate. This longest-running children's book prize is now in its 18th year. Julia Eccleshare is chair of the adult judging panel, and you can read more about it at http://www.booktrusted.com/nestle/shlist2002.html
5 years and under6 - 8 years
Lauren Child That Pesky
Rat (hardback, £9.99)
Richard Platt Pirate Diary - The Journal of Jake
Carpenter (illustrated by Chris Riddell)
(£6.99)
Michael
Morpurgo The Last Wolf (illustrated by Michael Foreman)
(hardback, £9.99; £4.99 pb due Jan.)
9 - 11 years
Philip Reeve Mortal Engines
(£5.99)
Sally Prue Cold Tom
(£4.99)
Geraldine McCaughrean Stop the Train
(£4.99)
**********************************************
The Blue Peter Book Awards 2002
We've been rather slow off the mark with this shortlist, announced in early October, winner to be revealed "later this year". Many of these books are already popular sellers. For more info go to http://www.jubileebooks.co.uk/jubilee/newsn/news_stories/prizes/blue_peter_2002.asp
The Book I Couldn't Put Down (£4.99 each)
Artemis Fowl by
Eoin Colfer
Feather Boy
by Nicky Singer
Journey
To The River Sea by Eva Ibbotson
Mighty Fizz Chilla by Philip Ridley
Point Blanc by Anthony
Horowitz
Best Book to Read Aloud (£4.99 each except the Ahlberg)
Crispin, The Pig
Who Had It All by Ted Dewan
Eat Your Peas by Kes Gray and Nick Sharratt
Giraffes Can't Dance by
Giles Andreae and Guy Parker-Rees
Grandma Chickenlegs by Geraldine McCaughrean and Moira
Kemp
The Man Who
Wore All His Clothes by Allan Ahlberg and Katharine McEwen (£6.99)
The Best New Information Books
Ada Lovelace by
Lucy Lethbridge (£3.99)
The Cartoon History Of The Earth by Jacqui Bailey and Matthew
Lilly (series, £5.99 each)
True Stories of Heroes by Paul Dowswell
(£3.99)
Twenty
Stories From British History by Geraldine McCaughrean, illus Richard Brassey
(series, £4.99 each)
The Usborne Internet-Linked Library Of Science Human Body by
Kirsteen Rogers and Corinne Henderson (£6.99)
******************************************************
UK 'tops literary spending league'
Market research by Mintel showed that Britons spend more on DVDs, videos and books than any of their European counterparts, and has the fastest growing market for these items. 60% of British respondents bought a book in the last year compared with just 40% in Spain and Germany, and about 21% of UK and French respondents said they bought 10 books a year, while the rest of Europe lagged behind with just 13%. Australian winemakers Lindeman's cited our bad weather and slow, creaking rail system in explanation of these findings.
Milltown Memories 2: the Upper Calder Valley captured on
camera, £2.50
The Calder and Hebble
Navigation - Mike Taylor (£12.00)
A Walk on
t'Cut: a Transpennine Journey on the Rochdale Canal
(video
£12.99; DVD or US-compatible video £14.99)
Luddenden Saga: a brief history of a Yorkshire
Village - Vikki Egerton (£7.99)
The Anatomy of Canals: the
Mania Years - Anthony Burton and Derek Pratt (£16.99)
Pennine Dreams: the story of the
Huddersfield Narrow Canal - Keith Gibson
(£16.99)
Ee Up Lad! A
Salute to the Yorkshire Dialect - Len Markham, ill. Richard Scollins
(£5.95)
Dear Book Case customer or contact,
Wild Yorkshire - a
celebration of Yorkshire's Wild Places and its Wildlife,
£18.99
Photographic journey in association with the Yorkshire Wildlife
Trust.
Holy Wells of West Yorkshire
and the Dales - Valerie Shepherd, £4.95
Including a number in
Calderdale and Kirklees
Todmorden Album III - Roger
Birch
Now at amazing price of £6.00, Roger Birch's third
collection of old photos of Todmorden.
King Charles' Mine - Titus
Thornber
Historical novel based on the history of the Thieveley
Lead Mine, Lancashire, 1627-1635. A commission of King Charles I took it over
but the men from London were unable to cope with the complications. Now
£3.99.
Local Authors:
Wordsworth: a life in
letters - Juliet Barker, £25.00
Due in late November, newly
transcribed from the manuscripts, with previously unpublished material for
almost 600 letters and journals.
The Cat and the Cuckoo
- Ted Hughes, ill. Flora McDonnell,
£10.00
Illustrated collection of animal poems for younger readers,
available now
Letters to Ted - Daniel
Weissbort, £8.95
A collection of poems in memory of
the late Poet Laureate. The two men met
as students in the 1950s and co-founded Modern Poetry in Translation in
1965.
Two Weavers: Two Ways - Sue
Lawty and Meira Stockl, £10.00
Colour illustrated catalogue of their exhibition at the
University Gallery, Leeds. Sue Lawty's postcards also available.
For people who remember ex-local Kitty Fitzgerald, a political thriller, Small Acts of Treachery, £7.99
"***********************************************************
Booker
Prize Winner
You'll probably be aware that this year's
winner was Life of Pi by Yann Martel about a 16-year-old boy
adrift in a cargo ship with a zebra, a hyena, an orang-utan and a
tiger. Now back in stock at The Book Case at £11.99.
"***********************************************************
Guardian Children's Book Prize
Winner
This year's winner was Sonya
Hartnett's Thursday's Child (Walker, £4.99), first
published in Australia. During the long, hungry years of the Great Depression,
Harper Flute's family struggles to cope with life on the hot, dusty land. Her
younger brother Tin seeks refuge in the contrast of an ancient subterranean
world. 10+ says the note.
On the shortlist were:
Keith Grey's Warehouse (£4.99) about social outcasts with their own codes of conduct.
Elizabeth Laird's Jake's Tower (£9.99) about a boy who needs a hideout to survive the daily reality of an unpredictable and violent stepfather.
Linda Newbery's The Shell House (£9.99) has an insecure modern teenage boy meeting a young First World War soldier in a ruined house.
The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett won the 2002 Carnegie Medal, was highly praised by Philip Pullman for its originality and is about a scruffy tomcat, a stupid-looking kid and educated rats. About to go into paperback at £5.99.
Marcus Sedgwick's The Dark Horse (£7.99) weaves stories of old magic and forgotten powers into a highly charged mystery.
The judges were: Kevin Crossley-Holland, Beverley Naidoo and Bali Rai, chaired by Julia Eccleshare.
"***********************************************************
"We Are What We Read"
This is a poll organised for World Book Day 2003 "to find the one book that says most about modern England today" - you're invited to vote on a list of 25 titles on a card available at The Book Case. Titles include Bill Bryson's Notes from a Small Island, George Monbiot's Captive State, Simon Armitage's All Points North, and other localised and more comprehensive views. Deadline for voting extended to 8th November.
The Cat and the Cuckoo - Ted Hughes, ill. Flora McDonnell, £10.00
Holy Wells of West Yorkshire and the Dales - Valerie Shepherd, £4.95
King Charles' Mine - Titus Thornber, £3.99
Letters to Ted - Daniel
Weissbort, £8.95
1. One Hit Wonderland - Tony Hawks (£10.99) As memorably demonstrated at Hebden Bridge Picture House, the author’s attempt to get into a hit parade, anywhere, by fair means or foul.
2. 11+ Mathematics 1 & 2/Verbal Reasoning 1 & 2 (£4.99 each) Collections of practice test papers.
3. Milltown Memories, issue 1 (£2.50) New local history quarterly journal, with photographs from the Longstaff Collection.
4. Round Ireland with a Fridge - Tony Hawks (£7.99) "I hereby bet Tony Hawks the sum of One Hundred Pounds that he cannot hitch hike around the circumference of Ireland with a fridge within one calendar month." The story of Tony's adventures throughout that month, the people he meets, the difficulties and the triumphs.
5. Playing the Moldovans at Tennis - Tony Hawks (£7.99) Following another daft bet, Tony Hawks gets involved in the Moldovan underworld, gypsies and chronic power shortages.
6. Your Life in Your Hands - Jane Plant (£9.99) This book puts forward the message that breast cancer can be prevented and effectively treated by simple diet and lifestyle modifications.
7. Tipping the Velvet - Sarah Waters (£6.99) Recently televised, the "sexy and picaresque romp through the lesbian demi-monde of the roaring Nineties" (IoS)
8. Power of Now: a guide to spiritual enlightenment - Eckhart Tolle (£7.99) Still buoyant, the guide to living in the present moment.
9. We’Moon Diary 2003: Gaia Rhythms for Women - Great Mother (£14.99) The ever-popular astrological moon calendar, date book and daily guide to natural rhythms. There’s also a wall calendar.
10. Bad Beginning - Lemony Snicket (£5.99) First in the highly popular Series of Unfortunate Events for children.
Best wishes from your local bookshop,Dear Book Case customer or contact,
Milltown Memories: the Upper
Calder Valley captured on camera, £2.50
The new quarterly
local history journal with photographs from the Longstaff Collection and
articles of local interest. The first issue has articles on Alice Longstaff,
the Cragg Vale Coiners' murder, Todmorden buses, Buttress Brink, and more, with
some lovely old advertisements.
Local Authors:
"***********************************************************
Family Matters by
Rohinton Mistry (£14.99) - The complex structure, relationships
and conflicts of an Indian family.
The Story of Lucy Gault by
William Trevor (£14.99) - Set in rural Cork in
the early 1920s, this novel tells the story of one isolated Protestant family
caught up in the political maelstrom of the times.
Fingersmith by
Sarah Waters (£11.99) - The story of two orphaned girls'
struggle to survive, which also serves as a damning critique of Victorian moral
and sexual hypocrisy.
Life of Pi by Yann Martel (£11.99)
- After a cargo ship sinks the only survivors; a zebra, a hyena, an
orang-utan, a tiger and a 16 year-old boy, are set adrift to discover what the
future may hold.
Unless by Carol Shields
(£14.99) - The apparently comfortable life of a
middle-aged mother hides a torrent of emotions.
Dirt Music by Tim
Winton (£13.99) - Set in the Australian outback, this is the
story of forty-something Georgie, who unwittingly inherits two dissatisfied
kids into her care.
"***********************************************************
1. Milltown Memories, issue 1 (£2.50)
New local history quarterly journal, with photographs from the Longstaff Collection.
2. Power of Now: a guide to spiritual enlightenment - Eckhart Tolle (£7.99)
How to live a healthier and happier life by living in the present moment. This title has been selling well locally for months.
3. According to Queeney - Beryl Bainbridge (£6.99)
Now in paperback, the novel about the relationship between Dr. Johnson and Mrs. Thrale, the wife of an old friend. Her daughter Queeney dictates.
4. The Waiting Game - Bernice Rubens (£7.99)
Macabre fun and games at "The Hollyhocks" old people's home.
5. The Last of the Sky Pirates - Paul Stewart (£9.99 at The Book Case)
Latest in the Edge Chronicles. Fifty years after the city of Sanctaphrax was swept away, the Edgeworld has changed for the worse and a young apprentice knight academic, Rook, sets out on a perilous journey through the Deepwoods.
6. We’Moon Diary 2003: Gaia Rhythms for Women - Great Mother (£14.99)
This astrological moon calendar, date book and daily guide to natural rhythms is an annual bestseller.
7. Nine Lives - Bernice Rubens (£16.99)
The killer's modus operandi is the same in each instance: strangulation with a guitar string. And up and down the country, there is one other similarity: every victim is a psychotherapist.
8. Todmorden Book of the Dead - John Morrison (£4.95)
Still selling well, the fifth in the Milltown Chronicles (not to be confused with Milltown Memories, which is serious!)
9. Basil Street Blues: a family story - Michael Holroyd (£7.99)
Biographer Michael Holroyd turns his attention upon himself. Born into a family rich in eccentricity, Holroyd was largely brought up by his grandparents in Maidenhead because his exotic Swedish mother and reserved English father couldn't stand living together.
10. Good Fiction Guide - ed. Jane Rogers (£9.99)
We’re so impressed by this up-to-date and comprehensive paperback guide that we’re keeping a reference copy in the shop for you to consult!
Best wishes from your local bookshop,"If this is some sort of endurance test then we may as well endure stylishly. Would it be pretentious to read Anna Karenina?" "Not pretentious, but perhaps a touch antisocial." - Penelope Lively, Cleopatra’s Sister, Part 2, Ch. 3.
Dear Book Case customer or contact,
Milltown Memories: the Upper
Calder Valley captured on camera, £2.50
This new quarterly
local history journal will be launched at The White Lion on 20th September. It
will feature photographs from the Longstaff Collection and articles of local
interest: issue no. 1 includes Buttress Brink and Bridge Mill. In a "Then
& Now" series, the original photos are set alongside recent photographs by
John Morrison of the same place. The journal's editors are Issy Shannon and
Frank Woolridge.
Local Authors:
If You're Proud to
be a Leeds Fan by Tom Palmer (£9.99)
Game-by-game
analysis of the 2001-2 season. Tom Palmer lives in Todmorden and is a
freelance reading promoter and writer: and is currently organising the Library
Readers' Days mentioned above. Busy man!
The Book Case bestseller list for August continues to feature several books with local connections suggesting that visitors to the area this summer have not only found local guides useful but have been impressed by the wealth of local literary talent.
1. Todmorden Book of the Dead - John Morrison (£4.95) The latest humour title by local writer gets to the top after three months in the list.
2. South Pennine Ring: A Seventy-Mile Circuit of Canals - John Lower (£7.95) After the opening of the Rochdale Canal to Manchester last month, this guide to the canals of the South Pennines has proved immensely popular.
3. Building with Straw Bales - Barbara Jones (£9.95) This practical guide for building homes using straw bales is written by a local author who is probably the most experienced straw bale builder in the UK
4: Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus - John Gray (£6.99) This ever popular guide to emotional behaviour, now in a new edition, finds its way yet again into the bestsellers list
5. Atonement - Ian McEwan (£7.99) The 2001 Booker Prize runner-up, now in paperback, has proved to be the most popular novel for summer reading and another run-away success for Ian McEwan, the author of previous bestsellers, including Amsterdam, winner of the 1998 Booker Prize
6. Voices From A Silk-Cotton Tree - John Lyons (£6.95) John Lyons, local artist and writer, draws once again on his childhood recollections of Trinidad and Tobago for this new collection of poetry launched during the Arts Festival at the Hourglass Gallery.
7. Road to McCarthy - Pete McCarthy (£17.99) The latest title by well-known travel writer who visited Hebden Bridge during the Arts Festival is proving as popular here as it is throughout the country
8. That Which Doesn’t Kill You - Christian Thompson (£15.99 at The Book Case)This detective novel by Hebden Bridge author introduces the character Chris O’Brien - Bradford’s answer to Philip Marlowe! This is its second month in the bestsellers list.
9. Series of Unfortunate Events: The Ersatz Elevator - Lemony Snicket (£5.99) The sixth book in this increasingly popular series of junior fiction comes with a warning - if you don’t like unhappy endings, you had better put the book down!
10. Aspects of Calderdale: Discovering Local History - John Billingsley (£9.99) The editor of this book of local history, John Billingsley, is a librarian in Halifax and lecturer in Pennine folk-lore at Bradford University with several other popular titles to his name including A Stony Gaze.
Best wishes from your local bookshop,"Fantasy, and fiction in general, is failing to do what it might be doing. It has unlimited potential to explore all sorts of metaphysical and moral questions, but it is not doing that." Philip Pullman, speaking at the Edinburgh International Books Festival (Guardian, 12 August 2002)
Dear Book Case customer or contact,
Yorkshire Surnames 3: Halifax & District by
George Redmonds, £3.60
Fascinating account of the origins of
Greenwood, Sutcliffe, Akroyd, Gaukroger, Murgatroyd, and many others. Also
Vol. 1: Bradford & District and Vol. 2:
Huddersfield & District
Local Authors:
Ted Hughes - the Life of a Poet - Elaine
Feinstein, £8.99
A biography of the former Poet Laureate and
an exploration of his marriage to Sylvia Plath. The author argues that they
were both flawed geniuses and that the truth about the failure of their
marriage must incorporate her fragility and his recklessness.
Building with Straw Bales: a practical guide for the UK
and Ireland by Barbara Jones, £9.95
Barbara Jones
founded the women's roofing firm Amazon Nails, now specialising in
environmental building, especially using straw bales. In this book she has
adapted North American techniques to our wetter climate. See lots of nice
pictures at http://www.strawbalefutures.org.uk/ Author
lives in Todmorden.
Supreme Self-Confidence in 150 Days - Jim
Byrne, £23.95
From a Hebden Bridge Rational Emotive
Behaviour Therapist and Counsellor, a comprehensive self-training manual,
"Becoming Your Own Counsellor, vol. 2".
Universal Home Doctor - Simon Armitage,
£12.99
Poems that range from the rain forests of South
America to the deserts of Western Australia set against the landscape of the
human body. First new collection for five years.
RE-ISSUES:
Collected Poems - Sylvia Plath, £16.99:
All her mature poetry from 1956 to 1963. Won 1981 Pulitzer Prize for
poetry. New edition.
Selected Poems - Sylvia Plath, £8.99:
New edition of selection made by Ted Hughes.
************************************************************
We'moon Diary 2003 is now in stock, price
£14.99
"I'm
actually quite worried about those people you see on long train journeys with
nothing to read, just staring blankly into the middle distance. What the hell
is going on in their heads, then? Perhaps they've got excellent memories, and
they're just remembering a particularly good book they once read, which saves
them having to carry one round."
Pete McCarthy, McCarthy's
Bar, ch. 7, "The children of Lir"
Dear Book Case customer or contact,
Appearances at Central Street and Luddendenfoot Schools by the popular and prolific children's illustrator and author Nick Sharratt were much enjoyed, and will be reported in our next children's newsletter.
Michael Gray filled the Little Theatre to capacity with his talk on Song & Dance Man III: "Bob Dylan and the History of Rock 'n' Roll", and The Book Case sold all its stock; more were hastily ordered and have now come in. For more information on the book go to http://www.bobdylan.com/etc/songanddanceman.html but remember that there is now a £15.99 paperback available.
Pete McCarthy packed out the Picture House with his hilarious talk on and readings from his bestseller McCarthy's Bar and forthcoming The Road to McCarthy. For extracts, information and pictures, go to http://www.uktouring.org.uk/petemccarthy/
Adele Geras and her daughter Sophia Hannah read poetry and prose to an appreciative audience at the Little Theatre,
Brian Patten made a double appearance at the Picture House, reading powerful and moving poems from his adult works including Armada, and delighting children with Juggling with Gerbils
and Paul Jennings launched his latest book of funny stories, Tongue Tied! to a packed Picture House.
You can still catch: Thurs. 4th July: Pete Keal and Tony Langham, Machpelah Works, 8pm (verse and stories)
Fri 5 July: Graham Kershaw, The Home Crowd (new novel set around Todmorden), Hourglass Studio, 7pm
AND Liz Almond, Emma-Jane Arkady and Jacqueline Brown, Arc poets, Little Theatre, 8.30pm
Sat 6 July: Mslexia Day with Anne Fine and Livi Michael, Little Theatre, (1-2 lunch); 2-4pm: workshop led by Livi Michael; 4.30-5.30 Anne Fine on All Bones and Lies and Up on Cloud Nine; 5.30-6.30pm discussion
http://www.hebdenbridge.co.uk/festival/2002/index-s.html or call in at Hebden Bridge TIC.
************************************************************
The Rochdale Canal is now officially
open through from Sowerby Bridge to Manchester for the first time in 50 years.
For books about it, see our website at www.bookcase.co.uk - Local
Guides - Boaters, and for a virtual cruise through Hebden Bridge, go
to http://www.penninewaterways.co.uk/rochdale/rc6.htm
"***********************************************************
New in stock, a range of unusual local colour
postcards from Gerard Deignan, 40p each, to add to
Simon Warner's views of Hebden Water and the Octagonal
Methodist Chapel Many of you have already discovered our sumptuous
Editions Hazan colour photography cards.
"***********************************************************
Orange Prize :
as previously announced,
this year's winner was Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
(£6.99) about a group of international visitors taken hostage in Latin
America.
Sharon Creech - Love That Dog
Peter Dickinson -
The Ropemaker
Eva Ibbotson - Journey To The River Sea
Elizabeth Laird - Jake's Tower
Geraldine McCaughrean -
The Kite Rider
Geraldine McCaughrean - Stop The Train
Terry Pratchett - Amazing Maurice And His Educated Rodents
Virginia Euwer Wolff - True Believer
Non-fiction has plenty to offer including politics (globalisation, information feudalism, advertising, the plight of women in China), travel (Che Guevara, Robyn Davidson, Barbara Ehrenreich and Burkhard Bilger), history (maps, a 4th century BC expedition to Britain and Kit Marlowe) and sport (cricket, climbing and walking) plus more.
NEW ON OUR WEBPAGES
Predictably, several of The Book
Case’s bestsellers last month were of books presented by the authors at
sell-out Festival performances, three have local connections and there are two
novels and three children’s books. Nothing on the World
Cup!
1. McCarthy’s Bar - Pete McCarthy
(£6.99) Observant, hilarious and informative account of his journey
around Ireland, visiting the bars of his namesakes. The follow-up is due any
day now!
2. Song and Dance Man III: the Art of Bob Dylan - Michael Gray (£15.99) Now in affordable chunky paperback, the classic guide to Dylan, his songs and his sources.
3. The Todmorden Book of the Dead - John Morrison (£4.95) Weird weather, floods, farmers, buses, ageing hippies, agricultural shows and yellow plastic ducks (does Tod do them too?) are amongst the items tackled in this latest addition to the Milltown chronicles.
4. Atonement - Ian McEwan (£7.99) From a sunny pre-war country house garden through the Dunkirk evacuation to the present day; absorbing, intelligent and well-written.
5. Drowning Ruth - Christina Schwartz (£6.99) A frozen lake, a winter’s night and a tragedy that will haunt a child’s life. Begins in 1920s rural Wisconsin.
6. Wordsworth: a Life - Juliet Barker (£12.99) The abridged paperback of prize-winning local author’s acclaimed and sympathetic biography; shortlisted for the Portico Prize.
7. Shark in the Park - Nick Sharratt (£9.99 at The Book Case) Rhyming story in big bright hardback about Timothy who keeps seeing shark fins through his new telescope!
8. Body Owner’s Handbook - Nick Arnold (£3.99) New into the Horrible Science series, a guide to the fantastic range of accessories you didn’t know you had!
9. Mill, Murder and Railway - Peter Thomas (£3.00) Industrial, transport and social history of Hardcastle Crags. A perennial local favourite.
10.Tongue-tied! - Paul Jennings (£4.99) More funny stories from the prize-winning children’s author who presented them at the Picture House on publication day.
_________________________________________________________________________________Best wishes from your local bookshop,
"I once
started reading War and Peace, but I got half way through it and I
couldn't stand it any more. I'm a very normal person."
- Doug McAvoy, General Secretary of the National Union of
Teachers, quoted in Guardian
9.5.02
Dear Book Case customer or contact,
Events
Hebden Bridge Arts Festival, 21 June - 7 July 2002: summary of literary events:
Wed. 19 June: John Lyons, Voices from a Silk-Cotton Tree, Hourglass Studio, 7pm
Sat 22 June: Jill Robinson, Memoirs of a Single Parent with a Crush, Canalside Gallery, Machpelah Works, 8pm
Tues 25th June: Nick Sharratt, at Central Street and Luddendenfoot Schools. Shark in the Park and numerous other children's titles ... Already fully booked.
AND Michael Gray: Song & Dance Man III: "Bob Dylan and the History of Rock 'n' Roll", Little Theatre, 8pm
Wed. 26th June: John Morrison, Todmorden Book of the Dead, Little Theatre, 7pm, 8.30pm
Thurs 27 June: Glyn Hughes, Little Theatre, 8pm
AND About a Boy - film, Hebden Bridge Picture House, 7.30pm, proceeds to charity (based on the novel by Nick Hornby, £6.99)
Fri 28 June: Pete McCarthy, The Road to McCarthy and McCarthy's Bar, Hebden Bridge Picture House, 8pm
Sun. 30 June: Carola Luther, Sally Baker, Suzanne Batty, Little Theatre, 7.30pm (poetry)
Mon 1 July: Adele Geras and daughter Sophia Hannah, Little Theatre, 7pm (prose and poetry)
Tues 2 July: Brian Patten, Armada, Hebden Bridge Picture House, 8pm AND
Tues 3 July: Brian Patten, Juggling with Gerbils, Hebden Bridge Picture House, 9.45-10.45am
AND Hugh Lupton and Daniel Morden performing TheIliad, Little Theatre, 8pm. Hugh Lupton also does the popular Barefoot Press series of folktales.
AND OperaAmazons present Patience and Sarah by Isobel Miller, Heptonstall Parish Church, 8pm
Thurs 4 July: Paul Jennings, Tongue Tied!, Little Theatre, 10.30-11.45am.
AND Pete Keal and Tony Langham, Machpelah Works, 8pm (verse and stories)
Fri 5 July: Graham Kershaw, The Home Crowd (new novel set around Todmorden), Hourglass Studio, 7pm
AND Liz Almond, Emma-Jane Arkady and Jacqueline Brown, Arc poets, Little Theatre, 8.30pm
Sat 6 July: Mslexia Day with Anne Fine and Livi Michael, Little Theatre, (1-2 lunch); 2-4pm: workshop led by Livi Michael; 4.30-5.30 Anne Fine on All Bones and Lies and Up on Cloud Nine; 5.30-6.30pm discussion
The Book Case will be supporting most of the above events, with a bookstall at the event and/or instore displays. Apologies if I've left anything out! Some of the events require pre-booking: check your Festival programme. The Book Case is not selling tickets. Phone 01422 842684, visit the website at http://www.hebdenbridge.co.uk/festival/2002/index-s.html or call in at Hebden Bridge TIC from 8th June.
_________________________________________________________________________________
"Then there was the man, driving north listening
to Oliver Twist when he began to go
out of range. He turned round at the next junction and drove south till the
programme finished."
- Publishing News, 3.5.02, on Urban
Soundtracks radio programme broadcasting readings of classic novels to
contemporary music, currently on Galaxy
FM.
Dear Book Case customer or contact,
was announced on 26th April. Chosen by a panel of 12 children's librarians, the award's for an outstanding book for children and young people. It was established by The Library Association in 1936, in memory of Scottish-born philanthropist and self-made US steel tycoon, Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919), whose experience of using a library as a child led him to resolve that "if ever wealth came to me that it should be used to establish free libraries." Past winners include Pigeon Post, The Borrowers, The Wind on the Moon, Tom’s Midnight Garden, Watership Down and Northern Lights. The winner will be announced on July 12.
Sharon Creech - Love That Dog (a boy has to write a poem
and things start to happen. £9.99; paperback due July)
Peter Dickinson
- The Ropemaker (the valley-dwellers seek the help of the mythical
Ropemaker who controls time; £9.99)
Eva Ibbotson - Journey To The
River Sea (Smarties and Whitbread winner; £4.99, May)
Elizabeth
Laird - Jake's Tower (in Jake's dreamhouse, only his father would be
allowed in; £9.99)
Geraldine McCaughrean - The Kite Rider
(Blue Peter and Smarties winner - £4.99 )
Geraldine McCaughrean -
Stop The Train (Cissy & her family are travelling to Oklahoma in
the late 19th century: £9.99)
Terry Pratchett - Amazing Maurice
And His Educated Rodents (reworking of Pied Piper story;
£12.99)
Virginia Euwer Wolff - True Believer (from the author
of Faber Children's Classic Make Lemonade,
£4.99)
For more info on the authors go to http://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/shortlst/sht_auth.html
Health is still obviously in Book Case customers’ minds, but they’re also considering communal living, casting spells, taking minutes and looking for carved mice. The Yorkshire phrasebooks were possibly bought by Easter visitors! Children have enjoyed being upset by Lemony Snicket and cheering on Eco-Wolf as he defends his green valley.
1. Dr. Atkins’ New Diet Revolution (£7.99): A different way of dieting that boosts your metabolic rate and burns fat.
2. Diggers & Dreamers Guide to Communal Living (£5.50): A pocket-size comprehensive directory of communities in Britain with FAQs.
3. Carol Vorderman’s Detox for Life (£10.99) Still in the bestsellers, "the 28-day detox diet and beyond".
4. Austere Academy - Lemony Snicket (£5.99) No. 5 in this morose author’s Series of Unfortunate Events for children. "Intelligent, morbid" says the Daily Mail.
5. Little Book of Pocket Spells - Akasha Moon (£2.50) Practical tips for bringing magic essentials into your life.
6. Eco-wolf and the Three Pigs - Laurence Anholt (£3.99) Greedy capitalist pigs want to destroy hippy Eco-wolf’s nice green valley. Funny and relevant retelling of the traditional story.
7. The Tale of the Mouse - Patricia Lennon (£8.99) "The life and work of Robert Thompson, the Mouseman of Kilburn."An illustrated history of the talented Yorkshire woodcarver who "signed" all his work with a carved mouse, plus a guide to where to look for his work.
8. The Minute Taker’s Handbook - Lee Comer and Paul Ticher (£9.95) From a local author, guidance on how to produce accurate, brief and clear minutes which meet all legal requirements.
9. Girl with a Pearl Earring - Tracy Chevalier (£6.99) Historical novel about a young Dutch woman who goes to work in Vermeer’s household - currently being read by a local reading group.
10. Yorkshire English (£1.99) Back to the charts for this little book of Yorkshire words and phrases, first published from Bradford in 1990.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Dear Book Case customer or contact,
We now sadly say goodbye and good luck to Rowan (but she will be
helping out on Saturdays through April.) We welcome Simon from the bookshop at
the National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh. His interests include art and
politics. All the children's book events in March have kept us busy, and we've
also sold a lot of CDs from our Regis range at bargain prices.
________________________________________
NEWS
Local:
Authors:
Local author Viv Burr has a new book out, entitled The Person in Social Psychology (£9.95). It challenges the assimption that the person has an already-existing nature which becomes subject to the influence of social environment.
Craft and Art - the Business by Elizabeth White of the giftshop Past and Present on Crown Street, and business editor for The Craftsman magazine, has been published by Elliot Rightway at £9.99 and covers all aspects of the craft business for anyone wanting to convert a hobby into a livelihood.
Halifax author Sue Mayfield's new novel for teenagers, Reckless, has been published in the Hodder Bites series at £4.99. She acknowledges the help of drama students from Brighouse High School who role-played scenes from the book. The main character, 15-year-old Josh, is sporty and daring but irresponsible.
New from Sephton Publications is Cobbles, Candles and Clogs by Margaret Duffield (£15.00); it's the memoirs of a Halifax nurse who lived through World War II, with poems and photographs. Available at The Book Case.
Not even on the horizon yet, but the new big edition of Glyn Hughes's Millstone Grit looks super! Expect it in 2003.
"***********************************************************
Events
Linton Kwesi Johnson is appearing at Hebden Bridge Picture House on Sunday 26th May at 8pm to launch his new book Mi Revalueshanary Fren, published on 2nd May at £6.99 as a Penguin Modern Classic. The Book Case will be there selling copies, which he will sign after the show. It's a selection of poems over three decades.
Festival
We've heard that successful author and Children's Laureate Anne Fine will also be appearing during the Festival, at the Little Theatre on 6th July - Mslexia Day.
And ex-Rochdale Australian writer Graham Kershaw will be launching his novel The Home Crowd, based around Todmorden and Hebden Bridge, at Hourglass Studio on 5th July. "It's about someone who returns to the region after hastily emigrating years before, and attempts to reconnect with people he abandoned then, including a son he never knew he had."
***********************************************************
Nicholas Nickleby is being filmed locally: expect to see lots of local youngsters at Dotheboys Hall, aka Gibson Mill! Director is Douglas McGrath (of the Paltrow Emma); cast includes Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot), Nathan Lane and hopefully Christopher Plummer, Jim Broadbent and Miranda Richardson. The novel is selling briskly at The Book Case.
"***********************************************************
Orange Prize Longlist
The Orange Prize is given annually to the best novel of the year written by a female author. The winner will be announced on June 11th. We aren't stocking them all but have the likeliest and can order most in by the following day.
A Child's Book of True Crime by Chloe Hooper £12.99
A True
Story Based on Lies by Jennifer Clement (£9.99)
Bel Canto by Ann
Patchett (£10.00)
Crawling at Night by Nani Power (£6.99)
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters (£12.99)
Five Quarters of the Orange
by Joanne Harris (£6.99)
La Cucina by Lily Prior (£6.99)
Middle Age by Joyce Carol Oates (£10.99)
Niagara Falls All Over
Again by Elizabeth McCracken (£10.99)
No Bones by Anna Burnes
(£9.99)
Now You See Me by Lesley Glaister (£10.00)
Pop by
Kitty Aldridge (£10.00)
Sister Crazy by Emma Richler (£12.99)
The Dark Room by Rachel Seiffert (£12.99)
The Element of Water by
Stevie Davis (£9.99)
The Hero's Walk by Anita Rau Badami
(£15.99)
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (£10.00)
The Siege by Helen Dunmore (£16.99)
The Story of My Face by Kathy
Page (£14.99)
Guardian Best First Novelists
Two Guardian journalists and two unnamed literary agents who claim to have read "every first British novel due to be published this year" during a weekend at an isolated country cottage, have whittled down a shortlist of 14 to the "five outstanding début authors of 2002":
Harry Kunzru - "The Impressionist" (£11.99)
Jed Mercurio -
"Bodies" (£9.99)
Mil Millington - "Things My Girlfriend and I Have
Argued About" (nyp Oct.)
Gwendoline Riley - "Cold Water" (£9)
Louise Welsh - "The Cutting Room" (nyp Aug.)
For an entertaining article on the selection process, and the authors, go to http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/generalfiction/story/0,6000,671618,00.html
('Opening scenes in train or bus stations were ... irritatingly common, although at least they suggested an impending journey, rather than a return to bed. Why were so many novels set in north London, and concerned with what these days is called "ennui"?')
IMPAC Shortlist
The shortlist for this Irish book award was announced recently. The winner will be announced on 13th May. The Guardian commented last year that the award is "notable for its unpredictability, its refreshingly wide range of foreign fiction and its belated nature."
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood (£7.99)
True History
of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey (£7.99)
The Keepers of the Truth by
Michael Collins (£6.99)
The Last Samurai by Helen Dewitt
(£6.99)
The Years with Laura Diaz by Carlos Fuentes (£7.99)
Atomised by Michael Houellebecq (£6.99)
Madame by Antoni Libera
(£10.99)
"***********************************************************
New in stock
The Messages from Water, vols. 1 & 2, £16.99 each. These extraordinary books of photographs by Dr. Masaru Emoto of newly formed crystals of frozen water samples have been bestsellers in Japan and Europe. The photographs show how water responds to music, spoken words, written words, photographs and even thought - and are in addition very beautiful. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEW TITLES
April is full of big names, including, at last, the new Jean Auel; also in hardback Rohinton Mistry and the much-hyped Impressionist by Hari Kunzru; and in paperback Pat Barker, Nick Hornby, Dave Pelzer, Anita Shreve, Stevie Davies and Jamie Oliver. For children, amongst others, there are Gervaise Phinn, Sue Mayfield, Tony Ross and Brian Jacques. Late announcements: a new biography of Primo Levi, Katy Cropper the Dales shepherdess, and a range of illustrated fairy books from Margaret W. Tarrant.
For a fuller listing, go to:
http://www.btinternet.com/~bookcase/Forthcoming.htm#Forthcoming
E-mail,
phone or fax us to reserve any of these new titles. A colour leaflet is
available at the shop.
_________________________________________________________________________
John Browne - Never a Comfortable Land and
other works.
This month's poem is "Widdop Reservoir" at
http://www.btinternet.com/~bookcase/JBrowne.htm#Comfortable%20land
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEW ON OUR WEBPAGES
Ted Hughes
Crow Steered, Bergs Appeared - Lucas Myers.
An "honest and loving" memoir by a longtime friend of Hughes and Plath. £20. We should have listed it before, but for the difficulty in getting hold of it! (£22)
Local history: We're sorry to say that John Hargreaves' book on Halifax is now unavailable from the publishers - unless they decide to reprint. Springtime Saunter has now also gone out of print.
A new website supported by the West Yorkshire Archive Service, "From History to Her Story", will go online Autumn 2002. The theme is Yorkshire Women's history, and it will include new transcripts of Anne Lister's diaries. See http://www.archives.wyjs.org.uk/nof.htm We've put a link on our Anne Lister page: C:\BookCase\Website\lister_3.htm
Relevant to our "Local Guides" page is the announcement that The Littleborough-Manchester stretch of the Rochdale Canal is scheduled to reopen on 1st July 2002, opening the canal through from Sowerby Bridge to Manchester for the first time since the 1950s.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LITERARY QUIZ: this month it's on
Insomniacs in fiction. To find it online, go to:
http://www.bookcase.co.uk/thebookcase.htm - and then click on This Month's
Quiz. Next month's theme is Cheese
For the full answers to last
month's quiz, on Letters in fiction, go to:
http://www.btinternet.com/~bookcase/PastQuizzes.htm#Quizzes
If you'd like
the printed version of the quiz (and short version of last month's answers)
posted to you, please e-mail or fax us your address.
___________________________________________________
What you've been buying: MARCH'S BESTSELLERS at The Book Case
Children ruled the roost at The Book Case in March as they put their Book Day vouchers towards the £1 specials; other children’s favourites were a Disney film tie-in, an interesting newcomer and the continuation of a popular series. One of Joanne Harris’s highly readable novels was popular with adults, who also bought books on health, magic & mysticism. "Nicholas Nickleby" sold briskly.
1. Children’s World Book Day Specials (£1.00 ea)
have of course been our March bestsellers. Favourites were Jungle Jingles and
The Room on the Broom Song.
2. Monsters, Inc. (£2.50) Ladybird
book of the new Disney film.
3. Little Book of Pocket Spells - Akasha
Moon (£2.50) Lots of spells for conjuring up positive results!
4. Five Quarters of the Orange - Joanne Harris (£6.99) No one
recognises the widow Framboise in a peaceful Loire Valley village - until her
profiteering nephew wants to publish her crepe recipes.
5. Carol
Vorderman’s Detox for Life (£10.99) Lose weight, gain energy and
feel better about yourself, with a variety of recipes and menus.
6. Tao
Te Ching: An Illustrated Journey - Lao Tzu, trans. Stephen Mitchell
(£5.99) Beautiful ancient Chinese paintings accompany the 81 verses
of the "Book of the Way" in a much-praised translation.
7. I Spy
Mystery: a Book of Picture Riddles - Jean Marzollo and Walter Wick
(£4.99) Thanks to the customer who introduced us to these colourful
puzzle photographs for children!
8. Vampire Prince - Darren Shan
(£3.99) Sixth in this older children’s series, and completes a
trilogy. Darren is branded a traitor and hunted by the clan.
9. Nicholas
Nickleby - Charles Dickens (£4.99) Local youngsters will be seen
having a bad time at Dotheboys Hall, aka Gibson Mill, in the forthcoming film,
starring Jamie Bell of Billie Elliot.
10. Curing Arthritis the Drugfree
Way - Margaret Hills, SRN (£6.99) An arthritis-sufferer herself, the
author developed her own "acid-free" approach which against all the predictions
has brought relief to thousands.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Best wishes from your local 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
"What's wrong with you?" asked the wolf. "Can't you see I'm a big and dangerous wolf?" "I'm sure you are," replied the pig. "But couldn't you be big and dangerous somewhere else? We're trying to read." - from A Cultivated Wolf (children's picture book) by Becky Bloom and Pascal Biet.
Dear Book Case customer or contact,
Weird weather accompanies us into March, when we'll be supporting Children's Bedtime Reading Week, 11th-17th March with 10% off all children's books, and World Book Day on 11th March. The children's £1 vouchers can be redeemed up to 30th March, and the special little books in store include titles by David Almond, Diana Wynne Jones, Dick King-Smith, Jeremy Strong and Julia Donaldson.
Linked to World Book Day, Children's Laureate Anne Fine plans a "Home
Library" campaign "to encourage every child to want and expect books in the
bedroom in the same way as they have toys and clothes": well-known children's
illustrators have designed a range of children's book plates.
________________________________________
NEWS
Local:
Now into paperback is Tim Binding's interesting and well-researched book On Ilkley Moor - the story of an English Town (£8.99). It includes historical, geographical and travel-book aspects.
Not new, but back in stock, are Todmorden Antiquarian Society's pamphlets Stoodley Pike (£2.50), Walsden - A Century of Change 1780-1880 (£1.50), Walsden Words: how we used to live and speak (£1), Todmorden Cameos (£5.50), The Development of Todmorden 1700-1896 (£3.50) and Portrait of a Town: mid-19th century Todmorden (£2.50).
All available at The Book Case.
"***********************************************************
Centre for the Children's Book
This centre to preserve and exhibit the work of Britain's finest writers and illustrators is scheduled to open next year on the banks of the Ouseburn, Newcastle. An ex-cornmill and a potato crisp warehouse next door will be turned into a seven-floor centre with bookshop, gallery, cafe, plus exhibition, research, education and performance spaces. The mill itself is passed by the children fleeing on a raft in David Almond's children's book Heaven Eyes.
Supporters, apart from David Almond, include Philip Pullman, Philippa Pearce, Shirley Hughes and Quentin Blake; a trust set up after Robert Westall's death contributed £100,000 and all the author's manuscripts; Walker Books gave support for an exhibition of Colin McNaughton's work; and the Centre now has Arts Council funding.
Quentin Blake, the illustrator and former children's laureate, describes the Centre as "a powerful engine for the development of cultural and educational projects which will both speak to our young people and carry our name abroad". "You need to be able to read. That is like being given a set of tools. But then you need to be motivated to use them."
Business director Mary Briggs says, "It isn't about alleviating physical and financial poverty. It's about giving people access to new worlds." "... it's about communities and quality of life."
For a fuller account, go to http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,5500,652338,00.html and http://www.booktrusted.com/handbook/organisations/ccb.html
Centre for the Children's Book,
Pendower Hall,
West Road,
Newcastle-upon-Tyne,
NE15 6PP
tel: 0191 274 3941 fax: 0191 274 7595 email: info@ccbook.freeserve.co.uk "***********************************************************
New into stock at The Book Case are the Rough Guides to Children's Books 0-5 and 5-11, £5.99 each, by Nicholas Tucker. There's a good description of each of over 100 children's books listed in each book; they're divided into sections by age and genre. Look useful.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEW TITLES
March's usual rich crop of titles includes a new Joanne Harris, and Melvyn Bragg and Hanif Kureishi amongst many other paperback novels. Non-fiction offers a new instalment of Gervaise Phinn's memoirs, Dickens, dogs, Roger McGough, Paul McCartney, Noel Coward, the Supernatural Pennines, the Great Hedge of India and Dynamo Kiev. Children's books include Jacqueline Wilson's Cat Mummy into paperback, a hardback by her called Secrets, a Michael Foreman, and Artemis Fowl.
The wonderfully-titled forthcoming book Secondhand Parrots (£5.99) won't be on our shelves, but you might like to know about it! (It's a serious book for pet-owners). For a fuller listing, go to: http://www.btinternet.com/~bookcase/Forthcoming.htm#Forthcoming
E-mail, phone or fax us to reserve any of these new titles. _________________________________________________________________________
John Browne - Never a Comfortable Land and
other works.
This month's poem is "Crocuses" at
http://www.btinternet.com/~bookcase/JBrowne.htm#Comfortable%20land
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LITERARY QUIZ: this month it's on Letters in fiction. To find it online, click here: http://www.bookcase.co.uk/thebookcase.htm - and then click on This Month's Quiz. Next month's theme is Insomniacs. For the full answers to last month's quiz, on Snow in fiction, go to: http://www.btinternet.com/~bookcase/PastQuizzes.htm#Quizzes
If you'd like the printed version of the quiz (and short version of
last month's answers) posted to you, please e-mail or fax us your address.
___________________________________________________
What you've been buying: FEBRUARY'S BESTSELLERS at The Book Case
Local people are still preoccupied with what they’re eating, and three books from last month’s fantasy binge are still with us. Otherwise, Book Case customers are planning to visit gardens, reading two imaginative novels, and wondering about celestial geometry.
1. Take Five - Rose Elliot (£5.00): "How to Eat Fantastic Food, Energise your Life, Feel Happy, Stay Healthy": the well-known cookery writer advises you to eat more fruit and veg!
2. Gardens of England and Wales, 2002 (£5.00): The popular Yellow Book of gardens open for charity, from the National Gardens Scheme.
3. Carol Vorderman’s Detox for Life (£10.99): Still feeling the effects of that New Year binge ...
4. Susie Orbach on Eating (£4.99): A different approach to dieting.
5. The Sea, the Sea - Iris Murdoch (£7.99): Charles Arrowby retires from his glittering London world turns to the sea, but finds his solitude is peopled by his own fantasies. Iris, the biography of the author, is also selling well on the back of the film.
6. The Hobbit - J R R Tolkien (£5.99): Published in 1937, this story of Bilbo Baggins’ adventures was followed twenty years later by The Lord of the Rings.
7. The Amber Spyglass - Philip Pullman (£6.99): No. 3 in the His Dark Materials trilogy which won the Whitbread Prize and has been selling to both older children and adults.
8. Lord of the Rings boxed set (3 vols.) - J R R Tolkien (£19.99): The complete trilogy in a box. The first of the three films is currently on general release.
9. A Little Book of Coincidence - John Martineau (£4.99): Is there a hidden structure in the solar system? The secret patterns behind Life, the Universe and Everything.
10. Fingersmith - Sarah Waters (£11.99): From the author of Tipping the Velvet and Affinity, a story of fraud, insanity and passion set in 1860s London. _________________________________________________________________________________
Best wishes from your local 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
"It is ... worth reminding ourselves that
literary experience in some form has been a central feature of all human
cultures since prehistoric times. ... We think literary reading may involve
some distinctive psychological processes not found in other kinds of reading.
... Reading a literary text involves exploring and perhaps questioning the self
... alert(ing) readers to the limitations of their habitual concepts and ways
of thinking. ... Feeling ... acts as a taproot into experience and memory."
Extracts from the Overview page of David S Miall and Don
Kuiken’s Reader Response: Empirical Research on Literary Reading
webpage at the University of Alberta:
http://www.ualberta.ca/~dmiall/reading/
Dear Book Case customer or contact,
The big news this month is that from 1st Feb. we're extending our weekday opening hours to 5.30pm to make it easier for people to pop in after work. BUT we are also closing on Tuesdays to give us a chance to catch up with the behind-the-scenes work.
We've had a busy month, and we plan to make February even busier with our February Sale which will be spread all over the central table. Come and book-binge!
NEWS
Local:
The Twentieth-Century String Quartet edited by Douglas Jarman has been published by Arc Music at £10.95. It's "the first - and as yet only - volume to give an overview of the development of the String Quartet in the twentieth century."
John Siddique has a new collection of poems out; called UMMA - Poems from Three Recent Commissions, it includes poems from the film "Home from Home", based on photos and oral histories of British Pakistanis, and poems based on his time as Writer in Residence at HMP Wetherby. It costs £3.00.
Local poet Liz Almond has some poems included in Reactions 2: New Poetry, published by pen&inc, University of East Anglia, at £7.95.
All available at The Book Case.
"***********************************************************
Festival
Planning has begun on this year's Hebden Bridge Arts Festival, 21st June-7th July, and authors involved will include Pete McCarthy (of bestselling McCarthy's Bar), Brian Patten, Glyn Hughes, Adele Geras and her daughter Sophie Hannah, John Lyons and Liz Almond. An opera based on Isabel Miller's book Patience and Sarah is to be staged as a "platform performance".
"***********************************************************
Prizes
Philip Pullman of
course won the Whitbread Prize with Amber Spyglass, the third in
his trilogy for older children and adults (the first two are Northern
Lights, and The Subtle Knife). The trilogy retells the Adam and Eve
legend, but turns it on its head: "If you go through life without curiosity,
it's a terrible sin," he says.
The Adult Section Winners were:
First Novel:
Something Like a House by Sid Smith (£6.99)
Poetry:
Bunny by Selima Hill (£7.95)
Biography:
Selkirk's Island by Diana Souhami (£14.99)
Best
Novel: Twelve Bar Blues by Patrick Neate (£9.99)
***********************************************************
Authors
Since magical fiction
surrounds us at present (Philip Pullman, Tolkien, J K Rowling), we're glad to
see that some more of the wonderful E. Nesbit's children's classics are
back in print. Five Children and It and The Phoenix and the Carpet
have been televised, but many remember The Amulet as the best of the
three books; the children plus Psammead shuttle dangerously between Edwardian
London and different parts of the ancient world. Especially memorable are the
Fall of Atlantis (upsetting) and the Queen of Babylon's outrageous behaviour in
London.
In The House of Arden, the characters go back into English history by dressing up in the period children's clothes they find in the attic - and have to adopt the manners of the time! The Enchanted Castle features walking stone dinosaurs, a pleasantly-smiling headless ghost and the nightmarish "Ugly-Wuglies", made of old clothes and umbrellas.
All of these and more are available at The Book Case, mostly priced £4.99, some less.
NEW TITLES
The paperback of Peter Carey's Booker winner is out this month, plus paperback fiction from Bernard Schlink, Alice Walker and Don Delillo, amongst others, and a hardback novel from Joanna Trollope. Lots of non-fiction too: The Road from Nab End has been described as "a Lancashire Angela's Ashes"; 1688, a Global History, deals with world cultural interactions of the time, and Two Men in a Trench accompanies the TV series investigating British battlefields. Lots of strong children's books too. For a fuller listing, go to: http://www.btinternet.com/~bookcase/Forthcoming.htm#Forthcoming
E-mail, phone or fax us to reserve any of these new titles.
NEW ON OUR WEBPAGES
The History of Hebden Bridge by Colin Spencer and the HB Lit & Sci is now sadly out of print.
We're delighted to see that our webpage is being picked up as far away as Australia, the USA and Finland - not to mention all over the UK!
John Browne - Never a Comfortable Land and
other works.
February's poem is called "An Eligible Place" and
goes through the seasons at Slack:
http://www.btinternet.com/~bookcase/JBrowne.htm#Comfortable%20land
LITERARY QUIZ: this month it's on
Snow in fiction. To find it online, go to:
http://www.bookcase.co.uk/thebookcase.htm - and then click on This Month's
Quiz. Next month's theme is Letters. For the full answers to last
month's quiz, on Angels in fiction, go to:
http://www.btinternet.com/~bookcase/PastQuizzes.htm#Quizzes
If you'd like
the printed version of the quiz (and short version of last month's answers)
posted to you, please e-mail or fax us your address.
What you've been buying: JANUARY'S BESTSELLERS at The Book Case
It’s a simple story this month: one local interest book, two on dieting, and the rest is fantasy - and very nice too!
1. Carol Vorderman’s Detox for Life (£10.99): "The
28-day Detox Diet and Beyond" has been going down well in the post-Christmas
Calder Valley!
2. Little Book of Yorkshire (£1.99) Still a big
seller.
3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban- J K Rowling
(£5.99): There’s an escaped murderer on the loose and the sinister
prison guards of Azkaban have been called in to guard Hogwarts School.
4.
Susie Orbach on Eating (£4.99) "Change your eating, change your
life," it says. And "Free yourself from dieting and denial." And also "If
dieting is the answer, what’s the question?"
5. The Hobbit - J R R
Tolkien (£5.99) Hobbit Bilbo Baggins gets caught up in a plot to raid
Smaug the Magnificent’s treasure hoard. This is the black-cover version.
6. Fellowship of the Ring (Lord of the Rings 1) - J R R Tolkien
(£6.99) Young Hobbit Frodo must journey across Middle Earth to destroy
the Ruling Ring of Power. Now an excellent film.
7. Harry Potter and the
Chamber of Secrets - J K Rowling (£5.99): Second in the series.
8. The Amber Spyglass - Philip Pullman (£6.99) Whitbread Prize
winner, and resounding finale to the older children’s trilogy "His Dark
Materials", which is being read with equal enthusiasm by adults.
9. The
Two Towers (Lord of the Rings 2) - J R R Tolkien (£6.99) Frodo and
Sam continue down the River Anduin, followed by a mysterious creeping figure.
(Film to be released next Christmas!)
10.Lord of the Rings boxed set (3
vols.) - J R R Tolkien (£19.99) The complete trilogy in a box.
Best wishes from your local 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
"Hugh had once said to me, 'In a selfish world, Lewis, booksellers are a category of people who are generally helpful and kind.'" - The Way I Found Her by Rose Tremain
Dear Book Case customer or contact,
Happy New Year and have a terrific 2002! We hope you all enjoyed your festive break, especially the wonderful books you were given. The Book Case had a pleasingly busy Christmas despite half the staff suffering from the local lergy. Inevitably some books went into reprint just at the wrong time, but we hope we managed to keep you all informed in time to change your plans.
If you would like our regular illustrated Adult Newsletter leaflet posted to you, please contact us with your name and address.
NEWS
Local:
Roderick Ogley of Calderdale Amnesty has published his first book of poetry at the age of 72. The title is The Office of Nostalgia, and it costs £3, available at The Book Case.
A quick reminder about Jill Robinson's local humorous book
Berringden Brow - Memoirs of a Single Parent with a Crush: about "the
struggling but still optimistic middle-aged women of Berringden Brow" - Bridget
Jones' elder sisters! It's published by Pennine Pens, costs £6.95, and is
on sale at The Book Case.
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Prizes
After a torrent of book prizes last month, this month just sees the
announcement of the Adult Category winners of the 2001 Whitbread Book
Awards on 4th January and the Books of the Year (Adult's and Children's) on
22nd January. The shortlist went out with last month's newsletter. The Adult
categories are Novel, First Novel, Poetry and Biography.
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Authors
The German-born author W. G. Sebald died in a car-crash near Norwich on December 14th. Obituaries can be found at http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,6109,619971,00.html (Eric Homberger) and http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,6109,619715,00.html (Robert McCrum) and an interview with Maya Jaggi at http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/humanities/story/0,9850,623527,00.html
He challenged his fellow-countrymen's forgetfulness after the Second World War with the invention of a new literary form, part hybrid novel, part memoir and part travelogue, illustrated with photographs and postcards found in junk shops. His main works published in English in translation (in which he collaborated) were Emigrants, Rings Of Saturn, Vertigo and Austerlitz.
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Fans of Jean Auel's Clan of the Cave Bear books have had a long wait, but the fifth book in the series, Shelters of Stone, is due out in May this year. Watch our windows!
NEW TITLES
January sees a good collection of new titles, including paperback
novels from Joanne Harris, Anita Shreve, Gillian Slovo, Jane Hamilton, Ian
Rankin, Raymond Feist and Robert Holdstock. Non-fiction goodies include a
Granta issue on Music, Antonia Fraser's Marie Antoinette in paperback, and
books of essays by Umberto Eco and Julian Barnes. A new hardback book from Joe
Simpson of Touching the Void fame is sure to be popular - its title is
The Beckoning Silence. For a fuller listing, click here:
http://www.btinternet.com/~bookcase/Forthcoming.htm#Forthcoming
E-mail, phone or fax us to reserve any of these new titles.
NEW ON OUR WEBPAGES (www.bookcase.co.uk)
Brontes:
Now in paperback, The Bronte Myth by Lucasta Miller, £8.99. Follows the Brontes through their many reincarnations at the hands of their biographers.
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John Browne - Never a Comfortable Land
and other works.
This month sees the completion of the first
annual cycle of poems based in our local surroundings, with a snowbound piece
called, appropriately, "January".
http://www.btinternet.com/~bookcase/JBrowne.htm#Comfortable%20land
LITERARY QUIZ: this month it's on
Angels in fiction. To find it online, click here:
http://www.bookcase.co.uk/thebookcase.htm
- and then click on This Month's Quiz. Next month's theme is
Snow. For the full answers to last month's quiz, on Draughts in
fiction, click here:
http://www.btinternet.com/~bookcase/PastQuizzes.htm#Quizzes
If you'd like the printed version of the quiz (and short version of last
month's answers) posted to you, please e-mail or fax us your address.
What you've been buying: DECEMBER'S BESTSELLERS at The Book Case
What a characteristic Calder Valley mix sold at The Book Case over Christmas! Three books of local or Yorkshire interest rubbed shoulders with We’moon Diary, Paulo Coelho and the Dalai Lama. National bestsellers showed up in the three film-linked fantasy novels plus ever-popular Discworld, and pleasant non-fiction (Billy Connolly and Peter Ackroyd). What ARE we to make of "Worst-Case Scenario" though? The Book Case is delighted to point out that local author Peter Thomas’s "From Rationing to Rock ‘n’ Roll" was second only to the mighty Jacqueline Wilson overall in 2001!
1. Little Book of Yorkshire (£1.99): A little book on England’s biggest county.
2. We’Moon Diary 2002: Priestessing the Planet (£14.99)
3. The Hobbit - J R Tolkien (£7.99 This colour-illustrated version of the story of the quest for dragon-guarded gold is not the cheapest version but has proved the most popular!
4. Women are from Mars, Men are from Mytholmroyd - John Morrison (£4.95) Back to the top 10 for our own local trouble-stirrer!
TIED No 5:
Fellowship of the Ring (Lord of the Rings 1) - J. R. Tolkien
(£6.99) The austere black-cover version of the saga has been selling
on the back of the popular film. A young Hobbit must journey across Middle
Earth to destroy the Ruling Ring of Power
Billy Connolly - Pamela
Stephenson (£17.99) The inside story of the popular comedian, told by
his wife
Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook - Joshua Piven
(£9.99) Best-selling guide for the anxious
TIED No. 8:
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - J K Rowling
(£6.99): the big fourth one, with ever more scary problems for Harry
Yesterday’s Yorkshire - a Celebration of the Industrial West Riding
- Terry Sutton (£17.99): lovely illustrated portrait of the West
Riding past
The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho (£6.99) "A fable
about following your dream": an Andalusian shepherd seeks treasure and meets
the alchemist in the Egyptian desert
The Truth - Terry Pratchett
(£5.99): 25th Discworld novel
London: the Biography - Peter
Ackroyd (£12.99): chunky, lively book about our capital city
Little Book of Wisdom - the Dalai Lama (£2.50)
The year’s bestsellers (somewhat influenced by the Arts Festival):
Sleepovers - Jacqueline Wilson, From Rationing to Rock ‘n’ Roll - Peter Thomas, J K Rowling’s two mini Red Nose Hogwarts books, World’s Wife - Carol Ann Duffy, The Way Things Are - Roger McGough, White Teeth - Zadie Smith, Beyond the Deepwoods - Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone - J K Rowling, We’Moon Diary 2002. _________________________________________________________________________________
Best wishes from your local 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
"If the authorities had known that we were not only teaching women, but teaching them high levels of literature, we would have been killed. But a lot of fighters sacrificed their lives. Shouldn't a person of letters make that sacrifice too?" - Professor Rahiyab of Herat University on the secret literature classes for women during Taliban occupation. Quoted by Christina Lamb, Sunday Telegraph, 16 Dec. 2001.
To order any of the above books, PHONE 0800 69 89 666 (free - UK only) or +44 (0)1422 845353, FAX +44 (0)1422 844295, or E-MAIL bookcase@btinternet.com
The Book Case, 29 Market Street, Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, HX7 6EU, UK