Dear friends, we will be open 11am to 5pm on Monday 30 August.
August 27, 2021
Intimacies by Katie Kitamura
Jonathon Cape, Hardback, £14.99, out now
The narrator of Katie Kitamura’s Intimacies is adrift in a sea of language. She works as a translator in the courts of The Hague, and her work, allowing others’ voices to flow through her own is mirrored in her personal relationships. She often acts as a cipher for the other characters, as she herself is uncertain of where she belongs, their voices are channelled through their interactions with her. At times the novel behaves like a series of monologues, many of them on the theme of violence.
A fellow translator relays an encounter she has translating for a man accused of being high up in a genocidal regime, a man is mysteriously attacked in the same neighbourhood where the protagonists’ friend lives. The sense of the narrative being troubled by violence intensifies when the narrator takes a job translating the testimony of a former dictator. Their interactions are tense and ambiguous, bureaucratic and yet laden with meaning.
Sometimes I felt as if I was observing the world of the novel through the protagonists’ eyes as she viewed the events, at once passive and watchful. Kitamura controls the pacing of the novel masterfully, and every interaction is flawlessly rendered, not one phrase is wasted. I would highly recommend Intimacies for fans of Rachel Cusk and Brandon Taylor.
Review by Phoebe
August 24, 2021
Bestsellers 17 to 23 August
Gemma Reeves – Victoria Park
Elif Shafak – The Island of Missing Trees
Matt Haig – The Midnight Library
Elif Shafak – How to Stay Sane in an Age of Division
Fredrik Backman – Anxious People
John Kampfner – Why the Germans Do It Better
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – Notes on Grief
Stephen Fry – Troy
Robert Harris – V2
Riku Onda – The Aosawa Murders
Bradley Garrett – Bunker
Jack Guinness – The Queer Bible
Raynor Winn – The Wild Silence
Bella Mackie – How to Kill Your Family
Haruki Murakami – Kafka on the Shore
Natasha Brown – Assembly
Dolly Alderton – Ghosts
Kazuo Ishiguro – Klara and the Sun
Dav Pilkey – Dog Man: Grime and Punishment
Jessica Love – Julian is a Mermaid
August 23, 2021
Signed copies in store
We have some lovely signed copies in store:
Elif Shafak – The Island of Missing Trees
Leïla Slimani – The Country of Others
Mary Paulson-Ellis – Emily Noble’s Disgrace
Maggie Shipstead – Great Circle
Mary Lawson – A Town Called Solace
Rachel Roddy – The A to Z of Pasta
Michelle Zauner – Crying in H Mart
Eimear McBride – Something Out of Place
Meriel Schindler – The Lost Café Schindler
Jackie Polzin – Brood
Olivia Laing – Everybody
Tomi Adeyemi – Children of Virtue and Vengeance
Zadie Smith, Nick Laird and Magenta Fox – Weirdo
Ellie Pilcher – What Planet Can I Blame This On?
Omar El Akkad – What Strange Paradise
Ruth Jones – Us Three
August 18, 2021
Emily Noble’s Disgrace by Mary Paulson-Ellis
Hardback, Mantle, £16.99, out 19 August
Edinburgh’s seaside Portobello district in 2019, and Essie Pound is part of a specialist cleaning team clearing a flat after an elderly woman’s body is found two years after her death. Part of Essie’s job is to look out for objects in the flat that might explain more about who the person was and why she died. But Essie gets pulled into a deeper mystery, one that takes her back into Portobello’s pasts as well as her own. Investigating more formally is young police officer Emily Noble. Their work is bound to coincide.
Essie says: “Just like Isabella Dawson, my whole life is hidden. From me. And from everyone else too. But not because I’ve buried it in someone else’s rubbish. More because I don’t have anything or anyone to remind me of what it might have been.”
Mary Paulson-Ellis is a new crime and mystery author for me, but I will definitely be seeking out her other standalone novels (which feature some characters from this book). I’m a fan of Elly Griffiths and Ann Cleeves, for their readable characters and good plots, and Paulson-Ellis definitely delivers on these.
Emily Noble’s Disgrace made me remember the excellent biography The Trauma Cleaner, in which author Sarah Krasnostein covers not only Sandra Pankhurst’s life in trauma cleaning but also her transition (https://wellcomebookprize.org/book/trauma-cleaner).
There are strong women characters, and reflections on women’s lives. Some of the themes in the book make for hard reading – for example, suggested child death, and fat phobia. But the story is compelling, the writing is strong, and I read this cover to cover in a day.
Review by Bethan
August 17, 2021
Bestsellers 10 to 16 August
Elif Shafak – The Island of Missing Trees
Gemma Reeves – Victoria Park
Raynor Winn – The Wild Silence
Clare Chambers – Small Pleasures
Emily St John Mandel – The Glass Hotel
Elena Ferrante – The Lying Life of Adults
Philippa Perry – The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read
Bernardine Evaristo – Girl, Woman, Other
Tom Burgis – Kleptopia
Brit Bennett – The Vanishing Half
James MacLaine – First Sticker Book London
Elif Shafak – How to Stay Sane in an Age of Division
Riku Onda – The Aosawa Murders
Bella Mackie – How to Kill Your Family
Clara Vuillamy – Marshmallow Pie The Cat Superstar
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – Notes on Grief
Helen Macdonald – Vesper Flights
Matthew Walker – Why We Sleep
Charles Dickens – Pictures from Italy
Donna Tartt – The Secret History
August 10, 2021
Bestsellers 3 to 9 August
Maggie O’Farrell – Hamnet
Elif Shafak – How to Stay Sane in an Age of Division
Emily St John Mandel – The Glass Hotel
Brit Bennett – The Vanishing Half
Eoin McLaughlin and Polly Dunbar – The Longer the Wait the Bigger the Hug
Delia Owens – Where the Crawdads Sing
Clare Chambers – Small Pleasures
Matt Haig – The Midnight Library
William S Burroughs – The Finger
Agatha Christie – The ABC Murders
Oliver Jeffers – Book of Numbers
Tom Burgis – Kleptopia
Haruki Murakami – Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
Elif Shafak – The Island of Missing Trees
Otegha Uwagba – We Need to Talk About Money
Dolly Alderton – Ghosts
Frank Herbert – Dune
Kazuo Ishiguro – Klara and the Sun
Rachel Ingalls – Mrs Caliban
Lavinia Greenlaw – Some Answers Without Questions
August 8, 2021
Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
Picador, Hardback, £16.99, out now
Michelle Zauner is perhaps best known for her music, produced under the moniker Japanese Breakfast, but this memoir proves that her talent stretches across multiple mediums. Zauner was in her 25th year and a struggling artist when her mother was diagnosed with stomach cancer. She upended her life and returned to her hometown of Eugene, Oregon to take care of her as her illness became terminal. The memoir is told as a kind of non-linear narrative, moving through Zauner’s reminiscences about her relationship with her mother which was extremely close yet often challenging, a familial relationship knotted with cultural differences (Zauner’s father is white and she was raised in America) and deep love.
Food becomes a touchstone throughout the book, Korean food particularly became a way for Zauner to connect with her mother, Chongmi, and other members of her mother’s family even after their deaths: ‘When I go to H Mart, I’m not just on the hunt for cuttlefish and three bunches of scallions for a buck: I’m searching for memories. I’m collecting the evidence that the Korean half of my identity didn’t die when they did.’
The result is a touching and sensual book. I felt Zauner’s profound love for her mother radiating off the page at every turn, but particularly in her depictions of her mother’s small acts of care. When Zauner tells her mother she wants some cowboy boots, Chongmi not only buys her some but carefully wears them in first. I thoroughly recommend Crying in H Mart for fans of creative non-fiction and contemporary food writing.
Review by Phoebe
August 3, 2021
Bestsellers 27 July to 2 August
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – Notes on Grief
Caroline Criado Perez – Invisible Women
Caitlin Moran – More than a Woman
Brit Bennett – The Vanishing Half
Dolly Alderman – Ghosts
Richard Osman – The Thursday Murder Club
Bernardine Evaristo – Girl, Woman, Other
Philippa Perry – The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read
Matthew Walker – Why We Sleep
Clare Chambers – Small Pleasures
James Maclaine – First Sticker Book London
Charlie Mackesy – The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
James Hawes – The Shortest History of England
Sophy Henn – All the Fun of the Fair (book 2)
Bella Mackie – How to Kill Your Family
Chris Chatterton and Rhiannon Fielding – Ten Minutes to Bed Little Unicorn
Natasha Lunn – Conversations on Love
Ali Smith – Summer
Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris – The Lost Words
Daniel Lieberman – Exercised
August 2, 2021
Arlo the Lion Who Couldn’t Sleep by Catherine Rayner
Paperback, Macmillan, £7.99, out now
Lions need a lot of sleep, as everyone knows… but for Arlo it’s too hot, too cold, too prickly, too noisy. Like everyone who struggles with their sleep, Arlo wonders if he will ever sleep again.
Catherine Rayner’s beautiful picture book sets the tone for a peaceful bedtime for small children. Arlo’s friend Owl swoops down to offer advice on how to relax and get ready for a restful night. Rayner’s exquisite pictures with their soothing but still vibrant colour palette give life to a simple and effective bedtime story. The lions and owl are not cartoon or comic book, but are natural.
As a veteran struggler with sleep, I found this book comforting and helpful (and I am clearly about 40 years over the target audience age). It’s helpful without being prescriptive or preachy. I would also be delighted to have any or all of these stunning pictures on my wall.
The only potential problem I foresee is tired parents and carers dozing off before any children who are being read to! It’s a treat for the end of the day.
Review by Bethan
July 27, 2021
Bestsellers from 20 to 26 July
Rutger Bregman – Humankind
Frank Herbert – Dune
Dolly Alderton – Ghosts
Bessel Van der Kolk – The Body Keeps the Score
Bella Mackie – How to Kill Your Family
Maggie O’Farrell – Hamnet
John Kampfner – Why the Germans Do it Better
Matt Haig – The Midnight Library
Riku Onda – The Aosawa Murders
Amor Towles – A Gentleman in Moscow
Caleb Azumah Nelson – Open Water
Natasha Lunn – Conversations on Love
Natasha Brown – Assembly
Brit Bennett – The Vanishing Half
J R R Tolkein – The Return of the King
Jonathan Coe – Mr Wilder and Me
Kazuo Ishiguro – Klara and the Sun
Julia Donaldson – Tiddler
Reni Eddo-Lodge – Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race
Hollie Hughes – The Girl and the Dinosaur
July 26, 2021
Summer Reading Promotion
Our Summer Reading Promotion is now on in store, get 4 books for the price of 3 (with the cheapest book free). We have titles available across Children’s, Fiction and Non-Fiction, see our full list of titles for purchase in the 4 for 3 promotion below:
Fiction
Burnt Sugar by Avni Doshi
Girl Woman Other by Bernadine Evaristo
Troy by Stephen Fry
Invisible Girl by Lisa Jewell
The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
Islands of Mercy by Rose Tremain
I Am An Island by Tamsin Calidas
V For Victory by Lisa Evans
The Great Fortune by Olivia Manning
Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld
10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World by Elif Shafak
Us Three by Ruth Jones
Actress by Anne Enright
V2 by Robert Harris
All Adults Here by Emma Straub
Summer by Ali Smith
Non-Fiction
The Body Keeps The Score by Bessel van der Kolk
Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker
The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read by Phillippa Perry
Agent Sonia by Ben Macintyre
Difficult Women by Helen Lewis
Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez
Untamed by Glennon Doyle
Diary of a Young Naturalist by Dara McAnulty
The Moth and the Mountain by Ed Caesar
Sicily ’43 by James Holland
Childrens
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charles Mackesy
The Unadoptables by Hana Tooke
Worst Holiday Ever by Charlie Higson
Rowley Jefferson’s Awesome Friendly Adventure by Jeff Kinney
The Puffin Keeper by Michael Morpurgo
Kay’s Anatomy by Adam Kay
July 20, 2021
We Want Our Books by Jake Alexander
Hardback, Pan Macmillan, £12.99, out now
Rosa has so many interesting questions that her dad suggests they visit the library to get the answers. But the library is closed and boarded up, because it’s going to be knocked down and replaced by a restaurant. There will be no library to provide answers.
In this striking picture book, Rosa and her family do their best to protest against the closure by reminding people of how useful and important libraries are. But no one seems to listen, as people are either too busy or think that the protest is beneath their notice.
But it turns out that more people care about the library than only Rosa’s family, and that all together they can make a difference.
We Want Our Books is a love letter to libraries and a believable story about the highs and lows of grassroots protest.
I still get a rush of joy whenever I walk into a public library, when I remember that I can find a book that might change my life and that I can borrow it for free. And if you need a reminder of how lovely libraries can be, treat yourself to a look here: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/epic-libraries-around-the-world. Libraries need our support – support yours!
Review by Bethan
July 20, 2021
Bestsellers from 14 to 19 July
Brit Bennett – The Vanishing Half
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – Notes on Grief
Richard Osman – The Thursday Murder Club
Mary Ann Sieghart – The Authority Gap
Rutger Bregman – Humankind
Lisa Taddeo – Animal
Douglas Stuart – Shuggie Bain
Jennifer Makumbi – The First Woman
Olga Ravn – The Employees
Elizabeth Jenner – What to Look For in Summer
DVSA – Official DVSA Theory Test
Avni Doshi – Burnt Sugar
Aldous Huxley – Brave New World
Chris Riddell – Ottoline Goes to School
David Peace – Tokyo Redux
Kazuo Ishiguro – Klara and the Sun
Margaret Kennedy – The Feast
Maggie O’Farrell – Hamnet
Natalie Haynes – Pandora’s Jar
Marion Billet – There are 101 Things to Find in London
July 14, 2021
Bestsellers from 7 to 13 July
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – Notes on Grief
Rutger Bregman – Humankind: a Hopeful History
Various – Murder Takes a Holiday
Sarah Moss – Summerwater
Matt Haig – The Comfort Book
Elena Ferrante – The Lying Life of Adults
Janice Hallett – The Appeal
Natasha Brown – Assembly
Peppa’s London Day Out Sticker Book
Roald Dahl – Matilda’s How to be Brave
Brit Bennett – The Vanishing Half
Andrew O’Hagan – Mayflies
Sally Rooney – Conversations with Friends
Maggie O’Farrell – Hamnet
Mieko Kawakami – Breasts and Eggs
Matt Haig – The Midnight Library
Yun Ko-Eun – The Disaster Tourist
Riku Onda – The Aosawa Murders
John Christopher – The Death of Grass
Adam Kay – Kay’s Anatomy
Review by Bethan
July 12, 2021
London Green Spaces by Harry Adès
Paperback, Hoxton Mini Press, £9.95, out now
After a year of intermittent lockdowns, when I was lucky enough to have a lively local park near me and to be able to visit it, I am very ready to try out some new London green spots. London Green Spaces is one of a gorgeous new series of small London guidebooks, and this book makes it fun to start a day-out wishlist. Even looking at the photos cheered me up.
I thought I knew most of the cool parks and green bits in London, but there were several in here I’d never heard of. London Green Spaces offers an enticing reminder of the big places too, the ones that you know about but haven’t visited for a while, like Richmond Park or Epping Forest. Useful cover maps and suggested walks would help make a day of it.
The Red Cross Garden in London Bridge features, and I can vouch for its sanctuary-like feel as a respite from the Borough Market crowds at the weekend (https://www.bost.org.uk/). The book is good on these small places as well as the grand sweeping ones. I’d add the Crossbones Graveyard, just round the corner from the Red Cross Garden, though you always need to check the opening hours (https://crossbones.org.uk/).
Other craveable titles in the series include Vegan London, London Pubs, and Independent London. You’re in London (maybe)… it’s summer (sort of)… if you’re able to get out and about these books will help you lively up your plans.
Review by Bethan
July 4, 2021
How to Listen by Katie Colombus
Paperback, Kyle Books, £12.99, out now
This is the most instantly useful book I have read this year. The subtitle shows exactly what it is for: “Tools for opening up conversations when it matters most”.
Produced with the Samaritans and drawing on the experiences of their volunteers and service users, whose useful and detailed insights appear throughout the book, this is a straightforward guide to active listening. It is very easy to read and no special skills are needed.
The Samaritans use the helpful acronym SHUSH for active listening: Show you care, Have patience, Use open questions, Say it back, and Have courage (https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/if-youre-worried-about-someone-else/how-support-someone-youre-worried-about/what-do-if-you-think-someone-struggling/).
“Have Courage” is very relevant. Often we would like to ask how someone is, but we are worried that we might make things worse or not be able to deal with that person’s distress. Samaritans service user James says: “It’s really not about being a specialist or having particular knowledge. It’s about being a compassionate human being. I wish people had the confidence to realise they are able to offer real help just by listening”.
How to Listen warns against giving advice or relaying your own experiences, suggesting instead that listeners prioritise giving people the space to express and explore their own problems and to come to their own solutions. This has been a revelation for me. It provides useful advice on spotting people who may be in distress and helps you listen to them properly without distractions. One thing to do the next time you’re talking to someone: put your phone away and really pay attention.
Review by Bethan
July 4, 2021
Current Bestsellers
Our Bestsellers from 28th June to the 4th of July:
Brit Bennett- The Vanishing Half
Delia Owens- Where The Crawdads Sing
Maggie O’Farrell- Hamnet
Natalie Haynes- Pandora’s Jar
Jonathon Lee- The Great Mistake
Elena Ferrante- The Lying Life of Adults
Various Authors- Murder Takes A Holiday
James Hawes- The Shortest History of England
Peter Ackroyd- London: The Biography
Elif Shafak- 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World
Richard Osman- The Thursday Murder Club
Sasha Swire- Diary of An MP’s Wife
Irvin and Marilyn Yalom- A Matter of Death and Life
Kazuo Ishiguro- Klara and The Sun
Kenneth Cukier- Framers
Clare Chambers- Small Pleasures
Susanna Clarke- Piranesi
Xialou Guo- A Lover’s Discourse
Meriel Schindler- The Lost Cafe Schindler
Tim Marshall- The Power of Geography
June 28, 2021
The Office of Historical Corrections by Danielle Evans
Hardback, Picador, £14.99, out now
“…I loved the past of archives, but there was no era of the past I had any inclination to visit with my actual human body, being rather fond of it having at least minimal rights and protections”. Cassie, the narrator of the title novella in The Office of Historical Corrections, is an officer at the new US Institute for Public History. She goes out and about correcting historical inaccuracy in the Washington area, a new civil service style job. But what happens when there is a total subversion or avoidance of truth, and some bodies are clearly in the firing line?
This is the best collection of short stories I’ve read in ages. Every one is sharp and entertaining. Claire is called out by a college colleague for wearing a Confederate flag bikini, but doubles down, and doubles down again – why? Cecelia’s mother is determined to get recognition for her father’s wrongful imprisonment in Alcatraz, but a visit to the former prison with estranged family happens instead. The end of Richard of York Gave Battle in Vain is one of my favourite endings to a short story.
Roxane Gay calls Danielle Evans “the finest short story writer working today”, and I think she’s on to something. Race, gender and grief feature over and over. I think this collection will be read for years and years.
Review by Bethan
June 28, 2021
Half day closure for stocktake
We will be closed on the morning of Wednesday 30 June for our annual stocktake. Sorry for any inconvenience!
June 23, 2021
The Gospel of the Eels by Patrik Svensson
Paperback, Picador, £9.99, out now
I was speaking a couple of years ago with someone who was helping with a citizen science project which was monitoring eels in London rivers. They would empty a trap set for the eels, measure them, and release them. They were told by the research lead that they did not need to take a photo of the eels each time. “There are lots of things we don’t know about eels, but what they look like isn’t one of them”.
The Gospel of the Eels goes after these mysterious animals, explaining that there are large parts of the eels’ lives that remain unknown to science, including exactly where and how they breed. What is clearer is that European eels are in danger of becoming extinct, and that urgently solving some of their puzzles might help protect them even though something might be lost with their mystery. Svensson quotes Rachel Carson: “And as they passed through the surf and out to the sea, so they also passed from human sight and almost from human knowledge”.
Svensson is interesting on eels’ impact on modern life. Sigmund Freud spent time early in his career studying eels, and Svensson makes a good case for this influencing his later theories (‘Sigmund Freud and the eels of Trieste’ is possibly one of my favourite chapter titles ever). He spots eels in literature, including work by Graham Swift and E.T.A. Hoffman.
Among the natural history and current science, Svensson recalls eel fishing with his father as a child. Some of the fishing detail is frankly revolting to a non-fishing person, but the experiences become a place to explore his relationship with his father. Svensson notes that life for working class families like his in Sweden changed hugely during the last half of the twentieth century: “… it had become possible for a road paver and day care worker mum, my parents, to live a life that was different in every way from the lives previous generations of the working class had known”. He finds that attending to eels leads him to pay better mind: this reminded me of some of the arguments made by Julia Bell in Radical Attention (https://peninsulapress.co.uk/product/radical-attention).
The premise of The Gospel of the Eels sounds strange, but it is not strained or annoying. It’s well-translated popular science with memoir, and a pleasure to read. Why gospel though? When science lacks answers, faith can fill the gap. Perhaps if we can fix things for the eels, we can start to fix things for ourselves.
Review by Bethan
June 22, 2021
The Great Mistake by Jonathan Lee
Hardback, Granta, £14.99, out now
Andrew Green was ‘the father of Greater New York’, a founder of Central Park and the Public Library, the Museum of Modern Art and the American Museum of Natural History among other things. But he didn’t come from money, and he was shot and killed aged 83. So how did he get to this point? Who killed him and why? And what was his great mistake?
The Great Mistake is a humane and very readable novel of one remarkable life. You might wonder how you’d relate to Andrew Green, but his wish to live life and his decisions on what to do without in order to achieve his goals are very resonant. “… after…the pyrotechnic accompaniments others put on to celebrate his achievements, he still went to bed with some version of the same concerns he had always had. Who he was. Who he should be. Things he could have said or done”.
His intense and long relationship with a politician, Samuel, influences much, as does the death of his mother (a hard-working woman who always longed for time outside in green space, and didn’t get it). He is repelled by his work as a young man on a post-slavery plantation in Trinidad, both while doing it and after, and this also affects his ambitions. The role of reading and books in helping to form a life recurs throughout, as do questions over who has access to books and who does not.
Historic New York sprang up around me as I read. “He watched labourers returning home with dinner kettles. Ragpickers bothering apple ladies. Horses set to collapse under the products of commerce they had carried, back and forth, all day long. New York didn’t set out to charm you. It was like God that way”.
As well as learning about Andrew, we follow police Inspector McClusky who is investigating his murder, and we are introduced to yet another side of life in New York. The Great Mistake is a satisfying read in many ways, as a life story, as a crime story, as an exploration of what’s important, and as a song for New York. So enjoyable.
Review by Bethan
June 21, 2021
Assembly by Natasha Brown
Hamish Hamilton, Hardback, £12.99, out now
Assembly by Natasha Brown is more than deserving of the glowing reviews it has already received. It’s a slight volume, the plot unfolds over a series of fleeting but intense vignettes and each is crafted to perfection, not a single word is wasted. At times it feels reminiscent of prose poetry or maybe a sparse drama. The narrator is quiet and controlled but burns with quiet anger, acutely aware of the injustices that plague her. She is a black British woman who has found significant success in the corporate world but seemingly at significant psychological and physical cost to herself. She is often a vessel for other characters racist hang-ups, one colleague vents to her about his hatred of diversity initiatives, another calls her office phone to tell her her hair is ‘wild’ and her skin is ‘exotic’. She has a jovial posh boyfriend, who like her attended Oxford and the action unfolds as she anticipates attending his parents lavish anniversary party.
Recently a reviewer compared Assembly to Mrs. Dalloway, but I thought of Brandon Taylor whose novel Real Life has similarly exquisite prose and a protagonist who is out of place in their surroundings and also of The Great Gatsby, although while Natasha Brown’s protagonist is, like Nick Carraway, among the rich and powerful, she is not impressed. When I got to the last page I was sorry to finish Assembly I thoroughly recommend it.
Review by Phoebe
June 9, 2021
Current bestsellers
Our bestsellers from 31 May to 8 June:
Brit Bennett – The Vanishing Half
Riku Onda – The Aosawa Murders
Richard Osman – The Thursday Murder Club
Matt Haig – The Midnight Library
Natasha Brown – Assembly
Sophie Mackintosh – Blue Ticket
Ali Smith – Summer
Bernardine Evaristo – Girl, Woman, Other
Rachel Joyce – Miss Benson’s Beetle
Sally Rooney – Conversations with Friends
Kazuo Ishiguro – Klara and the Sun
Cho Nam-Joo – Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982
Naoise Dolan – Exciting Times
Clare Chambers – Small Pleasures
Benjamin Labatut – When We Cease to Understand the World
David Diop – At Night All Blood is Black
Caroline Criado Perez – Invisible Women
Nick Bradley – The Cat and the City
Alice Haworth-Booth – Brick Lane Bookshop Short Story Prize 2020
Judith Kerr – Mog the Forgetful Cat
June 7, 2021
What Happened to You? by James Catchpole and Karen George
Paperback, Faber and Faber, £6.99, out now
Joe is having a great time at the playground on his own, battling sharks and crocodiles. But a new kid comes along and says what new kids always say – “You’ve only got one leg!” and “What happened to you?”.
Joe is super fed up of always getting these questions, and as more kids turn up, more questions (and questionable theories) abound. But soon the kids discover that there is more interesting stuff they can be doing with Joe… and it involves battling sharks and crocodiles.
This fun and sensitive book provides a great way in to talking about disability with kids, and also has very helpful notes for adults on how to do this when “your child wants to know everything about every disabled person they see, all at once, at TOP VOLUME…”. Some really good advice follows – “…it’s still worth your child knowing that disabled people are just like anyone else, getting on with their busy day, not looking to be a teachable moment”. It reminded me of the very excellent blogs by Gem Turner on exactly this topic (https://gemturner.com/explaining-disability-to-children/).
What Happened to You? is a fun and enjoyable read, with lively and cheerful illustrations. Cracking!
Review by Bethan
May 31, 2021
Current bestsellers
Our bestsellers from 24 to 30 May:
Brit Bennett – The Vanishing Half
Richard Osman – The Thursday Murder Club
Nick Bradley – The Cat and the City
Julia Donaldson and Sharon King-Chai – Animalphabet
Anna Jones – One: Pot, Pan, Planet
Rob Biddulph – Show and Tell
Emily M Danforth – Plain Bad Heroines
Ece Temelkuran – Together
Virginia Woolf – Mrs Dalloway
Raynor Winn – The Wild Silence
Anthony Burgess – A Clockwork Orange
Siobhan Dowd – The London Eye Mystery
Andrew Sean Greer – Less
Jackie Kay – Bessie Smith
Seth Rogen – Yearbook
Nora Ephron – I Feel Bad About My Neck
Diane Cook – The New Wilderness
Audre Lorde – Your Silence Will Not Protect You
Jon Klassen – I Want My Hat Back
Madeline Miller – Circe
May 30, 2021
Lost in the Clouds by Tom Tinn-Disbury
Paperback, DK, £6.99, out now
Lost in the Clouds is a sensitive and useful picture book for young children about bereavement and grief.
Billy knows that his mum has died, and he likes to think of her as a cloud in the sky. Sometimes Billy’s days with his dad are good, when they can have fun and still feel close to Mummy. But sometimes the sky is dark and stormy and Mummy feels too distant, and Daddy feels distant too. On a day just like this, Billy builds a tower to the sky to try to be closer to Mummy.
Warm and evocative illustrations show how grief can feel, and also demonstrate that joy and fun can still happen even amid great loss.
Although the story is from Billy’s perspective, his dad’s difficulties and kindnesses are manifest too. “Daddy wasn’t quite the same on these days. He would be quieter and his eyes would always be looking far away, as if he was trying to find Mummy in the distance somewhere”.
There are handy notes and further resources in the back of the book on helping children deal with grief. For older children and adults, I always recommend Michael Rosen’s classic The Sad Book (https://www.brainpickings.org/2015/08/25/michael-rosens-sad-book-quentin-blake). There is a very sympathetic cat who pops up throughout Lost in the Clouds, and is especially fine on the back cover, putting a paw out to test the weather for Billy and his dad.
Review by Bethan
May 30, 2021
Bank holiday opening hours
We will be open on bank holiday Monday 31 May from 11am to 5pm.
May 25, 2021
Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M Danforth
Hardback, Borough Press, £14.99, out now
This is the most enjoyable book I have read for ages. It is a huge slab of gothic horror written with dash and spiky humour. Danforth’s own website describes the book like this, and it’s not wrong: “Picnic at Hanging Rock + The Blair Witch Project x lesbians = Plain Bad Heroines” (https://www.emilymdanforth.com/pbh).
In 1902, at the exclusive Brookhants School for Girls in Rhode Island, two girls are gruesomely stung to death by wasps. More deaths (inevitably) follow. Is this related to a book that some of the girls have become obsessed with, in which Mary MacLane sets out her desire to live life to the full?
In parallel, we follow the present-day story of three women involved in making a Hollywood film about the happenings at Brookhants.
The opening pages show you immediately what’s in store. There is a map which includes the Tricky Thicket and Spite Manor. Part One is called I Await the Devil’s Coming. There are unexpected footnotes and biting commentary from an unidentified narrator. Cousin Charles, who chases one of the girls into the wood where she gets stung to death, is unpopular with the narrator: “Maybe some of the girls had, in fact, later said that he looked rakish and fine, but for now let’s discount their certainly incorrect opinions”.
Anyone who spent their early teens reading hugely long hardback horror novels as I did (I’m looking at you, special edition of The Stand) may well get a nostalgic feeling while reading this epic. There are pleasing horror references for fans throughout, but they don’t detract from the unique atmosphere Danforth creates.
Plain Bad Heroines is pure escapism from page one. A strong array of memorable LGBTQ women rampage throughout. Excellent.
Review by Bethan
May 24, 2021
Current bestsellers
Bestsellers from 17 to 23 May…
Richard Osman – The Thursday Murder Club
Matt Haig – The Midnight Library
Brit Bennett – The Vanishing Half
Francesca Wade – Square Haunting
Kazuo Ishiguro – Klara and the Sun
Rutger Bregman – Humankind
Maggie O’Farrell – Hamnet
Clare Chambers – Small Pleasures
Nick Bradley – The Cat and the City
K L Kettle – The Boy I Am
Monique Roffey – The Mermaid of Black Conch
Riku Onda – The Aosawa Murders
Hilary Mantel – The Mirror and the Light
Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony, Cass R Sunstein – Noise
David Baddiel – Jews Don’t Count
Deborah Levy – Real Estate
The Puffin Book of Funny Stories
John le Carré – Agent Running in the Field
Cressida Cowell – How to Train Your Dragon
Jhumpa Lahiri – Unaccustomed Earth
The Riverside Way 