ECat 84.                                                                                                        July/August 2010  

 

 

Hello there and welcome to the latest email catalogue. It can now be viewed at www.timkcbooks.com/news.htm  Note, it is not possible to order books directly from this page.

 

Books can be ordered via the website or by dropping me an email at info@timkcbooks.com

 

Many more books can be viewed at www.timkcbooks.com 

 

I can accept payment by sterling cheque, Visa, Mastercard, Maestro and American Express. I can still accept US dollar checks, but regret that I will need to add approximately $10 to offset bank charges. Prices exclude postage and packing, which is charged at cost. Books sent overseas will be sent airmail unless otherwise advised. If books sell out and I need to re-stock, prices may alter.

 

You should only be receiving this email if you (or someone else at your email address) have previously ordered a book or have asked to be added to the mailing list. If you would prefer not to receive these lists in future, please let me know and I will delete your name from the mailing list.

 

MAN BOOKER LONGLIST

 

MAN Booker time again. Some of the books on the shortlist have yet to be published while others have all but disappeared.

 

The Longlist for the 2010 Man Booker prize is:

 

Carey, Peter: Parrot and Olivier in America (I only have unsigned Australian editions in stock)

 

Donoghue, Emma: Room (due in any day. Signed copies should be available in due course)

 

Dunmore, Helen:  The Betrayal (hoping for more stock at a price to be confirmed)

 

Galgut, Damon: In a Strange Room (out of stock)

 

Jacobson, Howard: The Finkler Question (due in any day. Signed copies should be available in due course)

 

Levy, Andrea: The Long Song (out of stock)

 

McCarthy, Tom: C (due in any day. Signed copies should be available in due course)

 

Mitchell, David: The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet (only unsigned copies in stock – hope to have more signed stock in due course).

 

Moore, Lisa: February (published November 2009 and now scarce)

 

Murray, Paul: Skippy Dies (slightly damaged slipcased editions available)

 

Tremain, Rose: Trespass (a few copies left in stock)

 

Tsiolkas, Christos: The Slap (a few signed copies left in stock)

 

Warner, Alan: The Stars in the Bright Sky (only unsigned copies in stock – hope to have more signed stock in due course).

 

 

From previous experience, it usually works out cheaper to buy the longlist in at an early stage rather than wait for the shortlist (in September) by which time some titles are likely to be scarce and so more expensive.

 

 

Tim’s Tip –

 

Two up and coming young Irish writers have new books out in the coming months. Claire Keegan’s novella Foster is due out in September, but I hope to have signed copies in August (see also the Limited Edition below).

 

Kevin Barry has a new book out in the New Year.  Kevin wowed North American readers with a stonking short story in the New York Review of Books. Final details are still to be confirmed, but watch this space!

 

 

LIMITED EDITIONS.

 

Another flurry of Limited Editions.  These books are provisional and the publishers may not publish them if there is insufficient demand. Prices, the size of the print run and the type of binding are subject to change,

 

Claire Keegan.  Faber are planning a 100 copy signed limited edition of Claire Keegan’s Foster. The provisional price is £100 and I would imagine it would be in a special cloth binding in a slip case.

 

Paul Muldoon. Faber are also planning a 125 copy signed limited edition of Paul Muldoon’s Maggot. The provisional price is £125 and I would imagine it would be in a special cloth binding in a slip case.

 

Seamus Heaney: Confirmation that Faber will be publishing 300 signed, cloth bound and slipcased copies of Human Chain. £300.00

 

John le Carre. Limited editions are planned for Our Kind of Traitor. I’m still waiting for details, but I am expecting a slipcased edition of 75 standard and 25 special copies. They should all be bound in quarter leather but the special edition will probably be printed on superior paper and will be bound differently. Please express an interest as soon as possible if you would like a copy and I will let you know details when they are confirmed.

 

Puffin Classics. Penguin produced six Designer Classics of adult books a few years ago. They are repeating the exercise with six classic children stories. There will be 1000 produced of each title and the cost will be a minimum of £100 per title. The titles are:

 

James and the Giant Peach, designed by Antony Gormley

Little Women, designed by Orla Kiely

Oliver Twist, designed by Sir Peter Blake

The Secret Garden, designed by Lauren Child

Treasure Island, designed by Frank Gehry

Around the World in Eighty Days, designed by David Adjaye

 

Priority will be given to customers buying the full set. I am likely to be allocated only 2 sets.

 

 

Tony Blair Limited Edition

 

Planned for September, final details of a leather edition are expected shortly. However, due to the uncertainty of whether or not the book will be signed, there may not be sufficient orders for the book to go ahead. I have ordered copies on the basis that they will be signed.

 

Part One – New Acquisitions, Imminent Arrivals and Selections from Stock.

 

Unless stated otherwise, all books are hardback, in fine condition and are first impression UK editions. A fuller description will gladly be supplied on request. Most titles in this section are on view at timkcbooks.com.

 

Amis, Martin: The Pregnant Widow. Jonathan Cape 2010. Signed by the author. “Captivates by the accustomed wit and elegance of its style. Amis just writes so well and freshly….The Man Booker would be no more than its due”, (Philip Hensher, The Daily Telegraph 06/02/10). £28.00

 

Armitage, Simon: Seeing Stars. Faber 2010. Signed by the author. A new collection from possibly the finest poet of his generation. Already selected as the Poetry Book Society’s Choice for Summer 2010. “Is it a dog? Is it a horse? Or is it a poem by Simon Armitage? To say these poems resist classification is an understatement: they are wonderful, exuberant, unsettling entertainments that exist on their own terms. His voice – and its unsubdued wit – is unique” (Kate Kellaway, The Observer, 09/05/10). “There is more wit and more adventure on display here than you’ll find in many poets’ careers” (Paul Batchelor, The Guardian, 05/06/10). £15.00.

 

Armitage, Simon; The Motorway Service Station as a Destination in its Own Right. Smith/Doorstop 2010. Signed by the author. A pamphlet containing 12 poems. £8.00

 

Barker, Nicola: Burley Cross Postbox Theft. Fourth Estate 2010. Hoping for signed copies, but it will be a challenge. “On every page there is more energy, wordplay and sheer delight in what language is, or does, than most of her contemporaries can muster in a whole chapter…pure, unadulterated entertainment” (Ruth Scurr, The Times, 17/04/10).  “An important and original novelist because she pushes our boundaries”, Lucy Atkins, The Sunday Times, 02/05/10). “a vastly satisfying and adventurous novel, a state-of-the-nation comedy from a novelist who can do pretty much anything she likes and is having a great time doing it. This really isn’t a book to pass up”. (Tim Martin, The Daily Telegraph, 08/05/10). £18.99

 

Barton, Laura: Twenty One Locks. Quercus 2010. Jeannie has to decide between down to earth Jimmy or the urbane Danny. Copies due in shortly.  Paperback original.  £12.99.  Signed copies (at a price to be confirmed) should be available after the Edinburgh Book Festival.

 

Bykhov, Dmitry:  Living Souls. Alma Books 2010. Signed by the author. £17.99

 

Coe, Jonathan: The Terrible Privacy of Maxwell Sim. Penguin Viking 2010. Scarcer hardback edition. A satire of the 2000’s following on from What a Carve Up (1980’s) and The Rotters’ Club (1970’s). “a handsome success”, Leo Robson, The Times, 15/05/10). “Coe is brilliant on uncynical, untrammelled, a wonderful anatomiser of sentimentality, open to the lure and peril of nostalgia and alive to the desperation of the unhappy and hopeless”, Alex Clark, The Guardian, 22/05/10). Signed by the author. £18.99.

 

Collins, Michael: Midnight in a Perfect Life. Weidenfeld & Nicolson 2010. Make or break time for a 40 year old woman and her struggling, under-achieving husband. Signed by the author on a loosely inserted bookplate. £16.99 Copies signed directly to the title page should be available (at a price to be confirmed) after the Edinburgh Book Festival.

 

Crace, Jim: All that Follows. Picador 2010. Signed and dated by the author in his own study. Reviews of this book have been generally warm, but critics find Jim Crace a difficult author to review as all his books are different, without regular themes or styles. The author recently broke a finger on his right hand, and this has affected his signature. “Both thought provoking and a delight to read”, (Giles Foden, The Guardian, 24/04/10) £16.99

 

Cronin, Justin: The Passage. Orion 2010. Signed by the author directly to the title page (i.e. not on a tipped in page).  £22.00

 

Doshi, Tishani: The Pleasure Seekers. Bloomsbury 2010.  A first novel from an internationally respected poet. Signed by the author. £24.00.

 

Doughty, Louise: Whatever you Love. Faber 2010. Signed by the author. Paperback original.  £20.00

 

Doyle, Roddy: The Dead Republic. Jonathan Cape 2010. Signed by the author. The third in the author’s trilogy, following A Star Called Henry and Oh, Play that Thing! £25.00.

 

Dunmore, Helen: The Betrayal. Fig Tree 2010.  Signed by the author. The sequel to The Siege. “Better written than The Siege, storytelling on a grand scale”. (George Szirtes, the Times, 17/04/10). “Not just an impressive, enthralling sequel, but part of an ongoing saga of ordinary people struggling against a city’s beautiful indifference” (Lucy Daniel, The Daily Telegraph, 24/04/10). OUT OF STOCK – Hoping for more copies at a price to be confirmed.

 

Fletcher, Susan: Corrag. Fourth Estate 2010. A historical novel set after the Glencoe Massacre. Signed by the author. £16.00

 

Forna, Aminatta: The Memory of Love. Bloomsbury 2010.  Signed and dated by the author. “Let us hope that it takes its place where it deserves to be – at the top of the award shortlists” (Sam Kiley, The Times, 20/03/10). “affecting, passionate and intelligent” (Jane Shilling, The Daily Telegraph, 27/03/10) Signed copies have been requested. “Forna’s touch is assured, her rich evocation of time and place compelling. The level of psychiatric and surgical research is impressive, and even the minor characters are sharply delineated”. (Catherine Taylor, The Sunday Telegraph, 04/04/10).  This is a remarkable novel: well researched, well thought out, well written – the kind that deserves to be on the Booker shortlist” (Helon Habila, The Guardian, 08/05/10). £24.00

 

Gillespie, Grant: The Cuckoo Boy. To Hell with Publishing. 2010. Signed by the author. Paperback original. £16.00

 

Grandes, Almudena: The Frozen Heart. Weidenfeld & Nicolson 2010. Signed by the author. £25.00

 

Hamilton, Hugo: Hand in the Fire. Fourth Estate 2010. “Hamilton is a great writer…he is the voice of the immigrant, the mongrel, the person who is neither one thing nor the other, of the stranger and the traveller in us all” (Anne Enright, the Guardian, 17/04/10). £12.99

 

Haslett, Adam. Union Atlantic. Tuskar Rock. 2010. A first novel from a respected American writer whose collection of stories – You are not a Stranger Here was well received in 2002. “Union Atlantic is a masterful portrait of our age” (Malcolm Gladwell).  “A book of exceptional maturity, completeness, compassion, comedy and suspense” (Jonathan Franzen). Signed and dated by the author. £16.00

 

Hill, Joe: Horns. Victor Gollancz 2010. Signed by the author. £20.00

 

Hooton, Matthew. Deloume Road. Jonathan Cape 2010. A promising first novel set on Vancouver Island. Signed by the author. £22.00

 

Jensen, Carsten: We, the Drowned. Harvill Secker 2010. Signed by the author. £20.00

 

Kureishi, Hanif: Collected Stories. Faber 2010. A collection of the author’s finest stories. Signed by the author. Paperback original. £20.00

 

Lee, Chang-Rae. The Surrendered. Little, Brown 2010. Signed by the author. £18.00

 

Levy, Andrea: The Long Song. Headline Review 2010. Published without a dustjacket. Signed by the author. Already reprinted. OUT OF STOCK – Hoping for more copies at a price to be confirmed.

 

Mackie, Emily: And This is True. Sceptre 2010. “irresistibly quirky debut novel…Though the book is expertly mined with narrative explosions – fire, gunshots, sudden violence and family revelations, its originality lies in the sly, halting way it reveals its mysteries, the odd perspectives that illuminate its characters, how much it is brave to leave unsaid” (Justine Jordan, The Guardian, 27/03/10). Signed and dated (April 2010) by the author. The dustjacket is a splendid fold out one designed by up and coming artist Nigel Peake.  £12.99.

 

McEwan, Ian: Solar. Jonathan Cape 2010. Signed by the author. A comic look at the climate change debate. “Ian McEwan’s new novel – a comedy every bit as brilliant as its title may suggest – takes readers into the mind of a Nobel prize-winning physicist…the book opens up another dimension of McEwan’s genius as a novelist. Easily the brightest fictional mind we have…Solar is a stellar performance.” (Peter Kemp, The Sunday Times, 07/02/10). “…A stunningly accomplished work, possibly his best yet” (William Sutcliffe, The Financial Times, 05/03/10). “Solar is fun and clever, but the brilliance of its timing, as our scepticism about the received scientific view of climate change grows, means it will come to be regarded as a classic.“ (Lorna Bradbury, The Daily Telegraph, 13/03/10). £18.99.

 

McGregor, Jon: Even the Dogs. Bloomsbury 2010. Signed by the author. The first "bendyback" book in the UK which is a hybrid between a hardback and a paperback, being bound in thin card and covered in linen. Apparently this format is widely used in continental Europe. “Impressive new novel…turns a clear-eyed and compassionate gaze on lives that contemporary fiction has often shown itself more likely to ignore entirely or reshape into tendentious tales of social alienation”. Nick Rennison, The Sunday Times, 31/01/10. “It is still only February, but might we already have seen the 2010 Man Booker winner”? David Robson, The Sunday Telegraph, 14/02/10. £18.00

 

Miller, Kei: The Last Warner Woman. A Revivalist Christian from the West Indies finds her new audience in England somewhat less receptive to her views.  “Miller isn’t just a writer, then: he is a true alchemist and he has produced a thing of beauty here.” (Lesley McDowell, The Sunday Herald 19/07/10). £18.99 Signed copies (at a price to be confirmed) should be available after the Edinburgh Book Festival.

 

Mitchell, David: Wake. Nationale Reisopera. 2010. The original programme including David Mitchell's libretto for Klaas de Vries's Opera, Wake. Fine programme in Dutch and English. Signed by David Mitchell. £25.00

 

Mitchell, David: The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. Sceptre 2010. “A vast canvas, every inch of which is worked with exhilarating skill and precision. How on earth does he do it? He can write as thrillingly about large-scale events as he can about the tiny details of the private world. Such fluent and masterful command of both domains seems the stuff of a true artist’s gifts, not the laborious work of craft and toil”, (Neel Mukherjee, The Times, 24/04/10). “David Mitchell’s spectacularly accomplished and thrillingly suspenseful new novel….prodigiously researched, it resurrects place and period with riveting immediacy. Imagining, with corresponding fullness, not just its characters’ present predicaments but their pasts and futures, it brims with rich, involving and affecting humanity” (Peter Kemp, The Sunday Times, 02/05/10). “The opening chapter of this novel is not one you will forget in a hurry…it’s a graphic, pulsing start that boldly declares what a brilliant book this will be. It will doubtless win Mitchell his fourth Man Booker nomination and, if there’s any justice, his first win” (Holly Kyte, The Sunday Telegraph 03/05/10). “Armed with a repertoire of writerly skills that have his peers either loudly singing his praises or silently spitting with envy” (Boyd Tonkin, The Independent, 07/05/10). “Surely the most impressive fictional mind of his generation” (Alexander Linklater, The Observer, 09/05/10). £32.00. Signed copies may be available at a higher price after the Edinburgh Book Festival.

           

Mukherjee, Neel: A Life Apart. Constable 2010. Signed by the author. “Impressive debut…deeply engaging and often brilliantly observed” (Mark Turner, The Independent 26/02/10).  “A brilliant first novel…shockingly good” (Rose Tremain, The Daily Telegraph, 27/02/10). “ambitious and subtly written debut novel….Much to admire” (Nick Rennison, the Sunday Times 14/03/10) A low print run (thought to be less than 1500 copies) means that this title is already scarce. The first printing of this book suffers from an ill-fitting first state dust jacket, so please bear this in mind. £25.00

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Murray, Paul: Skippy Dies. Hamish Hamilton 2010.  Presented as three small paperbacks in a flimsy card slipcase (the volumes are entitled Hopeland, Heartland and Ghostland). The book had a fairly small print run and the publisher decided not to reprint in the original format, but to extend availability of the single format export edition paperback. Beware, only slipcased editions are true firsts, and these are now scarce.

 

“Skippy Dies is intricate and multi-layered. If it occasionally gets caught between too many stools, it is a measure of its ambition that it takes on such a broad canvas – careering through the emotional war zones of puberty and the stagnant moral morass of adulthood – and a measure of its success that it draws it all so brilliantly together in the end”. (Dermot Bolger, Sunday Independent, 14/03/10).  “Skippy Dies is one of the most enjoy­able, funny and moving reads of  this young new year…  so appealing and surprising that the pages pass with ease…. a rare tragicomedy that’s both genuinely tragic and genuinely comedic” (Patrick Ness, Guardian 06/02/10). “The novel is a triumph…brimful of wit, narrative energy and a real poetry and vision” (Adam Lively, The Sunday Times). “It is an amazing and humane feat to take such a chaotic state as adolescence, or for that matter the dungeon of dreams that is a school staffroom , and turn it into such brilliant comedy” (Tom Webber, The Observer, 28/02/10). “Murray is excellent at capturing the woes of adolescence…brilliantly shows how everybody pretends that things are all right – but really, they are all close to crisis…the writing is second to none…crazy, but beautiful.” (Philip Womack, The Daily Telegraph, 06/03/10). £32.00 (slightly torn, thin flimsy card slipcase which was subject to damage at the production stage).

 

O’Connor, Joseph: Ghost Light. Harvill Secker 2010.  An Irish actress looks back to life and loves in the 1920’s. Signed and dated by the author. “As fine-boned and delicately wrought as a bird’s skeleton” (Philip Womack, The Daily Telegraph, 24/07/10). £20.00.

 

O’Farrell, Maggie: Headline Review 2010. The Hand that First Held Mine. Signed by the author. The author’s fifth book. “Writes with acute perception, paying attention to the smallest details….demonstrates a masterful gift for storytelling” (Elizabeth Day, The Observer, 25/04/10). “Maggie O’Farrell is a skilful, hurtful writer, capable of imbuing the everyday with weight and colour, ridiculously  pleasurable to read. And now, undeniably, literary with a capital L.” (Sarah Crown, The Guardian, 29/05/10). £20.00.

 

O’Flynn, Catherine: The News Where you Are. Viking 2010. The secret, tragic life of a local TV news presenter. “The J.G. Ballard of Birmingham” (Fay Weldon, the Guardian, 03/07/10). Paperback original. £12.99 Signed copies (at a price to be confirmed) should be available after the Edinburgh Book Festival.

 

O’Hagan, Andrew: The Life and Opinions of Maf the Dog, and of his Friend Marilyn Monroe. Faber 2010. Scarcer hardback edition. The story of Maf, a dog given to Marilyn Monroe by Frank Sinatra. A candidate for the most original novel of the year? “The terrible pathos of the human and canine condition is never far from the glittering surface of this marvellously imaginative, clever, entertaining and profoundly melancholy novel”. (Jane Shilling, The Sunday Telegraph, 03/02/10). “A subtle, funny and moving study of America on the eve of one of its periods of great crisis…Maf the Dog, like Lolita, like The Great Gatsby is a threnody for lost innocence…Maf the canine savant is a shrewd observer of the modern age and of the American century” (John Banville, The Guardian, 08/05/10). Signed by the author. £18.99

 

O’Riordan, Adam: In the Flesh. Cape 2010. A first collection from a poet already garlanded with several prizes. £10.00

 

Pears, Tim: Landed. Heinemann 2010. A nasty accident causes Owen Wood to return to nature. “Beautifully crafted…If one of the tasks of a novelist is to open our eyes to the world around us, Pears has executed that task with rare aplomb.” (Matt Thorne, The Sunday Telegraph, 07/03/10). “A slow, painfully authentic, profoundly moving novel” (Joanna Briscoe, The Guardian, 20/03/10).  £12.99 (Signed copies may be available in due course, but at a higher price).

 

Powell, Jim: The Breaking of Eggs. Weidenfeld & Nicolson 2010.  Signed by the author. Well received first novel. £20.00

 

Robertson, James: And the Land Lay Still. Hamish Hamilton 2010. A Scottish fable set in the 1980’s. “A panoramic, illuminating and compassionate portrait of a turbulent and confused era, the book represents nothing less than a landmark for the novel in Scotland, and underlines the author’s position as one of Britain’s best contemporary novelists”. £18.99 Copies due in shortly. Signed copies (at a price to be confirmed) should be available after the Edinburgh Book Festival.  

 

Robertson, Robin: The Wrecking Light. Picador 2010. Signed by the author. Longlisted for the Forward Prize. The prize-winning poet’s new collection. “a work of extraordinary visionary power, its music bleak and beautiful, spare and unsparing. If there were justice in the world, it would win every prize going”. (Adam Newey, The Guardian, 20/02/10). This is the hardback edition rather than the simultaneous paperback edition. £15.00

 

Robinson, Ray: Forgetting Zoe: William Heinemann 2010. A book that has failed to receive the critical attention it deserves. Positive reviews in the Observer, The Scotsman and the Irish Times, but that seems to be it. I have a sneaky feeling that this book (and its author) will grow in stature as the months roll by. £12.99

 

Sackville, Amy: The Still Point. Portobello 2010. “it’s the lyrical power to her language and the startling originality of her language that really distinguish this fine new author” (Freya McClelland, The Independent, 26/03/10). “exquisitely restrained prose” (Catherine Taylor, The Guardian, 13/02/10). Signed and dated (April 2010) by the author. Paperback original. £15.00

 

Schaefer, Max: Children of the Sun. Granta 2010. A look back at the far right British politics of the 1970’s & 1980’s which was homophobic yet at the same time had a considerable gay membership. Signed and dated (April 2010) by the author. Paperback original. £12.99

 

Shafak, Elif: The Forty Rules of Love. Penguin Viking 2010. 40 years old, and Ella’s life is transformed. Signed by the author. Paperback original. £18.00

 

Shapcott, Jo: Of Mutability. Faber 2010. The poet’s fourth collection of poems – after a nearly 10 year gap. Longlisted for the Forward Prize.  £12.99 Signed copies (at a price to be confirmed) should be available after the Edinburgh Book Festival.

 

Simpson, Helen: In-Flight Entertainment. Jonathan Cape 2010. A new collection of short stories. The author is acknowledged as one of the greatest living exponents of the genre. I’m hoping for signed copies soon. “A key voice for our time” (Margaret Reynolds, The Times, 15/05/10). £16.99

 

Syjuco, Miguel: Ilustrado. Picador 2010. Signed by the author. “Miguel Syjuco’s first novel, a dazzling and virtuosic adventure in reading, won the Man Asian Literary prize while still in manuscript….Syjuco is a writer already touched by greatness, but his truly uncommon gifts delight all the more when they are permitted to emerge”. (Joseph O’Connor, The Guardian, 29/05/10). “Bristling with comic verve, metaphysical playfulness, and an undertone of expatriate nostalgia that belies Syjuco’s age (33), Ilustrado is an impressive, vibrant mix of Borgesian literary labyrinth and acerbic émigré comedy”. (Robert Collins, The Sunday Times, 13/06/10). £20.00

 

Thomson, Rupert: This Party’s got to Stop: Granta 2010. Signed by the author. A novelisation of the author’s sibling rivalry following the death of his father. “Darkly comic, disturbing, strange and ultimately humane, Thomson’s is a memoir that discovers love and human kindness in the most unexpected places” (Adam O’Riordan, The Sunday Telegraph, 04/04/10).  £16.99.

 

Tremain, Rose: Trespass. Chatto & Windus 2010. Squabbles in rural France between the locals and British incomers. “The writing has clarity and intensity”, (Holly Kyte, Sunday Telegraph, 28/02/10  Signed by the author. £20.00

 

Trezise, Rachel. Sixteen Shades of Crazy. Blue Door 2010. Signed by the author. “Trezise is an outstanding young writer, with a wonderfully sharp, cynical take on contemporary Wales.” (The Times). Paperback original.  £12.99

 

Tsiolkas, Christos: The Slap. Tuskar Rock 2010. Winner of the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. Paperback original.  “The great thing about the Slap is that it cannot be neatly summarised….this is the only novel I have ever read in which the happy ending involves adult-sanctioned use of mind-altering substances as a mode of celebration”  (Jane Smiley, The Guardian, 08/05/10). “a rare quadrella in publishing; a page turner that sells lots of copies, gets great reviews and wins literary awards” (Stephen Romei, The Australian Literary Review). “Nothing less than a modern masterpiece” (Joan Smith, The Times, 05/06/10). “The Novel keeps readers constantly on their toes, pushing boundaries, questioning lazy assumptions, provoking and, above all, smuggling in unease under the guileful blanket of a gripping read”. (Neel Mukherjee, The Times, 06/06/10). Signed by the author. £32.00

 

Warner, Alan: The Stars in the Bright Sky. Jonathan Cape 2010. A new novel which brings back the Sopranos who are about to embark on a reunion. Paperback original.  “The way this middle-aged man manages to inhabit a gang of girls with such gusto and conviction is one of the small miracles of contemporary fiction, and Warner has done it again” (Phil Baker, The Sunday Times, 09/05/10). £15.00 Signed copies should be available after the Edinburgh Book Festival.

 

Part Two – Soon to Appear Books.

 

 

The following list is a round up of the main titles to be published in the UK in the coming months. Orders for these titles are now being taken. The books will be signed (if available) and sold at cover price (which is subject to confirmation) where possible and will be first editions. However, I often have to buy first printings or signed books in at full price from reputable sources including book tents at literary festivals. For this reason please bear in mind that the prices shown below are for guidance and are subject to confirmation and that there may be a delay in obtaining signed copies of some titles. Postage will be charged at cost.

 

A quick glance at the Edinburgh Book Festival line-up in August reveals that John Banville, Kevin Barry, Michael Collins, Jim Crace, Emma Donoghue, Alasdair Gray, Seamus Heaney, Claire Keegan, Andrea Levy, Tom McCarthy, Paul Muldoon, Catherine O’Flynn, Helen Simpson, Colm Toibin, Christos Tsiolkas and Alan Warner are scheduled to appear.

 

 

August 2010

 

Atkinson, Kate: Started Early, Took my Dog. A murdered man is seemingly alive and well.  £18.99

 

Baker, Stephen: Hemispheres. A father returns from the Falkland’s War 30 years late. £12.99

 

Dean, Louise: The Old Romantic. A comedy about a man who sees his death as an opportunity to reunite his family. £12.99

 

Donoghue, Emma: Room. A novel narrated by a 5 year old boy. £12.99 Signed copies (at a price to be confirmed) should be available after the Edinburgh Book Festival.

 

Habila, Helon: Oil on Water. A contemporary story of oil, kidnaps and the environment in Nigeria. £12.99

 

Heaney, Seamus: Human Chain. A new collection of poems. Longlisted for the Forward Prize. Signed copies have been requested, but there is no guarantee at this stage that any will be available. £12.99. There will be a limited edition, details are sketchy, but 300 copies are planned at £300. The chances are that I will have to buy copies in, so these are likely to be sold at a premium.

 

Jacobson, Howard: The Finkler Question. Three middle-aged men ponder their lives. £18.99 Signed copies (at a price to be confirmed) should be available after the Edinburgh Book Festival.

 

Keegan, Claire: Foster. Winner of the Davy Byrnes award for a single short story and now extended from a short story into a novella. Claire Keegan is regarded as one of the best Irish writers of her generation. Paperback original. £7.99. Signed copies (at a price to be confirmed) should be available after the Edinburgh Book Festival. See above for details of a limited edition.

 

Makine, Andre: The Life of an Unknown Man. A Russian exile returns to St. Petersburg. £16.99

 

McCarthy, Tom: C. A man’s story told against the backdrop of various technical, political and cultural changes of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The author has won a lot of praise for his earlier novels. £16.99 Signed copies (at a price to be confirmed) should be available after the Edinburgh Book Festival.

 

McWilliam, Candia: What to Look for in Winter. The renowned author looks back at her life and in particular explores the impact of a rare illness which left her all but blind for three years until surgery was able to restore her sight. £16.99 Signed copies (at a price to be confirmed) should be available after the Edinburgh Book Festival.

 

Pierre, D.B.C: Lights out in Wonderland. Sex, wine, food and octopuses are pit stops on Gabriel Brockwell’s allegorical  journey to Wonderland. £20.00  Signed copies (at a price to be confirmed) should be available after the Edinburgh Book Festival.

 

Self, Will: Walking to Hollywood. Is there any autobiographical element of Will’s tales about early onset Altzeimer’s, the reincarnation of Walt Disney, abduction by Scientologists and death of Hollywood? £17.99 Signed copies (at a price to be confirmed) should be available after the Edinburgh Book Festival.

 

 

September 2010

 

 

Le Carre, John: Our Kind of Traitor. A novel looking at the world’s woes. £18.99. See above for details of a limited edition.

 

Naipaul, V.S. The Masque of Africa. A look at the civilisations, histories, religions of the countries of Africa. £20.00

 

Rushdie, Salman: Luka and the Fire of Life. Following on from Haroun and the Sea of Stories, this is the author’s second magical novel for children. Here we encounter the story of Luka, Haroun’s younger brother. £18.99

 

Sheard, James. Dammtor. A second collection of poetry, with Dammtor in the port of Hamburg providing the backdrop. £10.00

 

Shakespeare, Nicholas & Chatwin, Elizabeth (edit): Under the Sun – The Letters of Bruce Chatwin. A selection of Bruce Chatwin’s correspondence selected by his biographer and widow. £20.00

 

Varesi, Valerio: River of Shadows. A new detective hits the streets in the Po valley, Italy. £16.99

 

Woodward, Gerard: Nourishment. The deterioration in marital relations brought about by enforced separation during World War two. £16.99

 

Xu, Ruiyan: The Lost and Forgotten Languages of Shanghai. A Chinaman loses the ability to speak Chinese following an accident and gets by in schoolboy English. £11.99 (paperback original).

 

 

 

 

October 2010

 

Ackroyd, Peter: The English Ghost. Ackroyd casts his writer’s eye over English Ghosts. It seems England has the highest number of ghosts of anywhere in the world. £12.99

 

Gray, Alasdair: A Life in Pictures. A much postponed autobiography. Let’s hope it really will appear this time. £35.00

 

Healy, Dermot: Long Time, No See: An apt title for the first novel in 11 years from this respected Irish author. £12.99

 

Hunt, Rebecca: Mr.Chartwell. Esther takes in a larger than life dog as a lodger. £12.99

 

Mars-Jones, Adam: Cedilla. A continuation of John Cromer, first encountered in Pilcrow.  £20.00

 

McCabe, Patrick: Stray Sod Country. It is 1958, the year of Laika the dog in space, the Manchester United Air Crash in Munich, and Brylcream. £14.99

 

Mills, Magnus: Screwtop Thompson. The author’s collected short stories. £10.00

 

Muldoon, Paul: Maggot. The author’s 11^th collection of poems.  £12.99. See above for details of a limited edition.

 

Myers, Ben: Richard. Part novel, part biography, this is the story of Richard Edwards, a member of the Manic Street Preachers who went missing in 1995 and is now presumed dead. £12.99

 

Paterson, Don: Shakespeare’s Sonnets. A guide to and interpretation of the sonnets from one of Britain’s most respected poets.  £14.99

 

Toibin, Colm: The Empty Family. A new collection of short stories.  £17.99

 

November 2010

 

Auster, Paul: Sunset Park. A contemporary American novel. £16.99

 

Byatt, A.S: Untitled: The Myth of Ragnarok. A Norse myth is the latest subject in the Canongate series. £14.99

 

Dyer, Geoff: Working the Room. A collection of the author’s essays of the last 10 years. £20.00

 

Enright, Anne (edits): The Granta Book of the Irish Short Story. Many post-war writers are featured. £25.00

 

Gordimer, Nadine: Life Times. The author’s collected short stories. £25.00 Signed copies are unlikely for this title.

 

Grass, Gunter: The Box. A sequel to Peeling the Onion. £16.99. Please note, signed copies will not be available for this title,

 

Hoban, Russell: Angelica Lost and Found. Angelica, from  Ariosto’s sixteenth century poem, has escaped and found herself in Russell Hoban’s novel. £10.00

 

Larsson, Stieg: The Millennium Trilogy Boxed Set: The original trilogy, augmented with maps and additional material, boxed with a fourth volume of related material including essays on the author and an email correspondence between the author and his original publisher. £50.00

 

McNamee, Eoin: Orchid Blue. The author writes about the murder which led to the last hanging in Northern Ireland. Paperback original. £12.99

 

Raine, Craig: How Snow Falls. The poet’s first collection for 10 years. £12.99

 

Topolski, Carol: Do no Harm. A wry behind the scenes look at a busy modern hospital.  £14.99

 

 

April 2011

 

Docx, Ed: The Devil’s Garden. A scientist is sucked in to local South American politics.  £14.99 (postponed from 2010)