Juxtabook

National Braille Week

National Braille Week(4-10 January 2009) is this week, coinciding with the 200th anniversary of the birth of Louis Braille on 4th January 1809, and an interesting piece on the BBC news website points out that crime writer Ian Rankin is promoting a campaign to save one of Britain's most important braille printing presses. Apparently even now only about 4% of books available to fully sighted people become available to braille users, so the loss of one the presses is obviously great cause for concern. 

As reading is close to the book bloggers heart, the braille press appeal seems a very good cause to give some publicity around the book blogosphere. You can donate by telephoning 0300 321 0000 or online here.

Best of the Booker

I am not very alert when it comes to keeping up with the various book prizes. Being a seller of secondhand books means that books of the moment can often pass me by until they becomes books of the decade, or the century, or the previous century... I have nothing but envy for the way some bloggers, especially Dovegreyreader, tackle reading along with the judges. For me reading has to jump about a bit. If I read a few modern literary novels then I want something Victorian, or a biography, or a decent piece of genre fiction (especially crime), I can't tackle this year's newest titles one after the other, it is like eating the same course over and over again.

Despite all of the above book prizes do impinge upon a bookseller's life, if not always at the same time as the prize is awarded. Many people collect Bookers for example, so I am occasionally asked to find a hardback of a missing volume. So for me, prizes are there but always in retrospect. The Best of the Bookers is therefore exactly my thing. It was drawn to my attention by a post by C. B. James and it certainly takes the long view. Which is the best Booker from the last 40 years? You can pop over and vote.

The short list:

• Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children
• Nadine Gordimer’s The Conservationist
• J G Farrell’s The Siege of Krishnapur
• JM Coetzee’s Disgrace
• Peter Carey’s Oscar and Lucinda
• Pat Barker’s The Ghost Road

I have read three of the above, and of those my personal favourite is Oscar and Lucinda, but I can see Midnight's Children winning. It is a wonderful novel.

Penguin Book Giveaway

Thank you to Cornflower for pointing out that Penguin are running their blog book giveaway again. If you hurry and sign up you might be allocated one of the 1,400 titles they are offering.  I have been lucky and drawn Wonderful Adventures Of Mrs Seacole In Many Lands by Mary Seacole which I look forward to receiving. You have to review the book they send, so you will hear more of this when I have received and read it.

There is also a book givaway on Stone Soup which might interest you, which I found via A Striped Armchair.

More on A Very Great Profession

A Very Great Profession, reviewed in an earlier post, has now been published. You can click straight through to the right Persephone Books page here. A Very Great Profession is an enjoyable, worthwhile read, and it is well worth getting hold of a copy.

Juxtabook is also pleased to have had an honourable mention in the Persephone Books fortnightly newsletter.

I've had a lucky week this week as I have won a signed copy of 'The Tinker's' book, Bugle Boy from Dovegreyreader, and also one of Stuck-in-a-Book's original cartoons. The book has arrived and is beautifully produced by Long Barn Books, and I am looking forward to reading it; thank you very much Len. More of both book and cartoon in a later post.

Snowbooks Offer

Always one to support independent businesses I thought I would let you know about independent publishers Snowbook's special offer, for UK readers, of a third off the new Sarah Bower hardback The Book of Love. Many people enjoyed her previous novel The Needle in the Blood. If you live outside of the UK then apparently you can email Snowbooks for a price. For the UK the offer is £13.50 inc. P+P.

I have given up on the image buttom use this link instead to take you to the publisher's blog - scroll down the page for the offer.

BAFAB Week Competition

In honour of Buy a Friend a Book week which is coming in the first week of April (see clicking timer to the right) I am holding a free draw for a book. I have one of two books in mind: one is fiction and one is literary auto-biography/memoir so the lucky winner will have a blind choice. "Blind" because as it is a gift I think it should be a surprise when you open it, so you can choose between the genres but you won't know the titles. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment in the section below this post. The draw is open until Saturday 5th April and the winner will be announced on the Sunday. Good Luck!

Match it for Pratchett

More on the subject of Terry Pratchett and Alzheimer's. Booking Through Thursday have a post about a campaign by fans to raise money to match the amount donated to Alzheimer's Research by Terry last week. They sensibly suggest blogs should highlight the campaign and link to the site so here it is Match it for Pratchett .

Hold the TBR Pile!

A Very Great Profession by Nicola Beauman has just arrived. I am so glad Persephone Books have decided to republish this. It was first published in 1983 and focuses on the writers and novels that Beauman so famously went on to publish with Persephone. I have had it in stock a few times and have dipped in and out and always thought, 'I will read that' and then whoosh, sold again. (It is painful being a bookseller sometimes). Despite a few reissues by Virago it has been out of print now for about 10 years and demand is such for secondhand copies that, when I get a copy in stock, I barely have time to look at the cover before it is sold. In fact secondhand copies have been changing hands for up to £30; I know because I have sold three since Christmas. I have had to resort to buying copies in from the States and Canada. And I still don't get to read it! But now I have my very own copy and a review will appear here shortly - when I finally read it this weekend.

A Very Great Profession with a new afterword by Nicola Beauman will be published by Persephone Books next month. While you're waiting there is a good article at The Guardian about Nicola and Persephone.

Terry Pratchett and the Alzheimer’s Research Trust

Many people will have heard today that Terry Pratchett has announced that he is giving one million dollars to the Alzheimer’s Research Trust. Terry has early onset Alzheimer's, so early that he has to pay for the drugs he needs himself as the NHS says he is too young to qualify for them. His generous donation will bring much needed attention to the subject which affects the lives of many families but receives just a fraction of the funding of cancer research. You can read about his donation on the Alzheimer’s Research Trust website and there is a link for you to make your own donation.

I am not a great fan of fantasy as a genre but I have read half a dozen discworld novels. The first was one I bought nearly 20 years ago whilst at Swansea station late at night returning home to Reading after a university interview. As a self-conscious 19 year old it was a bad choice for me as I found it so uproariously funny my suppressed sniggers were drawing attention in the carriage. The book in question was Wyrd Sisters and if you want to try just one Pratchett I would recommend this: you'll never think about Macbeth in the same light again. The few Pratchett novels I possess always survive the rigorous clear-outs I have once a year, and I still have my copy of Wyrd Sisters which I occasionally re-read and it never pals. Good luck Terry.

New Look for Biblio

The American based used book selling site Biblio is poised to relaunch with a new look and better searching. Biblio is a site I like very much as a bookseller not least because the fees are reasonable! Their customer service is very good too. However, as a book buyer I have found the search facility is a pain. As well as an improved, cleaner look for the site the search facility has been over-hauled and filtering is much easier. The first filter I want if there are lots of copies of a title is UK sellers only and this is now much more accessible. I always try Antiqbook or Biblio first if I can't find a book on ibooknet or Ukbookworld, and with the launch of the new Biblio on March 12th a book-searcher's life will be easier. www.biblio.com