dovegreyreader scribbles

Reasons to be Cheerful about Publishing - Part Two

I've just had a bit of an exciting moment writing a little commissioned piece for The Times on the books I am looking forward to in 2011 and I think it will be in this Saturday's edition. The trouble is the word limit was a mere 200, I mean on a normal day that barely gets me into the second paragraph on here so it has been an exercise in unaccustomed precision...actually that's not true, I have to use wordly precision in the day job, so dovegreyreader is where I can go word-mad. See look 93 words already and I've hardly said anything, it's hopeless...now 104.

In order to do justice to the slender piece, I spent another morning with the catalogues spread across the kitchen table and browsed... and browsed...and browsed, and realised that what I had already suggested with RTBCAP 1 is definitely true, 2011 is to be a stellar year for books. I managed by some miracle to squeeze ten books into that piece, but so many more were begging for inclusion that I've picked out a few more here for you to add to your wishlists and library reservations.

First stop the Granta catalogue and an intriguing looking title, Night Waking by Sarah Moss (February 2011). It segues nicely into some of the titles I flagged up up in RTBCAP 1 with its location on a remote and uninhabited Hebridean island. Author Anna Bennett has a book to write but also a toddler and a disturbed seven-year old to care for plus the puffin-watching scientist husband who has brought them all there. Haunted by the discovery of a baby's skeleton in the garden and letters from a nurse sent to introduce modern medicine to  the island in the 1870s... I could go on but I'm up to 264 words and have many more books to go, so I won't. But that sounds promising to me.

From the same stable and given this year's penchant for troikas and all things Russian, I like the sound of The Possessed - Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them by Elif Batuman (April 2011) because apparently it 'is quite unlike any book you'll have read before' and will 'send you back to your bookshelves with a sublime buzz'.  Elif Batuman follows the foosteps of her favourite authors both literally and metaphorically as she searches for the answers to the big questions via Tolstoy's estate and a possible murder, thence to Samarkand and St Petersburg, and on the trail of Pushkin in the Caucasus. Fresh readings of the great Russians are promised and though I still haven't quite grasped the premise I'm up for anything that offers a new slant on Russian literature, and apparently there is much humour here too.

The Journey of Anders Sparrman by Per Wastberg (April 2011) is of that thorny genre the biographical novel which does sometimes throw me, but I do love the sound of this life... a Swedish scientist, explorer and abolitionist who travelled with Captain Cook and was a forerunner to Charles Darwin as he journeys to China, Tahiti and South Africa. A beguiling soul is to be rescued from oblivion which we can only applaud and as historical chronicle the novel can't be faulted apparently.

From Portobello Books The Report by Jessica Francis Kane, (March 2011) a novel based on the true story of the worst UK civilian disaster of World War II, the Bethnal Green tube tragedy which claimed the lives of 173 people. As truth is disentangled from rumour, decisions must be made about how much truth a community can bear. It is decades later when the case is re-opened by a survivor that the facts can finally emerge. Hilary Mantel rated Jessica Francis Kane's short story collection highly and classed her as an author to watch.

The Rest is Silence by Carlo Guelfenbein ( May 2011) is translated from Spanish and will apparently appeal to fans of Isabel Allende, that's me and probably plenty of you. Tommy, twelve years old and with a weak heart finds himself unable to join in with his cousin's games and so settles under the table after a family lunch and records the conversation. Inevitably he's going to hear things he's not supposed to and with other family members harbouring their own griefs much is left unsaid between as the novel moves towards its... No that's quite enough of the plot,  but the novel had been high in the bestseller lists around the world which though no guarantee of success here in the UK bodes well.

From Bloomsbury, Lucky Break by Esther Freud (April 2011). I have not kept pace with Esther Freud's writing since reading Summer at Gaglow and Hideous Kinky but should have done because I enjoyed both those very much indeed, so I am ready and waiting for this one. A huddled circle of nervous dramatic arts students are told that at this drama school they will taught to Act, trained not to perform but to truly Be. In the hands of Esther Freud I fully expect this to be a wonderful expose of the behind the scenes (sorry) shenanigans because as I recall she has a way of getting to the truth of those seemingly sham and false life situations.

From Corvus comes Mozart's Last Aria by Matt Rees (May 2011) better known by me for his crime series set in the Middle East but now turning his hand to a new setting. It is 1791 and Vienna's brightest star is convinced he has been poisoned, his death within six weeks opens up one whole can of concertos as rumours abound about infidelity, bankruptcy and murder. It is Mozart's sister who investigates, searching for clues in the bewitching last opera, The Magic Flute. For an operatic philistine like me this purloining of the great life for a crime novel doesn't worry me in the slightest, in fact, knowing how much I have enjoyed Matt Rees's other crime novels, I suspect I will enjoy this one as a great page turner. Others among you may feel differently.

Fields of Ice by Arabella Edge (February 2011) from Picador tells the story of Franklin's final expedition to the North-West passage after which he was never heard from again and all told through the eyes of the ship's chief steward. I have Andrew Lambert's  biography so could just as easily return to the source and this novel may well inspire me to read more, but Arabella Edge also tells the story of Franklin's wife who spent years and a great deal of money trying to find her husband so I'm interested.

Also from Picador, The Devil's Garden by Edward Docx (April 2011) his first novel since Self Help was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2007. I sense Conradian Heart of Darkness themes as scientist Dr Forle finds himself on the last inhabited river station before the impassable interior and with an expedition to lead into the forest glades where may lay important revelations about evolution. Witnessing something he cannot 'unsee' presents Forle with many dilemmas and takes him deeper into a world of mystery and violence where he will be faced with his true self and have to make some very tough decisions. That's my precis of Picador's precis so make of it what you will but I enjoyed Self Help and am looking forward to this one

1262 words and counting and still not finished, plenty more great reads to shout from the rooftops so you can see how impossible 200 were and I will let you know about those other 10 when that little piece has been published.

 

 

 

 

 

Reasons to be Cheerful about Publishing

I'm ignoring all talk of slumps and despair in the world of publishing. It might be wretched at the coal face but from where I'm sitting there is a massive slew of very enticing books coming up in early 2011, by a variety of authors I have enjoyed and whose next novels I have been anticipating eagerly.
I mentioned last week that the Spring 2011 catalogues are arriving from the publishers and that I spend ages poring over them, and you asked in comments if I could share a few titles.
So the question I asked myself was, am I selling my soul to the devil by advertising, or heaven forfend being a marketing tool?
Or am I just too excited to keep quiet about what's in the offing and can't stop myself sharing the sense of anticipation I feel about some of these books?
Well I have nothing to gain by advertising and plenty for all of us to gain by knowing what's on the way so start plaguing your local library in advance, besides which I hope you know me well enough by now.
Apart from the fact that the catalogues are usually very plush books in their own right, it's the surprises over every page that enthrall me, I sit there with my pen ticking away the books I like the sound of, then I go back and read more carefully and gather in a few more that might be a bit of a challenge, or might take me somewhere new. Then, usually feeling rather embarrassed I send along wish lists the length of the M1 to the publicists and as the books are published miraculously copies appear, often early proofs, sometimes the real thing, occasionally both.
Many of you will have benefited from this whenever I meet you as I try to pass on duplicates or sometimes post them off to those of you for whom I have addresses if I think it's a book you might enjoy.
So notebooks at the ready for some books that sound so good on paper we can but hope they live up to that promise in the writing of, and here are my first choices from the Faber and Quercus catalogues with more to follow from others in the weeks to come.
I think 2011 might just be a very rich year for fiction.

Faber & Faber

The Possessions of Doctor Forrest by Richard T.Kelly (May 2011)

Author of Crusaders which I enjoyed very much...this one a chilling modern-day Gothic fable, Dr Jekyll meets Dr Faustus and all translated into the 'immaculate world of twenty-first century medicine' and then insinuated into the lives a psychiatrist, a paediatric surgeon and a cosmetic surgeon.

Gillespie and I by Jane Harris (May 2011)

I was late getting to Jane Harris's first novel The Observations, but when I did I loved it so what's not to anticipate about an elderly woman sitting in her Bloomsbury home and relating the story of her acquaintance some four decades earlier with famous artist Ned Gillespie in Glasgow, 1888 and the International Exhibition.

The Storm at the Door by Stefan Merrill Block (March 2011)

I was completely engaged with this young writer's talent in his first novel, The Story of Forgetting and it looks as if this might be a return to similar and very challenging territory as Stefan Merrill Block examines his grandparents story, and in particular his grandfather's stay in a mental hospital which cast a long shadow over his own childhood. A mix of imagination, historical fact and storytelling.

Small Bird, Beating Heart by Miriam Toews (May 2011)

Yesssssss! Any new novel by Miriam Toews has my undivided attention here and here, and it's back to the Mennonite territory of  A Complicated Kindness in this novel as a film crew arrive in this isolated community based in rural Mexico and nineteen-year old Irma finds herself drawn towards the outsiders...well her father's having none of that. Apparently darker than we are used to from Miriam Toews, but still laced with her familiar dry wit, I'll be there.

Saints and Sinners by Edna O'Brien (Feb 2011)

OK hands up, have never read any, but many of you have and I suspect this collection of short stories will be eagerly awaited by her fans, her first book in ten years, we are promised passion, pain and beauty, that's enough to make me explore a writer I should definitely have read by now.

The Path of Minor Planets by Andrew Sean Greer (Mar 2011)

Well The Story of a Marriage had Mark Thwaite and I in a friendly bout of blogging repartee, I was for he was agin, so it will be interesting to see how we feel about a group of astronomers gathered on a Pacific island to witness the passing of a comet with a tragic event during a meteorite shower about to change every ones lives.

Edward Thomas - The Final Years by Matthew Hollis (May 2011)

I'm hoping to pay particular attention to the life and writing of Edward Thomas with some Remembrance reading this November and will therefore be on the edge of my seat waiting for this one.

Now to Quercus, a publisher who hadn't really knowingly come to my attention until I read Brodeck's Report by Philippe Claudel and then I notice that they also published Stef Penney's The Tenderness of Wolves. I'm currently reading Diana Souhami's excelent new biography, Edith Cavell so Quercus are firmly on my radar and plenty here to tempt the reading taste buds and by authors who are new to me.

The Legacy by Kirsten Tranter (Jan 2011)

This is being likened to Donna Tartt's The Secret History, as Ingrid inherits a fortune, heads to New York where she settles, leaves for an appointment at 9am on September 11th 2001 and is never seen again...or is she?

The Black House by Peter May (Feb 2011)

Set on the Isle of Lewis, this murder mystery will offer detective Fin Macleod for our delectation as he returns to his home island from Edinburgh to investigate the slaying. If there's one thing I like it's a new detective to get to know, will he be surly and troubled, unkempt, divorced, now married to the job and the bottle. The storm and croft-laden monochrome cover suggests all manner of darkness and menace to come.

Madame Tussaud by Michelle Moran (Mar 2011)

Well, just what will our regular Tussaud commenter make of this? The family fictionalised as a young Madame T heads off to Versailles to teach Marie Antoinette the art of wax mask making. Expecting to loath her, she finds someone quite different and a firm friendship ensues which can only mean trouble for Madame T and the death masks are sure to follow.

Child Wonder by Roy Jacobsen (Mar 2011)

An early 60's childhood in Oslo and Finn has to grasp a strange, adult world as a mysterious half-sister appears with something even more mysterious in her suitcase. We are promised a powerful, unsentimental evocation of childhood from this Norwegian author who has previously been shortlisted for the Dublin Impac Award... talking of which that might be a prize list I follow more closely next time around.

Island of Wings by Karen Altenberg ( Mar 2011)

A first novel and set on St Kilda in 1830 as Lizzie, pregnant with her first child and her husband, minister Neil McKenzie, head to this remote island and their new parish. That's all it took to sell this one to me but add in natives living in squalor and babies perishing mysteriously, plenty of zealous Christianity and  threats to sanity and a bit of haunting of the cliff tops and I can hardly contain myself.

Monsieur Linh and His Child by Philippe Claudel ( Mar 2011)

Many of us really enjoyed Brodeck's Report so how about this... ' Traumatized by memories of his war-ravaged country and with his son and daughter-in-law dead, Monsieur Linh travels to a foreign land to bring the child in his arms to safety' and there is the added promise of an extraordinary twist.

Foxes in the Night and Other Stories by Cees Nooteboom (May 2011)

A.S.Byatt rates Dutch author Cees Nooteboom as 'one of the greatest modern novelists' and this collection of linked short stories that read more like a novel, a meditation on memory, life and death sounds like a must...' the world observed with a combination of melancholy and astonishment'.

Well that was our starter for ten and plenty more to come from the other catalogues.
Any there that take your fancy?

 

Two more reasons to be cheerful...

One is the existence of the Persephone Diary, of which I promised you firm evidence. Persephone ran a competition on Facebook one day a while back; find the Persephone book with the shortest opening sentence and e mail them by 6pm to win a diary if correct.
I'm not sure whether I was correct or not but I can't believe I spent a whole morning looking through all the books I own just to enter, so they may have felt sorry for me, anyway the diary arrived.
It is as expected a thing of joy, a celebration of the ninetieth Persephone book therefore named The Persephone Ninety.

Every Persephone endpaper included along with quotes from each book plus a silver ribbon marker and the sort of smooth, matte paper that welcomes a fountain pen and ink like a long-lost friend.

I am most pleased, and writing in it already but even better I came across quite a few books during that morning of browsing that I had completely forgotten about, including Virginia Graham's book of poems, Consider the Years which yielded this little gem.

COMFORTLESS

(with apologies to Austin Dobson)

I intended a Sock
    And it turned to a Bonnet
It was rather a shock
It began as a Sock
But I just ran amok
    With the pattern, doggone it!
I intended a Sock
    But I have made a Bonnet.

Happens all the time here, currently socks are converting themselves into fingerless gloves before the heel is reached. Comfortless confirms what the preface says, that whilst capable of being very serious Virginia Graham also enjoyed being 'thoroughly silly' . There are some thoughtful and perceptive poems in this 1946 collection that reflect the times very astutely.
Secondly, don't miss Steerforth's discovery over at Age of Uncertainty, which he has kindly shared.
An album of the most fascinating selection of Victorian photographs unnamed and unknown. Some posed, as many photos of that time were, but plenty that reflect the everyday-ness of life, and so far the verdict seems to be narrowing the location down to the Lake District.
If only they'd all written blogs we'd know for sure.