tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8704689510406300972024-02-19T05:59:09.243+00:00Mr B's Blog of Bloggy DelightsA bloggy thing created for the book groups of Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delights (Bath's fabulous award-winning independent bookshop) so we can continue chatting about the books and others can join in. Whenever possible we ask the authors of the books we read to answer a few questions, so we'll put their answers here so everyone can see them and debate them. And I expect the blog might get used for other bookish and Mr B'sish stuff too, if inclination, time and demand seem to encourage it.Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delightshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18314341170178324823noreply@blogger.comBlogger102125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-870468951040630097.post-31411511079234883342011-09-26T16:29:00.004+01:002011-09-26T17:16:44.410+01:00Marvellous Monday Book Group 19th Sep: The PrestigeAlthough this has been published under the SF Masterworks banner, ChrisopherPriest's book is rather lacking in sci fidetails. In fact, as MM Book grouperChris pointed out, there is really justone sentence that you can stamp the 'sci fi'label on. As a tale of warring magicians - one naturally gifted (Borden), one financially in a position to buy elaborate equipment (Angiers), it is pretty Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delightshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18314341170178324823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-870468951040630097.post-44029410947118731492011-09-12T20:30:00.013+01:002011-09-12T22:11:39.825+01:00What's the technical term for half a Booker Shortlist?A small diversion. I have now read three of the six Booker Shortlisted titles and I believe that even on this sample, the judges have made a rod for their own backs. All utterly different, all utterly brilliant in their own way. It's like comparing apples with Azerbaijan. How on earth are they going to decide? Here's my twopenn'orth to muddy the waters a bit more... 1) The Sense of an Ending by Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delightshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18314341170178324823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-870468951040630097.post-13714783191250931902011-09-05T15:23:00.002+01:002011-09-05T16:12:17.115+01:00Ulysses Support Group: Oxen of the SunThank goodness we had the foresight to organise some sustenance for this meeting (thanks to James at The Salamander) - this was one of the longest and widest ranging discussions thus far. Not surprising really, given that even Joyce himself describes this section as the most difficult episode (although characteristically, he leaves it ambiguous as to whether he is talking about the subject matterMr B's Emporium of Reading Delightshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18314341170178324823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-870468951040630097.post-7219237579454818782011-08-19T14:56:00.009+01:002011-08-19T15:31:44.911+01:00Kate's Reading Challenge 2011: Books 15-19OK, I admit it; I may have gone a little off course with my reading year, having just read eight fiction titles in a row (oops!). I promise I’ll get back on track soon; in the mean-time here are my latest reads.
No. 15. “The Best of Everything” by Rona Jaffe (Penguin Books, 2011) With a cast resembling the Sex and the City girls (maybe a little less racy) and a set-up that mirrors that of the Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delightshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18314341170178324823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-870468951040630097.post-9003387621119895252011-08-13T11:32:00.008+01:002011-08-17T10:06:40.362+01:00Marvellous Monday Book Group: Travels with my Aunt Lots of willing travelling companions
for Grahame Greene's unconventional
Aunt Augusta - so many turned up for
this one that we had to split the group
in two. So, this post will only be able
to cover half the meeting! For those of
you who were in the upstairs group,
feel free to chip in. I should also mention
that Chris provided some excellent cake,
which meant that despite us not being
preparedMr B's Emporium of Reading Delightshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18314341170178324823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-870468951040630097.post-86569260315379555982011-08-06T20:30:00.002+01:002011-08-06T20:56:51.097+01:00Ulysses Support Group: NausicaaAny sympathetic feelings for Bloom in the last section are tested here. Dirty old man or romantic fantasist? As a voyeur, watching three young Irish girls by the sea at dusk, Joyce spares us no details as to the desire felt by Bloom. Homer didn't quite have Odysseus messing his trousers, but there are strong parallels in this section again between his encounter with the beautiful women washing Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delightshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18314341170178324823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-870468951040630097.post-2546598726595416272011-07-28T12:55:00.003+01:002011-07-28T13:28:09.433+01:00Ulysses Support Group: CyclopsSo, the unease of Bloom as an outsider in Dublin is suddenly unleashed as he confronts the bigotry (one eyed-ness) of the patrons of Barney Kiernan's bar. Anti-semitism is overtly articulated. Bloom finds himself no longer amongst intellectual 'betters' or his own peers. Now, he appears the most informed man in the room - which has it's advantages, since he can answer back and hold his own. Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delightshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18314341170178324823noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-870468951040630097.post-75938584805840214672011-06-29T10:36:00.004+01:002011-06-29T11:07:46.736+01:00Ulysses Support Group: SirensBig pats on the back all round as we realise we have a third of the book under our belts. This section produced some polarised opinions. Some felt it was unneccessarily inscrutable and that Joyce could have written something just as evocative but more accessible; others found that the onomatopeic style led to some innovative and telling descriptions. Claire wins the 'close reading award' for Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delightshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18314341170178324823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-870468951040630097.post-28850209657987068622011-06-28T10:15:00.007+01:002011-06-28T11:35:35.740+01:00Marvellous Monday Book Group: 27th June 2011 In many ways, Italo Calvino'sCastle of Crossed Destinies isa perfect book group read. Thepremise is intriguing: in a nodto Chaucer's Canterbury Tales,travellers meet up at a castlebut find they have lost thepower of speech. Only a packof Tarot cards can help them communicate their stories. As the cards are laid upon the table, a matrix of stories is created. The cards take on different meanings Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delightshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18314341170178324823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-870468951040630097.post-83108085755969424762011-06-15T10:01:00.003+01:002011-06-15T11:03:39.558+01:00Ulysses Support Group Meeting:The Wandering RocksEveryone agrees that given the diverse nature of each of the separate sections we have read so far, restricting ourselves to reading just one section works best. And this section was chock full of activity. Here is a confluence of characters and events that can be seen as the 'centre' of the novel. Myriad characters, all encroach on each others' stories - sometimes interacting, sometimes in the Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delightshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18314341170178324823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-870468951040630097.post-71492211849857479672011-05-31T13:43:00.006+01:002011-05-31T13:56:23.774+01:00Kate's Reading Challenge 2011: Books 12-14 No.12 "How I Lost the War" by Filippo Bologna (Pushkin Press, 2011)In a rare B team read-off Nic and I decided to pick a novel and read it simultaneously. We both loved Pietro Grossi’s “Fists” (so much so we’ve invited him to be a special guest at one of our Book Lovers Unite! Events in July) and so when we spotted Pushkin had recently published another book by a young Italian author, “How I Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delightshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18314341170178324823noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-870468951040630097.post-69472131589101274982011-05-25T10:47:00.003+01:002011-05-25T11:45:41.319+01:00Ulysses Support Group Meeting: Lestrygonians & Scylla and CharybdisAn ambitious 'two section' session, which again highlights the range of styles that Joyce foists upon the reader in quick succession. Bloom's chatty, internal monologue as he decides where he will lunch, is full of digressions, unfinished thoughts and memories. By contrast, the section in the library with Stephen Dedalus holding court, is an academic 'showing off' session - which requires quite aMr B's Emporium of Reading Delightshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18314341170178324823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-870468951040630097.post-69009040663597047792011-05-18T12:46:00.012+01:002011-05-18T18:36:31.098+01:00And the Award for The Independent Bookseller of the Year goes to... Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delights! Hooray!Brimming with excitement and a little bleary-eyed, the Mr B's team have returned from the Book Industry Conference and Bookseller Industry Awards as the proud owners of the Independent Bookseller of the Year Award for 2011!The very glitzy awards took place at the Park Lane Hilton in London and were hosted by Danny Wallace (of "Yes Man" fame). We, the B Team (minus Lucinda and Ed who were much Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delightshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18314341170178324823noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-870468951040630097.post-27023851469974604622011-05-10T21:27:00.004+01:002011-05-10T22:08:35.973+01:00Ulysses Support Group: AeolusBooks and food seem to be following me around...this evening's meeting at The Salamander was accompanied by some delicious bar food (thank you Rachel et al!) - and we probably needed the extra sustenance to tackle Joyce's unique presentation of the late morning exploits within the walls of the Freeman's Journal and Evening Telegraph offices. And if you think that was wordy, that's nothing to the Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delightshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18314341170178324823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-870468951040630097.post-27575501023062271122011-05-10T14:13:00.005+01:002011-05-10T15:11:18.746+01:00Marvellous Monday Book Group: 9th MayA remarkably sunnyEaster holiday periodaccompanied by thegorgeous prose of J.L Carr...what couldpossibly be better?Not much, accordingto the MarvellousMonday group, whowere all beguiled byA Month in the Country. We completed our 'idyllic English summer' theme with some scones (made by me, courtesy of Oliver Peyton's utterly reliable British Baking) and an impressive Victoria Sponge (made by ChrisMr B's Emporium of Reading Delightshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18314341170178324823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-870468951040630097.post-13981691072889888682011-04-26T21:09:00.006+01:002011-04-26T21:50:43.336+01:00Ulysses Support Group Update: Meeting 3In Penny's absence,I thought I'd pen acouple of notesfollowing the latestmeeting of herUlysses SupportGroup...Well done to the 5 of us that eschewed chocolate chomping for literary chewiness and pitched up at The Salamander to discuss the next instalment of Joyce's epic.Pages 53 - 111 (of the OUP Edition text, available from Mr B's) were up for discussion. This is the bit where we meet Mr LeopoldMr B's Emporium of Reading Delightshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18314341170178324823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-870468951040630097.post-51952417641133475042011-04-23T16:08:00.005+01:002011-04-23T16:53:42.629+01:00Kate's Reading Challenge 2011: Books 8 - 118. ? by ? (?, 2011)Book eight demands a rather enigmatic blog as I am not yet able to reveal exactly what it is, so instead, here's a few teasers...~ It is a psychological novella revolving around a group of four male friends.~ The writing is astute, descriptive and analytical.~ I thought it was excellent and I read the whole thing in a day.9. "The End of the Affair" by Graham Greene (Vintage, Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delightshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18314341170178324823noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-870468951040630097.post-15460594618248362652011-04-21T14:12:00.011+01:002011-04-21T15:24:47.513+01:00Marvellous Monday Book Group: 18th April 2011Good weather prevails atthe Marvellous Mondaybook group. Sunshinestreamed in throughthe windows -completelyat odds with the drizzly,bleak landscape ofGeorges Rodenbach'sBruges-La-Morte.This is a story of one man'sobsession with the memory of his dead wife and the novel explores deadness in many forms - including Bruges itself, the 'dead town entombed in its stone quais, with the arteries of its Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delightshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18314341170178324823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-870468951040630097.post-62963153779331012002011-04-03T17:10:00.004+01:002011-05-17T15:58:47.970+01:00Mr B's 2011 Reading Journey Book 6 (New Mexico) - The Blackbirder by Dorothy B. HughesMoving Westwards again in my Reading Journey I've just hurtled through New Mexico in the hands of one of the queens of American suspense, Dorothy B. Hughes. Whilst Penguin have recently reissued her better known "In a Lonely Place" and Persephone Books have reissued her late novel "The Expendable Man" (even if Hughes does sit awkwardly alongside some of the Bloomsbury Group types that Persephone Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delightshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18314341170178324823noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-870468951040630097.post-6077740343696655922011-04-03T15:23:00.005+01:002011-04-03T16:14:45.573+01:00Mr B's 2011 Reading Journey Book 5 (back to Texas again) - The Last Picture Show by Larry McMurtryReading Larry McMurtry's "Roads" back in January (blogged about previously) left me wanting to read his magnus opus "Lonesome Dove", until I saw quite how Magnus it really is. After dismissing that 1000 page option I decided instead to read "The Last Picture Show" his classic American "coming-of-age" novel set in Thalia, Texas - a fictional version of his real home town Archer City, Texas. This Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delightshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18314341170178324823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-870468951040630097.post-36112979784246605372011-04-03T10:05:00.006+01:002011-04-03T11:08:00.252+01:00Mr B's 2011 Reading Journey Book 4 (Arkansas) - The Dog of the South by Charles PortisAfter my annual Bath Lit Fest and aftermath blogging hiatus I'm back to prove I haven't just stopped reading. From Texas, oddly, I decided to briefly go North to Arkansas, mainly because, with "True Grit" competing strongly in the Oscars, I really wanted to read Charles Portis' other novel in print in the UK, "The Dog of the South". It's not exactly evocative of Arkansas, but the plot descriptionMr B's Emporium of Reading Delightshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18314341170178324823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-870468951040630097.post-34689147877176549632011-03-29T17:51:00.002+01:002011-03-29T17:59:15.666+01:00Kate's Reading Challenge 2011: Book Seven7. "Just my Type" by Simon Garfield (Profile Books, 2010)Not just for font geeks or graphic designers, my second non-fiction read of the year "Just my Type" reveals the fascinating stories behind typefaces. Written with a healthy dose of sarcasm, Garfield describes how type has evolved over time, how our best-known fonts came into being and the role of typefaces in branding and advertising beforeMr B's Emporium of Reading Delightshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18314341170178324823noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-870468951040630097.post-61165925097882761652011-03-24T15:31:00.003+00:002011-03-24T18:14:25.325+00:00Lucinda's Reading Challenge: Now for the Science Bit...Obviously, ANYTHING on theMr B's science shelf is going tobe a good read, but I have tosay Michael Brooks' 13 ThingsThat Don't Make Sense is abit of a find. In addition to(paraphrasing DonaldRumsfeld) some 'knownunkowns': What's reallyout there in our universe?and What is the elusivedifference between kiving and dead matter? Michael Brooks also covers some intriguing 'unknown unknowns': Does coldMr B's Emporium of Reading Delightshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18314341170178324823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-870468951040630097.post-10457858897512422482011-03-16T10:35:00.010+00:002011-03-16T11:40:40.721+00:00Marvellous Monday Book Group: 14th MarchThe weather on Monday eveningwas disappointinglybenign. No rainlashed against the(single glazed) window panes of Mr B's,the wind was absent and thetemperature almostbalmy. We weregathered to discussCharlie Connelly's Attention All Shipping - a travelogue charting the mystical, poetic and remote place names of the Radio 4 institution that is The Shipping Forecast. The book is divided into segmentsMr B's Emporium of Reading Delightshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18314341170178324823noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-870468951040630097.post-84675211072502986952011-03-08T17:13:00.004+00:002011-03-08T17:23:23.353+00:00Kate's Reading Challenge 2011: Books Five and Six5. "The Howling Miller" by Arto Paasilinna (Canongate, 2007)“The Howling Miller” is a book that I’ve recommended to many people (based on Nic’s rave reviews) but one which has actually been sat on my “to read” shelf for an embarrassingly long time. So I finally decided to check out what all the fuss was about and I must say I wasn’t disappointed.Gunnar is a troubled miller, who moves to a small Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delightshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18314341170178324823noreply@blogger.com1