November 30, 2012 • 11:54 pm 0
So it is the end of term and Christmas shopping has started in earnest. Here are just a smidgen of some books (and the odd non book) that we are loving. We would love to see you over the weekend – and if you are popping in, do visit our Children’s Book Tree
Filed under: Holiday Reading, The Bookshop
June 30, 2011 • 5:10 am 1
One of the perks of working in a bookshop like Blackwell’s in Oxford is that you get to meet plenty of authors, both known and unknown to fame. They are real people too, which means that they come in all sorts of shapes, sizes, personalities and talents. Sometimes they have written a book that you admire deeply but turn out in person to be underwhelming (or worse…). Sometimes they are a delight on a personal level but have written something that is mediocre (or worse…)
This blog has detailed the story behind The Company of Fellows by Dan Holloway winning our online poll of Your Favourite Oxford Novel. It is a great story – one that has opened our eyes to what a great bookshop should be doing in this age of online connectivity with authors, customers and fans. Dan himself has been a delight to work with – he has promoted the poll and the result tirelessly. He has ferried copies of the book to the shop on a regular basis (yes! we are selling plenty of copies!). He has been enthusiastic, supportive and a joy to get to know. We are doing two events with him over the coming months. I will be seeing him again!
So it was with some trepidation that I started reading The Company of Fellows. What if it was unexceptional? What if I just didn’t like it – especially considering that Crime Fiction and Thrillers are not my usual staple? 
I did consider these things before packing the book and made a promise to myself that I would be honest – after all the trust that customers have in our staff recommendations is hugely important to me and something that we should not meddle with in any circumstance.
So it is with great relief, delight and enthusiasm that I commend The Company of Fellows to you.
It is very much driven by the plot – the apparent suicide of a brilliant academic and his star pupil’s quest to find the truth about the death. Monstrous skeletons are found in plentiful cupboards as the tale unfolds. As with any decent thriller the plot rattles along at a great pace with enough twists to keep the most restless armchair detective guessing.
The main protagonist, Tommy West, is drawn with enough vulnerability and ambiguity to be convincing and likeable. Strong female characters are always welcome and here we have a bevy from DS Lu, Haydn Shaw and, in their own very different ways, Becky and Emily. Most of the main male characters are, to a greater or lesser extent, pretty despicable. Some delightfully so..and the competitive, insular, incestuous world of academia, if obviously exaggerated, has a ring of authenticity. One of the strengths of the novel.
At times the story takes you to very uncomfortable places which, to some, may teeter on the gratuitous but this is psychological horror where the thought in the mind of the reader is much more disturbing than the deed. However, it is unsettling and will be beyond the pale for some.
The writing style is unpretentious and reminded me to a degree of early Ian Banks. Occasionaly the research shown off in the book felt a little superfluous, but overall it is solidly, rather than spectacularly, written and none the worse for that.
Oxford, not just the inner sanctums of the Colleges, is a fine backdrop and there are plenty of local observations that will bring a wry smile to those who know the city well. So, add another cracking book the illustrious tales of this most murderous city. Do yourself a favour and pop into the shop to pick up a copy and enter the the dark, disturbing and at times depraved world of The Company of Fellows
Filed under: Book Reviews, Holiday Reading, Dan Holloway, Staff Recommends, The Company of Fellows, Your Favourite Oxford Novel
June 28, 2011 • 2:07 pm 1
I have managed to find some quality reading time amid the competing charms of a first visit to Sydney and catching up with family. Me being me means that from my original reading pile I added Diego Marani’s  ‘New Finnish Grammar’ and a proof copy of Nigel Warburton’s ‘A Little History of Philosophy’ that is published by Yale in September. Whilst I have read the two new additions to the list it means that I have so far only completed ‘The Company of Fellows’ and ‘Ill Fares the Land’. Being part-way through ‘Boxer Beetle’ and ‘This is not the End of the Book’ with less than a week to go until I am on the plane home I fully expect to polish these off and also have a decent crack at ‘The Divided Self’ I suspect that ‘Shantaram’ will have to wait until a later date – sorry Becky, I can hear your squeals of disappointment from the other side of the world.
First up my bookseller thoughts on ‘New Finnish Grammar’ by Diego Marani
  I tend to be more a reader of non-fiction but I have had the great fortune of reading two contemporary literay novels this year that have reminded me that the thoughts explored and language used in certain books can be as exhilarating as any plot line or character, and more rewarding to the reader. The first book that reminded me of this was ‘The Canal’ by Lee Rourke (I have been trying to write a proper review of this for months but cannot find the right words to convey just how much this book moved me and how it thrillingly reignited my love of reading quality literary fiction) For another novel to come along within a couple of months and capture my imagination as comprehensively is a rare treat indeed, but ‘New Finnish Grammar’ is extraordinary on many levels.
It was originally published in Italy in 2000 and has, I believe, been translated into various languages before this Dedalus Books edition came in May. The plot is pretty straightforward – set during the Second World War a man is found on the quayside in Trieste, he has been beaten up to such an extent that he has completely lost his memory. The only clue to his identity is the name Sampo Karjalainen on a tag sewn in to his sailor’s jacket. A doctor, originally from Finland, takes him under his wing and facillitates the recovery of the man and helps him return to Finland where slowly and painfully he learns to read, write and speak again. The relationship between identity and language underpins the book and the love and respect that the author (and, indeed, Judith Landry the translator) has for words and language is apparent on every single page. I lost count of the number of times that I chuckled quietly or gasped involuntarily at a simple yet beautiful word play.  “But only those who are fully acquainted with the power of the word should dare to have recourse to its magic” Marani weaves into this story the troubled history of Russo-Finnish relations, ancient myths and sagas and a doomed love story that is heart-wrenching but never cynical.
A stunning book that deserves the wide audience that it appears to be getting after a gushing review from Nicholas Lezard in The Guardian I know that it is a book that I will be thrusting into peoples hands for years to come urging them to buy it, read it and spread the word. It is the least that I can do for the pleasure that it has given me.
Time to go and read now, I hope to do some more mini-reviews tomorrow…
Filed under: Book Reviews, Holiday Reading, Diego Marani, New Finnish Grammar, Summer Reading
June 7, 2011 • 11:15 pm 2
Well aren’t I the lucky one? Next week I am off to visit my sister and her family in Australia. Doubly lucky since I will have a lot of reading time – which can, paradoxically, be difficult when your day job is in a bookshop. Today I bought my first tranche of books that I will take with me, three novels and three works of non-fiction.
The first choice will be obvious to readers of this blog – Dan Holloways ‘The Company of Fellows’. No need for me to explain why I am taking this, just to say that I am really looking forward to reading it having witnessed the passion that so many of you have expressed for it on these very pages. No pressure then Dan…
The second novel that I am taking is Ned Beauman’s ‘Boxer Beetle’, shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and, more recently, the Desmond Elliot prize. It was a few months ago that I idly picked a copy up in the shop and was taken with the first couple of lines: “In idle moments I sometimes like to close my eyes and imagine Joseph Goebbels’ forty-third birthday party. I like to think that even in the busy autumn of 1940 Hitler might have found time to organise a surprise party for his close friend.” I have a distinct feeling that this book is going to be ‘Marmite’ – I will either love it or hate it. A good omen is that I do adore Marmite. 
Third choice was not my choice – I took the advice that I so often give to customers in the shop and asked a bookseller. Becky squealed in delight – it is her absolute favourite question to be asked and she made various suggestions. From her shortlist of titles we settled on Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts, a book that I know we have sold shed loads (a technical bookselling term) of since publication in 2003. Make no bones about it, it is a BIG book – perfect for an extended break. With the protagonist being an escaped Australian prisoner it has some geographical currency for my trip. I would never have picked this up without the recommendation of Becky. I trust her taste implicitly (she is the biggest fan of Iris Murdoch which is good enough in my book)
And so on to the non-fiction. I am amazed (and a little ashamed) that I have yet to read Tony Judt’s final book ‘Ill Fares the Land‘. I am a huge fan of his earlier books, especially Postwar, a jaw-droppingly good history of Europe since the Second World War. Ill Fares the Land has been one of those books in the shop that has been looking at me reproachfully because I hadn’t read it, waiting forlornly for me to pick it up and buy it. Time to rectify this glaring omission. Perhaps this is the book that I am most looking forward to reading if only to assuage by nonsensical bookseller guilt.
Some guilt attached to my next choice as well – again a book that I am surprised that I have yet to read. R.D. Laing’s ‘The Divided Self‘ was first published in 1960 and although the subject of acute mental turmoil is not the standard stuff of holiday reading it is a book that I have wanted to read for a long time. I am especially keen to learn more about his views on the social and cultural dimensions of mental illness. There is always value in reading books from decades ago that have influenced their field markedly.
Last into my rucksack (so far) is ‘This is not the End of the Book‘, a discussion on the past, present and future of the book between Jean-Claude Carriere and Umberto Eco. You might argue that this is work rather than play for me, but as a lover of the printed word I am hoping to garner some persuasive arguments for the sustainable future of paper and ink books as we face a daily assault in the media about the death of the book. Two formidable minds here so my expectations are high. I am very encouraged by the quote from Eco on the flap of the dust jacket – “The book is like the spoon: once invented, it cannot be bettered”
There is still time for me to add to my haul – let me know if I have chosen wisely or if there is an absolute jewel that I am missing.
My plan is to try and continue blogging a bit whilst away. Initially it seemed obvious to do a piece on the bookshops of Sydney, but the retail book trade is in such turmoil that this may be tricky to do. I’d love to know if there are any Indie bookshops worth a visit? Perhaps Gleebooks or Abbey’s
Finally an indulgence. Do forgive me. This is a picture of the back garden at my sisters where I can already see myself with a cup of coffee, a packet of Marlboro reds and my lovely pile of books. Not too shabby as a now ex-bookselling friend would have said.
Filed under: Holiday Reading, The Book Trade, Bookshops in Sydney, Summer Reading
