Swanky editions

Penguin have just released 5 'Designer Classics', books with covers by artists and designers encased in shiny plastic boxes. Sam Taylor-Wood has covered Tender is the Night, Paul Smith did Lady Chatterley's Lover, Madame Bovary was designed by Manolo Blahnik, Crime and Punishment by Fuel and The Idiot by Ron Arad. They are all jolly handsome with my favourites being the embroidered cover of Lady Chatterley's Lover and the constructivist effort for Crime and Punishment. Arad's promised much but is a little disappointing. The plastic case has a lens which distorts the book to make it look like it's floating and pyramidal but unfortunately it's not quite robust enough as our copy came in with the plastic cracked in the corner thus rendering it totally bloody worthless. Also, the 'protective' cardboard box it comes in was crudely sellotaped up at the edges increasing, if that's possible, it's utter worthlessness.

These are limited editions that retail at £100 each. Not only the Arad but the Fuel came in with a small flaw too. So, a word to Penguin, if you're going to go to the effort of commissioning these things, make them exclusive and charge a premium maybe you should make sure the person in charge of packing them up at the warehouse doesn't have two left arms. Or actually gives a damn.

Book Lovers Beware!

One of the independent bookshops I used to work at had a real thing about signed copies. I remember after a session with one esteemed author (who shall of course remain nameless) readying myself to stack the vast pile of their latest hardback on top of the bookshelves. This was standard practice as there was nowhere else to put large quantities of books. (Anyone who can read between the lines will know the shop I am talking about. Excellent place. Bit untidy.)

Unfortunately there was a gap where two bookcases met that was invisible. I only discovered it was there when I placed five copies of this beautifully signed new hardback onto what I thought was the top of a bookshelf. It was, in fact, a gap between two bookcases. There was a crash as the books fell behind the bookcases. I was enlightened and never made the same mistake again though I am sure someone else has. If one were to look behind these bookcases there would probably be a few, perhaps valuable, signed first editions lurking.

I mention this incident because of a small item in the Independent today:

Woman Dies Behind Bookcase

New Port Richey

The body of a missing Florida woman has been found by her family, wedged upside down behind a bookcase in her room. Mariesa Weber, 38, is believed to have fallen and become trapped as she tried to reach behind the bookcase to adjust the plug to a TV set. She may have died from suffocation. (or embarrassment - my italics) Her family spent nearly two weeks searching for her, fearing she had been kidnapped.

Luckily there are no hidden spaces behind any of our bookshelves...

Joy Bookselling Books Stuff Nonsense

Among the many joys of bookselling (leaking roofs, broken toilets, smelly cellars, men with backpacks, pestering local authors, crap discounts from publishers that shall remain Macmillannameless - I could go on) perhaps the greatest is the fact that I love what I'm selling - books.

How many times have I picked a proof up, glanced at the blurb, yawned at the superlatives and then been gripped by the first few pages of what turns out to be a stonking good read?

Ok, not often. But when it happens OH BOY IS THAT EXCITING!!!!!!

It makes all the smelly loo stuff ok. It even makes mortgage people who laugh in your face about incomes ok.

So what's the book? It's called Ascent. It's by Jed Mercurio (who wrote Bodies) It isn't out until March 2007! But let me tell you you're gonna love it...

...starts off with a Soviet pilot's view of the Korean war. I loved James Salter's novel The Hunters for the depiction of the cool, clinical murder that is modern air fighting. It's great to see things from the other side. The Russian pilot concerned is Ivan The Terrible, the greatest ace of the Korean war. But the Korean theatre is only the start. Ivan ends up in the space race...

The writing is brilliant and had me ignoring my infant son. It's that gripping (or I'm that much of a bastard!)

So I'm excited about a book that's not out yet. Another perk of the job I'm afraid. But then there's always Bodies. On the table next door now...

A little perspective

Want to know where the real money in publishing is?

John Wiley pays £572 Million for Blackwells publishing

HMV paid £62.8 million for Ottakers and look at the fuss that kicked up.

Oh well, back to the coal face...

Arse Freak - Me Footie Team Are Getting Battered!

Bloody Bloody City...Whipped by that stuffeddonkeyloving Pearce and his bas*tard Barton boys.

I remember the good old days when Fulham and City were both in the first division.

We played them at Craven Cottage and the Gallagher brothers were in the posh boxes behind us. (The posh seats used to be up behind the Hammersmith Terrace.) As we scored the third goal the whole Hammersmith end turned towards them and were singing "Oasis - What's The Score? Oasis Oasis what's the score?" Noel was giving us all V signs. What a laugh.

Hey ho, at least I'm at work and not having to watch it in the pub...

More gifts from America and a good way to kill a few hours

The new Dave Eggers, What Is The What, the story of the Sudanese refugee Valentino Achak Deng. Very handsome edition and some very fulsome praise on the jacket - not just rent-a-quotes but proper critical paragraphs. Might be taking this one home myself.

Some more from the seemingly excellent Archipelago Press. A book on Auguste Rodin by Rainer Maria Rilke who was his secretary for a while! Some amazing complementary photographs and an introduction by William Gass. Wow. And The Novices of Sais by Novalis, a german writer who died in 1801 at the age of 29. Here's what the blurb said:

'Novalis is one of the towering figures of German Romanticism. The Novices of Sais, translated from the German into French in 1925, received enthusiastic recognition by artists and poets alike and is often quoted by the surrealists. The text is a lyrical meld of Romantic emotion combined with a profound fascination with nature. In 1949, the novel was translated into English by Ralph Manheim and accompanied by 60 original drawings by Paul Klee. Novalis and Klee create a harmonious universe of their own. As Stephen Spender puts it in his introduction: "a world of pure art and pure contemplation, of imagist poems, and an intense, glowing yet humorous and meticulous imagination."'

The Klee drawings are indeed beautiful. Both Matthew and I had our eyes on this before it got bought! From box to sale in 45 minutes. Very satisfying. Probably means we should have got more than one in.

And if you get tired of reading go to www.clivejames.com and watch the interviews. They are half an hour each and uniformly excellent. Howard Jacobson was brilliant, P J O'Rourke bullish, Jonathan Miller lecturing and Martin Amis quietly funny though slightly overshadowed by James' intellectual ego. This is what tv used to be like, fascinating talking heads with no bells and whistles just articulate intelligent people.

Number of stickers - 35. Number of books - 1

Predictions...

Last night I was watching the weather report after the news at ten with my wife Mary.

I wish they could just stick a magnetic black cloud on London with several fierce looking droplets falling to earth as they used to in ye olden nineteen seventies. Instead the funky cool new graphics wibbled and wobbled and went through various shades of blue. It means the same thing though. The BBC think it's going to piss with rain tomorrow. The time graphic next to the display said 8am. This meant it would be raining as I set off for work. At this point Mary asked me if I'd brought the brolly home. No. I left it at the bookshop. We then proceeded to have the kind of ridiculous argument that makes married life such bliss and all those who are not wed (or living in sin as we did for about ten years) glad of their solitude.

Don't worry, I'm not going to start blogging about my home life (only Finn! - he's irresistible)

My point is that I just walked to Lower Marsh from Camberwell and it only started raining as I turned into the street. By the time I'd opened the shop it had stopped. By the looks of it outside it is now raining, but only a very little - hardly enough to justify all those ridiculous graphics. (The old ladies have their headscarves on but they're still out there haggling with the market traders!)

The BBC (and all other weather people) should still use magnetic clouds because that suggests that what they are saying WILL happen is in fact merely a GOOD GUESS.

Weather folk face it. You don't know what the weather is going to do. After every broadcast you should replay poor old Michael Fish and the hurricane and shrug at your audience.

I suppose there is a vaguely serious point here as well. Nobody can predict the future. And when you start trying it is easy to end up in a ridiculous position. As with the BAs Brave New World report and all our talk about Print on Demand it really is all talk. Nobody can say exactly how things will pan out despite the efforts (and often huge sums of money) that are invested in an attempt to shape the future to our liking.

Climate science falls into the same category. While I do not doubt that human activity is influencing the climate and other aspects of the world I have little time for people that claim to be able to predict how things will change in the future. The best models are still just guesses. As for the precautionary principle (the idea that it is better to act now - just in case) look at where that got George Bush in Iraq...

The Universe is unpredictable. And that's a great thing! We should embrace it. As Erling Kagge pointed out when I interviewed him about his book Philosophy For Polar Explorers this means that it is very very difficult to prove that a thing is impossible.

Or as the final lines of Journey By Moonlight by Antal Szerb put it:

And while there is life there is always the chance that something might happen...

A Confession...

Was out and about in New Cross last night, at a talk by Nick Hornby. Blake Morrison was chair.

Blake - you may have been looking for your pen this morning.

I'm really sorry but I seem to have walked off with it...

...if by any chance you read this, or a mate sends a message on the literary grapevine then that's cool - it's here waiting for you.

BTW Mr Hornby was dead wrong about people not reading much fiction in translation. We have been open for almost a year now. In our bestsellers (all the books sold since we opened) there are several top 30 entries that are translated.

Pamuk (Turkish)

Shafak (Turkish)

Szerb (Hungarian)

Ammaniti (Italian)

Camilleri (Italian)

and Zafon (Spanish)

We love translated fiction at C & P and it looks as though our customers do too.

Accounts dept. heavies

Through no fault of our own and only very occasionally do we find ourselves in arrears with the odd supplier or two. Do the people they employ to retrieve the money really have to be so aggressive? The man today was very demanding and insisted they needed the payment immediately. For a start they don't need anything, they want the money. We only really need food, shelter and water, we want the nice stuff. We wanted their books and they want some money for them, need is something else entirely. Secondly, it's barely two weeks overdue, so just chill the fuck out. And, thirdly, did his mother never tell him he'd catch more flies with honey than vinegar?

YOU TOO COULD PAY MORE FOR YOUR PHONE CALLS THAN YOU DO NOW!!!!!

Cold called this morning. Usually I slam the phone down with a snarl but for some reson I listened for a few, deadly, seconds longer...

The blah was full of details about BT wholesale/retail rates and "recent changes in legislation" from which C & P could benefit.

The gist of it seemed to be - we can save you money, you don't have to do anything and there is no catch.

Of course when we got down to the nitty gritty it turned out there were just two problems.

1: We would have to pay a little more per month than we do at the moment. In return for this we would receive 3000 minutes of free calls. As I calmly pointed out to the gibbering idiot on the end of the phone this was not a very good deal.

2: We would have to pay by direct debit. I HATE direct debits. To my mind it is a way of companies taking money from you without you thinking about it. For a business I believe you have to think carefully ANY time you give anyone money be it a little or a lot. Otherwise you will get ripped off. That's the "market" for you.

So I wasted a few minutes of my time. Nothing much lost I suppose. The person who called is "going to have a word with her manager" to see if they can offer me a great money saving deal that does in fact save me money.

Modern life. Bloody rubbish!

Gifts from America

Oh how we love the UPS man and his brown uniform. We've just received the American edition of the new Thomas Pynchon novel Against the Day. Could this be one of those rare occasions when we actually get a book on sale before the big boys?? (Please don't/do tell me if it's already on sale at your local high street)

Brave New World

I went along to a presentation of the Booksellers Association report Brave New World that was to look into the impact of digitisation on the UK book market.

I turned up, ate a load of canapes but declined the wine having already visited a rather good pub.

A room full of suits and plenty of blah and jargon later I felt very much none the wiser. However having read the report I was enlightened a little.

We already have a blog (obviously) and an internet shop, though sales through the net have been disappointing so far. I think Amazon have things fairly well sewn up in that department. We plan to archive our events as podcasts on our website soon and also want to set up a forum where people can debate the merits of books they have read. We use the internet all the time. Customers can e-mail us and expect a personal response within minutes, something the large chains and Amazon's robots can never offer. The most interesting aspect of the report was that they highlighted the importance of "owning the transaction". As a small bookshop we are able to respond to the needs of a local market and our customers in a way that bigger players would love to be able to. You get a lot more than "have a nice day" from Crockatt & Powell. This is something that publishers should value as our customers certainly do - they wouldn't shop here if they didn't. We see ourselves as a filter, a shop that helps people to cut the crap and find the great books they really want to read.

What really excites us at Crockatt & Powell are the new technologies that will soon make Print on Demand a realistic option for small retailers. One aspect that the report fails to address completely is the environmental benefits of POD. No more returns, no wasted paper or books being driven/shipped all over the world. POD would save the industry vast sums of money very quickly. We believe it is only a metter of time before it arrives.

I thought the report was rather too concerned with E-Books and an I-Pod for books. We are of the opinion that E-Books will always be of minority interest for students and geeks. Real, printed books have a beutiful simplicity that is impossible to replace entirely.

So there we go. They said a bookshop like ours would never work, that we would go under in a month. They were wrong. Now people laugh when we talk about publishing books ourselves. And we are going to do it. Our first title will be published next year...

The digital future is coming and we are going to be there.

I will go out on a limb and say it is Amazon and the large chains that have most to fear from a digital future...(Yes Amazon!)

Credit where credit is due

In marked contrast to my usual moaning and critical post (see below) I would like to make clear just how much I admired and enjoyed DBC Pierre's travelogue/documentery on channel 4 last night. I've never been able to get into his books but despite that it is quite clear the man is a natural born storyteller and thankfully we had a producer and director who were happy to let Pierre do the talking and not attempt ridiculous 'dramatisations of events'. (Although they were guilty of the occasional CGI reproduction of the Aztec capital. It didn't look nearly as grand as Pierre was telling us.)
The apparently permanently drunk presenter switched his narrative continuously between different personas and different tenses but was totally engaging at all times. Maybe he has found a new career as a 21st century gin blossomed and tequila'd Michael Palin. I hope so, he's a telly natural.

These scam e-mails just get better and better

REQUEST FOR PARTNERSHIP ATTENTION SIR/ MADAM,THE LOCAL MANYU COMMUNITY OF THE SOUTH WEST PROVINCE, REPUBLIC OF CAMEROON WEST AFRICA, IS WILLING TO SELL SOME OF ITS IMPORTANT ARTIFACTS OF ANCIENT AFRICAN TRADITIONAL/ CULTURAL MASKS OF HIGH VALUE AND HISTORICAL MEANINGS. THE LOCAL TRADITIONAL COUNCIL IS READY TO SELL ONE MASK AT THE RATE OF 2.000.000FRS CFA (3000EURO) AND WHICH CAN LATER BE SOLD TO WESTERN PARTNERS (EUROPE, AMERICA AND ASIA) AT THE COST OF NOT LESS THAN 15.000EUR PER MASK. I HAVE ALREADY MADE SOME CONTACTS TO TWO MESEUM OWNERS IN EUROPE AND CANADA RESPECTIVELY WHO ARE READY TO BUY THESE VALUABLES AT THE RATE OF 15,000EUR BUT ARE NOT WILLING TO DEAL DIRECTLY WITH THE LOCAL AUTHOURITY CONCERNED, BUT WILL RATHER PREFER TO DEAL WITH WESTERN PARTNERS. BEFORE THE SALES OF THIS MASKS, TRADITIONAL RITES OR CEREMONY WILL BE PERFORMED TO BEG THE AFRICAN gODS TO ACCEPT THE RELEASE OF THESE VITAL MEANINGFUL VALUABLES.THIS MAKES IT DIFFICULT SOMETIMES FOR FOREIGN BUYERS TO DEAL DIRECTLY WITH THE PRIMITIVELOCAL AUTHOURITIES. SO THEY PREFER TO BUY FROM EUROPE, AMERICA AND ASIA AT A HIGHER PRICE.RATHER THAN BUYING FROM THE LOCAL AUTHOURITIES AT A CHEAPER RATE BECAUSE OF THE STRESSINVOLVED IN PERFORMING AND FINANCING THE TRADITIONAL RITUALS AND RITES. WHAT I WOULD ADVICE YOU TO DO IS TO BUY THESE MASKS AT A CHEAPER RATE FROM THE LOCAL AUTHOURITIES AND LATER SELL AT A HIGHER RATE TO INTERESTED WESTERN PARTNERS WHOSE CONTACTS I ALREADY HAVE. YOU WILL MAKE A GOOD PROFIT. YOU WILL USE ONE AFRICAN WHO WILL FACE THE LOCAL COUNCIL OR COMMUNITY FOR THE PURCHASE ON YOUR BEHALF. THIS WILL FACILITATE ALL THE PROCEDURES AND WILL ENHANCE SMOOTH TRANSACTION BECAUSE HE TOO UNDERSTANDS THE PEOPLE AND THEIR CULTURE. FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THIS TRANSACTION, PLEASE CONTACT OUR FOREIGN REPRESENTATIVE

Arts coverage on television

The titles should give the game away. Some dreamy music, a child, an old man, someone else with their dreamy eyes shut presumably Imagining... something dreamy. Or artistic. Who knows. And then half an hour of Alan Yentob 'interviewing' american directors in the strangest fashion. Two cameras. Shot of Yentob asking question/making statement. Brief shot of interviewees responding. Back to Yentob listening to their response. (Shot of interviewees has the Yentob camera in frame with an awkward looking operator. Whatever for?) Then off to another shot of Yentob in a convertible/ under Hollywood sign/ next to New York steam hole. Then section of Yentob walking down a corridor with a director making chit chat. Then Robert Redford on a rooftop. Then I switch off.

Not to mention that the programme has lifted chunks wholesale from a book called the Sundance Kids by James Mottram about the new generation of hollywood directors from Soderbergh to Sofia Coppola. A book which at 400 pages felt like a brief account of this fascinating period of American cinema. So what would a producer of a weekly arts strand on BBC hope to gain by squeezing the book into 55 minutes? I didn't make it to the end so didn't see the credits but I hope they made a mention of this fairly shameless usage.

I don't think the Imagine... show is dumbed down tv. It just seems to me a vanity project for Alan Yentob as a reward for his sterling services to television. Travel the world in style meeting lots of interesting people and getting to see loads of paintings in empty galleries and dress it up as BBC arts coverage. Nice work if you can get it.

But then you do get dumbed down arts coverage - The Culture Show on BBC2 on saturday nights now 'presented' by xfm dj Lauren Laverne from some kind of sixth circle of hell trendy bar/ members club in an indeterminate location (probably BBC studios in White City) where the various contributors come in to 'explain' to Lauren in words of two syllables or less what their 4 minute 35 second segment on Mozart is going to be ABOUT. Because you always have to be told atleast three times for the 'information' to get through the thick skulls watching zombie-like out there in tellybox land. And then you get Grayson Perry on the Late Review being asked about a film and responding something like: 'Well, I don't really go to the cinema so I don't, erm, really know much but I did like it, a lot'. Sorry to single out Grayson there but more often than not the Late Review does descend into the kind of I Liked It, I didn't Like It level of criticism. The least intersting thing anyone can say about a work of art is whether they liked it or not. Give me a reason to see, listen, read, watch.

"The duty of criticism is neither to depreciate nor dignify by partial representations, but to hold out the light of reason, whatever it may discover; and to promulgate the determinations of truth, whatever she shall dictate." - Dr Johnson.

To be fair BBC4 has some good live coverage of music and opera and some good documentaries although they do have a tendency to over-do the 'drama' part of drama-ducumentary as obviously some bad writing spoken by bad actors on a cheap looking, bad set is much more effective than somebody actually telling us what a book or painting is about. And there are interesting things to be happened upon across all tv stations but where radio (for which I happily cough up my license fee) and the internet manage to talk to us like grown-ups (witness Radio 4's Saturday Review against BBC2's Late Review) why does television still insist on talking to us like we're 7 year old couch fungus?

Is it ratings? Did nobody watch the arts on tv when they were focused, articulate, complex and fascinating? I just don't believe it. Or is it that cable and satellite gives producers an excuse not to bother. I still remember channel 4 in the mid-eighties dedicating successive saturdays to a season of films from Andrei Tarkovsky. At 9PM! Prime time! Execs are always talking about Television to Remember. Well, I remember Ivan's Childhood, Solaris, Stalker, Mirror, Nostalgia and The Sacrifice.

Accessibility. That's the word isn't it? Everything these days has to be accessible not exclusionary. I'm going to stop now. Got work to do. Might return to the topic though...

ps As a counterpoint to arts coverage I was watching Sky Sports news this morning while chewing on my muesli. No less than 4 separate bits of moving text all with different information and two people telling us stuff intercut with interviews and statements. Why do sports producers assume I can easily absorb 5 different bits of information simultaneously yet arts producers assume I'm a moron who needs every single thing explained 3 times v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y

I've been putting it off all morning...

...but now I really should make a couple of phone calls.

This blogging business just eats time don't you find?

Who do you support?

A great afternoon of sport. West Ham-Arsenal, England-New Zealand, Chelsea-Spurs. 6 hours of non-stop grass action.

The Hammers edged out Arsenal at the last minute. Not exactly deserved but well done all the same. I used to live almost slap bang between Upton Park and Highbury so my loyalties are divided. I wanted Arsenal to win because they play the best football and would be well placed to challenge Man.Ure and Chelsea but I'm not sad to see the spirit of the Hammers come through. And let's face it, they need a break.

A below par New Zealand thumped England. YES! A combination of 11 years at public school in the west country and 7 years living in New Zealand makes me a turncoat that wants England to be pulverised every time they play rugby. All those England players only remind me of the bullies and bores I had to endure school with. The New Zealanders remind me of the energy and spirit of the Maori and South Sea Islanders who play for fun but know how to win a game ruthlessly. The All Blacks are possibly the best side ever to play team sport. Unbelievable.

And the biggest, most ruthless team in the land... lost to Spurs. I admire Chelsea for their machine-like tenacity and occasional flair but I've always had a soft spot for Tottenham since the days of Ricky Villa and Ossie Ardiles. The only shame is it leaves those manc bastards 3 points clear! Grrr.

But who's the real winner today?

Upton Park - 35,000 - full house
Twickenham - 82,000 - full house
White Hart Lane - 36,000 - full house

How many cities in the world could host 3 huge sporting events simultaneously on the same day without the support of an Olympics or similar? London can. And did. And I bet there was plenty going on elsewhere too. And it was sunny.

I love this town.

On The Road (again)

Back in September we (well Marie and I) were raving about Cormac McCarthy's new book The Road. (Maybe someone more tech savvy could link back to those posts for me?)

In my (naturally very humble) opinion it is the best novel to be published in 2006.

The Guardian caught up today and made it book of the week.

We have lovely US editions in stock now, way more beautiful than the UK version that suggests The Road is an airport thriller.

I say again, if you only read one novel this year - make it this one!

Crockatt & Powell Bestsellers

Here's our latest top 10...

1: Lambeth Past by Hannah Renier

2: Travels in Wicklow, West Kerry and Connemara by JM Synge

3: New Alphabet of Animals by Chris Wormell

4: Teeth Tails and Tentacles by Chris Wormell

5: Winter in Madrid by CJ Sansom

6: The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai

7: Mice, Morals and Monkey Business by Chris Wormell

8: The Outsider by Albert Camus

9: Disgrace by JM Coetzee

10: Journey by Moonlight by Antal Szerb

As usual I think you'll agree this is different to many other lists of bestsellers.

The Outsider is our bookgroup book this month, Chris Wormell came to sign a week ago, the JM Synge is just outright the best book on tramping ever written, Disgrace came top of some Observer poll of best novel published in last 25 years, Journey by Moonlight STILL in there through sheer force of ME placing it in the hands of unsuspecting folk - "This is hungarian, you are going to bloody love it..."

The man formally known as...

Back in the early days we were visited on a regular basis by Flashing Helmet, a man with a hat covered in flashing red lights.

Over the year his hat grew more and more battered before finally disppearing over the summer. He claimed it had "blown away".

Now the nights are drawing in and the wind has a nasty bite.

The one formally known as Flashing Helmet has now exchanged his visually distinctive headgear for a brain box cover that appeals (!) to another sense...

...smell.

It is a very stinky wooly hat...