The Capuchin Classics Blog

GROUP GRIPES

2011-05-27T15:09:00.005+01:00

My attempt to enact one of my new year resolutions - to join and participate in a book group - is floundering on the rocks of circumstance (and, actually, ineptitude).

My first attempt centred around Jane Smiley's A Private Life. I really enjoyed this novel, which intertwines a beautifully observed, sterile marriage with the major events of early modern American history, taking in theology and science en route. One cannot, however, number brevity amongst its qualities, and I could not make the time to read it before my local book group met. Incidentally, the book has now joined that previously cited pantheon, Books Enjoyed By Both My Wife And I.

Nothing daunted, I noted and bought the next selected tome, Rosamund Pilcher's The Shell Seekers, only to discover subsequently that the date for the group to discuss this novel fell during my visit to New York for the Book Expo.

It has not escaped my attention that the choice of books so far has fallen exclusively into the Large Novels by Female Authors category. If I ever actually get to a meeting, become an influential member and rise to the dizzy height of selecting a work to discuss, it may well be a haiku.

David

THE BLOG OF THE FILM OF THE BOOK

2011-05-18T10:42:00.008+01:00

The US arts and media blog Thirteen recently ran an interesting column on five books that ought to be made into films. We were delighted that 20% of these were Capuchin titles; namely The Conclave by Michael Bracewell, previously discussed in this blog. The website's film critic Alice Gregory says:

Martin and Marilyn aspire obsessively towards the best that a gilded 1980s London has to offer — filagreed china, bespoke suits, olives. But the urban aesthetes lead a predictably empty life, whose ups and downs correlate exactly to those of the stock market. There are healthy doses of conspicuous consumption, indulgent melancholy, and unbridled narcissism. It’s an allegory that could go real dark, real fast on screen. Do not allow Sofia Coppola to get her hands on this one; hire Todd Haynes instead. Ideally, this would be poorly acted.

Present and aspiring film producers, please take note.

David

CATALOGUE BLOG

2011-05-17T15:18:00.004+01:00

Observant blogees may have noticed a significant lapse in postings. Once again I trail my head in ashes* and sternly smite my breast, pleading pressure of other work.

The blog returns with the announcement that the new Capuchin catalogue is available. If you have requested a physical copy, you should receive one in the next fortnight or so. For those who (understandably) insist on immediate gratification, this link on our website will reveal a PDF which can be viewed online or downloaded.

Look out for another post tomorrow describing my failed attempts to participate in a book group.

David

*Sustainably produced from FSC approved wood sources and environmentally sensitive burning, naturally.

SAKI REMARKS

2011-04-13T17:59:00.003+01:00

The always stimulating Desperate Reader blogger has posted a thoughtful review of The Unbearable Bassington, by 'Saki'. For her perspicacity and taste, we may eventually forgive her for having read the out of print Penguin version rather than our edition. Although it is not an index of quality generally recognised by the world of culture, this book belongs to the relatively small pantheon of those enjoyed equally by my wife and me. As I wrote in an earlier, blog, the contrast between the cynically sparkling tone of the bulk of the book and the very powerful ending, is hugely powerful and affecting.

David

BANK VERSE

2011-04-07T21:08:00.005+01:00

Continuing the theme of puffing pet authors, I've been reminded recently - listening to the fervid debates about workers in the financial sector and their considerable rewards - of a gloriously silly Mervyn Peake poem about same.

THE MEN IN BOWLER HATS ARE SWEET

The men in bowler hats are sweet
And dance through April showers,
So innocent! Oh it's a treat
To watch their tiny little feet
Leap nimbly through the arduous wheat
Among the lambs and flowers.

Many and many is the time
When I have watched them play
A broker drenched in glimmering rime,
A banker, innocent of crime,
With lots of bears and bulls, in time
To share the holiday.

The grass is lush - the moss is plush
The trees are hands at prayer.
The banker and the broker flush
To see a white rose in a bush,
And gasp with joy, and with a blush,
They hug each bull and bear.

The men in bowler hats are sweet
Beneath their bowler hats.
It's not their fault, if in the heat
Of their transactions, I repeat
It's not their fault if vampires meet
And gurgle in their spats.

This is from the at least partially mis-titled A Book of Nonsense.

David

COMPULSORY PURCHASE

2011-04-06T23:35:00.010+01:00

I know, I know. Why don't I just change the name of this platform to the Leonard Cohen blog and have done with it. This post is really, however, about the very serious problem of book addiction. Despite a chronic lack of domestic shelf space, and the fact that the tome depicted to the east of this text (a new compilation of poems and song lyrics) contains very little that is not already burdening said shelves in other forms, can you blame me for crumbling before the sheer desirability of the format and design.

Besides, I felt the need to participate, via a commercial transaction, in the enshrinement of The Grocer of Despair into the canon of Everyman Pocket Classics. Can sainthood be far behind?

David

UNDERGROUND LANGUAGE

2011-04-04T22:08:00.006+01:00

It's interesting to ponder the vocabulary and style of language employed by the transport companies to whom we daily entrust our bodies. I have not yet become accustomed to having been converted from a 'passenger' to a 'customer', for example, nor am I any the wiser for my local overground train company having renamed itself (doubtless at tremendous expense and having furnished several teams of designers with lavish penthouse lifestyles for life,) First Capital Connect. Do we have other capitals? The company used to be called WAGN, which at least afforded the opportunity for its victims (I beg your pardon, customers), while stuck outside Welwyn Garden City for half an hour because a 'unit' had developed 'motion issues' (ok I invented that one) to construct amusingly critical variations using those letters.

Recently at King's Cross we started being told that the 'access' to particular lines had 'restricted access'. The idea of access to access is one which, if not swiftly pruned, leads to a nightmarish vortex of regression and self reference. I hope that the access to the access of the access doesn't also become restricted, then where would we be. The absolute corker, is of course, the bland reassurance that

There is a good service on all London Underground lines.

What was that Plato said about any lie being credible if it were big enough.

David

FOREIGN (READING) MATTER

2011-04-01T10:43:00.002+01:00

From The Bookseller's estimable e-news bulletin. Another onerous administrative burden for overworked booksellers.

Government set to curb foreign authors

Bookshops are facing quotas on the number of foreign authors they can stock as the government plans to launch a "British Books for British Readers" campaign.

The Bookseller has learned Prime Minister David Cameron is set to give a speech today outlining his latest iteration of the "Big Society". A DCMS spokesman said: "The publishing industry needs protecting from the Browns, Larssons and Meyers of this world. We think British literature should be celebrated, not swamped. Crime novels set in gloomy Scandinavian forests have an unfair advantage over our cosy domestic settings, so we have to level the playing field to protect this vital domestic industry."

Under the plans, bookshops will only be able to hold 10% of stock from overseas authors. Using rules originally framed for international football, authors with British grandparents could qualify as British. The government is also examining the special case of Irish writers. While Northern Irish writers could controversially be classed as British, Irish authors such as James Joyce and Cecelia Ahern would fall foul of the proposed rules.

Authors such as Kipling and Orwell, both born in India to British parents, or J G Ballard, born in China, would remain eligible. The status of British authors who move overseas or adopt "foreign" writing styles, like Lee Child, remains a grey area.

Foreign publishers reacted quickly to the news. "We don’t have to take any more Alexander McCall Smith or Jeffrey Archer you know," said Danish editor Uwe Binhad of Loof Lirpa Associates.

David

WORK BOOKS

2011-03-29T22:25:00.007+01:00

I thought it was about time that I again interrogated my colleagues in order to ascertain with what forms of literary nourishment they are sustaining themselves. One cannot be too careful; sinister figures lurk in dark alleys, waiting to tempt the naive and unwary with unsuitable forms of prose. Here are the results, presented of course anonymously.

One colleague is reading One's Company: a Journey to China in 1933 by Peter Fleming, being an account of the Times Special Correspondent's eastern wanderings.

Another is learning about the grim connections between Hitler and Stalin's murderous campaigns in Bloodlands.

French maverick author, and challenger to British pronunciation, Michel Houellebecq is engrossing a third workmate in the form of Atomised, a novel which uses molecular biology as a metaphor for the 'atomisation' of modern society.

I am experiencing delightful frissons of psychological terror through the American gothic gloom of Edgar Allan Poe's short stories.

Are we a representative cross section, I wonder, and if so of what.

David

PEAKE ACTIVITY

2011-03-24T12:25:00.009Z

As an admirer of Mervyn Peake since I first became a keen reader, I am delighted that his centennial birth year is being marked by a number of exciting publishing projects. The very useful page run by Sebastian Peake - one of the sons of the author - is a good place to view these books, as well as offering news of exhibitions and related events and products.

The most fascinating for me is the fourth Gormenghast book, which was begun by Peake during his terminal illness and then completed by his late wife. Recently rediscovered, it is being published as Titus Awakes. I've read the trilogy numerous times, and enjoyed the BBC adaptation (while remaining mystified that no-one has been inspired to make a feature film from the books) and will count the days until July comes and I can see in what directions - literally and metaphysically - this unusual collaboration took the character of Titus Groan.

Peake was a remarkable figure, creating work not only in many different literary genres (poetry, prose, children's books, plays) but also being a superb illustrator and accomplished artist. If I had to choose one piece to illustrate his unique approach and talents, it would be the remarkable, long narrative World War II poem The Rhyme of the Flying Bomb. I hope this commemoration and associated activity bring him to the attention of many more people.

David

AUSTEN POWERS

2011-03-21T17:04:00.003Z

The formidable Jane Austen has, it seems, the ability to reach across the centuries and assist with the complexities of modern relationships. The publisher Hodder has recently acquired - in what is reported to have been a 'fierce' rights auction - a novel in which a freelance journalist, reaching a mid-life crisis and anxious to find a mate, decides to use the Austen novels as guides for so doing. The book will be published in 2012.

It's an interesting approach and one less likely to end in tears, I imagine, than following the romantic template of Edgar Allan Poe, whose stories, it has often been observed, seem to suggest that there is no more desirable woman than a beautiful one who happens to be expiring from an ill-defined malady. I've just been rereading Poe's stories (a choice selection of which is presented in our very own The Dupin Mysteries) and finding them exquisitely well-written and faultlessly timed. Curiously the poetry, which I've also revisited and was anticipating more eagerly, has left me cold.

David

LIGHT READING

2011-03-18T16:10:00.003Z

Firstly, let me apologise for the long delay between posts. Our parent company has been undergoing a restructure, and is now standing defiantly, hands on hips, saying 'Bring it on' to the world of publishing. See how down with the kids am I.

As a consequence of our little hiatus, it is likely that the March Capuchins will actually emerge in early April, but please watch this space for confirmation.

I thought I'd restart the blog momentum with a lovely snippet from The Bookseller news bulletin. I make no apologies for purloining this, as they took it from The Guardian.

In the brave new era of digital self-publishing, an unknown mystery writer in New York is managing to make headlines for him or herself by using a form of technology in use since Martin Luther's 95 Theses were posted on the door of a Wittenberg church in 1517.
Pages of a novel entitled Holy Crap are being plastered on lampposts up and down Manhattan's East Village - helpfully numbered, and with directions as to where to find the next instalment.

The whole article may be found here.

Perhaps this habit might cross the Atlantic? Keep an eye on those streetlights.

David

COOKE'S BOOKS

2011-02-28T16:50:00.006Z

Rachel Cooke selected the 10 'best neglected literary classics' for a feature in The Observer yesterday. We at Capuchin Towers were delighted to note that not only did she crown this pantheon with The Real Charlotte, which will emerge as a new Capuchin next month, but that she also selected a title by Barbara Comyns, whose Juniper Tree we are publishing in October.

A lively series of comments has been posted in reply to the piece, many offering alternative titles or entire lists.

David

POE BIO

2011-02-25T15:29:00.004Z

Most of us have ideas and associations relating to particular authors, and it's always interesting when these are refined, brought into sharper focus or even dispelled by more information. My wife and I recently watched an absorbing documentary on Edgar Allan Poe's work and life - and especially his relationship with women - called Edgar Allan Poe Love, Death and Women. This programme led me on to the short but very worthy biography by Peter Ackroyd, Poe: a Life Cut Short.

This book opens, dramatically, with the mysterious last week of Poe's life, which ended with his undiagnosed death, and the details of which have never been definitively established, beyond the great likelihood that these days were tainted by the desperate alcoholic abuse that characterised his life. Ackroyd is deft at drawing connections between the writer's life and his art, never taking this approach too far, and writing with perception and clarity throughout.

The dominating theme that emerges from the book is Poe's obsessive need to be loved, trusted and welcomed by women, although his attempts to realise this need were fatally undermined by is own behaviour and character. At times, he performed extraordinary mental, emotional and logistical juggling acts when courting such approval from different women simultaneously, especially after the death from tuberculosis at a young age of his wife (and first cousin) Virgina.

Ackroyd also briefly but helpfully discusses the range of contemporary reactions to Poe's work, and the enormous influence exercised by Poe's prose and poetry over whole genres and literary movements, from detective fiction through to the French symbolists.

We published a Poe short story collection - The Dupin Mysteries - in January 2010 which is as good a place to start your Poe research as any.

David

OTHERWISE ENGAGED

2011-02-22T18:17:00.004Z

I've just finished reading Stephen Benatar's extraordinary novel, When I was Otherwise. Told largely through dialogue, but also graced by passages of quietly witty narration, the book tells the stories of three main characters. Dan - unassuming, straightforward, kind-hearted, but naive: Marsha - who clumsily attempts the roles of coquette and model wife with equal, tragi-comic results and Daisy, whose witty, waspish, overwhelming character is belied by a failure to construct an emotionally or practically rewarding life. The novel both teases and involves the reader as it makes chronological jumps to unravel the twisted skein of relationships between the three protagonists, making the book an engaging puzzle as well as a compelling read.

Benatar's gift for credible dialogue is astonishing, and he is able to bring to life and develop characters very powerfully in this way, creating scenes and atmospheres which encompass many moods, from the dark and bleak to the joyful. The book is forensic in its analysis of the blessings and pitfalls of human life, especially where growing old is concerned, but wears its author's talents very lightly, the style never seeming forced or contrived.

For anyone who loves to witness the English language being well used, and who revels in the rounded and moving depiction of characters, this is a book not to miss.

Our edition will be published in late March this year.

David

GARDEN POST

2011-02-21T15:06:00.006Z

Firstly, apologies that my other duties and personal circumstances have combined to cause a long delay between the last post and this.

The author Mark Andresen has launched an interesting and provocative new blog, called The Pan Review. There is a link to Capuchin here, in that the name is taken from Pan's Garden, a collection of short stories by Algernon Blackwood, and we are publishing our own Blackwood compilation in May, Ancient Sorceries.

Mark's first post makes a spirited defence of the short novel and story forms, and argues that they are now more relevant modes of discourse than the classic full-length novel. This is certainly an interesting perspective and one which calls for, I think, some vigorous commenting by the blogosphere.

I hope to resume more frequent posting, so watch this space for my thoughts on one of the March Capuchins, When I was Otherwise, by Stephen Benatar.

David

UNDER THE HAT

2011-02-01T15:11:00.003Z

I thought it might be jolly to pen the occasional blog looking in a little more detail at the lives of Capuchin authors. The man behind our second best-selling title - Michael Arlen and The Green Hat respectively - launches this initiative.

Arlen was born Dikran Kouyoumdjian in Bulgaria, to Armenian parents, in 1895, but established his reputation in England during the 1920s. His works were first published in magazines and took the form of essays, book reviews, personal essays, short stories, and a play. Arlen moved into the romance genre, to which he added the spices of psychology, the supernatural and horror, culminating in a defining book of short stories called These Charming People (which we published last year).

All this work coalesced into The Green Hat, which, with its (then) racy story and brilliant description of its times, propelled him to instant fame and fortune. The book became a broadway play and was filmed twice, as A Woman of Affairs and Outcast Lady. The former was a silent film starring Greta Garbo, and deliberately understated or avoided altogether what were considered the highly charged subjects of the book, this reticence also motivating the change of name.

In subsequent work, Arlen again experimented with different genres and fantastic themes, producing a dystopian novel and an adventuring detective - Gay Falcon - who became the subject of several mystery films. He never, however, recaptured the peak of success attained by The Green Hat.

The various phases and locations of Arlen's life and career brought him into contact with many notable figures, including Aldous Huxley, D.H. Lawrence, Nancy Cunard and Countess Atalanta Mercati, who he married. Having had his loyalty to Britain questioned in the House of Commons (due to his Bulgarian nationality and the complications arising therefrom), Arlen moved to New York in 1946, where he died ten years later.

David

LENDING A HAND

2011-01-28T16:32:00.003Z

The Bookseller, chief organ of the book trade in the UK, has launched a campaign to support libraries in their struggle to survive the current round of budgetary cutbacks.

As they explain on the Facebook page for this campaign:

We are fighting for public libraries because they form an essential seed-bed for the wider reading culture of the nation, a culture from which the whole of society benefits.

Libraries seed communities with books and ideas in a way which is irreplaceable. They provide books to people who wouldn’t otherwise see or afford them, the youngest in society, the oldest, and people on low incomes. They also provide free internet access to the 27% of the population who still aren’t online at home.

Libraries are also a forum where authors and readers can come together in a neutral, unbiased space - free from commercial pressures.

Most importantly they are curated by professional librarians who provide expert guidance for readers, helping people find the books and information they need, again free from commercial considerations.

Readers, reading and the values imparted are essential to any civilised society – indeed it seems impossible to conceive a civilisation without libraries.

Many high profile authors have raised a similar clamour recently, including Philip Pullman, and it will be interesting to observe what results their efforts produce.

David

SUPER NOVA

2011-01-26T15:59:00.009Z

The Guardian Books blog this Monday carried a well-considered and thought-provoking piece by Robert McCrum, called 'Books that change your world but no-one else's'. Acknowledging that certain books have had a pivotal effect on the world (Rachel Carson's Silent Spring and Germaine Greer's The Female Eunuch, for example), McCrum goes on to examine

those books that speak to, and move, us as individual readers, become part of our imaginative landscape, and remain a secret, private pleasure

but which may drift out of the awareness of publishing and reading communities.

Mr. McCrum is then kind enough to mention Capuchin Classics as a publisher who seeks out and revivifies such books, mentioning in particular Craig Nova's superb novel, Incandescence, (which we published in the summer of 2009) as an example of a modern classic that was previously unknown to him.

This Guardian blog is a constant source of interesting news and observation, and it is heartening to see the numerous and lively responses that are being posted as responses to Monday's contribution.

David

THE DANES ARE COMING

2011-01-25T17:13:00.006Z

Our sister imprint, Stacey International, occasionally publishes poetry and fiction and an interesting new title in the former category has just been announced for May 2011.

Treading the Dance is a beautiful, bilingual, illustrated collection of medieval Danish folk ballads, in which the English reader will discover many ideas, images and themes familiar from British folk song and literature, including desperate lovers, magical animals and bloodthirsty nobles. The Danish ballads are important because they show us key aspects of the Northern European sensibility in a vernacular style and were the first European ballads to be collected and written down.

Over the centuries, the ballads have inspired songwriters, poets and playwrights, served the needs of World War II resistance fighters and even formed the basis for a radio jingle.

For the Romantic poets in both Denmark and England, the revived interest in the ballads sprang from their ability in both style and content to produce a powerful narrative drama that taps into fundamental aspects of human experience.

Here's a snippet:

From The Maiden in Birdskin

He cut the flesh out of his chest
And hung it on the tree,
She spread her wings and down she flew
Great was her grief to see.

But when the little nightingale
Pecked at the bloody meat,
She changed into the fairest maid
That you could ever greet.

David

BOOK BAG BLOG BLURB

2011-01-24T11:54:00.005Z

Suzie Feay, who has for many years been a regular commentator on the books world for the FT, Time Out and the Independent on Sunday, among others, has launched a new blog. Suzi Feay's Book Bag is a lively, intelligent and attractively presented offering, which so far has included a perceptive overview of David Mitchell's work and an absorbing discussion of the alleged distinctions between 'literary' and 'commercial' fiction.

The latter theme brought back memories of my days as an English Lit. student (at the beautifully environed Aberystwyth university) involved in frequent earnest discussions over how (and whether) literary merit should be assigned and whether 'the literary canon' is an oppressive bourgeois concept, designed to suppress the voices of diversity and unfairly foreground a narrow cadre of writers deemed acceptable by the establishment. We also went out and drank beer sometimes.

Ms Feay's blog is a destination well worth adding to your virtual roadmap.

David

MYLES OF FUN

2011-01-19T14:25:00.005Z

The verbal pun is often held in low esteem by those who aspire to be thought of as intellectual, or possessing advanced sensibilities, but notable writers have been irresistibly drawn towards this form, and have celebrated it in and through their work. The inner child in Mervyn Peake, for example, was delighted by the simple:

Mary Rose sat on a pin, Mary rose.

and he also created a book comprising visual depictions of well-known phrases, which relied on visual puns, called Figures of Speech.

I've been reading The Best of Myles, the selected journalism of Flann O'Brien, who was such a supreme champion and exponent of puns that he often constructed them in two or three languages at once. O'Brien's column in The Irish Times, penned under the name of Myles na gCopaleen, took on a number of forms, each of which demonstrated his facility with and love for language, and in particular what could happen when registers, vocabularies and styles from different worlds were combined (this approach was given further and brilliant rein in his novels, especially At Swim Two Birds). There is an incredible series of articles, for example, lamenting the decline of knowledge about steam technology among railwaymen, and another in which the writer is the unwilling victim of a man who unleashes a series of incredible, rambling stories about 'the brother', a practically superhuman individual who can single-handedly resolve any problem or nullify any perceived danger to himself and his household.

In probably the best-known series of articles, O'Brien takes the characters of Keats and Chapman (of 'Chapman's Homer' fame) and places them in various absurd scenarios, simply in order to deliver an excruciating pun at the end of an unfeasible story. Here's an example:

Keats was presented with an Irish terrier, which he humorously named Byrne. One day the beast strayed from the house and failed to return at night. Everyone was distressed, save Keats himself. He reached reflectively for his violin, a fairly passable timber of the Stradivarius feciture, and was soon at work with chin and jaw.

Chapman, looking in for an after-supper pipe, was astonished at the poet's composure, and did not hesitate to say so. Keats smiled (in a way that was rather lovely).

"And why should I not fiddle," he asked, "while Byrne roams?"

I love the use of the word 'feciture'. There are many more.

David

THERE ONCE WAS A BLOGGER WHO WROTE....

2011-01-14T14:13:00.004Z

To round off Poetry Week at the blog with something of an amuse-bouche, here are a few of my favourite limericks. Although usually a vehicle for reasonably crass, lowbrow humour of a sexual nature, this form can also yield surprisingly witty and intelligent examples, and there is something about the combination of rhyme and metre that produces a strong impact, even in the humblest of manifestations.

From, respectively: Anon; Wendy Cope (stanza III from her limerick version of 'The Wasteland') and Maurice E. Hare.

There once was a man from Peru,
Whose limericks stopped at line two.

************************************

The Thames runs, bones rattle, rats creep;
Tiresias fancies a peep--
A typist is laid,
A record is played--
Wei la la. After this it gets deep.

************************************

There was a young man who said "Damn!
I perceive with regret that I am
But a creature that moves
In predestinate grooves
I'm not even a bus, I'm a tram.

Please feel free to inundate me with your own limerick efforts as comments.

David

MYTH HITS

2011-01-12T19:02:00.004Z

I'm reading - with great pleasure and not a little pleasant perplexity - Leonard Cohen's first poetry collection, Let Us Compare Mythologies. This has been recently reissued as an attractive facsimile of the original 1956 publication.

Those who are familiar only with his songs will already be aware that he is a densely allusive writer, who sometimes uses and combines systems of symbolism and reference in ways that demand a thoughtful response from his audience. His poems, even those he produced at the age of 22, offer the same challenge, but also many rewards in terms of the power they carry through imagery, metre, theme and vocabulary.

Occasionally, an apparently more straightforward example appears, and consequently has the impact of a ballad (a word Cohen uses in some titles), lullaby or chant. One of my favourite such is:

SONG

My lover Peterson
He named me Goldenmouth
I changed him to a bird
And he migrated south

My lover Frederick
Wrote sonnets to my breast
I changed him to a horse
And he galloped west

My lover Levite
He named me Bitterfeast
I changed him to a serpent
And he wriggled east

My lover I forget
He named me Death
I changed him to a catfish
And he swam north

My lover I imagine
He cannot form a name
I'll nestle in his fur
And never be to blame.

For an astonishingly erudite and intelligent discussion of Cohen's (and other artists') poetry and lyrics, as well as interesting explorations of many other related themes, The Leonard Cohen Forum is to be recommended. See especially the sections at the bottom.

David

EVERYONE STANZA CHANCE

2011-01-11T22:38:00.004Z

The e-bulletin from The Bookseller, as well as reporting the main events and news items from the publishing domain, is also sprinkled with signposts to interesting and often unusual book-related themes and sites. My attention was drawn in this way yesterday to a website called Globalwriters. This is an online community for all members of the species to post work, exchange ideas and particpate in events. They've also - continuing the theme for this week - just launched a poetry competition, with free entry, once you've signed up to the site (also free). There is a modest cash prize and, I think uniquely, you can view all the other entries, as they're displayed in the manner of comments in a discussion thread.

The competition runs until April 2011.

David

METRE READING

2011-01-10T15:09:00.004Z

I've been renewing my interest in poetry recently. My Christmas reading was graced by a lovely new collection called Songs of the Darkness, by Lawrence Sail. Sail often uses ideas and themes which relate more obliquely to the traditional festive concepts and objects, and cleverly weaves these into the overarching themes of hope, death and rebirth. At his best, he builds layers of imagery, sound and theme to create subtle and beautiful poems, and is particularly good on celebrating natural history. All royalties from sales of Songs of the Darkness will be given to Trusts for African Schools, a registered charity which acts as a conduit for money raised in the UK to be sent out to some of the poorest schools in Africa

Also noted is a new initiative from The Poetry Book Society, namely a virtual reading group, based around a selection of books they suggest, which can also be purchased at discounted rates.

More on writing which doesn't make it to the right hand side of the page in the next blog.

David

ANOTHER GUST OF SOUTH WIND

2011-01-05T17:10:00.004Z

Firstly, a happy new year to all our blogees (I'm hoping this word will make it into the next OED, if it isn't in already).

I learnt (soon after returning to my desk and taking a virtual machete to the forest of e-mails that awaited me) that the redoubtable Barry Humphries had, while in conversation with the husky siren of English letters, Mariella Frostrup, on BBC Radio 4's Open Book show, chosen South Wind as one of his five favourite books.

You can hear the programme, and discover his other choices, here.

David

A BRACE OF WINDS

2010-12-17T16:39:00.002Z

The delicious Grub Street Press recently issued South Wind through the Kitchen, which is a charming collection of favourite passages from the writer and cook Elizabeth David, selected by various people. It is no coincidence that the title of the Capuchin Classic South Wind (by Norman Douglas) overlaps with the David anthology. Douglas and David became friends in Capri - where our novel is set, albeit under another name - and Douglas is mentioned several times in Grub Street's book.

If you haven't yet completed your festive acquisitions, what better a pair of books to present to a loved one who appreciates great writing and fine food?

David

LYRICAL BALLOTS

2010-12-16T15:00:00.003Z

I have been stimulated by a discussion on Facebook, initiated by a Friend of a Friend (there must be a Facebook term for that) which aims to unearth the best ever rhyming couplet in pop music.

One of my favourites is from a musically quirky and eclectic and lyrically ingenious group called Slap Happy (featuring the cartoonist, musician and all round maverick polymath Peter Blegvad). Their albums are full of brilliant, literate, referential lyrics that would put many writers, let alone pop lyricists, to shame, but the one that sprang especially to mind is, from a song called Michelangelo,

Pope's on the phone, calling Buonarroti
But he's not home, he's gone a little potty.

And to offer just one example from the peerless Leonard Cohen:

I fought against the bottle, but I had to it drunk,
Took my diamond to the pawn shop, but that don't make it junk.

I'd be keen to read your nominations.

David

CATEGORICALLY SPEAKING

2010-12-15T15:37:00.002Z

Here is a delightful missive from Nielsen Bookdata, who maintain the most widely used bibliographic database in the UK. A book has no real existence until it is registered with NBD, and there is a fiendish system of categories and sub-categories into which each book must be placed. NBD is here reporting on an updated version of these categories, recently released.

Howard Willows, Senior Manager Data Development of Nielsen Bookdata, the editor of the scheme notes: “Overall, perhaps the most significant additions are categories for Fantasy Romance, in both adult and teenage sections. The term 'Young Adult' has been replaced by 'Teenager' throughout, as research showed that 'Young Adult' carried connotations of explicit material that was not always justified or intended. The Computing section has been overhauled and updated, and finally recognises the concept of Social Networking.

Other signs of the times include new categories for Budget Cookery, Outsourcing and Energy Efficiency. We already had a heading for Financial Crises & Disasters.

Examples of modifications of headings include changing Global Warming to Climate Change and extending Olympic Games to include Paralympic Games.

The other additions and changes taken individually are perhaps not particularly eye catching (though mathematicians will be thrilled to see that Bayesian Inference now has its own category)."

This brought to mind other categories that may be necessary to reflect modern social and writing trends. We surely ought to have:

Autobiographies of sportspeople who have not reached 25 and have therefore had no real lives to of which to speak

Pointless, saccharine, animal-based books which only sell to desperate shoppers on Christmas Eve

Over-priced extracts, repackaged under a spurious theme, (often a contrived anniversary) which are already available from the same publisher much more cheaply.

Your suggestions welcome.

David

IN DUBLIN'S FAIR CITY...

2010-12-01T14:38:00.007Z

The lovely Hodges Figgis bookshop in Dublin, Ireland's largest, is currently running a Capuchin promotion. The shop dates back to 1768, is referred to in passing in Ulysses, offers some 60,000 titles over four floors and has even been a publisher. The Ulysses reference runs thus:

She, she, she. What she? The virgin at Hodges Figgis' window on Monday looking in for one of the alphabet books you were going to write.

David

UNDERGROUND LINES

2010-11-30T12:53:00.004Z

The exercise in repetitious discomfort and inconvenience that is commuting is occasionally enlivened by a moment of magical transcendence. One such recent example was produced by reading an A.E. Housman poem (presented in the highly commendable series of 'Poems on the Underground', displayed in tube trains) with which I was not familiar.

Here dead we lie, because we did not choose
To live and shame the land from which we sprung.
Life, to be sure, is nothing much to lose,
But young men think it is, and we were young.

Like much brilliant poetry, great power of thought and emotion are conveyed here in deceptively simple-seeming fashion. I love the way in which the most startling line (the third) is also that which most diverges from the iambic rhythm, embodying in sound the contrast between the more mundane, even perhaps naive, sentiments of the first two lines and the shocking philosophy behind this statement about life.

Since reading this poem, I have been tediously reciting it at people, and it has stayed with me far longer than have the quotidian irritations of people walking through 'no entry' areas in the tube and sitting on one and a half seats on the overground.

David

CAPUCHIN WRITER MAKES HAY

2010-11-25T12:05:00.004Z

Julian Mitchell, author of The Undiscovered Country, which we reissued this summer, is appearing at the Hay Winter Festival on December 5th. Julian will be in conversation with Julia Gregson, winner of the 2009 Prince Maurice Prize for Romantic Fiction. Julian will be discussing the novel and his other work, and the Festival holds many other literary and other treasures in store.

My wife and I had a brief but enchanting holiday in the town one Easter, but narrowly missed the spring Festival itself (the second time I've achieved this feat) and I can certainly recommend Hay as a beautiful and magical pace for any lover of literature and landscape.

David

NEW WORDS FOR OLD

2010-11-23T14:46:00.004Z

A friend of mine has shared a delightful article about a Washington Post competition, which invites readers to coin new definitions for existing words. I believe regular listeners to I'm Sorry I haven't a Clue are already regaled by the same practice.

Here is a selection from the splendidly ingenious current winners:

Coffee, n. The person upon whom one coughs
Flabbergasted, adj. Appalled by discovering how much weight one has gained   Abdicate, v. To give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach
Gargoyle, n. Olive-flavored mouthwash
Balderdash, n. A rapidly receding hairline  
Rectitude, n. The formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.

Here's one from me:

Internet, n. A female intern.

Over to you......

David

ROYALTY STATEMENTS

2010-11-19T12:33:00.003Z

As our trade organ The Bookseller reports daily on rushed announcements of new books related to the engagement of Prince William and Kate Middleton, I thought I'd get in early with a few examples of existing (albeit slightly modified) titles.

(No Longer) Just William
Kate Expectations
Gone with the Windsors

And for the more cynical -

Bored of the Rings.

But I'm sure you can think of better examples.....

David

U.S. PRAISE FOR PROSE FROM ROSE

2010-11-18T11:10:00.004Z

The highly reputed American books magazine The Bloomsbury Review recently carried an enthusiastic response to our republication of Rose Macaulay's The Non-combatants and Others. The Review, which enjoys a readership of some 35,000, called the book

a valuable recovery

and say that author Rose Macaulay remains significant for

incisive portraits of a society during and between the world wars.

Dame Rose Macaulay was born in Rugby, Warwickshire, and educated at Oxford. She belongs to that noble but perhaps now undervalued tradition in British letters of writers who paid serious intellectual attention to Christian ideas and themes, and strove to weave these into their work. Macaulay had a problematic engagement with religious belief, and this was mirrored in her personal life by her affair with a former Jesuit priest. She reached the point of being able to return to the Anglican church in 1953, five years before her death.

Her strong interest in and involvement with the pacifist movement was reflected in her sponsorship of the Peace Pledge Union, and pacifism is an important element in Non-combatants, in which the heroine, Alix Sandomir’s, goes through a process of discovery, self doubt and reaffirmation of pacifist principles during the First World War.

Macaulay is responsible for what must be one of the best opening lines in literature, from The Towers of Trebizond:

"Take my camel, dear," said my Aunt Dot, as she climbed down from this animal on her return from High Mass

while a character in Staying with Relations asks:

"Is rabbit fur disgusting because it's cheap, or is it cheap because it's disgusting?"

David

FLANIMATION

2010-11-12T16:38:00.005Z

I have, with superhuman restraint and forbearance, mentioned a mere 9 or 10 dozen times on this blog and other social networking outlets that Flann O'Brien's The Third Policeman is simply the best novel ever written. The thought has often occurred to me that this strange and wonderful story would make an excellent film, but that it would be difficult to realise on celluloid (or even, nowadays, in a computer's memory).

Imagine then, dear reader, my surprise on learning that Brendan Gleeson is working on a film adaptation of O'Brien's even stranger and apparently more unfilmable opus, At Swim Two Birds. This novel mingles various mythological charcters (including the giant Finn Mac Cool and Mad King Sweeney - who is transformed into a bird - and the Pooka MacPhellimey, "a member of the devil class" (who has a fairy living in his pocket)) with ones from everyday life. Among the latter is a student, who writes a book in which a man writing a book is imprisoned, tried and tortured by his own characters, who resent his treatment of him.

All this is used to comment on the relationship between fiction and reality, knowledge, learning and language, and to deliver some darned good jokes.

A rom-com it ain't, and I can't wait to see the results.

David

EDWIN MORGAN

2010-11-10T16:14:00.005Z

I suppose we all have a list of writers whose work we have come across occasionally and enjoyed, but who we have never fully explored. One such poet for me is Edwin Morgan, whose death earlier this year was mourned by his substantial body of admirers, which includes Carol Ann Duffy and Alex Salmond (Morgan was named as the first ever 'national Scottish poet'). I frequently came across his work in anthologies - especially his quirkier 'science fiction' poems, and was delighted by what I read. Sadly, it has taken his passing to convince me finally to read more.

Here's one of the first works of his I met; it's both delightful and seasonal.

"The Computer's First Christmas Card" 1968.

jollymerry
hollyberry
jollyberry
merryholly
happyjolly
jollyjelly
jellybelly
bellymerry
hollyheppy
jollyMolly
marryJerry
merryHarry
hoppyBarry
heppyJarry
boppyheppy
berryjorry
jorryjolly
moppyjelly
Mollymerry
Jerryjolly
bellyhoppy
jorryhoppy
hollymoppy
Barrymerry
Jarryhappy
happyboppy
boppyjolly
jollymerry
merrymerry
merrymerry
merryChris
ammerryasa
Chrismerryas

MERRY CHRYSANTHEMUM

David

CONVERSATION MOVEMENT

2010-11-09T11:15:00.005Z

Apologies for the long gap in posting; again, the pressure of grown-up work has been overwhelming my blogging intentions.

My attention was cheerfully drawn today to an article in The Guardian on the topic of saving endangered words. Savethewords.org, an offshoot of OUP, offers concerned lovers of rare linguistic specimens the opportunity to 'adopt' words and reintroduce them into - as it were - the wild of everyday speech.

Some examples given in the article are:

Oncethmus - The loud and hard cry of a donkey

Suffarcinate - Pack tightly

Weesquashing - Spearing of fish or eels by torchlight from canoes.

My own favourite underused word is

Poodlefaker - A man who seeks out the company of women (often for

selfish reasons).

Over to you.....

David

COVERAGE

2010-10-22T16:03:00.008+01:00

As regular readers of the blog will know, we are going to use a new cover artist, alongside our current one, from spring next year, the parties involved being Candida Thring and Angela Landels respectively.

That esteemed organ of the book trade, The Bookseller, was kind enough to devote most of a page to this news today, illustrating the article with the covers for When I was Otherwise and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

About the latter; I have a strange suspicion. Has anyone ever seen these guys in the same room together? You don't suppose.....

David

MODEL BEHAVIOUR

2010-10-19T15:57:00.004+01:00

Today's Bookseller e-bulletin, a very effective and useful digital hoover which collects all kind of publishing fluff, pointed its subscribers towards a Daily Beast feature on what is being read by the current crop of supermodels. Here is my own list of recommended titles.

Less Than Zero

Westwood, Ho!

The Woman who Walked into Dior

The Satanic Versace

But I'm sure you can think of more.....

David

HIGH SOCIETY

2010-10-18T12:12:00.004+01:00

Some of my colleagues attended the inaugural Katherine Mansfield Society birthday lecture last Friday. This event was sprinkled with literary and other celebrities, including Jacqueline Wilson and Kirsty Gunn, who provided the foreword for our edition of Mansfield's The Aloe. The event took place in New Zealand House, which (see photograph) affords a panoramic view of London rivalled only by The London Eye. The lecture was given by Professor Angela Smith and was entitled: ‘Mansfield and Dickens: “I am not reading Dickens idly” ’. The full text can be downloaded from the KMS website.

David

NOTTINGHAM NOTES

2010-10-14T18:20:00.005+01:00

Its always a delight to learn about readers and booksellers championing the Capuchin cause. I was recently contacted by Waterstone's in Nottingham, where they have been running a dedicated display, accompanied by posters and catalogues. This is the work of one particular bookseller, whom I shall not embarrass by naming, and we are grateful for the energy and initiative he's shown, and for the backing of his managers and employer.

Those of you who are lucky enough to live in the vicinity of this splendid city might like to investigate this display and any other interesting selections that the store has produced. There is also an impressive line up of forthcoming events, including one with Jo Brand tomorrow. The 'Events' tab on the main Waterstone's website will guide you to these.

David

NEVER ON A SUNDAY

2010-10-13T23:08:00.013+01:00

Lest any of you should have taken yesterday's blog as some kind of indication that I don't serve my employer effectively and well at all times, let me just say: 'I was at the Buchmesse all day Sunday'. Not, you might think, any extraordinary evidence of duty, unless you have been there and realise that Sundays in the anglophone hall (Hall 8) now make an excellent and challenging environment for playing 'spot the publisher'. I always had problems conceptualising the Catholic concept of Limbo until I encountered this phenomenon.

Back, as the hoodied rapscallions say, in the day, publishers used to live in fear and trembling of the Fair organisers spotting their stands unstaffed for a few seconds, leave alone a whole day. Such behaviour used to be rewarded with the placing of a stern notice (as only German notices can be) on one's table with a curt invitation to explain yourself - or your lack of self - before some kind of Star Chamber, probably deep underground in a secret location. Those with weak bladders lived in perpetual terror, and would often leave cunningly fashioned dummies of themselves at their stands while they answered a call of nature.

How different now, when many publishers don't turn up on Sunday at all, and many more, including some really major ones, start packing up early in the day, again in defiance of the regulations. I am proud to say that our stall stayed intact and inhabited throughout. I was entertained, as the day went by, through watching members of the public strip the books from an unpeopled stand opposite, often loading many books at a time into capacious wheelie bags. A kind of moral hierarchy prevailed, with some people assuming that the books were available, or not caring if they were, others asking me first and - on recieving the reply that I did not have any information on this point - taking books anyway and one (yes, one whole person) saying that if I wasn't sure, then he wouldn't take them.

It was good to get back home after a busy and productive few days. Only 358 days until Frankfurt 11.

David

ANOTHER FINE MESSE

2010-10-12T23:02:00.010+01:00

Here, as promised, is a faithful and true account of a typical day's activity in and around the Frankfurt Bookfair.

9.30 Arrive at stand, sweep glossy brochures left on table by Chinese printers into the bin.

9.35 Fatigued by previous activity, go to Bar /Cafe and purchase tasteless coffee and sandwich, wondering for the umpteenth time which is more remarkable: the ability of every German to speak better English than most English people, or the audacity of German snack manufacturers in pricing their wares. Decide that the purchase of food at the Buchmesse is solely responsible for strength of German economy.

9.40 First Chinese printer of the day approaches and leaves glossy brochure.

9.45 Meeting with Danish publisher who cannot believe our unwillingness - to buy the English rights for an encyclopedia of Scandinavian flour - can be ascribed to anything but stubborn wrong-headedness.

10.30 Constructively tour round other publishers' stands, extending network of associates and cementing existing relations, activities easily confused - to the untrained eye - with wandering aimlessly around and gossiping.

11.30 Second Chinese printer of the day approaches and leaves glossy brochure.

12.00 Lunch, paid for with small wheelbarrow of Euros, the vehicle having been rented for an immodest fee from the Buchmesse Facilities Office (Tri-wheeled division).

1.00 Meeting with distributor from developing country, who, pleading the general level of poverty in his nation , the Kafkaesque hierachy of bribes and import duties and intense competition, becomes cross when we refuse his reasonable offer of buying our books at 110% discount and acquiring the deeds to our houses.

2.00 Post-lunch coffee, following remortgage of our London office.

2.15 Meeting with author who is touring all publishers gullible enough to allow him to start a conversation. He gives a multi-media presentation about his novel which, through the sheer velocity of his will, holds us transfixed, (wedding-guest in Ancient Mariner style), for several hours. Say, lying, we will consider publishing 'The Angel Vampire Code'.

4.30 Accidentally have useful meeting about something real.

5.00 Torn to psychological shreds by the attempt to decide which publishers' parties to be seen attending, despite consulting IPhone app which cross-indexes all the various parameters, including predicted quality of wheat-based snacks, trendiness of publisher and optimal route between stands. Take so long to try and decide that the hall closes. Ambushed by posse of Chinese printers on way out. Curse own lack of vigilance and improper use of cover.

6.00 Accompany publishing cronies to restaurant and, despite being urbane, sophisticated metrosexual man, become involved in competition to see who can drink the most apfelwein without bowels exploding or face meeting floor.

8.00 Confidently clutching map of train system and street plan, at least one of which is upside down and relates to Berlin, head for hotel, which is in a sufficiently distant suburb to be within the means of a small publisher. Manfully board wrong train, alight at suburb on opposite side of city and begin trek of epic scale on foot, (possibly towards hotel), later to be immortalised by rising German poet. On way encounter, huddling in an underpass, warming themselves through the meagre remnants of their clothing around a makeshift brazier, the employees of a small poetry publisher who came to the Fair three years ago and are still looking for their hotel,which is a dog kennel in Baden-Baden.

10.00 Find hotel. Stagger into room and, pausing only to throw Chinese printer out of window, fall asleep, to dream of isbns.

David

FAIR AND BACK AGAIN

2010-10-11T17:06:00.003+01:00

My Managing Director and I have been away representing our publishing activities at the Frankfurt Book Fair, or as it's delightfully and properly called, the 'buchmesse'. This is a formidably venerable institution, with a history stretching back over 500 years, and now attracting over 7,000 exhibitors and a quarter of a million visitors to its mini city of 9 huge exhibition halls, each one of which could swallow whole the London Book Fair without even needing to belch afterwards. Above is a picture of our stand in Hall 8, with a panel of Capuchins proudly facing the world of publishers, agents, scouts (of the literary, not the dibbing and dobbing variety), printers, members of the German reading public, etc. We had a good level of interest from some European publishers, and as always many folk were kind enough to coo in admiration over the elegant yet striking design of the books.

Over the next few blogs, I'll post a brief diary of some typical days at the Fair.

David

HAM LIT

2010-09-27T13:07:00.005+01:00

I attended a very entertaining lunchtime recital last week, as part of the commendable and very imaginatively constructed Hampstead and Highgate Festival. The organisers have taken dance, and especially Diaghilev as their inspiration and binding theme, and the event I went to in Burgh House (itself a treat to visit, café attached) comprised poetry, prose and even some nicely delivered song, on the broad subject of dance.

The pieces were cleverly selected and exquisitely performed by Piers Plowright, Diana Bishop and Valerie Sarruf. Among many I had not met before, there was Auden in full horror nursery rhyme flow:

The desires of the heart are as crooked as corkscrews
Not to be born is the best for man
The second best is a formal order
The dance’s pattern, dance while you can.
Dance, dance, for the figure is easy
The tune is catching and will not stop
Dance till the stars come down with the rafters
Dance, dance, dance till you drop.

a hilarious piece from Beachcomber, satirising ballet culture (in the shape of a 'Madame Tumblova'), trade unions and a wide range of other targets; the sadly undersung Louis MacNeice, with 'Bagpipe Music' (an absolute tour de force) and a smattering of work by contemporary writers, including India Russell, whose collection The Kaleidoscope of Time is published by our parent company, Stacey International. India's new collection is, appropriately, The Dance of Life, available from Godstow Press.

There is much more literature, music, dance and even walking available from the Festival, (full details of which are in the link above), with some star performers, including Jonathan Miller and Simon Callow.

David

UPON THE HEATH (OR QUITE CLOSE TO IT)

2010-09-24T17:58:00.007+01:00

I performed a highly pleasurable duty today when I visited a recently opened bookshop in Belsize Park. England's Lane Bookshop, delightfully but unsurprisingly named for the road in which it sits, is an absolute treat for bibliophiles, where carefully selected and well displayed books, betraying wide knowledge and good taste on the part of the buyers, very politely threaten one's wallet from every corner. The stock includes a very good range of recent books at reduced prices, but there isn't the frenzied rash of discounts one sees in certain chain outlets. The staff are friendly and helpful, and the atmosphere is enhanced by interesting but unintrusive music. All this, combined with the presence of a very good cafe and other businesses of similar quality, on the very same street, will reward the time and effort of anyone journeying there from inside or outside the capital, especially if combined with a jaunt onto Hampstead Heath and a tour of Keats' house.

I'm taking my wife there with my Christmas books list.

David

BRONTË BLOG

2010-09-22T10:34:00.005+01:00

Today's edition of The Brontë Blog features our forthcoming edition of Agnes Grey. As well as its regular postings on all things Brontë, this blog has an impressive number of links to new and forthcoming books and existing e-literature, runs a campaign to fund a blue plaque at Smith, Elder and Co. (the Brontës' publisher) and generally carries a wealth of information and opinion on all aspects of the subject.

There's also a weekly quote feature, which is currently occupied by a stirring piece of poetry from Branwell Brontë, pictured to the left.

It's well worth a click.

David

PAGE TURNING

2010-09-20T16:43:00.004+01:00

You are probably all familiar with the quandary of being in a bookshop and having to select, according to time and budget, which new books or authors to take home. I must confess to being a fairly ruthless exponent of the 'first sentence' method, and have probably passed over many a dazzling literary experience because of some perceived deficiency in the opening words of a novel (I don't apply the same test to non-fiction).

Today I learnt that Ford Madox Ford, (author of The Good Soldier, recently adapted for the stage by Julian Mitchell, whose The Undiscovered Country is published by Capuchin) developed the 'page 99' rule thus:

Open the book to page ninety-nine and read, and the quality of the whole will be revealed to you.

See this blog for more details and the results of various books being judged in this way.

Do please post comments with your results.

David

BERMONDSEY BULLETIN

2010-09-16T16:48:00.005+01:00

It was gratifying to learn that - as commentators gleefully vie with one another to paint the gloomiest scenarios for physical books and bookshops - a new bookshop has opened in Bermondsey.

Woolfson & Tay (see picture above) had, by all accounts, a splendid opening day last weekend, and combines a bookshop function with those of a café and art gallery. Interestingly, the owners have chosen to focus on biography and autobiography, using the exhibition space to run events which will encourage people to tell their own life stories.

In a statement which is admirable on all levels, one of the owners explained:

We are aware that we are putting ourselves on the line, but there is no compelling alternative to purposeful living.

I hope to visit next time I venture south of the river.

David

LET THE CLICKER BEWARE

2010-09-15T14:03:00.002+01:00

A wonderful story is told in the current issue of The Spectator.

We now leave digital clues with our every mouse-click. Last week a friend of mine was mildly annoyed to find that, following his purchase of a box-set of Will & Grace, the Amazon site immediately assumed he was gay. In fact he is gay, but doesn’t believe his literary tastes should be defined by his sexuality. Half an hour spent browsing power tools failed to shake the site from its assumption. Only when he added The Autobiography of Geoffrey Boycott to his order list did things return to normal.

This is from Rory Sutherland's highly engaging - and amusingly named - column on technology and the web, 'The Wikki Man'.

I'm off now to see if I can recreate my personal profile as that of a spinster from Essex with slight schizoid tendencies and an interest in Peru. Perhaps this could be a new national sport.

David

FLIGHTS OF FICTION

2010-09-14T15:55:00.004+01:00

While stumbling around Facebook the other day (I'm still waiting for the OS map) I came across a reference to Nightjar Press, and was impressed by a subsequent visit to their website. To quote said site:

Nightjar Press is a new independent publisher specialising – for the time being –in limited edition single short-story chapbooks by individual authors. It is brought to you by the people behind early 1990s British Fantasy Award-winning publisher Egerton Press, responsible for Darklands, Darklands 2 and Joel Lane’s short-story collection The Earth Wire. The publisher is Nicholas Royle, the designer John Oakey. We are open to submissions from writers who have taken the trouble to research what kind of stuff we like.

Having kindly been sent a copy of A Revelation of Cormorants, by Mark Valentine, I can certainly vouch for the attractiveness of the design and quality of the writing. I look forward to seeing this publisher develop and perhaps produce books in other formats.

David

WHAT WE DID ON OUR HOLIDAYS

2010-09-09T22:25:00.009+01:00

Here is my traditional post-holiday homework, focussing on literary endeavours, but mentioning in passing that dans Haut Languedoc, nous avons visite une grotte et une gouffre et that the region is now moins beaucoup de cakes.

My wife spent the evenings discovering Nancy Mitford with great delight. Just as a monastic peace would be settling each night, and as our friend Ian and I were nodding sagely over our respective tomes, stroking our chins as our minds moved in subtle and profound meditations, she would shriek: 'This is great; why haven't I read her before?' I finished Don Juan and read Mitford's Highland Fling (published, as previously mentioned, by Capuchin Classics) with equal pleasure. Mitford is brilliant at comic set pieces, and is supremely adept at representing her characters through a shrewd but humane satirical gaze. I failed to read The Dark Horse by the reliably inventive Marcus Sedgwick (I defy you to be unimpressed by his beautiful website), but Ian did it for me.

Related activites including playing the game of 'lists' by thinking of words beginning with each letter of the alphabet in specific categories. Eerily, shortly after one of these bouts of verbal jollity, I came across a passage in 'H. Fling' describing this very pastime and, moreover, listing 'diseases' as one of these categories, the very one which I had just introduced in what I thought was a highly original moment. I also introduced my holiday chums to the structure of the vilannelle, and produced one on the subject of Ian's aquatic antics.

We came home fatigue mais heureux.

David

THE (INSUFFICIENT) BORROWERS

2010-08-23T10:14:00.003+01:00

From The Bookseller e-bulletin, today:

Library Use Falls Dramatically

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Since 2005/06, there has been a steady decrease in the proportion of

adults visiting a public library from 48.2% to 39.4% in 2009/10

There's an institution in my humble home town of Hitchin that offers amazing literary experiences at practically no cost. It calls itself a 'library*', and rumour has it that there may be one or two of its ilk across the land. Astonishingly, this 'library' will, once you have obtained a small, easily portable segment of plastic, (which may be done without undue effort or inconvenience) allow you to take home a number of books - and what is more, read them - for absolutely no fee, providing they are returned within three weeks. This astonishing offer extends across the entire spectrum of the written word, and what is not present on their shelves can be requested from other 'libraries' (here I must admit that a fee of £0.60 is levied for such a service, proving that there is nothing perfect in this fallen realm). I wonder if readers of this blog have discovered similar facilities?

*from the High Middle Etruscan, meaning 'woefully underused institution'.

David

WITH APOLOGIES TO HIS LORDSHIP

2010-08-20T15:32:00.005+01:00

One of the peculiar side-effects of reading Byron's Don Juan is that one begins to think in Byronic style. Here is the refined version of one such example. You're most welcome to send me your own, and we can have a mass cod-Byron festival. I am aware, by the way, and deeply ashamed, that my last line has eleven syllables, and that I have taken poetic liberty with singles and plurals.

Commuting is to voyage twice, for we
Not only take our body but our heart
From one place to another. We may be
The tranquillest of persons when we start,
But, bludgeoned by the rude stupidity
Of blind and selfish drones, our better part
Will, I fear, in every instance shirk us,
Especially when we change at Oxford Circus.

David

METRE READING

2010-08-18T12:34:00.003+01:00

On my daily journey to work, I am currently reading Byron's Don Juan for the first time, and am meeting surprise, delight and amazement at every stanza. Not to mention exuding an aura of insufferable smugness about reading such proper, grown-up literature. I have to work very hard at exuding this, because I'm reading it on my Sony e-reader, so am not visually projecting the identity of my reading to fellow commuters.

The technical virtuosity of Byron's verse is extraordinary, as he conjures a variety of landscapes, situations, moods and characters in chronicling the odyssey of travel, romance and sexual encounters that make up Juan's story, all within a rigid stanza pattern of rhymed pentameter, mostly iambic, and embracing reflections on politics, history and the arts.

The humorously contrived rhymes Byron employs have passed into literary legend, perhaps the best-known being:

But O ye lords of ladies intellectual,
Inform us truly, have they not henpecked you all?

But there are hundreds of exquisite examples, leading me to believe the author was deliberately setting up rhyming challenges for himself in his vocabulary selection. Byron also uses rhyme to more conventional comic effect, as when, in this passage, he undermines his own mock-seriousness:

And she bent o'er him, and he lay beneath,
Hush'd as the babe upon its mother's breast,

Droop'd as the willow when no winds can breathe,
Lull'd like the depth of ocean when at rest,

Fair as the crowning rose of the whole wreath,
Soft as the callow cygnet in its nest;

In short, he was a very pretty fellow,
Although his woes had turn'd him rather yellow.

There are also beautifully expressed passages of meditation:

O Love! O Glory! what are ye who fly 
Around us ever, rarely to alight? 
There's not a meteor in the polar sky 
Of such transcendent and more fleeting flight. 
Chill, and chain'd to cold earth, we lift on high 
Our eyes in search of either lovely light;
 A thousand and a thousand colours they 
Assume, then leave us on our freezing way.

Yet again, I find myself marvelling at the brilliance and energy of a 'classic' writer, and struggling to find parallels in the modern world, aside from Vikram Seth's verse novel, The Golden Gate.

David

HIDDEN GEMS EXPOSED

2010-08-13T12:25:00.003+01:00

The Guardian ran a blog earlier this week about 'the most under-rated authors'. Apart from the fascinating lists of books and authors which people have recommended (also intimidating if , like me, you are a slow reader with many gaps in their literary knowledge) there has also been a running debate in the comments about how fixated British readers are on Anglophone literature, with contributors almost seeming to compete with each other to recommend the most obscure writers from around the planet.

I contributed my own remarks to recommend (as ever) Flann O'Brien and Leonard Cohen (at least, in the case of the latter, Beautiful Losers, as I don't rate The Favourite Game so highly).

It's well worth visiting this blog for the usual inspiration, affirmation and exasperation that such lists provide.

David

COVER STORY

2010-08-11T16:03:00.003+01:00

At Capuchin Classics, the design, appearance and physical qualities of our books are as important as the texts themselves. Until now, each of our covers has borne a black and white line drawing by Angela Landels, whose unwavering eye for selection and detail have in no small way helped to define the Capuchin brand, and to make it succeed. Her work, and the Capuchin design, have received many plaudits, ranging from a feature in The Independent to highly favourable remarks on the respected ‘Caustic Cover Critic’ blog.

Beginning with the batch of titles to be published in March 2011, we have opted to intermingle Landels’ covers with those of Candida Thring, and also to introduce colour, as you will see from this striking rendition of the more primal member of the Jekyll and Hyde partnership, from our March 2011 edition of this seminal novel.

We hope you enjoy the work of this new cover artist.

David

BATH PLUG

2010-08-04T12:35:00.004+01:00

It's good to see very positive reviews appearing for Julian Mitchell's dramatisation of Ford Madox Ford's The Good Soldier, which is running at the Theatre Royal, Bath until 14th August.

The Guardian's Elisabeth Mahoney said:

While its themes offer a tantalising prospect for stage adaptation, Ford Maddox Ford's 1915 novel also presents the challenge of a non-chronological tale told by an unreliable narrator through a vexing tangle of flashbacks. One of the striking achievements in Matthew Lloyd's stylish production is the reworking of this by playwright Julian Mitchell into something more approachable, without losing the ideas that swirl through the original.

While The Stage observed:

This alternative programme is launched in impressive style by Julian Mitchell’s resourceful adaptation of Ford Madox Ford’s seminal 20th-century novel of marital infidelity and eventual tragedy.

Our edition of Julian's remarkable novel, The Undiscovered Country, is also performing well, with good opening orders having come in from bookshops and individuals across the country.

We're hoping Julian will be asked to appear at the Hay Festival next year, so look out for news on that.

Finally, a reminder that - unlike some other websites named after legendary females of formidable martial prowess - the Capuchin website offers 3 books for the price of 2, plus postage and packing.

David

MAYFAIR LADY

2010-08-02T10:49:00.004+01:00

The latest four Capuchins have now manifested themselves on the physical plane and are in bookshops across the country. They are The Undiscovered Country by Julian Mitchell, The Island Pharisees by John Galsworthy, Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad and Highland Fling by Nancy Mitford.

Thanks to all who organised and attended the launch of Highland Fling at the marvellous Heywood Hill bookshop in Curzon Street. The equally sparkling champagne and guests, together with a reading from the book by foreword writer Julian Fellowes, (pictured, right) made for a delightful evening.

Should you need any other reason for visiting this bookshop than the inspiring stock and knowledgeable staff, there is the fact that they are currently celebrating the life and work of Nancy Mitford, (who used to be one of those very booksellers) in a new exhibition: Love from Nancy, running to Friday 10th September. The exhibition includes many items from the Mitford Archive at Chatsworth, set up by the author's sister Deborah, Dowager Duchess of Devonshire.

THE FRENCH COLLECTION

2010-07-29T10:04:00.005+01:00

The perspicacious writer of the literary blog: Frisbee, a Book Journal, recently posted an interesting piece on short stories, in which she celebrated the Capuchin Classic On Horseback and other Stories. This was one of the first four Capuchins to be released into the wild, and it canters on very steadily to this day.

Reading this blog reminded me of my own ignorance about the short story genre. Although one of my favourite books is such a collection - On Becoming a Fairy Godmother, by Sara Maitland - I remain woefully under-read in the area of the classic exponents of the genre. Time to open the Maupassant, I think.

I am pleased to note that the Frisbee author shares my passion for cycling as well as reading, and adorns her blog with a photograph of a very elegant bicycle, smartly accessorised with a classic pannier. I think panniers are the second best human invention, after the bicycle itself.

David

MAID IN CHINA

2010-07-26T12:54:00.002+01:00

Thanks again to that consistent champion of Capuchin Classics, Val Hennessy, who celebrated Peking Picnic in her Retro Reads column on 23rd July.

Val discusses the contrasts of beauty and foreboding evoked by the novel, before describing how the heroine, Mrs. Leroy, meets an acquaintance from her Cambridge world during a trip (sans husband) to some distant ruins, and has to confront the possibility of middle-aged, illicit passion.

Val concludes by saying:

Bridge's gentle 1932 novel paints an indelible picture of old China, her most unforgettable image being the pigeon orchestras -- flying birds making ethereal music, each bird with a tiny pipe fixed to its pinion feathers, creating 'a faint winging of music, as from small harps overhead'.

Magical.

David

TO BORROW, TO BORROW AND TO BORROW

2010-07-21T10:50:00.003+01:00

I was impressed and amused by an American library's promotional video, which has become the latest Youtube phenomenon. With our own library sector under threat from various quarters, including the currently planned public spending cuts, I wonder if something like this would be an effective marketing tool for them.

My own recent reawakening to the wonder and glory of regular library use has been documented in these virtual pages, but my attempts to spread the word to my friends and family have so far resulted only in my wife reading my own library books. I suspect I'm not cut out for evangelism. Having now become proficient in the use of The Great Machine which now performs most of the basic library functions, (see Attack of the Robot Librarians) I now derive a certain childish pleasure from seeing less experienced folk struggling with same. You will be relieved to know that I immediately feel guilty on experiencing this emotion, and am now considering borrowing an appropriate book from the self-help section to enable me to engage with this issue and move on.

I am, however, currently reading Imprimatur, borrowed from my library.

David

BEAUTIFUL TRIBUTE

2010-07-16T10:38:00.004+01:00

Further praise for The Man who Loved Children will be found in a book which should go on your Christmas present lists. I know it's only July, but with our alloted fortnight of sunshine apparently over, I make no apologies for using the C word.

In December Beautiful Books are publishing a book by John Waters - Role Models - in which there is a chapter devoted to his favourite books, within which the author lists Christina Stead’s The Man Who Loved Children as one of the novels which most influenced him. Mr. Waters has tickled many of our cinematic fancies with films such as Hairspray and Pink Flamingos. He is illustrated opposite.

I didn't know much about this publisher before they alerted me to Waters' book, but their website revealed a very interesting publications list, ranging from Dario Fo to Anthony Burgess, and is well worth taking your mouse to.

David

TINY BUT PERFECTLY SMALL

2010-07-14T15:18:00.007+01:00

Apologies for the Blog lacuna - I wrote a series of Pulitzer-quality articles, but my virtual dog ate them before they could be posted.

Great excitement was unleashed in the Capuchin office today (above the quotidian variety associated with working for such a vibrant and chic publisher) as The Guardian published an on-line piece about The Man who Loved Children. This all stems from the New York Times article by Jonathan Franzen (see previous blog) which has caused ripples of renewed interest in this extraordinary book to spread through the ether.

We are described in the article, for which many thanks must go to Alison Flood, as

tiny press Capuchin Classics, an imprint dedicated to "reviving great works of fiction which have been unjustly forgotten or neglected"

Call us wildly ambitious, but one day we hope to be small.

David

GREEN THOUGHTS

2010-07-05T16:10:00.003+01:00

Those lovely people at The Observer published a review of Herbert Read's The Green Child yesterday. The reviewer (Octavia Morris) notes the recurring theme of the narrator's death (symbolic, feigned or actual) as one of the unifying themes in this wonderful, strange visionary novel, and comments that:

With bizarre comic irony, this imaginative, philosophical novel perfectly balances fantasy and reality.

As I work my way through the Capuchins, The Green Child will remain one of the most powerful and visionary novels in the list, and I look forward to revisiting it in the future. In particular, Read's vision of an alternative, utopian society stands out from its multitudinous counterparts - from all kinds of writing - for its sheer novelty and thoughtfulness.

David

EXIT NOTES

2010-06-28T15:00:00.004+01:00

I was wondering what those renowned bibliophiles - the England football squad and associated staff - might be reading for consolation as they fly back to Britain. The following candidates suggested themselves, but if you can think 0f others, please let me know.

Out of Africa by Karen Blixen

Always Coming Home by Ursula le Guin

Four to Score by Janet Evanovich

...and the oft mistitled Muller's Tale by Geoffrey Chaucer.

David

TRAINS AND MULES AND PLAINS

2010-06-25T14:14:00.006+01:00

I'm currently plastering over one of the many gaping cracks in the semi-detached cottage that is my reading. This is to say I've been discovering the lovely travel writing of Robert Louis Stevenson, in the form of Travels with a Donkey and Across the Plains. The clarity and detail Stevenson offers, together with his sense of humanity and appetite for adventure and not least his naturally elegant style, have made my vicarious journeys across Languedoc and America an absolute treat, not to mention enabling me to discourse at length on donkey goads.

Stevenson moves across subjects - place, religion, food, work - with all the ease the hapless donkey lacks, making these books an educational journey also. Here are a few samples, beginning with the plains of Nebraska:

To one hurrying through by steam there was a certain exhilaration in this spacious vacancy, this greatness of the air, this discovery of the whole arch of heaven, this straight, unbroken, prison-line of the horizon.

moving to a frosty Dutch woman with whom he shares a train carriage:

Her parting words were ingeniously honest: 'I am sure' said she 'we all ought to be very much obliged to you.' I cannot pretend that she put me at my ease; but I had a certain respect for such a genuine dislike. A poor nature would have slipped, in the course of these familiarities, into a sort of worthless toleration for me.

and from Languedoc:

We struck at last into a wide white highroad, carpeted with noiseless dust. The night had come; the moon had been shining for a long while upon the opposite mountain, when on turning a corner my donkey and I issued ourselves into her light. I had emptied out my brandy at Florac, for I could bear the stuff no longer, and replaced it with some generous and scented Volnay; and now I drank to the moon's sacred majesty upon the road.

All this is not entirely unrelated to Capuchin, as in January we are publishing our an edition of Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, to follow on from Kidnapped. The former will be the first Capuchin to carry a new cover design, but more of that later.

David

HEYWOOD FLING

2010-06-23T12:37:00.007+01:00

We are launching our edition of Nancy Mitford's Highland Fling at Heywood Hill's Bookshop at 6 p.m. on Thursday July 15th. Julian Fellowes, who has provided the Capuchin foreword, will be reading from the book.

Not only because Nancy Mitford worked at Heywood Hill, but also because it is rightly one of London's most renowned bookshops, we are delighted to have arranged this event.

If you would like to receive an invitation, please e-mail events@heywood-hill.com

PUFFIN HECK

2010-06-21T17:05:00.002+01:00

I have just read that Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl has been declared 'the best Puffin book ever'. Although I quite enjoyed reading this book, and possess no ill will whatsoever towards Mr. Colfer, I could not believe that any books other than The Earthsea Quartet by Ursula LeGuin had been allowed to carry this mantle.

The award was voted for by children, which makes me wonder if LeGuin's exquisite quartet, (I thought the fifth book, The Other Wind was very disappointing) is being forgotten amongst the tide of more slickly-marketed and facile literature.

I hope not.

David

BOLDLY GOING TO LUNCH

2010-06-17T17:01:00.006+01:00

Given the nature of the list, arranging to have lunch with a Capuchin author can be difficult. Bram Stoker never answers my calls, and Rudyard Kipling always has an excuse. I did, however spend a delightful time yesterday with Julian Mitchell, whose novel The Undiscovered Country (not to be confused with the Star Trek film, which also borrowed that quote from Shakespeare) we are to republish in July.

In the intervals between discussing cutting-edge ideas for marketing and sales, we rambled over several topics, and discovered a shared love and awe for R.S. Thomas, the man and his poetry. Thomas was far from noted for his sunny disposition and casual bonhomie: he once described the Welsh as:

An impotent people
Sick with inbreeding
Worrying the carcase of an old song.

Julian described how one poor servant of a renowned society drove half way across the British Isles to Thomas' rural Welsh home in order to present a prestigious prize, only to have Thomas, with a snatch of the trophy and a 'Thank you very much', slam the door in his face. Julian had considerably better success, having succeeded in wresting a cup of tea and a full quarter hour of the great man's time from him on one occasion.

It's wonderful to be working with such an interesting and successful writer, whose Another Country (play and film, both featuring Rupert Everett), although his best-known work, is but one among many acclaimed dramatic and prose achievements, including much television work and the screenplay of the biopic Wilde. Julian is currently attending the rehearsals of his new play, an adaptation of The Good Soldier, the novel by Ford Madox Ford. This will play at the Theatre Royal Bath from July, and may then migrate to London.

David

A SECOND ROUND OF SAKI

2010-06-14T14:54:00.006+01:00

I couldn't resist, having all but finished The Unbearable Bassington, sprinkling a few Saki bon mots across the blog. You may like to use them and pass them off as your own in social situations.

Of a pompous and shallow gentleman who specialised in dominating dinner parties with his own brand of smug piety:

(he was) a skilled window-dresser in the emporium of his own personality

On dressing:

some people are born with a sense of how to clothe themselves, others acquire it, others look as if their clothes had been thrust upon them.

and a characteristic barb from the arch putter-down of stupidity and pretension, Lady Caroline:

'I can generally manage to attend to more than one thing at a time' said Serena, rashly; 'I think I must have a sort of double brain.'
'Much better to economise and have one really good one,' observed Lady Caroline.

But the book is much more than a collection of waspish observations; Saki writes about the serious aspects of life with equal conviction and power, as the final section, set in an African country, well demonstrates:

Somewhere in the west country of England Comus had an uncle who lived in a rose-smothered rectory and taught a wholesome gentle-hearted creed that expressed itself in the spirit of “Little lamb, who made thee?” and faithfully reflected the beautiful homely Christ-child sentiment of Saxon Europe. What a far away, unreal fairy story it all seemed here in this West African land, where the bodies of men were of as little account as the bubbles that floated on the oily froth of the great flowing river, and where it required a stretch of wild profitless imagination to credit them with undying souls.

The book also delightfully and poignantly observes the various stages of romantic relationships between young people, as well as painting a general and fascinating picture of decadent Edwardian society.

David

THE MAN WHO LOVES THE MAN WHO LOVED CHILDREN

2010-06-10T12:19:00.004+01:00

The New York Times recently published a lengthy celebration of this book by the renowned contemporary author Jonathan Franzen.

Mr. Franzen writes:

Although its prose ranges from good to fabulously good — is lyrical in the true sense, every observation and description bursting with feeling, meaning, subjectivity — and although its plotting is unobtrusively masterly, the book operates at a pitch of psychological violence that makes “Revolutionary Road” look like “Everybody Loves Raymond."

and meditates at length on the reasons why the novel is not as recognised as it deserves to be. The essay is replete with erudition and wit, and makes some fascinating observations on the whole business of publishing and reading novels and places this book in the context of literature in general and several specific related novelists and novels.

David

A TASTE OF SAKI

2010-06-04T16:13:00.005+01:00

It had been many years since I exposed my soul to the caustic brilliance that is the writing of H.H. Munro, immortally known as 'Saki'. Yesterday evening, even through the fog of a tired brain further enshrouded by the vicissitudes of commuting, I began reading The Unbearable Bassington, and was instantly refreshed, through all parts of my being, by the playfulness,wit and elegance of his prose. It was like literary mouthwash.

Here's the opening:

In her younger days Francesca had been known as the beautiful Miss Greech; at forty, although much of the original beauty remained, she was just dear Francesca Bassington. No one would have dreamed of calling her sweet, but a good many people who scarcely knew her were punctilious about putting in the ‘dear’.

Her enemies, in their honester moments, would have admitted that she was svelte and knew how to dress, but they would have agreed with her friends in asserting that she had no soul. When one’s friends and enemies agree on any particular point they are usually wrong. Francesca herself, if pressed in an unguarded moment to describe her soul, would probably have described her drawing-room. Not that she would have considered that the one had stamped the impress of its character on the other, so that close scrutiny might reveal its outstanding features, and even suggest its hidden places, but because she might have dimly recognised that her drawing-room was her soul.

There is another link to Capuchin in one of the two favourite theories as to how the author's pseudonym was chosen, namely that it is a reference to the South American primate of the same name, 'a small, long-tailed monkey from the Western Hemisphere', that is a central character in 'The Remoulding of Groby Lington.' The other contending explanation is that the name was chosen after the cupbearer in the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam, a work satirised in 'Reginald on Christmas Presents' .

David

HAY FEVER

2010-06-03T17:10:00.004+01:00

You will, being people possessed of sensitive literary antennae, have been aware of the recent and very thorough coverage of the Hay literature festival. Although I've visited Hay-on-Wye twice (once on a cycling holiday that involved a devious circular route from Hertfordshire to Wales and back, and once as a birthday treat supplied by my wife), I've never made it to the Festival itself, but intend to do so one of these years. While studying at that august and attractively environed temple of learning, UCW Aberystwyth, I also organised an English department outing to Hay-on-Wye, only to find that only three people went, two of whom came back totally unburdened by books (although one of those did buy some clothes).

I note, as they say, with interest that there is now an event which is an adjunct to the festival and has a philosophical theme, called How the Light gets in. The name is a quotation from a song by that supreme modern music lyricist, mystic and sage, Leonard Cohen, about whose prodigious talents and work I could wax lyrical for much more time than I have available and you probably have inclination to attend. The song in question is called "Anthem", from the album "The Future" and the full phrase is:

There is a crack, a crack, in everything,

That's how the light gets in.

David

A HINT OF GALLIC

2010-06-01T20:04:00.009+01:00

What's not to like about Gallic Books? They publish French novels in their first English translation, which are not only brilliantly selected but also look very attractive. I must confess a personal interest here, in that I used to work for the sales team that helped Gallic to launch into the book trade, and nicer people you could not hope to meet.

Gallic started with period crime novels (although written by contemporary French writers) but have branched out, and at the moment I am, as it were, sitting very happily on one of these branches, to wit 'The Elegance of the Hedgehog'. This delightful novel is narrated alternately by the secretly cultured concierge of an apartment block in Paris and the precocious daughter of a resident family. The latter keeps a journal to record her (numbered) profound thoughts, which have led her to the conclusion that the only way to make sense of her life is for her to commit suicide on her thirteenth birthday. Imagine a Left Bank version of Adrian Mole, and you won't go far wrong. Meanwhile, the concierge pursues her clandestine passions for philosophy, literature and art, weaving a screen of ordinariness and anonymity around her to deflect the suspicions of her employers, and her musings on both activities are beautifully rendered, with the smallest whiff of irony and parody.

This goes on until a death in the apartment brings change, in the form of an enigmatic Japanese man.

Here's a taster, from Renee the concierge:

This morning, while listening to France Inter on the radio, I was surprised to
discover that I am not who I thought I was. Up until then I had ascribed the
reasons for my cultural ecleticism to my condition as a proletarian autodidact.

and Paloma the junior philosopher:

I wonder if it wouldn't be simpler just to teach children right from the start
that life is absurd. That might deprive you of a few good moments in your
childhood but it would save you a considerable amount of time as an adult.

The book is suffused with humour, wit and humanity, and is one I can see myself rereading, preferably in Paris.

David

NEW ARRIVALS

2010-05-28T16:50:00.007+01:00

What better way to start a bank holiday weekend than skipping merrily to the tube station clutching advance copies of the four new Capuchins.

Arrived in our office this week and appearing in bookshops a few weeks hence, are:

Peking Picnic, Maurice Guest, The Man who Loved Children and The Unbearable Bassington. Of the four, I'm most excited by Peking Picnic, as the Chinese setting promises to be exotic, and the story - of intense passions and a clash of cultures - sounds as if it will make an interesting comparison to A Passage to India.

I'll write my holiday reading report next week.

David

KIDS' STUFF

2010-05-27T16:11:00.006+01:00

Firstly, apologies for the blogless vacuum of the past couple of weeks; I have to plead the general pressure of work as the cause. I hope you blog consumers are still out there.

I've recently read and greatly enjoyed two series of children's books written by Christopher Priestley. The 'Tales of Terror' books are supernatural gothic (albeit somewhat ironically so) stories in the grand tradition, featuring grisly murders, unquiet spirits and mysterious narrators, while the books starring Tom Marlowe are delicious 18th century murder mysteries in which young Tom and his Sherlock Holmes-like mentor track down the perpetrators of ingenious crimes. The Marlowe books are full of wonderful period detail, very stylishly written and imaginatively plotted. The elegant, concise illustrations that enhance the experience of reading these stories are also the work of the author.

One often reads somewhat pompous comments by literary reviewers condemning the practice of adults reading books for younger readers (these pronouncements were especially prevalent when a new Harry Potter came out), but I have always, and will, as far as I can tell, continue to derive great pleasure from books of all types for all ages.

I've reverted to grown-up reading now, and will tell you all about it next time.

David

EUROPEAN PLEASURES

2010-05-12T16:01:00.005+01:00

In April 2009 I wrote about a new publisher who was exhibiting at the London Book Fair, Peirene Press. This publisher, dedicated to producing beautiful English language editions of modern European literature, is now launching their second book, Stone in a Landslide, by Maria Barbal, translated from the Catalan.

Apart from being attracted to the design and content of Peirene's books, I feel an affinity with their mission to shed light on great writing which fashion and circumstance have obscured, and wish them the best of fortune in their enterprise.

David

POLITERATURE

2010-05-10T16:36:00.006+01:00

Having nearly finished Herbert Read's Green Child, I'm struck by the resonances it has with the recent national ballot, of which you may have heard.

Half of the book describes how, having been mistaken for a political agent, the narrator plans and executes the downfall of a fictitious South American régime and replaces it with a benevolent dictatorship, albeit one guided by highly idealistic moral principles. Here's a passage with which, I would guess, not all politicians of the various hues would agree:

The state must be incorruptible, or, as we might say, armed against sedition. Sedition is only provoked by injustice, but injustice implies not only the failure to administer the laws established for the common good, but also the existence of unimpeachable injustices, chief of which is the inequality of wealth.

Politics is of course not a stranger to works of literary fiction, from Anthony Trollope's epic Palliser chronicles through to, for example, Michael Dobbs' satirical novels, so brilliantly televised in the 1990's. We're very pleased to have re-introduced Mr. Read's classic novel to this genre.

David

CATHOLIC TASTES

2010-05-04T12:20:00.003+01:00

Thanks again to Val Hennessy and her splendid Retro Reads column in The Daily Mail. On April 30th Val featured our newly released edition of The Knot of Vipers, by François Mauriac. In this novel the author - a Nobel Prize winner from 1952 - explores the family and the Catholic soul with profound and moving insight, telling the story of an embittered man setting out to leave a poisonous letter to his family as his legacy, and examining and revising his feelings in the process.

Although most of the Capuchin books are by British authors, we're keen to include suitable titles from foreign writers who deserve a wider audience in English. Several publishers have carried out very fine work in recent years to produce attractive new editions of such literature, helping to coax British readers into a better awareness of writing from other countries.

David

THE GREENISH VERSION

2010-04-29T12:14:00.006+01:00

We often get asked why we publish - alongside books of which ours is the uniquely current edition - titles which are readily available from other publishers.

Although the rehabilitation of 'lost' works is the driving force behind the Capuchin project, we have always felt that the imprint ought to become established in such a way that readers might like to possess the Capuchin version of already well-known classics, either because they were collecting our series, or because they admired our presentation of particular books.

Interestingly, some of these books have sold in quantities which compare very favourably with any title on the Capuchin list, the most popular being Dracula, Plain Tales from the Hills and Gulliver's Travels.

David

VARYING HEIGHTS

2010-04-27T14:47:00.005+01:00

Having just seen our own classically-styled version of Wuthering Heights spring into existence, I thought it would be interesting to post some examples of how other publishers have represented the story on their covers.

The traditional painting is popular:

as are images of Cathy.

Covers without human figures include a brooding Germanic version:

and there are many hundreds more.

Does anyone have a favourite?

David

FOUL WEATHER FOR FAIR

2010-04-23T11:50:00.004+01:00

Apologies for the delay since the last post. This was partly because I had been preparing for and then attending the London Book Fair on behalf of Capuchin and our sister publisher, Stacey International.

Eyjafjallajokull's fallout hung heavily over what is usually a highly international gathering, with many overseas visitors being understandably unable to attend, and meeting schedules being drastically reduced as a result. The positive consequences included being able to move around Earl's Court much more easily, waiting less than half an hour for a coffee and the excitement (I-Spy style, if you remember those books) of identifying foreign visitors, as cries of "I've got an American / African" (etc. delete where applicable) rang through the air.

Some amazing stories of determination and courage emerged, including that of a South African couple whose itinerary included a taxi ride from Lisbon to Paris, but there was a generally eerie, deserted atmosphere about the whole affair.

The latest batch of Capuchins: Scenes from the Latin Quarter; The Green Child; The Knot of Vipers and Wuthering Heights; have now burst out of their packing crates and are winging their way to bookshop and domestic shelves across the globe.

David

REVAMPED CLASSIC

2010-04-12T15:04:00.003+01:00

I was amused to learn, via The Bookseller's e-newsletter, that the popularity of Stephanie Meyer's vampire series Twilight has, according to The Daily Telegraph, led readers of this series on to more traditional gothic literature, and especially Wuthering Heights. The article says:

Citing BookScan data, the newspaper points out that before the first Twilight book came out in 2005, Bronte's novel sold 8,551 in one year. However, after Harper Collins reissued Wuthering Heights last year, with Twilight-inspired cover artwork and the tag-line: "Bella and Edward's favourite book", this figure peaked at 2,634 in one week and totalled 34,023 during the year.

It seems we, with our collective ears ever attuned to the zeitgeist, are publishing our own version of the novel in a timely fashion.

David

THROUGH A GLASS, BEAUTIFULLY

2010-04-01T12:03:00.007+01:00

We're thrilled with the appearance of the Capuchin Classics books and posters in the Waterstone's Gower Street window and in the Fiction section on the ground floor. It's lovely to see so many of the books displayed together, and to have the support of one of the best bookshops, not only in the capital but in the country.

I was delighted to have such difficulty in photographing the window yesterday, as so many people who were walking by stopped to admire the display.

We hope to replicate, to some extent, this showcase in other shops in the near future.

David

O, YOU'RE ADORABLE

2010-03-31T11:38:00.004+01:00

Today's blog is provided by Tom Stacey, in witty praise of O. Henry, a selection of whose stories we publish later this year, which is the centenary of his death. Details of the book will appear soon on our website.

Having a ringside seat at the Capuchin Classics selection panel's deliberations as to what to bring back into print can sometimes mean that I'm yanked into the ring. It wasn't I who thought of reviving O. Henry, of whom I knew only by name as an American master of the short story. But the Capuchin panel knew me as a writer of short stories and an ardent supporter
of the genre.

"You," said the panel, "are our choice as writer of the Introduction to our Capuchin O. Henry revival. We're bringing out 'The Gift of the Magi and Other Stories' by O. Henry in October, and we want a thoughtful and preferably brilliant introduction by the week after next."

"I've never read an O. Henry story," I protested.

"We said," they said, "'the week after next.' A week to read the
selected stories, a week to write the Introduction."

"What's the fee?" I asked.

"It's an honour to be asked," said the panel.

That night I began to read some of the chosen stories. Gosh, I was captivated by a combination of compact yarning, absolute precision of ear and eye, unflagging compassion for the underdog and an unquenchable and wholly idiosyncratic wit as to the gift of life. His stories lay somewhere between de Maupassant and Runyon, I could see at once. Indeed they do – in chronology, flowing out (at extraordinary pace) at
the turn of the previous century, and in creative wisdom. How did he ever come fall out of print this side of the Pond? I wondered.

The I began to research the fellow. It was a life of sharpest light and shade: love, bereavement, a flight from justice, a spell in jail ... and a brief life too: cirrhosis carried him away before he was 50.

Now I'm a lifelong O. Henry devotee.
Thanks, Capuchin panel.

Tom Stacey

SCIENCE FRICTION

2010-03-30T21:35:00.006+01:00

I am very grateful for the strenuous efforts that have gone into relaunching the Large Hadron Collider. Once it's up and working properly, I will have the perfect excuse for authors who are clamouring for unwritten marketing plans or unsent review copies; I will simply say that these tasks were carried out, but that they were negated by disruptions to the space-time continuum caused by the particle accelerator, resulting in the reversal of time and the erasue of certain events. This will become the modern equivalent of 'the dog ate it'.

While following the news about the atom-smasher, I've been thinking about the relationship between science and literature, and if and how modern writers weave the technology of our age into their fiction. It's interesting to read the protests of those who write out and out science fiction, that their work is not taken seriously by the literary establishment; one response from the latter having been that not much of this genre is terribly good in terms of literary quality.

My favourite novelist, the late and hugely missed Kurt Vonnegut, was labelled, if not ghettoized, as a science fiction writer during the early part of his career, and observed the battle between the genres with something of the nature of a double agent:

I have been a sore-headed occupant of a file-drawer labeled ''science- fiction'' ever since, and I would like out, particularly since so many serious critics regularly mistake the drawer for a tall white fixture in a comfort station.The way a person gets into this drawer, apparently, is to notice technology. The feeling persists that no one can simultaneously be a respectable writer and understand how a refrigerator works, just as no gentleman wears a brown suit in the city.

While, on the other hand:

the editors and anthologists and publishers who keep the science-fiction field separate and alive: they are uniformly brilliant and sensitive and well-informed. They are among the precious few Americans in whose minds C.P. Snow's two cultures sweetly intertwine. They publish so much bad stuff because good stuff is hard to find, and because they feel it is their duty to encourage any writer, no matter how frightful, who has guts enough to include technology in the human equation. Good for them. They want buxom images of the new reality.

Vonnegut's later novels are peppered with self-knowing references to the embattled positions of science and science fiction in popular culture, and one of his most rumbustious efforts, The Sirens of Titan, is a full-blown, ironic homage to science fiction ideas and mechanisms. In this novel, he invents the wonderful cosmic phenomenon of the chronosynclastic infundibulum, which, against their will, sweeps a man and his dog (Kazak, hound of space) across the universe, and manifests them at particular places and times.

In this context there are also, of course, the wonderful novels of John Wyndham to consider, in which he weaves technological and social, cultural and psychological themes together with great deftness, and the more obviously 'literary' SF novelists such as J.G. Ballard and Iain (M) Banks (as opposed to the M-less iain Banks who writes 'mainstream' novels).

So it goes.

David

SPRING QUARTET

2010-03-29T17:01:00.002+01:00

The advance copies of the four March Capuchins arrived at the office recently, to the usual twitters of excitement and joy. This is possibly the most exciting moment of the publishing life cycle, when the considerable efforts of everyone involved in the conception and gestation of a new title are manifested in physical form.

Due to a slight delay in production (I think the printers' boy ran off to sea) the bulk copies won't be released until mid-April, but here's another preview of the Fantastic Four.

Two blistering and hugely influential French novels: Scenes from the Latin Quarter and Knot of Vipers, are beautified by the Capuchin treatment, and, from this side of La Manche, Herbert Read's eerie, mystical fable The Green Child is accompanied by our very own version of Wuthering Heights.

David

(GOWER)DE TE

2010-03-27T23:50:00.005Z

As from Monday, the flagship Waterstone's store in Gower Street will be hoisting the Capuchin Classics flag. This store, formerly incarnated as Dillon's Mallet Street, combines superb academic stock - serving as it does the bookish needs of the students and staff of UCL - with a very wide range of general trade books, all attractively displayed, and sold by booksellers whose knowledge and enthusiasm for their subjects is a byword in bookselling. The Grade 1 listed building in which all this is housed is very worthy of attention in itself.

Those of you in, near or passing through London should be able to see the main window adorned with large reproductions of some Capuchin covers, and to browse through a comprehensive selection of the titles in the shop. Buying a good number of same is highly recommended.

David

DAUNTED

2010-03-25T10:29:00.004Z

A very pleasant evening was had yesterday, launching a book from Capuchin's parent company, Stacey International, at Daunt Bookshop in Marylebone High Street. It is always a delight to return to the original shop - the owners having opened counterparts in four other judiciously selected sites - and to bask in the air of a place whose guiding spirit is a passion for good writing and publishing.

The only disadvantage to visiting what I have long believed to be the best bookshop in London - and possibly the UK - is that I am always tempted to buy so many books, and have to weigh this instinct against the constraints of personal finance and domestic space. This is, however, a pleasant dilemma in which to be caught.

Thanks to Brett, Adam, Lucy and the other Daunt staff, who provided the perfect setting for our event.

David

PIP, PIP HOORAY

2010-03-24T16:44:00.004Z

The blog apologises for the dearth of posts recently, having been walking round Toulouse and discovering the wonderful Japanese garden and vast Catholic cemetery while on holiday in that city.

Strange are the paths that lead us to books. My Sony e-reader arrived with 100 free classics, and I am finally and happily plugging many embarrassing holes in my literary bucket, because - like mountains - the books are there, albeit virtually. Our older readers may have grasped the allusion to an ancient, repetitive, popular ditty involving holes, buckets and other items. They don't write them like that any more.

At the moment, I'm digitally processing Great Expectations, and, as ever with reading Dickens after a long absence, I'm enthralled by the sheer brilliance of his prose, which is often used to such wonderful comic effect. For example:

My sister, Mrs. Joe, throwing the door wide open, and finding an obstruction behind it, immediately divined the cause.....She concluded by throwing me - I often served as a connubial missile - at Joe, who, glad to get hold of me on any terms, passed me into the chimney and quietly fenced me up there with his great leg.

The humour is of course counterpointed with scenes of the grotesque, the squalid, and the emotional or sentimental, all stamped with the same wit and eloquence.

I may even finally get round to watching the film.

David

MAIL AND FEMALE

2010-03-12T17:51:00.004Z

Val Hennessy, champion of classic literature in her Daily Mail column, Retro Reads, reviews our edition of Rose Macaulay's Non-Combatants and Others in today's newspaper. The book explores the issues of war, pacifism and social non-conformity through the eyes of its young heroine.

Our book sits just south of Muriel Spark's Memento Mori, reissued by Virago. The Virago website is a treat and a real pleasure to browse through, and Spark is one of those authors of whose works I am always meaning to read more, having enjoyed Miss Jean Brodie and The Ballad of Peckham Rye.

David

I'D LIKE TO THANK....

2010-03-10T17:44:00.005Z

In the sprit of the Oscar season, this is to say a huge 'thank you' to everyone (and there have been a great many of you) who has sent us their ideas for new Capuchin titles, which are still arriving daily. It goes to confirm that there has been a wealth of interesting material left behind by the vagaries of literary fashion and circumstance.

One particularly imaginative and resourceful reader, noticing the curious and accidental preponderance of the word 'green' in our book titles, sent us a list of no fewer than 23 suggestions, each containing that shade. Capugreen Classics, indeed.

Keep the ideas coming.

David

WE'VE SEEN IT IN THE MOVIES...

2010-03-08T14:46:00.003Z

In a typical gesture of marital unselfishness about which my humility almost forbids me to speak, I recently accompanied my wife through a dvd viewing of The Proposal. The film, starring 2010 Razzie (worst film) and Oscar award winner Sandra Bullock, depicts her character as a ruthless, workaholic publishing executive, whose company is lodged in a huge skyscraper and whose working life is defined by glamour and high technology. This reminded me of the publishing environment portrayed in Bridget Jones, which conveyed, although on a smaller scale, a publishing house equally draped in chic, and made me yearn once again for a film set in a small, relatively unknown publishing enterprise, where sometimes stuffing envelopes for an afternoon or finding a working stapler can seem the height of glitzy excitement.

As I recall it - which is very dimly - there is a more credible, somewhat chaotic depiction of our trade in Italo Calvino's If, on a Winter's Night.... and probably in many other books about which I am ignorant or have forgotten.

Contributions welcome.

David

TAKE TWO NOVELS, AS SYMPTOMS REQUIRE

2010-02-22T21:59:00.003Z

Having been laid low by illness for a couple of days, I've had cause to be especially grateful to reading as a palliative to discomfort and anxiety. The pair of novels in question are The Book of Dead Days and The Dark Flight Down, by Marcus Sedgwick. These are stories for older younger persons (I get fed up of writing teenage fiction) set in the classically gothic world of a vast, un-named, largely pre-technological city through the dark streets of which is played out a plot involving ambition, greed, explotation, love and magic. I first noticed the books in my local bookshop, was attracted by the covers and design, and eventually found them in and borrowed them from my equally local library. The thrill of being able to walk into a building and then out again, having acquired a bagful of reading without paying at the point of service, remains delightfully undiluted.

The books have left me with one question, however, namely what is the term for a pair of linked novels. I'm settling for biology, and hoping mine will rectify itself soon.

David

BY THEIR COVERS SHALL YE KNOW THEM

2010-02-19T18:46:00.004Z

A comment on my recent blog about e-readers brought a response from Lucy, to whose charmingly entitled blog, At Night, my Little Lamp and Book, I journeyed and which I have added to the blog list here. I was pleased to discover that Lucy had compiled a top 5 of Daphe du Maurier novels that included The House on the Strand, a strange, bold novel based on a time-travel premise and with the trademark du Maurier characterisation and psychological insight, which is far less celebrated and known that it deserves.

Back to e-reading, I was very amused to read an article by Charlie Brooker (a self-confessed 'techno convert') yesterday that observed, among other points, that, whereas with conventional books, many of those around you can see, and will judge you by, what you're reading, e-books are obviously anonymous. He goes on to warn, however, that:

right now they'll judge you simply for using an e-book - because you will look like a showoff early adopter techno-nob......until at least some time circa 2012.

The debate continues; your comments welcome.

David

FINANCIAL STORM

2010-02-17T09:56:00.002Z

The Financial Times on Monday carried a very favourable review of our October 2009 title, Love in Winter, by the delightfully named Storm Jameson.

Jonathan Gibbs praised the novel as:

a substantial piece of work (that) describes the author's experiences in London after the first world war – as a struggling novelist, a mother and a committed socialist.

Mr. Gibbs went on to applaud the boldness of the Capuchin cover style in using detailed line drawings to depict characters' emotions, and tellingly notes that, in so doing, we are distinguishing ourselves from the mass of modern publishing. He quoted our cover artist - Angela Landels - as saying:

I think people are drawn in by faces.

and concluded:

Here that is particularly true.

David

DESPERATE TOMES

2010-02-12T11:24:00.003Z

I've been corresponding with the person who writes the lovely literary blog Desperate Reader. This collection of passionate and interesting musings on books and writers is particularly well-adorned with a range of illustrations and links that can take the reader down many fascinating digital avenues.

I particularly liked the 'Books I wish everyone would read' feature. My own such list would always be led by The Third Policeman, accompanied quietly by everything from Kurt Vonnegut, the His Dark Materials trilogy, oddities like Endland Stories and many others, but including no Thomas Hardy novels whatsoever, despite his being a passionate advocate of bicycle use.

I do love the poems, however.

David