Dame Stella Rimmington, former head of MI6 and chair of the 2011 Man Booker judging panel, announced tonight that Julian Barnes had won the prestigious award for his novel The Sense of an Ending. This was Barnes’ fourth nomination and he was clearly relieved to have won at last. In her speech Rimmington took aim at the critics who had accused this year’s shortlist of being too dumbed down. And rightly so…
Miranda Hart to offer advice to young people
21 September 2011 by 2 Comments
I adore comedian and actress Miranda Hart. She’s awkward, funny, intelligent and the kind of woman I’d love to be friends with. Or at least that’s the public persona she has created and which the country has fallen for in the past couple of years. It was announced a couple of days ago that she’ll be writing an advice book…
1Q84 – The New Harry Potter?
16 September 2011 by Leave a Comment
In hype terms at least there’s a similarity. Japanese author Haruki Murakami’s cult trilogy 1Q84 is coming to the UK and US next month and already there’s a big buzz surrounding the release. Over 1 million copies were sold in Japan in just two months and high sales are also expected in Western markets.
Rent a book on your Kindle?
15 September 2011 by 1 Comment
According to The Telegraph, Amazon is currently in talks with publishers to launch a digital book rental service similar to Netflix. For an annual fee readers will have access to a huge number of ebooks. Sounds like another nail in the coffin for both the traditional printed book and the library service as we know it….
Ghosts of Empire
14 September 2011 by Leave a Comment
I don’t venture out of the world of fiction very often – when I do it’s mostly to biographies or textbooks for my Open University course, but a new history book by a local Member of Parliament has caught my eye. Spelthorne’s Conservative MP Kwasi Kwarteng has explored Britain’s Imperial past in Ghosts of Empire: Britain’s Legacies in the Modern World. Kwarteng comes from a right-of-centre political background so it’s likely that he’ll offer a different point of view to that in the majority of historical texts out there.
Booksellers name their top tips for Christmas 2011
12 September 2011 by Leave a Comment
Publishers and booksellers are already gearing up for Christmas and are expecting strong sales across a wide range of titles. Like every year a large number of books are vying to be the most popular in our stockings on Christmas morning. These include James Corden’s autobiography May I Have Your Attention Please?, Rob Brydon’s Small Man In A Book and Jamie Oliver’s new cookbook Jamie’s Great Britain.
Richard & Judy autumn picks announced
31 August 2011 by 1 Comment
Richard & Judy, in partnership with WHSmith, have announced their selection for the autumn bookclub. In the year since the bookclub was launched over three million copies of the selected titles have been sold. The latest crop includes the wonderfully named The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake and the Booker Prize long-listed Jamrach’s Menagerie. The first book to be reviewed is The End of Everything by Megan Abbott, a story of innocence lost and burgeoning sexuality.
Banned Books Week
29 August 2011 by Leave a Comment
Banned Books Week has been a feature in American libraries for the past 29 years but I’ve not seen much coverage in the British media before. UK libraries are coming together from 24th September to highlight the growing issue of censorship and challenges to libraries stocking particular books.