Welcome to issue eight of The Deep Read, where we review books, interview authors, and let you know about other goings-on at Mr B’s and in the wider book industry. This week, see how Mr B looks as a baboon in a new graphic novel, Liv tucks in to a new cookbook, our beautiful new bags arrive, and a Mr B’s regular starts a new film project…
Mr B-aboon
The book monkey has been on our logo at Mr B’s since the very start – now Mr B himself has been immortalised as a baboon in a new graphic novel!
Monsieur Mustard, the charming debut graphic novel from Charley Rabbit, tells the story of the eponymous mouse, possibly the world’s smallest detective, as he uncovers a Bath-set mystery concerning the strange disappearance of Fabio Fangtooth in our great city.
One place Monsieur Mustard passes through on his quest for justice is a certain Bath bookshop with a primate bookseller…
Charley Rabbit is a Bath based illustrator. We have proudly sold their beautiful greeting cards at Mr B’s for many years and we are delighted to see their wonderful first graphic novel come to fruition. The book is out on June 4th – pre order from Mr B’s now!
Click here to pre-order Monsieur Mustard!
Sam’s Non-Fiction Highlights
My Memoir of the Moment: Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy
Mary Roy was an ambitious and trailblazing educator who created her own school and was respected and beloved by her community. She was also an extremely strict mother, pairing high expectations with harsh criticism and frequent complaints that her children had ruined her life.
In ‘Mother Mary Comes To Me’, Arundhati Roy, who won the Booker Prize for ‘The God of Small Things’, tells the story of her life through her complicated relationship with this larger-than-life mother. After becoming estranged from Mary as a teenager, Arundhati lived a bohemian existence while training as an architect, before becoming an actress, a screenwriter, a novelist, a journalist, and a political activist. Her story is inspiring and impressive, hilarious and often painful, overshadowed by a mother she never stopped loving; their evolving relationship becomes the backbone to Arundhati’s life story, the prism through which she views her own potential and constraints.
Highly recommended for anybody interested in India, in the creation of enduring literature, in real life stories of inspiring women, or in deep explorations of complex relationships.
Buy Mother Mary Comes to Me now!
My History Highlight: The Buried City by Gabriel Zuchtriegel
The Ancient Roman city of Pompeii was catastrophically destroyed, and hauntingly preserved, by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE. Gabriel Zuchtriegel is currently overseeing the biggest dig of the site of Pompeii in a generation.
In ‘The Buried City’, he brings Pompeii to life with insights only archaeology can provide: rich and poor were buried alike, allowing historians to reconstruct the real life of the city, from attitudes to eroticism to the practice of religion, and to trace how these contrast with the Greek world that preceded it and the Christian influence that followed. Through Zuchtriegel’s eyes and by his careful guidance, we glimpse the ancient world frozen in situ, with objects and people and ideas coupled to their context in a way that museums cannot match.
‘The Buried City’ includes fascinating biographical insights into Zuchtriegel’s journey to becoming Director General of the archaeological park in Pompeii, and the challenges of bringing history to the public in a way that encourages human connection and “Speaks to the soul”.
By Sam Drew
Dinner at Liv’s
I wouldn’t describe myself as the most natural chef in the world, but recently I’ve been cooking my way through Kate Young’s Dinner At Mine? and having the most delightful (and delicious!) time.
The set-up is superb: you know those ingredients you always seem to have (a punnet of tomatoes, a packet of freezer peas, a courgette or two kicking around in the veg drawer), but never seem to know how to use up? Well, Kate’s taken these ingredients, and figured out recipes to fit however many people you might need to feed. So, whether you’re eating alone, dishing up a simple dinner for two, or have a few friends stopping by unexpectedly, Kate’s got you covered!
I’ve loved so many of these recipes (potato pie! courgette cake!), but my favourite so far has been the courgette and aubergine parmigiana. It’s the perfect dinner party centrepiece – or, if you’re cooking for one or two, a great way to stock your fridge with enough leftovers to incite the envy of your colleagues when you break out a slice in the staffroom.
See pics for the process – but sadly I don’t have any of it plated up, as I gobbled it down way too quickly! Poor work for the bookseller who claims to be Mr B’s resident Instagram afficionado, but I’m afraid the camera never eats first in my household…
By Liv B
Paper Girl Crowdfunder
Film maker and friend-of-Mr B’s Rich Macey-Cross is crowdfunding for a new short film, Paper Girl, and is looking for donations to get the project off the ground.
Paper Girl is Rich’s second such project, a dark psychological horror. When a paper-round girl is invited into a stranger’s home, the arrival of a mysterious third guest sparks a deadly ritual that unveils a dark fate binding them all…
All supporters of the film will be invited to the premiere at Bath’s Little Theatre Cinema.
Click here to find out more about the project, or click here to watch his previous film, Good Dog, on YouTube.
Bag It Up!
Our beautiful new 20th anniversary bags have arrived – and they look blooming fantastic! Designed by our Liv and featuring Ed’s delicious book bath linocuts, this is the best new book bag on the the market. Available now for £20.
Thanks for reading
Tom