In the New York Public Library, you will find an exhibit of the real Winnie the Pooh animals: Eeyore, Piglet, Kanga, Tigger and Pooh. The animals belonged to Christopher Milne, son of the author, A.A. Milne and the books were donated to the New York Public Library in 1987 by the publisher of the Pooh books . Piglet looks worn but fantastic. Pooh looks decidedly sad – as if being locked up in a library is driving him crazy.
The book receiving the most attention in the UK is not Dan Brown’s Inferno but a book about poverty – This Boy: A Memoir of Childhood by Alan Johnson. The author was Home Secretary from 2009 until 2010, and has been the MP for Hull West since 1999, but this memoir is all about his early years in west London. Chris Mullin reviewed the book in The Guardian and was very positive about it.
Johnson, who was to hold five Cabinet posts including that of home secretary, was born five years after the war at the wrong end of pre-gentrification Notting Hill or, to be more precise, North Kensington. It was a world of slum landlords, gang warfare, race riots and, it must be said, a strong sense of community. His first home was two rooms in a tenement that, even before the war, had been declared unfit for habitation. There was no indoor toilet, no bathroom, the kitchen was a stove on the landing and the electricity was metered, which meant the family were constantly scrabbling for shillings and often had to rely on candles for light. As a young teenager he recounts walking the streets with an old pram scavenging for coal and the repeated humiliation of having to ask local shopkeepers for goods on tick.
The book describes two strong women – Alan’s mother, Lily, and his sister, Linda, who had to assume an enormous amount of responsibility at a young age. It describes an era of west London not mentioned much today – the post World War II slums along with the race and crime problems.
The Daily Telegraph writes about Jane Hilton’s latest book of photography, Precious, which details brothels in Nevada. Most of the nude portraits are taken in the rooms used for sex. The brothels have names like the Playmate Ranch and Sharon’s Bar and Brothel, and they seem to be in remote locations. Nevada is only state in America where prostitution is legal. Hilton is photographer and filmmaker from London. Her previous book was Dead Eagle Trail about America’s modern cowboys.
Mrs Dalloway was published on this day in 1925. It was Virginia Woolf’s fourth novel and published by the Hogarth Press. The Vanessa Bell-designed dust jacket is something to behold. The novel famously details a June day in the life of 51-year-old Clarissa Dalloway – a society lady in post-World War I England – as she prepares to host a party.
Lots and lots of Dan Brown stories today. The Guardian says Inferno will be the biggest book of the year. I have no doubt about that. The Daily Telegraph makes fun of Brown and how he is going to be mauled by the critics… again. We also learn that Dan Brown hangs upside down in order to defeat writer’s block. Meanwhile Florence is hoping for a boost in tourism on the back of Inferno. And the people having a really bad time are the book’s translators. If you want a signed copy of Inferno then several are already available
In an amusing survey provided by my colleagues at Amazon.co.uk, Doncaster has been deemed as the UK’s most well-read city because of its high consumption rates of romantic fiction and erotica. The Telegraph writes:
Amazon’s survey established which cities were the most well-read on sales numbers divided by population in areas with more than 20,000 living there. Doncaster’s demand for raunchy literature meant it rose above Huntington, John Major’s former constituency, which has been the most well-read city for three years running, and Dunfermline in Fife, whose readers have a soft spot for science fiction.
To my knowledge, Doncaster is famous for… well… err… its racecourse and Doncaster Rovers. To the left, you can see a council guide book to the city from 1981, which seems to focus on the importance of the train station.
Yes, The Great Gatsby is everywhere thanks to Baz and Leo, but F Scott Fitzgerald’s novel never really went away. It’s been published countless times since 1925. Join us on a countdown of 30 Gatsby cover designs – a few great ones, some good ones, and a couple of shockers too.
Author Jacqueline Wilson has criticised children’s book publishers for using too much pink when marketing to young girls.
Dame Jacqueline admitted that her struggle against the pink tide dated back to when she was bringing up her own daughter, Emma – now a Cambridge don – but that even then she had little success in resisting it. “I was the sort of mother who very much wanted to bring in bricks and engines and dress her in denim and give her a choice,” she told The Daily Telegraph.
“But, when my daughter was little, her favourite colour was pink and she begged and pleaded to wear a pink dress. I am not anti-pink as such but I think it would occasionally be nice to have a different colour. I do think that with books a boy is going to have to feel really quite confident if he is going to be seen in front of his mates with a book that is bright pink because it is immediately code for this being ‘girlie’.
I absolutely dread to think what Wilson would make of the Pinkalicious series.
The Daily Telegraph has interviewed Scottish farmer and crime writer James Oswald – another success story from the world of self-published ebook authors. He has released two ebooks - Natural Causes and a sequel, The Book of Souls – and has racked up sales of 350,000. Now Natural Causes is being released as a physical book from Penguin.
In Natural Causes newly appointed Edinburgh Detective Inspector Tony McLean investigates after a young girl’s mutilated body is discovered in a sealed room. Her remains are carefully arranged, in what seems to have been a cruel and macabre ritual, which appears to have taken place over 60 years ago.
Despite his new-found literary success, Oswald intends to keep farming his 350-acre farm in Northeast Fife where he raises sheep and Highland cattle.
The Wall Street Journal has a rather scary article about Charlaine Harris and her decision to end the Sookie Stackhouse series, much to the chagrin of her obsessive fans who have not taken news well.
Her 13th book in the series, Dead Ever After, is just about to be released and the author won’t be touring to publicise the books, because she is scared of being confronted by furious fans. The Southern Vampire Mysteries, also known as the Sookie Stackhouse novels, began in 2001 with Dead Until Dark and it has a worldwide following.
“I’m very fortunate that people are so invested in the series,” Ms. Harris says. “At the same time, it can be a source of some anxiety to get emails that say, ‘If Sookie doesn’t end up with Eric, I’m going to kill myself.’ “
Harris, a 61-year-old grandmother, has received death threats and requires a “security escort at fantasy conventions to keep overzealous fans at a distance.”
