Our picks for May, including fiction, non fiction, audio books, and childrens books.
Click on covers to order
SHORT STORIES
The Penguin Book of the Contemporary British Short Story
Edited by Philip Hensher
£9.99 paperback
A selection of the best short stories from the past 20 years.
Golf Stories
Edited by Charles McGrath
£10.99 hardback
Perfect present material, with stories from authors such as P. G. Wodehouse to Ian Rankin. Everyman's Pocket Classics.
Other titles include Stories from the Kitchen, Russian Stories, Wedding Stories, Ghost Stories, New York Stories, Horse Stories, Love Stories, London Stories and Stories of the Sea.
The Thing Around Your Neck
by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
£10.99 hardback
Twelve stories from the Nigerian author of Half of a Yellow Sun. 'So exquisite they grab you by the throat and stop your heart', (Vanity Fair)
Salt Slow
by Julia Armfield
£8.99 paperback
A dazzling contemporary collection, Julia Armfield was short-listed for the 2019 Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award. This volume published in paperback this year.
Dark Tales
by Shirley Jackson
£8.99 paperback
We are going to hear more about the dark, unsettling world of Shirley Jackson this summer when the film about her life starring Elizabeth Moss is released. Her first and shocking short story, The Lottery (1948), catapulted her to fame and subsequent novels, The Haunting of Hill House, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, cemented her reputation as the Queen of American Gothic. She also wrote a thinly disguised memoir of her domestic life, Life Among the Savages.
Appetites
by Maggie Ling
£9.99 paperback
Maggie is a long time friend of the bookshop and we have even forgiven her for moving from Aldeburgh to Norwich. Her collection of nineteen stories deal with a range of themes: love and loss, pleasure and regret.
Collected Short Stories Vol 1
by W. Somerset Maugham
£10.99 paperback
Another master of the short story. There are four volumes in this Vintage paperback edition.
The Complete Short Stories
by Saki
£9.99 paperback
Saki ('H.H. Munro') is a unique voice in the English short story: funny, eccentric and macabre.
Property
by Lionel Shriver
£8.99 paperback
This is novelist Lionel Shriver's first ever story collection revolving around property and they are as sharp and piercing as her brilliant novels, eg, We Need To Talk About Kevin and So Much for That. The Mandibles is set in 2029: the United States has defaulted on its loans, and the country is plunged into an economic recession. Shriver's most recent novel, The Motion of the Body Through Space, pokes fun at the world of fitness.
Complete Short Stories
by Elizabeth Taylor
£14.99 paperback
No list of short stories should omit Elizabeth Taylor. Witty, subtle, perceptive, her stories are as good as her novels.
A Nest of Gentlefolk and Other Stories
by Ivan S.Turgenev
£9.99 paperback
A collection of Turgenev's most well-known stories, translated by Jessie Coulson.
Flight or Fright
Edited by Stephen King and Bev Vincent. £8.99 paperback
There's a certain Schadenfreude in listing this title: this is probably the only time we can read it, what with air travel being off the agenda for the time being. It's a collection of in-flight stories, from white knuckle rides to the ultimate double locked room murder (in the loo in the plane in mid air ...). As Stephen King writes in his introduction: 'ideal airplane reading, especially on stormy descents'.
Deep Waters: Mysteries on the Waves
Edited by Martin Edwards
£8.99 paperback
This is another excellent collection from the Golden Age of Murder in the British Library Crime Classics series. These ones are all linked by a watery theme from picturesque canals to quiet lakes. Authors include Conan Doyle, C. S. Forester, Phyllis Bentley and Michael Innes.
NON-FICTION
The Crew: the Story of a Lancaster Bomber Crew
by David Price
£25.00 hardback
There is a whole generation of boys who made Airfix models and who watched black and white war films like the Dambusters. This is the book for them. It describes what it might have been like to crew one of these incredibly uncomfortable metal boxes. It is both awe inspiring and gripping and is a tribute to the bravery of all those who flew.
The Beauty and the Terror
by Catherine Fletcher
£25.00 hardback
Everyone knows about the wonderful art and the rediscovery of classical learning that defines the Renaissance. But there was a seamier side. In this new book, we hear not only about the great art but also about the mercenaries and the prostitutes, the engineers and the farmers who lived the Renaissance everyday.
Double Lives:
a History of Working Motherhood
by Catherine Fletcher
£30.00 hardback
A groundbreaking history of mothers who worked for pay that will change the way we think about gender, work and equality in modern Britain. In Britain today, three-quarters of mothers are in employment and paid work is an unremarkable feature of women's lives after childbirth. Yet a century ago, working mothers were in the minority, excluded altogether from many occupations, whilst their wage-earning was widely perceived as a social ill.
That Will be England Gone
by Michael Henderson
£20.00 hardback
The 2019 season was supposed to be the greatest summer of English cricket ever. There was a World Cup followed by Five Test Matches against Australia. Michael Henderson revisits much-loved places to see how the game he grew up with has changed. He reminisces about the game he grew up with: the day he saw Fred Trueman in his pomp, schoolboy cricketers at Repton, club cricketers at Ramsbottom and professional cricketers at Chesterfield, Cheltenham and Scarborough. All in all it is a delightful elegy for the beautiful game.
Immunity: the Science of Staying Well
by Dr Jenna Macciochi
£14.99 paperback
How immune we are to infection is the most talked about subject at the moment. This book helps describe how we as individuals can look after our immune system. One of the messages that is coming through from the scientists is that Vitamin D can help our immune system particularly in the fight against viruses. The best way of getting vitamin D is probably through sensible exposure to sunlight. This and much other useful information is contained within this book.
Findings
by Kathleen Jamie
£9.99 paperback
This was going to be this month’s book for the Bookshop’s book club. Kathleen Jamie is a poet and in this prose work--nature writing at its best-- she brings a great sensitivity towards the natural world. Findings is a joy to read, whether she is looking for the famous corncrake or following peregrines, ospreys and cranes.
Mudlarking
by Laura Maiklem
£9.99 paperback
If you want to escape from the every day, Mudlarking by Lara Maiklem is perfect. Lara has scoured the muddy foreshore of the River Thames looking for objects of interest. Using old maps as guides to London’s former boatyards and quays, she has looked for links to the life of old London. The book takes us on a journey from Richmond to the Estuary and talks about the objects she has found. It is a delight.
Appeasing Hitler
- Chamberlain, Churchill and the Road to War
by Tim Bouverie
£9.99 paperback
Whether the Second World War could have been prevented if the then Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain had stood up to Hitler earlier or whether Neville Chamberlain was a hero for giving the United Kingdom time to prepare for war is a discussion that has preoccupied historians for many years.
Tim Bouverie comes down firmly on the side of the anti appeasers in this outstanding and well argued book. Like all good history it is full of fascinating detail which backs up his argument. Like the bugging of Winston Churchill’s telephone by MI5.
Checkpoint Charlie
by Iain MacGregor
£20.00 hardback
This new book by Iain MacGregor tells the nerve-racking story of the conflict between the West and the USSR which began in 1961 and ended in 1989, centring on one of the few military gateways across the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie. It is one of the best books on the subject because it concentrates on the human stories of those who built it, guarded it, escaped across, and ran secret operations through it. It is both easy to read and immensely interesting.
MBS The Rise to Power of Mohammad bin Salman
by Ben Hubbard
£20 hardback
The murder of Jamal Kashoggi, the catastrophic military intervention and subsequent famine in Yemen, the bizarre detention of the Lebanese prime minister and the surprise arrest of hundreds of businessmen and princes, have all been attributed to the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammad bin Salman. Ben Hubbard describes in this outstanding new book the rise to power of the autocrat and “reformer” MBS.
The Map of Knowledge
by Violet Moller
£9.99 paperback
The Map of Knowledge is a very good example of a book that grabs the reader taking them on a journey in the ancient world through the ideas of three of the greatest scientists of antiquity – Euclid, Galen and Ptolemy – through seven cities and over a thousand years. Vividly told and with a dazzling cast of characters, The Map of Knowledge is an evocative, nuanced and vibrant account of our common intellectual heritage.
The Ratline
by Philippe Sands
£20 hardback
The Ratline was the network out of Europe to South America for many of the Nazis who escaped from the Allies at the end of the war.
Philippe Sands, who wrote East West Street, was given an insight into the workings of this infamous network by the son of one of the most notorious Nazis SS Gruppen Fuhrer Otto von Wachter. Otto died in an Italian hospital in Rome on the run from the police and on his way to South America. What makes the story so fascinating is the inability of the son of this Nazi to acknowledge his father’s crimes.
Who Dares Wins - Britain 1979-1982
by Dominic Sandbrook
£35.00 hardback
It is rather curious that we can now look back at the early 1980s with nostalgia. It was a grim time with unemployment at 3 million and Britain seemingly in terminal decline with a Prime Minister who was determined to break the power of the unions. Everyone had to suffer strikes and power cuts. And yet it was the era of Duran Duran, Coe and Ovett, Ian Botham, and the Mini Metro. Dominic Sandbrook's history of the age is pure joy at a time when people need to be cheered up.
The Garden Jungle: or Gardening to Save the Planet
by Dave Goulson
£9.99 paperback
Many of us who are lucky enough to have a garden of some sort even if it is a tiny area on a balcony can do our bit to save the planet. Dave Goulson, who is an expert on bees and insects, has a written a practical and readable guide to making insect-friendly gardens. Grow foxgloves for long tongued bees,thyme for honeybees or honeysuckle for butterflies. Piles of logs are havens for all varieties of insects. Goulson’s message is one of hope and what we all can do to improve bio-diversity in our own living space.
FICTION
Mum and Dad
by Joanna Trollope
£18.99 hardback
Twenty years ago Gus and Monica left England for Spain building a vineyard and a new life. All is going well until Gus has a stroke and it is left to their grown up children to step in. Joanna Trollope is good at describing the tensions within families. So if your family is not living an idyllic dream during lockdown, do not worry, Joanna Trollope will make you feel you are not alone. Signed copies available.
House of Trelawney
by Hannah Rothschild
£16.99 hardback
Distracting fiction: 'witty and stylish', this enjoyable novel tells the story of a crumbling aristocratic family following the 2008 financial crash. A sort of Cornish Succession with a bit of Jilly Cooper.
The Carer
by Deborah Moggach
£8.99 paperback
James is getting on a bit and needs full time help. So Phoebe and Robert, his middle aged children employ a carer Mandy, who seems willing to take him off their hands. The children sense that something might be wrong when James starts telling his family tales of Mandy’s virtues, their shopping trips together and their shared journeys to garden centres. Then something extraordinary happens which changes everything. 'Cracking good social comedy' (The Times) from the always enjoyable Deborah Moggach.
Where the Crawdads Sing
by Delia Owens
£8.99 paperback
Best-selling paperback fiction. Part murder-mystery, part coming-of-age novel, everyone is mesmerised by this novel set in the North Carolina marshes in 1969. 'Painfully beautiful' (New York Times Review).
Redhead by the Side of the Road
by Anne Tyler
We have struggled to get this into stock since it was published last month but we are happy to say that we now have a decent pile of this new Anne Tyler. 'Tyler rarely disappoints, but this is her best novel in some time – slender, unassuming, almost cautious in places, yet so very finely and energetically tuned, so apparently relaxed, almost flippantly so, but actually supremely sophisticated', writes Julie Myerson in The Observer.
My Dark Vanessa
by Kate Elizabeth Russell
£12.99 hardback
This intense and challenging novel is one of the most anticipated debuts of 2020. It is a complex, nuanced and disturbing look at the relationship between a fifteen year old girl and her English teacher. Now in her thirties, Vanessa is still convinced that theirs was a great love affair, but then another girl comes forward with her story. A fictional Three Women, but more emotionally engaging.
Lanny
by Max Porter
£8.99 paperback
Myth and magic blend together in Max Porter's mesmerising tale of a boy going missing and the reaction of the small town where he lives. But don't be put off: it's as much about love and magic as loss.
Austeniana
Lockdown has given some very clever people time and they certainly haven't wasted it. We have very much enjoyed Claire McGowan's version of Pride and Prejudice on Facebook. Follow her on Twitter @inkstainsclaire to read it all.
BOOKS ON CD
Many people are enjoying listening to books rather than reading. There are some particularly special books that we know have been enjoyed by many of our customers. We recommend two in particular although there are many others. We can send you a list if asked.
Living With the Gods
Written and presented by Neil Macgergor
£26.50
Neil MacGregor was Director of the National Gallery and Director of the British Museum and he must surely rank as one of the best lecturers in the world. Living with the Gods tells the sweeping story of human belief through objects, places and human activities to try to understand how shared beliefs in public life can can shape the relationship between the individual and community. We have one copy of this CD left. The paperback may be bought for £12.99, but then you will miss Neil MacGregor’s beautiful voice.
Germany: Memories of a Nation
Written and presented by Neil Macgergor
£25.00
The other CD that we recommend is Neil MacGregor’s take on the history of Germany. Sausages and Beer, Charlemagne and Karl der Grosse, Beethoven and Goethe, the Forest and the Rhine, Durer and Durrenmatt, Auschwitz and Belsen are all subjects that are explored in these exquisitely crafted lectures by Dr MacGregor. Again we have one copy of the CD left but there is a paperback @ £10.99.
CHILDREN’S BOOKS
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
by Suzanne Collins
£18.99 hardback
Teenagers-- and everybody, really--will be thrilled with this prequel to The Hunger Games, published yesterday. It tells the origin story of the Hunger Games and revolves around the infamous President Snow, and his path to power.
The Highland Falcon Thief
by M.G Leonard and Sam Sedgman
£6.99 paperback
For readers who enjoy the Robin Stevens Murder Most Unladylike series. For readers aged 8-11.
This is the first in a new series 'Adventures on Trains', illustrated by Elisa Paganelli. M. G. Leonard, author of the award-winning Beetle Boy series has teamed up with playwright Sam Sedgman and the result is a thoroughly old-fashioned and exciting adventure story. Eleven year old Harrison Beck reluctantly joins his travel-writer uncle aboard the last journey of a royal locomotive, travelling from King's Cross up the east coast to Balmoral. When a priceless brooch goes missing, suspicions and accusations run high and Harrison is soon embroiled in the hunt for a jewel thief. It's all enormous fun with an air of old-school adventure. A fabulous, fast-paced ride packed with clues, illustrations and intrigue.
The Book of Comparisons
by Clive Gifford and Paul Boston
£14.99 hardback
Did you know that you could fit two football teams on the tongue of a blue whale? (Well, you could have before social distancing ... that comparison seems a bit out of date now.) This brilliant, illustrated book is a great introduction to the world around us for ages 7+. We have another nice little version of this by the same author for younger children, My First Book of Comparisons @ £12.99
The Truth About Old People
by Elina Ellis
£7.99 paperback
Grandparents everywhere will be delighted that their secret is finally out: Old People are ... You'll have to buy the book to find out. For ages 3+
Oi Puppies!
by Kes Gray and Jim Field
£12.99 hardback
This is the latest in the whacky, rhyming series from the authors of Oi Frog! and, wonderfully, Oi Duck-Billed Platypus!, and others. For ages 2+
The Let’s Do Series
Adrew Brodie Basics
Mostly £3.99, all paperback
Just before the official lockdown we took delivery of the full range of Andrew Brodie Basics: Let's Do series. They are tied in to the National Curriculum, bright and clearly laid out, with fun activities and 100 Reward Stickers.
Categories are: Ages 5-6, 6-7, 7-8, 8-9, 9-10, 10-11. Subjects covered in, for example, the 7-8 range: Grammar, Arithmetic, Times Tables, Mental Maths, Handwriting, Multiplication and Division, Addition and Subtraction, Spelling, Comprehension to Punctuation.