The People Have Spoken (again)

We do like it when our customers review books for us - however hard we try we can't read them all ourselves.

Once again Catriona Edington has given us her opinion of some titles......

The Name of the Star, by Maureen Johnson. This is a wonderfully amazing book that can chill you to the bone in some places and make you sigh with contentment in others. I love the creepy historical theme (Jack the Ripper in modern times). 8/10

Greyhound of a Girl by Roddy Doyle. The books itself is a lovely story of sadness, companionship and love in Ireland. I love this story because of its emotion. The front cover is boring, and I suggest a picture of a girl and a greyhound. 7/10

Velvet by Mary Hooper. This story is beautiful. I love it because it is so real life. It made me feel like I was there watching it, but the real thing about this book is that you understand the character's feelings, the happiness at getting a new job, the sadness of her mother dying and the terror she felt of the abandoning of her father who scared her,and when he fell in the moat she left him. 9/10

Blood Magic, by Tessa Gratton. This story is very dark and full of murder, but I love the magic twist into a depressed teenager's life and the anger that Nick feels to his stepmother for blocking his life up. A must have for teens. 8/10

Vintage Books are twenty-one!

What is 'vintage'?
According to our dictionary it's 'representative of the best and most typical', or 'of lasting interest and importance'.

In other words, classic, for all seasons, for everyone and all occasions. Vintage Publishing focuses on producing quality literary fiction, and celebrates its 21st birthday this year.

Shakespeare ( a Vintage author*) wrote of the seven ages of man, and it set us to thinking. Vintage really does provide something for everyone at all stages of life, so we allocated three titles to each 'age' from our most popular Vintage books. So as you progress through life in Marlborough, this is what you're reading, apparently.....allowing for the fact that we will be pressing these titles on you, because we love them all.

Mewling and puking infants don't read much, but for books for children, about childhood, or titles that Every Child Should Read, we offer -
J M Barrie's Peter Pan
Laurie Lee's Cider with Rosie and
To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)

For whining schoolboys with their satchels we came up with
Sherlock Holmes - everyone should read Conan Doyle, it's part of a rounded education.
Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, and
I Capture the Castle, Dodie Smith's brilliant, funny novel of adolescence.

And then the lover. We were spoilt for choice here, but our customers buy
Ian McEwan's Atonement. To break your heart.....
The Moon and Sixpence. Not strictly a love story, but Somerset Maugham's Dire Warning of the consequences of falling in love with an artist?
Pride and Prejudice. Enough said....

The Soldier, or the armchair soldier, or those who are glad not to have gone for a soldier can read
All Quiet on the Western Front, the contemporary classic of the Great War, or
Birdsong, Sebastian Faulk's modern classic of the conflict that became known as the First World War, and finally
Joe Simpson's Touching the Void, not a soldier's tale, but a story of adventure, courage, and devastating, difficult decisions.

The Justice comes next, those in middle life, full of 'wise saws'. We'll pass over the 'fair rounded belly' (there are plenty of books to help you tackle that....) and enjoy that time of life when we know what we like, don't always have unlimited time, but still want some choice reading.
Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
Our Man in Havana (or almost any other Graham Greene novel), and
Susan Hill's The Various Haunts of Men (and the rest of the Simon Serraillier series).

The sixth age is the lean and slippered pantaloon (!). Shakespeare is not complimentary about this stage of life, but as we all know, these days seventy is the new whatever-you-want-it-to-be, so we've interpreted as a period in which we can settle down with old favourites, or, finally, get around to things we've Always Meant To Read (past the stage now of thinking We Ought To Read anything...). Books like -
Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea
On the Black Hill by Bruce Chatwin, and
A S Byatt's Possession.

Which brings us to second childhood, when we all hope to be able to become totally immersed in a story, just as we did when very young. Our customers (none of whom seem to be in second childhood) are buying stories like

Mrs Gaskell's Cranford

The Hare with Amber Eyes, by Edmund de Waal, and

Proust. Surely on everyone's Going To Read list? Six fine, fat volumes.

But of course, this is not a comprehensive, definitive or final list...everyone will have their favourite Vintage titles - and probably different 'favourites' at different times of life.

Over to you - let us know?

* The Sonnets, Vintage Classics, £5.99

We recommend....

Well, in this instance, one of our readers recommends - much as we'd like to read everything we have in stock, we do take time out occasionally to eat and sleep. So we're always grateful when our customers give us their opinion. Catriona Edington has read three new children's titles for us, and passed on her comments:-

One Dog and His Boy, by Eva Ibbotson

"I loved this book, because it felt really real. I felt like these things happened, and at the end he got his dog. A happy ending." 9/10

City of Fallen Angels: Book 4 of The Mortal Instruments,

by Cassandra Clare

"It is really exciting, but scary and I love the magic twist into normal life" 8/1

A Year Without Autumn, by Liz Kessler
"This book is mysterious but exciting. I love the time travelling theme" 8/10

Spying on the Spooks: Jon Stock on the Dark Arts of Espionage Fiction

The White Horse Bookshop wll host an event on 26 May at the Castle and Ball Hotel, in Marlborough High Street. Local author Jon Stock will talk about and sign copies of his latest thriller, Games Traitors Play. Tickets are £5 from the shop, redeemable against a purchase of the book at the event. We think it will be a fascinating evening, and are looking forward to welcoming people to hear Jon talk.

Contact the shop on 01672 512071, or go to www.whitehorsebooks.co.uk

January.Bleurrrghh. I know it’s nearly over, but still....the weather’s horrible, the bills are piling up and it’s hard to feel positive about anything.
Still, we at the White Horse Bookshop are determined not to be downhearted! There are lots of great reads for the New Year, special offers on art materials, and a new selection of greeting cards.
Don’t forget that if you’re planning a holiday to cheer yourself up (lucky you) we have an excellent range of guide books for most places in the known world (and some fairly obscure places) . If you can’t get away we also have lots of excellent travel writing, classic and contemporary, for those who can only dream...
Things that are getting us to utter little excited squeaks as we unpack the boxes are –
· the paperback edition of The Hare with Amber Eyes,
· the paperback edition of The Man in the Wooden Hat (Jane Gardam – one of our very favourite writers). This is the companion volume to Old Filth, they can be read entirely independently of each other, but why would you deny yourself the pleasure of reading the parallel stories?
· the Bloomsbury Group collection – lovely re-issues of “ a wonderful new series of lost novels from the early twentieth century, books recommended by readers for readers, being brought back into print for a new audience.”
Our most popular title this week is My Last Duchess by Daisy Goodwin, closely followed by Nigel Farndale’s The Blasphemer. Readers have also been very enthusiastic about The Auschwitz Violin, by Maria Angels Anglada, a Catalan writer.
And finally, I’m hopping up and down with glee at the arrival of We Had It So Good by the completely brilliant Linda Grant.

Reasons to be Cheerful

Kate Atkinson's new Jackson Brodie novel is now available! Need I say more?

Reviews have been laudatory, and customers have been hopping up and down from foot to foot, waiting for 'Started Early, Took My Dog' to arrive.

Well, all right, I made that last bit up. But several people have asked when it would be in, and have rushed home having purchased their copies, obviously all set to lock the doors, turn off the 'phones, probably prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone, etc. etc. and indulge in a Thoroughly Good Read.

We also have the new Philippa Gregory, 'The Red Queen'. After writing extensively about the Tudors (in The Other Boleyn Girl and others), PG has gone back a generation. Her previous novel 'The White Queen' told the story of Elizabeth Woodville, mother of the Princes in the Tower, and of Elizabeth of York, Henry VII's Queen. The Red Queen is Margaret Beaufort, Henry VII's mother, a fascinating, complex character, married three times and a consummate politician.

And in paperback - 'The Snowman' by Jo Nesbo. Several people have fallen on Nesbo to fill the gap left by Stieg Larsson's untimely death, although there's a hard core of readers who can smugly claim to have known and appreciated Nesbo for years - better than Mankell, they say, doesn't get the recognition he deserves in this country....We hope to rectify this.

It's nearly the end of summer (boo!), but there's lots of good reading coming up this autumn, so keep checking the website (www.whitehorsebooks.co.uk) and this blog for news or suggestions. Let us know if you've read anything you want to tell people about, we'll post your reviews.

With Jam on.

Glorious sunny weather, despite the forecast (meterological voices prophesying precipitation), and I've been ranging around the cookery shelves looking at jam recipes. Yesterday I picked pounds and pounds of redcurrants, and turned them into what looks like perfectly successful jam, but if I'd waited and looked at Preserves, by Pam Corbin I could have made jelly, or cordial!

I still might of course, but having looked at the book I now want to make (among other things) 'Compost Heap Jelly'. And Gooseberry Chutney, to eat with mackerel. Yum.

One to Ten and Two by Two

Some new entries in the Top Ten fiction paperbacks this week, although Hilary Mantel is obviously aiming to be the Bryan Adams de nos jours.....
At number one - The Lacuna. Barbara Kingsolver still selling well.
2 A new entry - New York by Edward Rutherfurd
3 Family Album, Penelope Lively
4 Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel, hanging in there....
5 Ordinary Thunderstorms, by William Boyd (v. good book)
6 The Earth Hums in B flat, by Mari Strachan
7 One Moment, One Morning, by Sarah Rayner
8 Notwithstanding, by Louis de Bernieres -slipped out of the top ten, now back in again
9 Corduroy Mansions by Alexander McCall Smith
10 The Help, by Kathryn Stockett

Did you notice? NO Stieg Larsson. The Girl who Kicked the Hornets Nest has dropped off the chart, but as people are still coming in to buy the first two titles in the trilogy we may well see it again.
Of course what people are buying most of is pretty meaningless when it comes to choosing reading matter for your summer holidays, weekend afternoons or long train journeys, but it is interesting to see what is popular week by week.
Well, I think it is, anyway.

We're still pairing books, in case you're wondering what to read next. So our selection of similar or complementary titles at the moment has Border Songs next to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, and Simon Schama's Citizens paired with Hilary Mantel's (there she is again!) A Place of Greater Safety, her novel of the French Revolution and the ensuing Terror. Then we've put Dudley Green's biography of Patrick Bronte:Father of Genius next to Jane Eyre, one of the products of that genius (though for those who have read J. Eyre and don't want to go back to it I urge you to read The Tenant of Wildfell Hall). We've also put Brideshead Revisited (a perfect summer read, or re-read) beside Madresfield, Jane Mulvagh's study of the house and family who so influenced Evelyn Waugh. Lastly, Antonia Fraser's Robin Hood, a fairly tradtional re-telling of the ballads is parked beside Adam Thorpe's Hodd who is shown as a venal and violent felon - a novel about the creation of myth and legend.

Let us know if there are any pairings, connections, or natural literary affinities that you can recommend.