Shortly before opening Mostly Books, another bookseller told us to always remember that “bookselling is a privilege”. Over the years I've spent a lot of time trying to work out exactly why that is.
Of course, books are wonderful, transformative gateways to other worlds and ways of thinking. Reading delivers so many benefits you sometimes wonder why it isn’t available on the NHS (perhaps it is?). But in terms of being a bookseller, I think the ‘privilege’ part comes from being the gatekeeper between customer and the entire book world. We are the people who talk to customers, try – sometimes socratically, often obliquely – to understand what they are looking for, coming up with suggestions that allow them to move beyond the obvious, the best-selling and the hyped.
It’s a great responsibility. And with great responsibility comes great power (I think that’s right?).
Power – and its pursuit – inevitably leads to the General Election, now less than a month away. Mostly Books finds itself in one of the most marginal constituencies in the country (Oxford West and Abingdon) which means campaigning will be fierce, and inevitably there will be a lot of political talk in the shop.
This year, on Tuesday April 14 at 6pm, we'll be chairing the Abingdon Chamber of Commerce Business Hustings at the Abingdon Guildhall (you'll need to email the Chamber if you want to attend).
So if you fancy grilling the candidates - or just informing yourself of the facts ahead of the vote - here is our pick of some of the best new political books. You may be surprised by some of our selections...we've tried to pick books that reflect the candidates standing and the conversations we've already had in the shop.
Last year we had a special selection of books ahead of the Scottish referendum vote, and after Nicola Sturgeon's solid performance in the election debates, let's start with 'The Dream That Shall Never Die' by Alex Salmond. This is the inside story of the IndyRef from Salmond's point of view (although your enjoyment of the book will probably align with your opinion of Salmond himself). Whatever you think about the referendum, or how the vote eventually went, the energy and engagement shown by the Scottish people is something we hope spills across the border into this year's General Election, so it's a fitting book to begin with.
Many people get infuriated with politics at the best of times, so the intensity of campaigning in Abingdon this year may require an escape valve. We recommend John Crace's satirical pop at the status quo in 'I Never Promised You a Rose Garden: A Short Guide to Modern Politics, the Coalition and the General Election'. Crace - better known for his 'digested reads' in the Guardian - hits the nail on the head of coalition politics by conjuring up some fly-on-the-wall imagined conversations that various politicians might have had. It works brilliantly and hilariously - but may actually soften harsh judgments about how certain parties 'sold out', and the realities and compromises that are inevitable in any coalition...
It's easy to be cynical about modern politics - and the 'they're all as bad as each other' approach is an easy response that let's you off the hook of any responsibility to get involved. The more difficult job of course is to actually bother to think about the issues, do some digging to discover who the good guys are - and give them your support...
In 'Honourable Friends?', Green MP Caroline Lucas explores the results of her own digging during her five years as an MP. This book - a heartfelt and passionate argument about wholesale political reform - rises above narrow party allegiances simply by dint of the high respect Lucas is held in by other MPs, and the wide-ranging experience she has had before her election to Westminster (she was a Green MEP - and she held an Oxfordshire County Council seat in the late 90s).
Lucas was awarded "MP of the Year" in the 'Women in Public Life' Awards in 2011 - but it's the role of women in economic life that is examined in Katrine Marcal's fantastically witty 'Who Cooked Adam Smith's Dinner?'. Arguing that it's women who are the 'missing mass' in failed economic systems (throughout history) this walks a perfect line between angry polemic and incisive argument. As Marcal states in the opening paragraph "Feminism has always been about economics. Virginia Woolf wanted a room of her own - and that costs money."
We have a very active Christian community in Abingdon, and in recent years - particularly following the appointment of Justin Welby as archbishop - the church has strongly reengaged with politics. Recent books such as John Sentamu's 'On Rock and Sand' have argued for more Christian values in politics, but we've plumped for Andy Flannagan's 'Those Who Show Up', which encourages those involved in religion to roll up their sleeves and get active - because it is often members of the church, through involvement with food banks and debt counselling, who end up helping the victims of society's failings. The title is a quote from Bart Simpson of all people - giving you a flavour of Flannagan's contemporary, humorous style.
After last year's close IndyRef, the possibility of a British exit from the European Union is a distinct possibility, and 'Brexit' by ex-Labour MP, and former Europe minister Denis MacShane provides a timely look at the UK's relationship with Europe - from Churchill to UKIP. MacShane is probably better known for his expense-fiddling (for which he was jailed in 2013) but this is a sobering look (from someone who 'was there') at the context of our relationship with Europe, the pros and cons of membership, and how Britain really is sleepwalking towards an EU exit.
Most of us are born in it, die in it, and spend considerable amounts of time in it during our lives. It directly employs 720,000 people, and we spend 9.4% of our GDP on it (less than the EU average of 10.2%, interestingly). With an ageing population and an obesity epidemic, it is no wonder few subject stir passions as strongly as the NHS. But what about our own personal relationship with this behemoth? Dr Phil Hammond - author, comedian and doctor - has written 'Staying Alive: How to get the best from the NHS' which not only does what it says on the front, but contains a lot of sensible advice on how to improve the NHS written from someone on the front line. Dr Phil visited Abingdon in 2009 - and he is a passionate, intelligent, trusted and highly entertaining guide to the realities of 21st century healthcare. Highly recommended for both personal and political reasons.
We're going to be subjected to a lot of propaganda via the media and advertising hoardings over the next month, so get the low-down on politicians and their relationship with advertisers and the press with the following two books.
'Mad Men and Bad Men: What Happened When British Politics Met Advertising' by Sam Delaney, starts with the well-known history of Saatchi et al in the 1980s, and tells you what happened next. The anecdotes are at times genuinely shocking and frequently hilarious, with Delaney talking to many of the key players. A brilliantly entertaining (if slightly sinister) history of political advertising.
'Beyond Contempt' by Peter Jukes is (we feel) the best account of the phone hacking trial. To be read with Owen Jones' 'The Establishment', it's a remarkable look at how power operates in this country. Ultimately depressing but thoroughly recommended.
A lot of people feel extremely patriotic during an election, and there really can be nothing more patriotic than recalling the plucky individuals that helped us to defeat the axis powers in World War Two. Zia Chaudhry's 'Just Your Average Muslim' recalls the 400,000 muslims that did just that - and if you are passionate about returning to a time when Britain stood up to the world, this book works hard to dispel some of the more modern, lazy stereotypes of muslims in British society - and encourages us to work harder to reflect on our similarities, not our differences.
No matter who you vote for, the government always seems to get in, eh? Political education needs to start young, so we're going to recommend DK's 'Who's In Charge?'. With a foreward by Andrew Marr, this is the perfect introduction to power and politics for the young. There are big challenges to our continued existence on the planet - it's the youth who are going to be resolving them. Start them young!
P.S. Feeling politically awakened? Want to support something that every major political leader has called for? We recommend voting for books, with the 'Read On. Get On' manifesto for reading.
P.P.S. The bookseller who offered us that 'privilege' advice nearly ten years ago? Anna Dreda of Wenlock Books, still going strong and definitely a bookshop you must visit…
We've had a lot of discussions about the Scottish Referendum in the shop with customers over the past week. Some have been a bit bemused by the whole thing, some intrigued, some saddened. But for anyone living in Scotland and allowed to vote, it must be exciting and heady; it's only about once a generation that democracy brings potential for genuine change.
Unable as we are to vote, however, we thought we might come up with a few of our favourite books - recently published - that contain themes being played out in what is this evening (on Sep 17) the northern part of the United Kingdom.
'And the Land Lay Still' by James Robertson is possibly the novel to read that encapsulates the modern history of Scotland. This ambitious, sweeping tale grows out of a retrospective exhibition of photographs to take in a quest for Scottish identity, but one set within the ebbs and flows of politics and culture from the wider world. If you (unfairly) had to pick a custodian of Scottish culture and identity, it'd be Robertson - and the complex feelings stirred up by Thursday’s votes are almost encapsulated in miniature by an extract from the novel you can read here.
It has been fascinating (and disconcerting) in the past few weeks to see the various 'iron fists' slip out of numerous velvet gloves, as the big guns come out to defend the union. We know of no other recent novel that describes this process better than ‘Other People’s Money’ by Justin Cartwright (who lives very near here). The modus operandi of 'power' is something we should all take a keen interest in, but in this tale of a fading banking family's attempts to shore up their business in the face of the credit crunch, Cartright absolutely nails the slow stripping away of breeding and manners when entrenched power is really threatened. You'll never look at newspaper headlines in the same way again (and if you're interested in power-plays, this analysis post-vote is well worth reading)...
Of course, you might just want to skip the metaphors and go for a factual expose of who runs the country and how they do it. Owen Jones' ‘The Establishment’ caused a stir even before it was published, but this passionate, consistent and brilliant investigation into the often shadowy (and unaccountable) organisations and individuals who control almost every aspect of our lives is a tour de force. Yes, Owen is an (unashamed) leftie, but whichever side of the political divide you happen to be on, we can all agree that some aspects of social justice in this country could be improved upon...
Lighter in tone, but pitch-perfect in its observations of modern Britain, 'Meeting the English' by Kate Clanchy provides us with a wry look at English (or, more accurately, London) life from a Scotman. Kate talked about this book when she visited the shop over the Summer, and her eloquent poetic sensibilities gives us a highly entertaining read.
Thatcher (or more accurately Thatcherism) is often fingered as the big baddie that stoked Scotland to the edge of independence (as this Spitting Image sketch from 1987 demonstrates), but in Damian Barr's 'Maggie and Me' he paints a far more nuanced interpretation of the 1980s, with his touching and darkly witty memoir about surviving Thatcher's Britain, and of growing up gay in the shadow of the Ravenscraig Steelworks. We read this book for our morning bookgroup earlier this year, and it provoked a lot of uneasy discussion.
'Acts of Union and Disunion' by Linda Colley examines the Union in the context of a wider historical context. Is the Scottish nationalism a recent phenomenon, or just another piece of the longer break-up of empire? A short but extremely thought-provoking book. If the union of Scotland and England was really just a joint-venture for Empire, is it time to break-up - or renegotiate?
Finally, and no matter who prevails in the vote, Graham Robb's 'The Ancient Paths: Discovering the Lost Map of Celtic Europe' provides a neat historical perspective that reminds us that before Empire, before The Union, even before The Romans, we were part of a much older connection with Europe - one which still echoes in our landscape and cultures. Based on original - and breathtaking - research, Robb has pieced together hitherto unknown aspects of the Celts, revealing a civilization of previously unrecognised intellectual sophistication.
So there we are - our contribution (albeit slight) so some of the themes thrown up in recent weeks. Whatever the vote on Thursday, we’ll still be living on the same island, we’ll still have the same Scottish friends, and we’ll still be facing the same global problems that threaten the world and don’t care a jot about borders or nationality. I think all of us who perceive ourselves as underdogs feel - as Philip Pullman says - 'a bit yessish', and if voters go to the polls and gain catharsis of ‘sticking it to the man’, it might lead all of us to scrutinise and challenge the status quo just that bit harder – yes or no, might that not be a good thing?
