Something For The Weekend: Tales of the Ketty Jay

 There are few books that defy categorisation quite like Chris Wooding's novels about Captain Darian Frey and his crew. Not classic Science Fiction (no space ships, no colonists, no zap guns), not Fantasy (no wizards, no elves) and not Steampunk (no Zeppelins here, the aircraft are instead powered by aerium gas) -- so what are these strange stories?

Fun. In a word. Wooding's books are fast-paced, teeth-rattling affairs full of sky pirates, dysfunctional rogues and down-at-heel nobles. With breath-taking dog-fights, brutal brawls and desperate shoot-outs there's plenty to keep a reader on the edge of his or her seat. That the Ketty Jay novels have plenty of easy charm doesn't hurt either.

Retribution Falls (2009) introduces the reader to the foolhardy, womanising and down-on-his luck Frey. The crew of the Ketty Jay are hardly a tight-knit bunch though. From the boozy Malvery to the mysterious Navvie, Jez, the ship really does serve as a portable rogues gallery. And their luck takes a turn for the worst when they are framed for destroying a ship during a heist gone wrong. Captain Frey has to draw on every resource to prove his innocence.

The Black Lung Captain (2010) presents the crew with a dangerous mission far away on a remote island, working with Captain Grist. Forced to take the job out of desperation, Captain Frey quickly regrets accepting the assignment and realises there's much more at stake than a a lost artifact, including the lives of his crew, who he has grown rather fond of. The Black Lung Captain twists and turns and the chapters end on the sort of cliffhangers that will keep you up long after bedtime.

This year Wooding gives us The Iron Jackal (2011). Captain Frey has plenty of reasons to feel good about himself: his ship has been patched up extensively, his crew have laid to rest their demons (mostly) and he's even a little famous. And for the right reasons. So why is he so far from home in Samarla, the land of their ancient enemies? And why has he taken a job from the dread-pirate Queen, Trinica Dracken (his ex fiancee)? 

Each book can be read alone, but it really is worth taking the time to read them in order and see the crew bond together as Captain Frey denies his more self-destructive urges.

The Iron Jackal is out now.
The Black Lung Captain is part of Blackwell's 3 for 2 promotion.

Something for the weekend...

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

Are the increasingly cold and dark evenings making you feel like Winter is looming with nothing to brighten up the season except Christmas, still more than two months away? Settle in on the sofa this weekend with a book that will cheer the blackest of hearts.

An American humourist who revels in human frailty without ever being cruel, this is a great introduction to David Sedaris. In this collection he explores the difficulties of communicating successfully with other people. These include his high school speech therapist (brought in to train him and other 'future homosexuals of America' out of their lisps), his large and hilarious family, a writing class in Chicago and the French class he attends in Paris.

I laugh out loud every time I re-read this book, which can have its drawbacks on the tube. But for a light read that will fill you with glee, immerse yourself in Sedaris' world and revel in his joy when he finally understands enough French to decipher his teacher as she tells him, 'Every day spent with you is like having a cesarean section'. She is utterly wrong.

                            

Sarah T

Buy it here

Peter's Booker round up!

Julian Barnes - The Sense of an Ending

A short novel, almost a novella, but beautifully written. A meditation on memory and history. If all history is subjective then how much more so are our personal histories, what we choose to remember as fact and what facts we choose to remember.

Carol Birch - Jamrach's Menagerie

Starting in Victorian London then launching out into ever darker turns, the plot is impossible to second guess. The writing has been compared to Dickens and Melville but I would add Joseph Conrad to the list.

Patrick deWitt - The Sisters Brothers

The first 'western' to be shortlisted for the Booker Prize is also a bleakly comic novel. Imagine Cormac McCarthy meets 'Bottom'. A bizarre cast of eccentric outcasts thrown into deconstructed western cliches. The most likely of the short list to be filmed.

Esi Edugyan - Half Blood Blues

Set in Paris and Berlin just before and during WWII, it tells the story of jazz musicians, German and American, black, white and mixed race, caught in up the mayhem. A novel full of historical detail and atmosphere but a bit predictable in plot, when they tell you on the cover that it's a story of betrayal you pretty much know where you're going.

Stephen Kelman - Pigeon English

This story of life in a high rise housing estate in London, full of organised crime, gangs and violence, could have been another soul crushing excursion into social commentary, what saves it is it's narrator. Harrison is an eleven year old school boy recently arrived from Ghana with his mother and sister, his fascination and enthusiasm for everything around him make it a joy to read. Asweh, funniest book ever!

A. D. Miller - Snowdrops

Early 21st Century Moscow, corruption, depravity, crime. 'Capitalism with the gloves off'. The author has obviously lived in Moscow and the novel is full of depressing atmosphere and lurid detail but the story of a naive English abroad being done over by wily Russians has been attempted before, as in James Hawes' "Rancid Aluminium".

This year the short list has been much criticised for being 'light weight' but at least it is more eclectic than usual taking in adventure, thrillers, comedy and even a western. If the thrillers run a little to type, the adventures are big, the settings brilliantly evoked and the comedy funny. Julian Barnes is the most likely winner, as this is the fourth time he has made the shortlist and his prose is perfectly honed but only over 150 pages (Ian McEwan's "On Chesil Beach" was criticised for making the shortlist at a similar length). The novel that I'd love to see win is Stephen Kelman's "Pigeon English", a first novel whose narrator allows you to see the world through innocent, wonderous eyes.

 Peter Marsh

Something for the weekend

How To Be A Woman by Caitlin Moran

If you're a fan of Caitlin Moran's writing (or more precisely, her wit) then How To Be A Woman is a winner.

Having read and studied many different books on feminism, I was excited to hear that Moran had decided to tackle the subject. A diptych of a book, Moran has infused snippets of her own life alongside her efforts to adopt feminism into said life story. As a fan of Moran’s writing and critiques, I hoped she would bring her usual panache and wit to How To Be A Woman – and she didn’t let me down. There are brilliant stories concerning Jordan, Lady Gaga, a Berlin sex club, bra fittings at Rigby and Peller, rising through the ranks at Melody Maker and a much needed discussion on why pants are getting smaller.

How To Be A Woman gives laugh out loud moments (as I did whilst reading it on the tube) and some more sobering thoughts on growing up, sibling rivalry, bullying, falling in love and a slightly comical, if excruciating, account of childbirth. Through it all, Moran's philosophy remains that she is a feminist without having to be the next Germaine Greer and if she can do it, so can every other woman.

Essentially, How To Be A Woman is a great introductory text to feminism and leaves the reader open-minded to their own ideas about what being a woman is for them. My favourite section, perhaps controversial, was the chapter about abortion, where Moran details not only her own experience of abortion, but also the stigma that is still attached to it. I think in the present age, it is high time a woman stepped forward and declared that ‘actually on this occasion, this is the right decision for me’. In no way is this advocating constant use of abortion, but it is refreshing to read a perspective such as Moran’s. Well worth the read.

Buy it here

Michelle

Something for the weekend...

AHAAAA..

'I Partridge: We need to talk about Alan' by Alan Partridge (with help!)

Ok, I know I'm preaching to the converted here and if you're not a fan of the TV series/radio shows then you won't enjoy this book. I'm really here to reassure any fans that this is a worthwhile purchase. I can confirm that. And I am confirming it. Now.

Coogan's greatest creation is brought brilliantly to life in all his pompous, arrogant splendour. This is not a cheap cash in (we can leave those to Peter Kay) it's a genuinely laugh out loud continuation of the legend that is Partridge (as we wait for the film!)

What I especially like is that although he talks about 'The day today', & 'Knowing me knowing you' as if they were real shows he doesn't acknowledge the existence of the 'I'm Alan Partridge' shows. This means 'Alan' can lie about things he doesn't think we know. So his meeting with Tony Hayers in the BBC cafe (the 'smell my cheese' scene) is hilariously re-played as a triumph for our hero & Chris Feather (Hayers replacement) warns Alan (just before he signs the contract) that he's trapped his hand that morning so his signature might look a bit 'weird & shakey' (for those who haven't seen it - Feather dies just before signing & Partridge fakes his signature). I also like the way he calls Lynne simply 'my assistant' through the entire book.

You hear Alan as you read & that makes it all the funnier, honestly I can't recommend it enough. He's done it, he's bounced back (again).

buy it here

Gary

Super Thursday!!

It's Super Thursday!!

You may be asking 'What's so super about it?' Good question (if not a touch cynical), what's super is that there were 200 books released today! Today is the day that the books you & your aunts & your brothers & your aunts brothers (or is that you again?) will wake up to on Christmas morning hit the shops.

I've picked a few of titles to highlight what a 'Super Thursday' this is & I've even put them in categories to make it double easy:

Biography

Every year some comedian or other likes to tell us their life story & this year is no different

Lee Evans, James Corden & Alan Sugar all have hilarious titles released today - that Sugar cracks me up. But for me the highlight has to be the long awaited (in East Anglia) publication of the follow up to 'Bouncing Back' (now sadly out of print), yes 'I Partridge: we need to talk about Alan'  by Alan Partridge is released today 'AHA!'. Seriously though this looks brilliant, I've had a sneaky look & it's hilarious (expect a SFTW of it very soon)

Thrillers

Maybe your relatives are of a more serious bent? Maybe they don't give a tinkers cuss for the trials & tribulations of some pampered fop! Well in that case there are eagerly anticipated  new books out today by Lee Child (The Affair), Robert Harris (The Fear Index) & Peter James (Dead man's grip'). So they can get their teeth into to some top drawer thrillers.

Cookbooks

Or perhaps they just like a nice cake, who doesn't? If so, today sees the release of new titles by Jamie Oliver (Jamie's Great Britain), Martha Swift (The Primrose bakery book) & Lorraine Pascal (Home cooking).

Miscellaneous

Other notable titles to part you from your pennies are Max Hastings epic 'All hell let loose' & Bernard Cornwell's 'Death of Kings'. Or how about Jacqueline Wilson's 'Sapphire Battersea' (one for the kiddies there), or last but not least -  Darren Shan's 'Palace of the damned' (for slightly older kiddies).

So, basically on 'Super Thursday' there is something for everyone, Christmas is closer than you think (& that's a good thing) get your thinking caps on - what would your Aunt like? (It's Alan Partridge by the way).

Aha!

Gary.

Shakespeare

I think that Shakespeare is the greatest writer this country has ever seen. I’m sure I’m not alone in this opinion, so I thought I would share with you my selection of the best Shakespeare books and what I think makes him have such enduring appeal.

There are obviously different angles from which you might want to read about Shakespeare. I think the very first thing you need to do is read the plays. Maybe not all of them, but certainly some of them. In terms of The Complete Works, for scholars the best edition is the Norton Shakespeare, edited by American scholar Stephen Greenblatt. The Arden editions are also excellent if you want lots of accompanying notes. Arden should also be noted for publishing separately the different surviving versions of Hamlet: the Second Quarto and the First Quarto and First Folio together. If you just want a basic version of the plays, you can’t go wrong with Penguin or Oxford. It is also worth noting that there are 2 versions of Shakespeare’s ‘lost’ play, Cardenio. Arden published Lewis Theobald’s 18^th Century version, Double Falsehood  and Nick Hern have published the RSC's reimagining of the play which was staged for the first time this year.

You could look into his life (well, what little is known) to inform your reading of the plays. I have just finished reading 1599 by James Shapiro, which manages to enlighten the reader about Shakespeare’s character, the times in which he was living and his writing and the reception of his plays all through looking in depth at one year. This was no ordinary year: he wrote Henry V, Julius Caesar, As You Like It and Hamlet. Shapiro cleverly uses the seasons of the year as a structure, which allows him to bring in the historical context of each section of the year without it feeling forced or like you’re reading a history book. I have a few books on my ‘next to read’ list, including The Lodger (Charles Nicholl), The Genius of Shakespeare, Soul of the Age (both by Jonathan Bate, who wrote the brilliant play Being Shakespeare), and Will in the World (Stephen Greenblatt). Any recommendations?

                                                                 

You could also read some Shakespeare criticism, to see themes and patterns and contexts you might not otherwise know about. I recently read Looking for Sex in Shakespeare by Stanley Wells. Originally delivered as 3 lectures at Shakespeare’s Globe, Wells has converted what must have been excellent lectures into excellent essays. They are very readable and I found myself being disappointed I had not been lucky enough to hear them spoken out loud originally. The 3 sections covered relationships between men, the relationships in the Sonnets and ‘lewd interpreters’, i.e. people who see more sex in the plays than there is or ever was. I think next I want to read some of Andrew Gurr’s work on the Elizabethan play-going world (The Shakespearean Stage 1574-1642, The Shakespeare Company 1594-1642 and Playgoing in Shakespeare's London).

One of my all time favourite books is about Shakespeare. I have an interest in acting and like looking at the staging and performing of Shakespeare's plays as that’s what they were intended for. If you are likewise interested in acting, I cannot recommend highly enough Exit, Pursued by a Badger by Nick Asbury. Asbury is an actor who was involved in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s 2 ½ year Histories Cycle. The same company performed the 8 history plays from Richard II to Richard III. The book started its life as a hugely popular blog documenting the life of a stage actor, from forgetting lines to corpsing to being attacked by a badger! Following on from this format came Something Written in the State of Denmark by Keith Osborn about his time playing in the season that produced David Tennant and Patrick Stewart’s Hamlet as well as Love’s Labours Lost and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Also worth a mention is Antony Sher’s Year of the King about his experience of playing Richard III in 1984. He gives so much detail about how he created the role and the psychological impact of playing such a major role, especially coming off the back of a major injury, it gives us a unique insight into how to depict Richard's disability.

So this is just a tiny selection of the massive amount of literature about Shakespeare. If you have any particular favourites or think I've missed out something, please feel free to leave me a comment.

Amelia