Bookseller Industry Awards

When Jennifer Lawrence (yes - her again, I'm trying to increase my blog's key words ok?) won her Oscar, I got myself into a bit of a bate. As amazing as I was starring in The Happy Prince aged 5, there is no way I'm going to find myself on that stage at the Kodak Theatre collecting my Best Actress Oscar any time soon. Furthermore, it's not like there are any opportunities to win stuff (not that that is my sole prerogative...) in my industry unless I actually write a book myself. That is, to be fair, a lie as there are the Bookseller Industry Awards so what I really meant was - there's no opportunity to be flooded with offers from top designers to dress the nominees for a red-carpet occasion. That aside, if you win a Bookseller Industry Award, that's still pretty cool.

This year publishing giant Random House received Publisher of the Year. BookScan figures show the publishing company to have earnet a massive £47.3m from E L James' Fifty Shades trilogy, making them the 3 bestselling novels last year. And just to rub it in, Random House managed to also stack up 28 number 1 bestsellers and 70 prizes. Give credit where it's due n' all that...

Other winners include, perhaps unsurprisingly, 4th Estate (HarperCollins) and editor Nicholas Pearson who is behind Hilary Mantel's Bring Up the Bodies, which has continued to dominate the chart in paperback upon its release last week. Foyles walked away with their 2nd National Bookseller of the Year Award and Pottermore was awarded Digital Strategy of the Year. Arguably no surprises, but it's nice to see that you can still do plenty of exciting things in modern publishing, even without the red carpet events...

OED on Book Hunt

One of the best things for me about being in the working world is discovering all the fascinating if not slightly odd jobs that are out there. Like, someone writes those little strips of paper for fortune cookies... and if your cat has been looking a little frazzled lately, it's all going to be ok because there are pet psychics out there who telepathically access an animals unsaid thoughts and emotions.

Perhaps not quite as odd, but nevertheless a job I'd never considered before, is the Oxford English Dictionary bibliographer. The position is currently held by Veronic Hurst and she's found herself in a bit of a predicament. 51 entries in the OED cite the 1852 book, Meanderings of Memory written by Nightlark. The dilemma is not that the book was written by a wannabe supervillain, but that it appears to have vanished entirely. The OED is therefore now appealing to the public in the hope that someone will be able to help them trace this, likely pornographic, book on which 51 words rely on for their existence.

It all started off when someone OED was working on the word 'revirginize', an entry that is supported by a quotation from Meanderings of Memory, which reads: "Where that cosmetic … Shall e'er revirginize that brow's abuse." But the book couldn't be found.

The theory that the book is in some way pornographic came about when OED were trying to determine why a book might not be readily available in the public domain. But if you know anything to the contrary or, in fact, a copy has slipped incognito into your collection under your bed... best get in touch with Veronica Hurst at OED. Now there's a real mystery. None of this Da Vinci Code stuff.

Oops... Guccifer Takes on Candace Bushnell

Is it just me or does the latest novel from Sex and the City writer Candace Bushnell strike you as an unlikely target for Guccifer, the hacker previously associated with infiltrating top figures in the US government and the Bush administration in particular, targeting the likes of George W Bush himself and Colin Powell. Most recently memos from Sidney Blumenthal, for former aide to Bill Clinton, distributing memos sent to Hilary Clinton but reformatted on pink backgrounds with Comic Sans font...

Candace Bushnell's latest novel, Killing Monica, was yet unpublished - that was until Guccifer hacked into Bushnell's accounts and started tweeting extracts from the first 50 pages to the author's Twitter feed.

Not only was the incident extremely concerning and embarrassing for Bushnell but while she was frantically trying to regain control of her account, Guccifer started posting screenshots of her terrified emails to her editor and agent: "Oh dear, this is terrible". Then, in a final moment of indulgence, Guccifer claims responsibility for the hacking and how does he do it? Oh just by sending an email from the AOL account of actor Rupert Everett.

Luckily the book world has decided to roll with the 'this is great publicity' slant on the whole incident, rather than scrap the book entirely. Jack Perry of Digital Book World said: 

The pages are not edited nor approved for consumers. But her fans will know that and will be thrilled to get a 'sneak peak. This is great publicity for a book that isn't even written yet.

Of course Bushnell isn't the first author to fall victim to literary leaks; JK Rowling has had her fair share of scares, as did Spice Girl Mel B with her memoir and Twilight writer Stephanie Meyer, who felt forced to abandon her sequel to the series, Midnight Sun.

London Literature Festival 2013

It's been a while, my apologies - all I can say is that my life has been a little less full of books over the last week and a little more filled with, well, wine, dancing like Beyonce, sunshine, a whole lot of food and all, often, at the same time. That aside, people, I am back and what do I have for you? Only the London Literature Festival programme!

Brace yourself if you have a tendency to get a little over-excited - there is definitely potential for some Beatle mania, only with no Beatles... and to be honest probably not much mania around the usual Southbank clientele... anyway, the festival will be at London's Southbank Centre and feature two literary prize readings (2013 Man International Booker Prize Readings and the Women’s Prize for Fiction Readings) as well as conversations with fiction royalty Barbara Kingsolver, Lionel Shriver, Dalrymple, Audrey Niffenegger... and Rupert Everett. Thought I'd just slip him in there even though he probably doesn't quite qualify as literary royalty, but he does have a book out so he's earned his place.

Claire Tomalin's publicist has gone a little crazy and signed her up for five lectures on literary figures from Thomas Hardy to her latest subject, Charles Dickens, to Jane Austen who would have been celebrating Pride and Prejudice's 200th anniversary this year.

Other things you can expect include plays, graphic novels and a whole lotta poetry... which I'm afraid I will be largely avoiding because not even an English Literature degree has raised by brow high enough to pay for poetry. I would probably pay to see Keats, or Eliot, or Hardy - that might be worth seeing... especially as it would likely involve a very dramatic awakening from the dead which would be pretty original entertainment in itself.

I really shouldn't be so mean about poetry, I'm sure there's loads of good stuff on if the non-fiction and fiction line-up is anything to go by. Check out the entire programme here, but be quick - tickets are vanishing quickly.

Some other relevant posts:

Claire Tomalin on Dickens 
Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
London's Literary Southbank

Jane Austen Anniversary Stamps

Charles Dickens 200th Birthday

Hilary Mantel at the Southbank

Drummer Hodge by Thomas Hardy

Book Slam: Will Self, Patrick Ness

  

There aren't many events that can get me to Clapham on a 'school night'. Sorry Claphamites.. I know you are many... I appreciate it's mostly irrational, I just don't really like Clapham. But I do like books, and I like books more than I don't like Clapham, so it all turned out ok on Thursday as I made my way to the delightful Clapham Grand for the latest Book Slam. Phew. Because it was such a good night!

Book Slam is "the brainchild of superstar musical maverick, Ben Watt, and author, Patrick Neate (of Twelve Bar Blues fame). The evening's format, I'm told, changes slightly each time but essentially Book Slam asks top writers to read from their work, with each segment separated by a generous interval so that you can get a refill and this is all topped off by a short set from a musician. We had the sickeningly talented George Ezra. Don't let his fresh-faced Bristolian adorableness throw you, though... "this boy got sooouuulll" and he can write a damn good song.

Anyway, back to books. "If you can think of a smarter literary pairing, we'll eat your comedy fez," was the challenge set by Book Slam this evening. And fair doos - our literary entertainers for the evening were American-born author and twice Carnegie Medal winner, Patrick Ness, and none other than Man Booker short-listee, Will Self.  And our host for the evening? Comedian and writer Dominic Frisby, kept things ticking over, making sure the evening didn't get too seriously intellectual and generally maintaining a chilled, fun and unpretentious tone, which I much appreciated. 

You couldn't help but like Ness, with his modesty and nervous humour. He read from his latest novel, The Crane Wife, which I did enjoy - this guy can write. Although Carnegie arguably already knew that... twice. As much as I liked Ness, I found myself more wanting to give him a congratulatory hug than buy his novel I'm afraid, although it was beautifully written and had an intriguing, original concept.

I don't know what you've heard about Will Self or if you've read any of his stuff? I hadn't read any but I know a number of, mostly men, who worship this dude... I also know a lot of people who think he is a complete and utter knob... For want of a more fitting, eloquent phrase worthy of such literary royalty. When he came out on stage, though, all I could think was - IT'S THE FOOD CRITIC FROM RATATOUILLE!

Look him up. You know I'm right. Anyway, that high-brow comparison aside, the two things I came away thinking from seeing Will Self at Book Slam: 1) I will most likely never buy his latest book, Umbrella, as my poor limited brain would probably see me age a hundred years trying to wade through its dense jungle of metaphors, while accumulating uncountable paper-cuts from franticly flicking through my much-needed dictionary... 2) Will Self is surely, first and foremost, a performer. His short-story reading from Liver was a masterclass in bringing a story to life - completely loved it.

That was a rather long rambling post and now I don't know how to finish it so I'm just going to leave it there but you should all keep an eye on the Book Slam website because it travels around and there's always something good coming up. Next time? The Birdcage in Bristol on 2nd May.

World Book Night 2013

Imagine walking round the block a few times at closing time, varying your pace while trying to look convincingly lost so as not to draw attention to your real aim - to dive into the free Pret a Manger/Starbucks/whatever sandwich... we would all feel just a little embarrassed if we were caught, right? I oddly feel the same about World Book Night when people start giving you free books. Books for free. Half a million good, bestselling novels that you don't have to pay for... it doesn't feel right! However, this does seem to be an exceptionally good year... with some of my favourite books being handed out all over the UK, Ireland at the USA this evening by 20,000 bookish keen beans standing on street corners, the underground, famous landmarks.

Books this year include The Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevallier, Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman, The Road Home by Rose Tremain and Jeanette Winterson's Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? which I reviewed here last year. Take a peak at the other books featuring in World Book Night 2013 here if your eyes just can't quite make out any more than tiny vague squares in the picture above...

Have a look on the WBN website for information on how you can be involved tonight and how to volunteer next year.

Rabbit, Run

It's 1959 and Harry 'Rabbit' Angstrom, one time high school sports superstar, is going nowhere. At twenty-six he is trapped in a second-rate existence - stuck with a fragile, alcoholic wife, a house full of overflowing ashtrays and discarded glasses, a young son and a futile job.

With no way to fix things, he resolves to flee from his family and his home in Pennsylvania, beginning a thousand-mile journey that he hopes will free him from his mediocre life. Because, as he knows only too well, 'after you've been first-rate at something, no matter what, it kind of takes the kick out of being second-rate'.

One of the best ways to get me to read a book is to say "it's just like Richard Yates". Problem is that this method is not the best way for me to enjoy said book.I guess in my head, through a combination of the blurb, cover and the above comparison, I imagined a cross between Revolutionary Road and One Tree Hill... but I just didn't enjoy it as much. 

I know Rabbit, Run is a classic and I know John Updike is a talented guy, but somehow it didn't quite hit the spot for me.  It's odd because, on the surface, it has everything I would normally like - failed American Dream theme, touching domestic drama, relationships, good boy gone bad... Perhaps in the end there were just a few too many references to prostitutes and blokey nights out, which were all pretty grim, and an absence of any really likable characters (more specifically any messed-up yet hot-as-hell basketball players trying to make the State championship...).

Can't deny that the book is well-written though, and Updike is more than successful at creating atmosphere, tension, split-allegiances etc and I couldn't help but feel something at the novel's climax. The characters all feel very real, as do the predicaments they find themselves in, and I definitely 'got' the world he was going for. Unfortunately, I just didn't love the book.

It gets 5/10 from me. It's a shame as I was really excited to get stuck into a series (there are four sequels).