Comments on: Spreadsheet of Doom

By: The accountant

The accountant — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 13:47:18 +0000

I have given up reading everyone elses suggestions and i am looking forward to reading all these suggestions I have never heard of, but would add Mariana by Susanna Kearsley. The joy of any bookshop is discovering an author I haven’t read before so I will leave it there so the shop will be full of new authors for me to try!

Graham loves history books and some of his favourite suthors are A N Wilson & Robert Harris

We both enjoy Trry Pratchetts Discworld books

By: wheezer geezer

wheezer geezer — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 19:28:35 +0000

An impossible task !! but here one goes…

“A Dance to the Music of Time” Anthony Powell – an unadulterated pleasure from beginning to end…

Edinburgh-born, Philip Kerr’s Bernie Gunther Mysteries / “Berlin Noir” Nazi-dominated central Europe is chillingly depicted

I met Edinburgh-based writer/reporter Nick Thorpe at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshops. We are going for a drink in September…

“Adrift in Caledonia”
Boat Hitching for the Unenlightened

“Eight Men & A Duck”
An Improbable Voyage by Reed Boat to Easter Island

http://www.nickthorpe.co.uk/books/adriftreviews.html

Architecture books on great Scottish born and/or Scottish based Architects and Engineers…

The Works in Architecture of Robert and James Adam (Dover Books on Architecture) by Robert Adam, James Adam, and Henry Hope Read

William Playfair ?? !!

Thomas Telford / L.T.C. Rolt / Chris Morris

Sir John Fowler and Sir Benjamin Baker / Charles McKean

Lorimer and the Edinburgh Craft Designers / Peter D Savage

Charles Rennie Mackintosh : Architect, Artist, Icon / John McKean

Sir Basil Spence / National Galleries of Scotland

Gillespie, Kidd & Coia / The Lighthouse

Gareth Hoskins / The Lighthouse

Eco-Minimalism as Best Value / Howard Liddell – RIBA

Green Guide to the Architect’s Job Book / Sandy Halliday – RIBA

The Care and Conservation of Georgian Houses: A Maintenance Manual for Edinburgh New Town

Georgian Architectural Designs and Details: The Classic 1757 Stylebook

By: Tim

Tim — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 15:33:24 +0000

I recently read Steig Larsson’s second book and wondered about Kalle Blomqvist — Larsson’s reference to an Astrid Lindgren character (did you know that he based Lisbeth Salander on an updated Pippi Longstocking?). Why are Lindgren’s other series not available in English?

By: coughingbear

coughingbear — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 14:21:42 +0000

This is a lovely thread!

Definitely second Helen V’s recommendation of the Catriona MacPherson Dandy Gilver series (and I think she publishes under another name as well). Also Hazel Holt for cosy crime, and any Gladys Mitchell you can lay your hands on (most of it seems to be out of print, sadly).

Sara Maitland – I’ve just read her Book of Silence, which I really enjoyed, and I recommend her short stories too. Far North and Other Dark Tales is a good collection.

I always like browsing a reasonable selection of Trollopes – not just the Barchester/Palliser novels, but others, because I haven’t yet read everything he ever wrote.

Stargazing by Peter Hill is about working in some of the last manned lighthouses around Scotland, and I enjoyed it a lot. As I did Attention All Shipping, by Charles Connelly, about travelling to all the different areas in the shipping forecast.

Mary Renault should be in every bookshop!

By: Joe

Joe — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 19:06:10 +0000

As a bookseller who’s specialised in SF and Graphic Novels (as well as Scottish lit & history – I’m flexible!) for years I can understand how impenetrable some of it must look if you aren’t used to it, especially with fantasy where the books are often part of long, multi-part series which tie up a lot of stock and shelf space because its pointless holding just one book out of 4 in a series. But perhaps it might be handy – and in keeping with the ethos of the bookstore – to start small for that genre with a few choice selections by Scottish and British authors, who are currently among the best in the genre.

Obviously Iain Banks (with his ‘M’) and Ken MacLeod’s work is aimed at a mature, politically aware audience – his last novel just came out in mass market PB, The Night Sessions, and combine near future SF with the politics of the post 9-11 world and the Edinburgh detective novel. Charles Stross is another Edinburgh-based scribe and an award winning author (collection of his short work, Wireless, has just been published). Richard Morgan is also an intelligent writer in the genre.

I’d guess graphic novels are even more mysterious if you aren’t used to them, but there are some good titles which have wide appeal even to the non comics literate – Jonathan Cape did a UK edition of Guy Deslisle’s lovely work Burma Chronicles – comics as travel lit as he details a year living in Burma as his wife works with Medecins San Frontiers. I’ve re-read it several times, lovely work and nice glimpse into a secretive country. Top Shelf have some very accessible works outside the ‘capes and tights’ hero comics, such as the award-winning Swallow Me Whole by Nate Powell which draws on the author’s own experiences to explore the world of teen siblings with mental health issues.

Garen Ewing’s gorgeous Rainbow Orchid has just come out this month from Egmont; previously published online and in self published smaller segments its an all-ages wonderful adventure in the ligne clair style Herge made famous with Tintin – wonderful for adults and children. Classical Comics have several literary adaptations which come with notes and aids to use for students and teachers (great way to lure reluctant readers to classics) while Self Made Hero publish manga versions of Shakespeare and also some fetching adaptations of works by Bulgakov, Stevenson (their recent Jekyll & Hyde is gorgeous) and are now creating a range of well-done Sherlock Holmes adaptations.

Oops, meant to suggest 2 or 3 titles and have rabbited on, sorry, tend to do that when it comes to books…

By: Helen V.

Helen V. — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 15:22:45 +0000

Does any Edinburgh bookshop *not* have a Scottish section? I guess you will need to stock some of the obvious titles but I’d go to an independent bookseller to browse what they have from small local presses (dare I suggest poetry?), new authors and revivals of old ones.

I’ll second or third the plea for crime – because that is the kind of genre where you want to browse the crime section looking for new-but-similar titles, which is harder to do online. All the main Edinburgh shops seem to go for the hardcore forensic gore side so I’d love to go somewhere that was good for classic crime, translations of European books and what Americans call ‘cozy’. Which reminds me – Catriona Macpherson’s Dandy Gilver series fits right in between crime and Persephone :)

By: the silver eel

the silver eel — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 14:41:26 +0000

1. United States by Gore Vidal 9780349105246. Pricey at £16.99, but I sold 22 copies in one year out of staff recs at W. Or go for Selected Essays 9780349120454 at £10.99, but you get less bang for your buck. 2. Essays by George Orwell 9780349120454. 3. Stone Voices by Neal Ascherson 9781862075832. 4. The Day of the Owl by Leonardo Sciascia. I kid you not, the best crime novel I've ever read. Granta edition is OSND, so it's the NYRB edition: 9781590170618. 5. Sonnets by Giuseppe Gioachino Belli 9781847490117. There's a double Edinburgh connection: the translator, Mike Stocks, is Edinburgh-based, and this edition includes 12 translations into Scots by Robert Garioch in an appendix. No, trust me. This is mustard. 6. Dead Man's Chest by Nicholas Rankin 9780571242184. Rankin just recently had a hit with Churchill's Wizards. Yes, it's a Faber Finds edition, so it's £15.00, POD, has a rotten cover and lousy print, but the book is really, really good. Rankin follows RLS, writes about him, his life, the places he went, what they're like now, and how other writers have followed, been influenced by or simply enjoyed Stevenson. Should have a readership in Bruntsfield. 7. A Short History of Progress by Ronald Wright 9781841958309. As chosen by Python turned historian Terry Jones for 'A Good Read'. 8. Nairn in Darkness and Light by David Thomson 9780099599906. 9 and 10. Regarding SF/F, you really can't go wrong with the SF and Fantasy Masterworks series published by Gollancz (e.g. The Forever War by Joe Haldeman 9781857988086 and Little, Big by John Crowley 9781857987119). The two must-haves in fantasy for my money are Ursula Le Guin and Fritz Leiber (Lankhmar 9780575082748); in SF? Dick and Bester, probably, as mentioned by other posters. Current hot names in fantasy include Joe Abercrombie, Scott Lynch (both very readable), Brian Ruckley, (Edinburgh author), George R.R. Martin. Yes to Novak, Swainston, Wynne Jones. No to Flint, Weber, Lackey. They sell but not that well, they're all US imports, and the quality is dreadful. Mistake not to have any Ray Bradbury or Poe. SF: Charlie Stross is local, so is Ken Macleod. Alistair Reynolds, Stephen Baxter and Kim Stanley Robinson all still have legs. Hope this helps.

By: Sibylle

Sibylle — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 16:45:13 +0000

Becky – thank you for reading my suggestions! I completely understand what you mean about Tolkien, I think his writing is quite cold too, he never seems interested in the characters for themselves, only in the History. I thought Peter Jackson’s adaptation was a great improvement on that part. Thank God not all fantasy is high fantasy. There are many subgenres in the genre.
I second the Oxford World’s classics edition, especially with the gorgeous new covers. That may be too obvious, though. Although I’d love to find a bookshop that really makes a selection of its classics. Some books hardly deserve the word, in my opinion, and yet are always reprinted under this label, which I find is a true shame. I’m not afraid to say I don’t like Dickens at all but love Thomas Hardy. And I can’t believe Gone With the Wind is considered a classic by anybody, yet I often find it in prominent display in that particular section of the shop. To me, “classics” all put together without any sort of selection means the owner hasn’t read many of them, hasn’t developed a particular taste but puts them on display on principle, and there’s nothing I find more off-putting than that.

By: Jude

Jude — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 07:45:36 +0000

Number 5: ‘read the fiction TOO.’
Sorry.

By: Jude

Jude — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 07:44:17 +0000

Hmmm. Ok, here are some books which, if I saw them, would make me think that these people are kindred spirits (the race that knows Joseph, even – although I always preferred Emily to Anne, personally):

1. Toni Morrison, particularly Beloved.

2. Classic crime, particularly Margery Allingham, Ngaio Marsh. And some modern crime – I can highly recommend the one I was talking about the other day, The Redemption of Alexander Seaton by Shona MacLean (niece of Alastair), which is set in 17th century Banff (I know but it is good, honestly). And James Anderson’s The Affair of the Bloodstained Teacosy et al contain lots of large country houses, suspiciously blue-chinned foreigners, outrageously glamourous countesses etc. Very restful. And I just finished The Coroner’s Lunch by Colin Cotteril, which is set in 1976 Laos. Quercus, I note, who also publish Shona MacLean.

3. Another vote for Persephone.

4. And for Margaret Atwood,and Angela Carter, particularly Wise Children. And Virago in general.

5. Literary biographies. I loved Jane Dunn’s one on Antonia White, which I think is no longer available (unhelpfully) – but really well-written ones always make you want to go back and read the fiction two so you might get people coming back for more that way. Hermione Lee’s always a winner.

6. I just read Janice Galloway’s Clara (a bit late to the party I know) and it was absolutely brilliant.

7. Books which are beautiful to look at. I didn’t read Margaret Atwood at all for years because of those dreadful eighties covers that made the books look like airport novels.

8. Jilly Cooper (because I have nothing against airport novels, I just like to know what I’m getting). Particularly Rivals.

9. The Railway Man by Eric Lomax. Made me weep absolute buckets and has a vaguely Scottish connection. Some other Scottish authors/settings: The Jacobite Trilogy (although the version I’ve got is a horrible cover); Muriel Spark; Scott; Sunset Song.

10. Classics. Trollope, for choice, but any of the Oxford World’s or Penguins – which usually have lovely covers, too.

Can’t WAIT.