Reading Matters

One weekend, two bookshops and six books

It's been so long since I've gone on a book splurge — at least in a physical bricks-and-mortar store (online purchases for Kindle don't count, right?) — that I thought I'd share my purchases with you.

I bought three books at Daunt Books in Holland Park on Saturday afternoon, and three more in Waterstones flagship store in Piccadilly on Sunday. I probably would have bought a lot more in Daunt, but so much of the stock was shop soiled that I decided to restrict myself — if I'm going to pay full whack for a book I want it in pristine condition. Any wonder that people buy from online stores?

And in Waterstones, I almost did a little happy dance on the floor when I realised they had Text Classics from Australia in stock. The yellow spines are so distinctive it was very easy to find them on the shelves!

Here's what's in the pile from the top down:

John Lanchester's What We Talk About When We Talk About The Tube
This is a slim non-fiction title published by Penguin as part of a 12-book set called London Lines to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the London Underground. Lanchester has been doing a good job promoting this in the past week —  an edited version appeared in the Guardian and he was on Channel 4 News on Friday evening (see below).

Bernardo Carvalho's Nine Nights
I've been meaning to read more books set in South America, particularly Brazil, so was delighted to find this one nestling on the shelves in Daunt, where many of the books are arranged by country, not author. This one is a thriller set in Brazil and is the first by this author to be translated into English.

Katie Kitamura's Gone to the Forest
Described as "a gripping and psychologically intense novel about the destruction of a family, a farm and a way of life", I picked this up on the basis that I knew absolutely nothing about it, the author or, indeed, the publisher (The Clerkenwell Press).

Elizabeth Harrower's The Watch Tower
I have seen very many references to this book on Twitter ever since Text Publishing (in Melbourne, Australia) decided to create its Text Classics imprint to rescue classic Australian literature for the masses. But then last week I saw Lisa's review on ANZLitLovers and knew I wanted to read it.

Sumner Locke Elliott's Careful, He Might Hear You
This is billed as "one of the most extraordinary portraits of childhood in Australian fiction". It was first published in 1963, but I know it from the film adaptation produced in 1983 and remember it being quite emotional — it's about a custody dispute over an orphaned boy during the Great Depression.

Kenneth Cook's Wake in Fright
This is one of those books I've been meaning to read for years and years even though I only have the faintest clue as to what it is about — something to do with a man going off his rocker in the outback. On the blurb of this edition JM Coetzee calls it a "true dark classic of Australian literature" — sold!

Have you read any of these books? Have any of the titles piqued your interest?

'Operation Sort Out The TBR' is finally over!

I don't normally make New Year's resolutions, but this year I decided I needed to tackle the ever-increasing TBR. I had so many books coming through the door — unsolicited review copies and personal purchases from charity shops and online stores — that I was simply sticking them in the corner of the living room and then pretending they weren't there. It got so bad that the "pile" had become 4ft high and three books deep. Every time I stuck another book on the top it was like playing Jenga in reverse: I kept expecting it to topple over.

So, in the first week of January, after 10 days' rest and recreation on the Sussex coast, I got stuck in. It was hard work. Not only did I sort the book mountain hulking in the corner of the living room, I also tackled the books in the bedroom — tucked away four deep on top of the wardrobe, on my bedside table and dresser — and those on display in our TV wall unit.

For about two days the living room looked like a book warehouse, with books covering every conceivable surface as I tried to sort books into the following categories: Irish fiction, Commonwealth fiction, British fiction, American fiction, books in translation, crime fiction and non-fiction.

Then I weeded out the books I did not want. This turned out to be quite a lot — 194 to be precise! That's 19 supermarket bags' worth — and they're all going to Oxfam, which has kindly agreed to come and collect them from me by car this weekend.

Then, with all the remaining books — the ones that I want to read — I had a rather hair-brained idea: I would scan in all the barcodes using my iPhone so that I could keep track of my TBR on GoodReads, a website I've not really used before. This took far longer than I thought — about two days to be precise!

But after all that time, effort — and dust — I felt like I'd really achieved something. Not only do I know exactly what books I own, but they are neatly stacked away — in a new Expedit bookshelf — albeit three-deep in no particular order.

The exercise also revealed the rather alarming fact that I currently have 553 books in my TBR! I reckon that's about 6.5 years' worth of reading for me.

If you are on GoodReads do feel free to send me a friend invite — you will find me here. And note I've stuck a little GoodReads icon thingy up there in my menu bar under the subhead "Follow Me" so that you can always find me there.

Two books to lust after

Earlier in the week I treated myself to two new Penguin Modern Classics.

I posted this photograph on my Twitter account and Facebook page and it went a bit viral — it seems people love a good picture of attractive-looking books. Maybe it's simply a reaction to the rise of the ebook? Or maybe people just like a lovely book cover?

Whatever the case, there's no doubt the artwork on these novels is rather handsome — I can't help thinking that the redhead on Penelope Lively's Heat Wave looks a bit like Nicole Kidman. It's from a painting by Adele Wagstaff entitled Contemplation.

The photograph on Margaret Drabble's The Needle's Eye is by Anna Tomczak.

What books have you purchased lately? Do you judge a book by its cover?

A good year for Australian fiction — if you live in the UK

You may remember that earlier this year, without much forethought or planning, I hosted an Australian Literature Month on this blog. As well as helping to promote Oz lit to a wider audience, I designed it mainly as a way of encouraging me to read all the very many Australian novels I had accumulated during my travels home over the years.

And while I did make a significant dent in my Australian fiction pile, so many lovely new Australian books have been published here in the UK since then that I think I may be back to square one.

As you can see by the photograph above, I can feel another Australian reading binge coming on.

Here's what's in the pile, from the top down:

Chris Womersley's Bereft
This has just been released in small format paperback by Quercus. It's won quite a lot of awards, including the 2011 ABIA Literary Fiction Book of the Year and the 2011 Indie Award for Best Novel. Quite a few bloggers have read it and liked it — see Lizzy's review and Simon's review.

Anna Funder's All That I Am
This has just won the Miles Franklin Literary Award (Australia's equivalent of the Booker) and a host of other prizes. Reviews, however, seem to be mixed. I know, for instance, that Tony wasn't "wowed" by it and that Will had mixed feelings, too.

Carrie Tiffany's Mateship with Birds
I've been looking forward to this one, because I so enjoyed Tiffany's debut novel, Everyman's Rules for Scientific Living, and Lisa of ANZLitLovers gave it a good review earlier this year.

Jane Sullivan's Little People
I flagged this up in my post Five books to ... look forward to in June 2012. It's based on the true story of Tom Thumb's visit to Australia in 1871 and is supposedly for anyone who loved Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus, and fans of Sarah Waters and Angela Carter.

Fiona McGregor's Indelible Ink
This one has taken two years to be published in the UK! It's been billed as being similar to The Slap (which I loved) and has received quite a lot of press, so I'm very much looking forward to reading it. It's about a 59-year-old woman trying to regain control over her own life.

Elliot Perlman's The Street Sweeper
Perlman is one of my favourite writers, so I've been hanging out to read this one ever since I knew he'd gone to America to write it, oh, about five years ago! Of course, it's been sitting in my reading queue for months, but everyone seems to be raving about it, including Jackie of Farm Lane Books Blog and KevinfromCanada. I suspect it might make this year's Booker longlist.

Peter Carey's The Chemistry of Tears
I have a love/hate relationship with Carey, but ever since I saw the BBC Review Show in which all the panellists said it deserved to win this year's Booker I knew I had to read it. There are mixed reviews online though. Tony from Tony's Book World didn't think much of it, but Whispering Gums liked it a lot.

Have you read any of these books? If so, what did you think? And which book should I read first? (And apologies for lack of reviews this week... I promise to play catch up on the weekend.)

UPDATE: Thanks to Rhian at It's A Crime I've discovered that Chris Womersley's Bereft has just been longlisted for the Gold CWA Dagger. The winner will be announced in the (northern hemisphere) autumn.

A visit to Book World by Kinokuniya, Dubai, UAE

 

I have been very fortunate over the past six months and have gone on many travels. A highlight of any trip, for me, is checking out the local book stores -- and bringing back a swag of books instead of the tacky souvenirs I abhor.

Shortly before Easter I flew out to the UAE to spend some time with my sister and her young family. It was my fourth trip to Abu Dhabi (and the second in six months -- I went there last November), so I knew what to expect: great food (my sister is an awesome cook), plenty of beers (my brother-in-law is a connoisseur), heat (try 40°C and occasionally higher) and an abundance of air-conditioned shopping malls.

I will confess that I am not much of a shopping mall fan. I'm not much of a shopper, to be truthful. I'm not into fashion or shoes or cosmetics, or any of that stuff that shopping malls specialise in. But I do have one blind spot. And that, of course, is books!

During the first week of my trip my sister took me to a couple of malls in Dubai (she lives about an hour's drive away), both of which featured Borders outlets. (Is Dubai the only place in the world where that chain hasn't gone bust, I wonder?) I found the stock in both pretty mediocre -- and expensive -- so didn't purchase anything.

Then, earlier this week, we visited Dubai Mall, which is supposedly the world's largest shopping mall, and lies at the foot of the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa. My sister told me it had a good book store. Judging by the book stores I'd seen so far, I didn't have high expectations. How wrong could I be!

Book World by Kinokuniya is a chain based in Singapore. It has branches throughout Asia and I believe there is one in Sydney, Australia, too. The branch in Dubai is absolutely massive. In fact, it's 68,000 square feet (which is 1.5 acres!) and supposedly stocks more than half a million books and a thousand magazines in English, Arabic, Japanese, French, German and Chinese at any given time.

It was so big, and contained so much stock, I felt overwhelmed. The map (pictured left, and snapped surreptitiously on my sister's iPhone -- no photography allowed) shows how the store is arranged. Honestly, you could spend all day inside and never see half of it!

I only managed a very quick scuttle through the literary fiction section (which was gigantic) and found myself drawn to several nice shelf displays of "prize winning fiction" which included all the Commonwealth Writer Prize winners from recent years, along with Giller Prize- (Canada), Booker Prize- (UK) and IMPAC- (Ireland) winning novels. Alas, I didn't see any Miles Franklin (Australia) contenders, but perhaps they were in another section!

I ended up restricting myself to the "local interest" section, which featured mainly non-fiction books and novels from Middle Eastern writers. The books here were reasonably priced in comparison to the UK, averaging around £8.50. I bought five.

• Robert Lacey's Inside the Kingdom (a non-fiction book about Saudi Arabia)

• Joe Bennett's Hello Dubai: Skiing, Sand and Shopping in the World's Weirdest City (a non-fiction book about Dubai's amazing transformation from a quiet Arabian port into a 21st century global city and ex-pat paradise)

• Jo Tatchell's A Diamond in the Desert (a non-fiction book about Abu Dhabi, the world's richest city)

• Maha Gargash's The Sand Fish (a novel set in 1950s Dubai)

• Shahriar Mandanipour's Censoring an Iranian Love Story (a novel, translated from Farsi, which is supposedly darkly comic)

Overall, I was really impressed with the shop. Next time, I'll ask my sister to drop me at the door and collect me when she's run all her errands. I wasn't joking when I said you could spend all day here.

If you ever find yourself in Dubai and want to visit this shop, you will find it on Level 2, Dubai Mall, Tel: +971 4 434 0111. Or visit the Dubai Mall website for more info.

Spotted in Dublin: a signed first edition of John McGahern's 'The Barracks'

On my last trip to Dublin in July 2009, I spotted a signed first edition of John McGahern's debut novel, The Barracks, in the window of an antiquarian bookshop. I've been wondering about it ever since. Specifically, how much would it cost to buy? And could I afford it?

I'm not one to collect first editions, but I'd make an exception for this particular title. It was the first John McGahern book I read, and it sent me off in a new and exciting literary direction as I promptly made my way through his small but distinctive back catalogue. And while The Barracks only garnered a four-star review when I read it in the summer of 2006, I still continue to think about it...

It was only while traipsing all over Dublin city centre a couple of weeks ago, that I remembered the signed edition I'd spotted in the window of Cathach Books. Some 20 months had past since my last visit to Dublin, but there was the very same signed first edition still on display in the window.

Egged on by Mr Reading Matters, I entered the shop and enquired about the price. It was more out of interest, than any real belief that I could possibly afford it.

While waiting for the young gentleman to look it up on his computer system, I spied another signed first edition of The Barracks in a locked glass cabinet. Yes, this shop doesn't just have one copy, but two!

Anyway, the asking price was €595. As expected, that's just a little out of my range... but it's nice to dream.

If you fancy visiting Cathach Books it is located directly opposite Davy Bryne's pub (for all you Ulysses fans) at 10 Duke Street, Dublin 2. Tel: (+353 1) 671 8676. Or visit the official website.

What's the one book you'd love to buy as a signed first edition? And how much would you be prepared to pay if you saw one available for purchase?

New acquisitions: a swag of Irish books from the Irish book fair

This time last week I discovered a little slice of heaven on earth: an Irish book fair just a 10-minute stroll from my home!

The fair, held at the Irish Cultural Centre, was billed as "London's largest event for the sale of new, second-hand, old, rare and nearly new Irish fiction and non-fiction".

I had a lovely time rummaging through the tables of secondhand fiction and could have quite easily walked away with 100 or more titles! In the end I settled for 8 titles -- one reference book and seven novels -- for the princely sum of £21.

Here's what I bought (in no particular order):

• Waterstone's Guide to Irish Books (Published in 1998, so slightly out of date, but jam packed with lots of information about Irish writers)

• Kate O'Brien's The Last of Summer (Never read anything by O'Brien before, but she's regarded as one of Ireland's greatest writers -- she died in 1974)

• Colm O'Gaora's A Crooked Field (I'll admit the quote on the cover sold it to me: "There's a grace and understated simplicity to his prose...reminiscent of John McGahern and William Trevor")

• William Trevor's Three Early Novels: The Old Boys, The Boarding House, and The Love Department (I've read a few of Trevor's later novels, but not the early ones included in this hefty collection)

• Dermot Bolger's A Second Life (A story about a middle-aged man who decides to hunt out his biological mother)

• Seamus Deane's Reading in the Dark (Set in Derry, this one was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1996)

• Sean O'Faolain's And Again? (O'Faolain was a short-story writer, but this one is a fantasy novel in which a 65-year-old man must make a choice to be run down by a lorry in 30 minutes time or live his life backwards)

• John Banville's The Book of Evidence (I read this one 20 years ago, but have lately been thinking I'd like to re-read it)

Anyone read any of these books? Thoughts on where to start?

This is what happens when you go away for three months. The post piles up!

After 11 weeks away, I'm finally back home in London.

Mr Reading Matters has been faithfully curating my post, sorting it into two big stacks for my arrival.

The first stack was filled with junk mail, bank statements, magazine subscriptions and the like.

The second -- and most important stack -- was comprised of books. It's a fairly mixed collection of titles sent mainly from the very good publicity people at Random House and Harvill Secker.

If you're wondering why some of parcels had already been opened (see the books in the bottom of the pile in the picture), it's because Mr Reading Matters photographed the contents and emailed them to me during my travels just to feed my bookish streak!

Opening the rest of the parcels this morning felt a bit like Christmas.

But, as ever, I really don't know what to read next, I have so many new books vying for my attention, including the dozen or so Australian ones I bought last month and the 20 or so eBooks in my virtual TBR pile on the Kindle! Oh, and there's the 200-plus ones cluttering my bookshelves and piled in stacks in the living room, too... Is it any wonder this place feels a little like a book shop?

The great Australian book haul

I've just spent four days in Melbourne, revisiting old haunts, discovering new ones, drinking the world's best coffee, eating the world's best cooked vegetarian breakfasts, catching up with a few blog friends (hello to @anzlitlovers and @wildsoda), seeing The King's Speech at the cinema ... and in between doing a little bit of book shopping!

Here's what's in the pile:

• Alex Miller's Lovesong (Miller has won the Miles Franklin Award twice; this is his latest novel in paperback)
  
  
• Robert Wainwright and Paolo Totaro's Born or Bred? (A true crime book about Martin Bryant, who carried out the Port Arthur massacre in 1996)
  
  
• Alan Collins' A Promised Land? (A trilogy of novels about a Jewish man living in Australia - given to me by @anzlitlovers)
  
  
• Malla Nunn's A Beautiful Place to Die (A literary crime novel set in South Africa by a film maker who lives in Sydney)
  
  
• Helen Garner's Joe Cinque's Consolation (A non-fiction exploration of Joe Cinque's death - he was killed by his girlfriend with a massive overdose of Rohypnol and heroin)
  
  
• Ron Elliott's Spinner (A coming of age novel for cricket lovers given to me by @anzlitlovers, who has reviewed it very favourably here)
  
  
• Peter Singer's The Life You Can Save (Another book from @anzlitlovers; this one is about practical steps each of us can carry out to end world poverty. Again, it's been reviewed favourably here)
  
  
• Anna Krien's Into the Woods (A non-fiction account of the battle for Tasmania's forests, first brought to my attention by Whispering Gums' review)
  
  
• Jeff Apter's Together Alone (A biography of two of my musical heroes: New Zealand singer/songwriters Tim and Neil Finn)
  
  
• Charlotte Wood's The Submerged Cathedral (This one was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award in 2005)
  
  
• Frank Hardy's Power Without Glory (An Australian classic, first published in 1950, which sparked a huge criminal libel case)
  
  
• Thea Astley It's Raining in Mango (Another 20th century Australian classic about a man who moves his family from Sydney to Far North Queensland in the 19th century)
  
  
• Maurice Gee's Going West (A coming-of-age tale by one of New Zealand's most loved authors)
  
  
• Sonya Hartnett's Surrender (Yet another coming-of-age tale, but set in small town Australia)

When fiction just won't do

Now that my China travels are over and I'm holed up in Australia for the next month, I've never had more time to read. But, unusually, I don't seem to be in the mood for fiction.

While I was on the road I found plenty of time to read -- mainly in airport lounges, train stations and in bed at night. Over the past three weeks I've devoured several non-fiction titles, including Ting-Xing De's My Name is Number 4.

I've also read Somerset Maugham's On A Chinese Screen (about his travels through China in the 1920s), Ma Jian's Red Dust (about his travels through China in the 1980s), Leslie T. Chang's Factory Girls (about what it is like to be a woman in modern China trying to make a decent living) and Mark Leonard's What Does China Think? (about China's rise to power in the 21st century). (Can you detect a theme in my reading?? Reviews will appear in due course.)

I don't think I've ever read so many non-fiction titles one after the other since leaving university more than a decade ago!

I've tried to get my nose stuck into some fiction but with not much luck. I seem to have abandoned Chang-rae Lee's The Surrendered (too many cliched characters) after trying to read it on and off over the past month. And ditto for Zhang Wei's The Ancient Ship.

Perhaps an old classic might help get me in the fiction mood? Suggestions welcome, particularly as my Kindle is proving a very easy way to acquire books when I'm hooked up to a wifi service!