Newsletter #35
Hello lovely people! What a difference a fortnight makes. Thank you to everyone who donated much-needed bedding, medical supplies, toiletries and other essentials this past weekend, all of which made their way to the central collection hub in Balham before heading to the Ukraine. Along with the usual recommendations of new titles, this edition of the newsletter also includes picks for understanding the current situation, from a political, historical, and humanistic perspective. Our thoughts are with all those affected by the invasion.
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New this week
Moon Witch, Spider King is second in a trilogy of fantasy novels by Marlon James. The Booker award-winner for a Brief History of Seven Killings described the first instalment as "an African Game of Thrones," and it certainly delivered on the brutal violence of that comparison. This follow up deepens the palette, as a 177-year-old witch who appeared briefly in Black Leopard, Red Wolf takes centre stage and offers a differing perspective on this bloody fantasy world.
Ashley Nelson Levy's debut novel Immediate Family is a sensitive, moving novel exploring the relationship between adopted siblings as they enter adulthood and look back on their seemingly idyllic childhood. The short stories in Stewkey Blues, D. J. Taylor's new collection all begin domestic and familiar. Then stranger things starts seeping in at the edges, and the Norfolk countryside the characters inhabit, beginning to seem less inviting...
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Newly translated, Catalan author Irene Solà's When I Sing, Mountains Dance is a fanciful family drama set in the Pyrenees. A beautiful bizarre story, it begins with the death of mountain-man Domenec, who leaves behind two children left to fend for themselves in the mountains. As they enter adulthood against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War, they struggle to make sense of an unfamiliar, constantly-changing country. A ghostly, multi-faceted novel.
Careering is a thoroughly modern morality tale from Daisy Buchanan, author of bestseller Insatiable. At a turning point in their professional lives, magazine employees Harri and Imogen try to contend with the realisation that their "dream" jobs have turned out to be anything but. Finally, Tove Ditlevsen's The Trouble With Happiness showcases The Copenhagen Trilogy author's eye for deeply affecting, cutting familial conflict, this time in the short story format.
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In Burning Questions, Margaret Atwood finds herself in a world strikingly similar to the one predicted by her fiction, collecting essays she published between 2004 and 2021. In the over fifty (!) pieces of non-fiction included, she weighs up issues of the day: the human need to tell stories, what zombie fiction tell us about authoritarianism, and the work of Nobel laureate Alice Munroe. She does so with the same insight and self-deprecating humour as her fictional missives.
Philip Oltermann’s The Stasi Poetry Circle chronicles the Soviet spy agency's attempts to topple capitalism through verse, a story so strange it has to be true, told with sensitivity for its main figures even as the author's search for more information reveals ever-baffling details. Handmade offers a new vessel for practising mindfulness — if tidying up, knitting, or meditating didn't do it for you, Siri Helle recommends chainsaws? A funny, inspiring story of one woman with zero DIY experience building her own cabin in the remote Norwegian woodlands.
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Philip Hoare set sails for another outlandish, entertaining true life story in Albert and the Whale. Impeccably researched and breathlessly recounted, it covers the eclectic adventures of early world explorer Albrecht Dürer and his shipwrecking by way of a mighty sea mammal. From there Hoare spins out into a general history of art and life, looking at the works of everyone from Thomas Moore to David Bowie, yet always situating himself back at the topic of Dürer's travels.
Bless the Daughter: Raised by a Voice in Her Head is the first full-length work of poetry by Warsan Shire, the Somali British writer who worked on two recent Beyoncé albums. Drawing from her own life, as well as the pop culture which raised her, she spins the life story of a misguided young woman through verse. Clover Stroud's The Red of My Blood starts later in life, and follows what happens at the end of one. With brutal honesty and uncommon discernment, the author tells of how her existence was upended by the death of her sister.
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We've had requests for books exploring the history of Ukraine, and the political situation which lead to the current invasion. Recommended for order are Serhii Plokhy's The Gates of Europe, a history of the Ukraine from Ancient Greece to today. Bloodlands by Timothy Snyder explores the mass genocide committed by the Nazis and Soviet Union, with a chapter devoted to the mass famine in Ukraine which was a key part of the country's recent history.
The rise of Putin is chronicled in the long view by Chrystia Freeland's Sale Of The Century, and more forensically in Peter Pomerantsev's Nothing is True and Everything is Possible and Putin's People by Catherine Belton. Meanwhile, Andrey Kurkov's Death and the Penguin explores the post-Soviet society through a bleak, darkly comic fictional narrative, and Tom Burgis's Kleptopia is a sweeping, maddening history of global capital and corrupt oligarchism.
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Grandpa Frank's Great Big Bucket List is the latest from Jenny Pearson. Teamed with illustrations by up-and-comer David O'Connell, it's a big-hearted and humorous romp about one boy's unintended inheritance: a huge sum from a grandparent he never met, but with a catch. A silly, sweet story of what really matters in life: parkour. And, like, love, or something.
Stand-up Catherine Wilkins draws on her experience of the stage for You're Not The Boss Of Me, the empowering story of Amy, who fights back against sexism when she's barred from performing in her school's comedy show. Laugh-out-loud and inspiring! Dominique Valente's Starfell series reaches its fourth volume with Willow Moss and the Lost Day, with the fantasy world at the brink of ruin as evil wizard Silas continues robbing people of their magical powers...including our heroine, who must battle to get them back.
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A family so book-mad, they nearly sink their holiday cruiser with the number of tomes they've packed: an all-too-familiar sight awaits you in The Book Family Robinson. In Jonathan Emmett and Sam Caldwell's wonderfully imaginative and well-realised picture book, said family are lost at sea, with only their books for company...and as their only defence against a band of nasty pirates who've turned up on the same desert island!
Loosely based on the Chinese creation myth, Viola Wang's Hello is a brilliantly colourful, inventive parable about the importance of speech and communication. Tom Percival's The River, meanwhile, explores what happens when we close ourselves off, told through the clever metaphor of a young boy's beloved waterway which freezes over when he has a particularly difficult winter.
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This week's jigsaw pick will have you scratching your head and rubbing your stomach at the same time. And you always thought that was impossible! Not so with the 1,000 piece Guide to Japanese Sushi puzzle, explicating your average raw fish platter with full-colour illustrations that are actually starting to make us feel quite hungry...
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What we're reading
- Abby's favourite read of the year so far is Mieko Kawakami's Heaven, about two fourteen-year-olds who become friends after being severely bullied, exploring ideas of morality and determinism
- Sarah loved Yesterday Crumb and the Storm in a Tea Cup, first in a new series by Andy Sagar; a cracking start in a new adventure with great characters, a magical tea shop (complete with flamingo legs) and creepy villain
- Sam enjoyed Bruce Chatwin’s Utz, a Sebald/Wes Anderson hybrid but obsessed with Meissen porcelain.
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That'll probably do us for now. As per usual, we're open all week (including Sundays!). The full opening hours are below, along with details about contacting us, placing orders to collect and deliver. We'll be back in your inbox in two weeks — do take care of yourselves between now and then.
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| We are open for browsing 10-6 Monday to Saturday, and 11-5 on Sunday. You can also email or call (020 7249 2808) to place an order, then pick up your items from the shop. If you're unable to get to the shop for any reason, you can order books to be delivered to you through our friends at Bookshop.org (and we receive a decent commission!) |
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