There was a lot happening in the book world on Monday. A quivering of anticipation about the Booker Shortlist and a national debate about a reading crisis among children. Oh, and the busiest time of year for new titles arriving at bookshops up and down the country.
What better time to step into the fray and recommend a few titles?
As always, you can listen to the show on BBC iPlayer until Monday Sep 15 - fast forward to 1 hour and 7 minutes - there is also a cracking interview with Kate Mosse in which she discusses her writing, and what inspired her to become an author.
Here are some of the books we discussed:
As far as themes go, they don’t get much bigger than the entire history of our species. Yuval Harari’s ‘Sapiens’ is one of those monumental works that gives a dizzying perspective on how we came to rule – and threaten – the entire planet. It starts with the changes in our brain that allowed us to tell stories, imagine alternative scenarios, and out-manoeuvre other species (notably Neanderthals). From there we become farmers, develop religion, invent money, harness technology and threaten widespread extinction – including our own. The writing is superb – never dry, occasionally brazen, at times almost sardonic – and never afraid to come off the fence in areas that are controversial: did we domesticate wheat, or did it domesticate us? Did stockpiling food lay the psychological seeds for consumerism? Are we happier now than *any* of our ancestors? And what is going to replace our species, as surely as we replaced earlier species?
In 'Archie Greene and the Magicians Secret' by DD Everest, Archie receives a mysterious book on his birthday, written in a language he doesn't recognise, and one with a Special Instruction. Archie must then travel to Oxford to return the book to the Museum of Magical Miscellany. The journey leads Archie to discover the world of the Flame Keepers - a community devoted to finding and preserving magical books. But the magical book under Archie's protection is dangerous, and dark spirits hunt it out. With the help of his new-found cousins, Archie must do everything he can to uncover the book's hidden powers and save the Flame Keepers from evil.
Archie’s adventure takes place in an Oxford bookshop (one that sounds nothing like Mostly Books!), full of underground caverns that house the books of dark magic under lock and key, and fantastical creatures and people busy at work keeping magical books in the right conditions. It’s a fabulously imagined and exciting tale, beautifully produced, with a special Oxford flavour!
In terms of suspense, we don't think anything can match Tana French's 'The Secret Place', a journey into the dark heart of loyalties, rivalries and secrets in the intense emotional landscape of teenage lives. A murder at an exclusive girls school gives detective Stephen Moran the chance for his big break - and an open door into the Dublin murder squad. But the suspects he has to crack are a bunch of close-knit girls, to whom friendship is more important than playing by any other rules. Trying to get teenagers to talk is about as impossible as enjoying working with Detective Antoinette Conway - tough, prickly, an outsider - with a background that couldn't be less like the suspects they are trying to win over. Both have a lot at stake and watching them in action is really compelling, particularly in the claustrophobic school setting as they move painfully closer to the truth. A really different, original piece of crime fiction.
To hear all these books - and plenty more (including the latest Martin Amis) click the link and fast forward to 1 hour 7 minutes...
(You'll remember last month we were raving about 'The Bone Clocks' by author David Mitchell? Kat interviewed David on the show yesterday and you can listen to *that* interview here by forwarding to 2 hours and 7 minutes...)
You may think 'the warm days will never cease' (although if you've been holidaying in the UK recently, this won't be uppermost in your mind) but the hints of Autumn and early September can only mean one thing - some of the biggest books of the year are arriving in bookshops, and front tables groan like harvest festival altars.
Picking three books from this cornucopia is a tad tricky, but here are three books we wholeheartedly recommend you make time to read.
It's been five years (yes, I had to double-check that) since 'The Little Stranger' so a new title from Sarah Waters is both an event and a celebration. 'The Paying Guests' is a tale set in the immediate aftermath of the First World War, with its backdrop of bewildering social change, faded elegance and missing men.
Frances and her mother are forced to take in paying guests to make ends meet, and so Lil and Len enter their lives: different class, different mores. At first Frances gains only glimpses of their lives through open doors, and sounds snatched through walls of the solid old house. But as time goes on, these barriers start to break down with increasingly dark and dramatic consequences. Waters' fans will love it, and it's going to introduce her to a whole new readership. Incidentally, amidst all the focus on sacrifice, duty and the physical fighting, the book is a welcome reminder of the devastating social consequences of the war.
In terms of suspense, we don't think anything can match the Tana French's 'The Secret Place', a journey into the dark heart of loyalties, rivalries and secrets of the intense emotional landscape of teenage lives.
A murder at an exclusive girls school gives Stephen Moran the chance for his big break - and an open door into the murder squad. But the suspects he has to crack are a bunch of close-knit girls, to whom friendship is more important than playing by any other rules. Trying to get teenagers to talk is about as impossible as enjoying working with Detective Antoinette Conway - tough, prickly, an outsider - with a background that couldn't be less like the suspects they are trying to win over. Both have a lot at stake and
watching them in action is really compelling, particularly in the claustrophobic school setting as they move painfully closer to the truth. A really different, original piece of crime fiction.
Finally - and we are going to unashamedly go slightly over the top about this one - you must, must, read 'The Bone Clocks' by David Mitchell.
Having received an early copy a few weeks ago, it is one of the most brilliantly original, bold and quality pieces of writing we’ve enjoyed in what has been an extremely strong year for great writing. The Booker judges have also agreed, placing it on their longlist of the best books of the year.
Starting in 1984, when a young Holly Sykes runs away from home in the aftermath of a disastrous teen romance, ‘The Bone Clocks’ unfolds in leaps and bounds, to the present day and then into the future, as a cast of misfits, misanthropes, writers and war heroes entwine themselves into Holly’s life – and she unwittingly gets caught up in a global battle for power that has been going on for centuries. Themes and deep truths swirl like snowflakes, but at its heart is an extended, wonderful and breaktaking riff on the true nature of our own mortality.
We don't often do this - no book can appeal to everyone - but we really urge you to read this. Mitchell has taken big risks with this story. Quirkiness abounds, at times you get the feeling you are reading a YA thriller, with dystopian and supernatural elements, sometimes it is laugh-out-loud funny. Characters from David’s previous novels rear their heads at various parts of the narrative. For some people, it'll be too much. But, blimey, this is such good writing...
So what we’re saying is: take a risk. We loved it so much, we've sweet-talked the publisher into securing some signed first-editions, so email us if you would like us to reserve a copy.
There you go - three books from many, many others we could have chosen. That's our favourites - what are yours? Come in and find out...
