Continuing our revamp of our bookseller reviews, welcome to the first issue of Insider Reading, where our booksellers tell you about books that are coming out in the near future. One of the great privileges of being a bookseller is that we get sent lots of proofs and advanced reading copies from publishers, ahead of publication, so we can get you excited about what’s coming. Here, Team B reveals what they have been reading – get your pre-orders in now!
Liv – confirmed expert in all things romance – thinks she has found her book of the year, in Ella Risbridger’s In Love With Love (Out Nov 6), a smart and funny ode to the endearing joy of romance fiction. Risbridger started out as a food writer, before turning her hand to poetry, children’s fiction and more. Liv says: “I have always loved romance fiction, and often felt taken the piss out of and looked down on for loving it. But this book changes that – it is a complete celebration of everything romance.” Pre-order here!
Tom H was very excited this week when a proof of A Truce That Is Not Peace (Aug 28), the new memoir by Miriam Toews, dropped through the door. Toews has long been a Mr B’s favourite, with novels such as All My Puny Sorrows, Women Talking, and Fight Night – for which she joined us for a book event in 2022 – among some of our perennial bestseller. Tom says her latest looks “bleak, dark and troubling” with a dose of her trademark humour thrown in for good measure. Order here!
Our Children’s Lead Hannah has just devoured the new Emma Carroll novel Dracula & Daughters (Sept 25), which looks like the perfect children’s read for the upcoming spooky season. A gothic tale about three sisters who discover they are descendants of Dracula, Hannah says “the lore is really cool and it plays around with vampire traditions and the big names of the genre, like Dracula and Buffy. I loved it!” Pre-order here!
Nic – aka Mr B – has just landed back from Costa Rica, where he has been reading Fly, Wild Swans, Jung Chang’s epic follow-up to her worldwide bestseller, Wild Swans. “This is a continuation of her Wild Swans story,” says Nic, “that really makes you aware of the repercussions of her writing that book and the ongoing emotional toll of what happened to her and her family during the Cultural Revolution and beyond.” Nic is doubly excited by this one as he will be interviewing Jung Chang at the upcoming Bookseller’s Association Conference in September. Pre-order here!
Laura GM is looking forward to getting her teeth into a bit of YA crime, with Rachel Davis-Featherstone’s Oxford Blood (Aug 28). Set amongst the iconic buildings of Oxford, it follows student Eva, whose start to college life takes a nasty turn when her best friend George winds up dead. “Danger! Oxford! Murder! I know I am going to love this one!” said Laura. Order here!
Weirdness aficionado Soffi has unearthed another diamond, in the form of recently rediscovered Danish classic Freezing Point (Nov 6) by Anders Bodelson. Concerning young journalist Bruno, who discovers a lump in his neck only to be told he can be frozen down while they await a cure, it is, says Soffi, “philosophical and enthralling, it manages to portray the beauty of life and death by removing the possibility of the latter.” Pre-order here!
Finally, I have been chewing through a bunch of upcoming books over the last week or so (Christmas is only around the corner, after all…). Chief among them was the Benjamin Myers novel that nobody was waiting for: Jesus Christ Kinski (Oct 23), a dark, profane and troubling descent into the mind of controversial German acting genius/madman Klaus Kinski. It is as brilliant as it is surprising. Then there was Fall, Bomb, Fall (Sept 23), a Dutch classic by Gerrit Kouwenaar, soon to be available in English for the first time. It is a charming coming of age story set against the backdrop of oncoming war – Catch 22 meets Catcher in the Rye… Catcher 22 in the Rye, if you will. Ahem. And lastly, an endearing Japanese novel, Natsume Sōseki’s I Am a Cat (Sept 4), the original cat classic, gets a new translation from friend-of-the-shop Nick Bradley. It is sarcastic, funny and utterly delightful.
Thanks for reading!
Tom