Book memories meme

The following meme comes from Kirsty at Other Stories

The book that’s been on your shelves the longest.

As with most people this will be a children's book probably one of my Dean Reward Classics like The Folk of the Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton.

A book that reminds you of something specific in your life (a person, a place, a time).

Frederica by Georgette Heyer. When I was thirteen my mum passed me a copy and said, "I think you'll enjoy this." And I did! I have read and re-read all Heyer's works. They are great stress-busters. They are also a wonderful prelude to Jane Austen. I am sure I 'got' Austen more quickly in my teens because I had read so much Heyer. The moment when my mother passed me Frederica is also a reminder of how reading is a kind of club. When you share a literary habit with someone it is a real bond.

A book you acquired in some interesting way.

My habits of acquisition are very boring. I have not found books belonging to an author under the sofa like Kirsty did, though I have sold books back to their authors on more than one occasion, not unlike the old J R Hartley advert for Yellow Pages.

The book that’s been with you to the most places.

I was going to suggest another one of my childhood books but, thinking about it, my childhood books probably stayed in the family home when I was away at university, so the one that has been with me most is probably an early adult acquisition from my late teens, either Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen by Fay Weldon or the Gone to Earth by Mary Webb.

Your current read, your last read and the book you’ll read next.

My last read was Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie. I am re-reading a lot of Christie at the moment, in the order in which she wrote them. My current read is Arthur and George by Julian Barnes and my next read will probably be another Agatha Christie, The Man in the Brown Suit.

If you have a go at this meme on your own blog please leave me a message in the comments, or if you don't blog please feel free to do this meme yourself in the comments below.

'A Slap in the Face of Public Taste': Russian Avant - Garde Books

Marijana Dworski Books has recently purchased some 200 Russian books from the library of the late Alan Bird (author of 'The History of Russian Painting', 1987). Rather than written content, the main criterion for inclusion of most of the books in the collection was the value of the graphic design - visual rather than literary interest. Within the term 'avant-garde' our scope is quite wide, and we have included here books from Russia's Silver Age, the Futurism of the 1910s, the Constructivism of the 1920s to photomontage and the photography of Rodchenko. The poetry of the Symbolists Blok and Bely is included in specially illustrated editions by prominent avant-garde graphic artists of the time, such as the then notorious poem , 'The Twelve' illustrated as a quarto third edition by Annekov. Chekhonin, a prolific graphic artist, is well represented. Also present is a famous edition of the Kalevala, published in 1933 and illustrated by the school of Filonov (founder of Analytic art). This copy is still in its very scarce lithographed dust-wrapper. Two rare books designed and written by Vladimir Mayakovsky are included as well as a copy of Novy Lef, the avant-garde magazine edited by Mayakovsky with a Rodchenko design to its front cover and early photographs of its inside.

Please see Dworski Books and click on our Russian Avant-Garde catalogue on the lefthand side. We have only catalogued about a quarter of this collection so far but we have photos of all the books and will email more images on request. We welcome your input and questions.

From the top the images shown here are:

1. Vladimir Mayakovsky (written and ills.): Flying Proletarian. Moscow, 1925

2. Aleksandra Ekster (cover illustration): The Art of Degas. Moscow, 1922

3. A. Lentulov (cover illustration): Kamensky, Verse. Moscow 1919.

Chelsea Bookfair

The ABA's Chelsea Book Fair is on the 6th and 7th November at Chelsea Old Town Hall, Kings Road. This year it features an exhibition to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the publication of Fitzgerald's translation of Rubayait of Omar Khayam.

Our very own Stephen Foster will be on Stand 31 which is in the main hall in the left aisle.

Book of the Week

APPLEY DAPPLY'S NURSERY RHYMES by Beatrix Potter

Published: Frederick Warne & Co., 1913

Edition: First Edition

Binding: Hardback

1st edition, Green boards, brown lettering, pictorial onlay to front cover. 53 pages. Colour illustrations. Small format., Book condition VG, Corners lightly bumped and rubbed. Small mark to verso of one plate. A few tiny spots to front cover. A nice bright copy of the first edition. Stock number: 584663. £ 300.00 ( approx. $US 479.73 )

The first edition of this less well known of Beatrix Potter's works is being sold by Stella Books, and if your budget doesn't stretch to a first edition they also have this:

APPLEY DAPPLY'S NURSERY RHYMES

Published: Frederick Warne & Co Ltd., 1985

Binding: Hardback , with Dustjacket

White glazed pictorial boards. Colour illustrations., Book condition Fine, Dust jacket condition nearly fine, A few grubby marks to pictorial wrapper.Stock number: 808032. £ 5.00 ( approx. $US 8.00 )

Twitter and reading

There has been an interesting article in The Bookseller which suggests that Twitter and Facebook are not places people go for serious book recommendations. For most people I would imagine that this is true quite simply because most people don't use them for anything. I admit to an adversion for Facebook but Twitter is a very interesting place for book discussion despite the 140 character limit of each of the posts on there. Twitter has a search facility and you can use #ilovethisbook or #fridayreads in the search box to see what people are recommending. For those who can't face trying Twitter then I have picked out a few I have seen recommended this evening:

from @meandmybigmouth (the publisher Scott Pack)

"The Blue Fox by Sjon. Short. Evocative. Moving. Icelandic. And a quote from Bjork on the cover."

and

"The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford by Ron Hansen. Even more spellbinding than the movie."

from @BristolPrize

"Mention again for What Good are the Arts? by John Carey- brave, stimulating, can be a life-changer. keep returning to it"

from @stevenha11

"Nam Le's The Boat. A beautiful book near the top of my "I wish I'd written that" list. Check it out. Seriously, go now."

I haven't read a book yet simply because I read about it on Twitter, but I do have one on my wish list The Tsar's Dwarf by Peter H. Fogtdal who tweets and blogs as Danish Novelist. I don't think I would have heard of this book had I not been on Twitter but it sounds fascinating and when I do get my paws on a copy it will be because of those 140 character long posts.

Have you read or bought any book mainly because of coming across it on a social networking site like Facebook or Twitter?

Open Book - Neglected Classics

BBC Radio 4's programme Open Book is running a Neglected Classics series where established authors champion an under-rated title from the past.

The books championed are:

The Polyglots by William Gerhardie

The Rector's Daughter by F M Mayor

A Hero of Our Time by Mikhail Lermontov

Many Dimensions by Charles Williams

Esther Waters by George Moore

The Quest for Corvo by A J A Symons

Rasselas by Samuel Johnson

Carol by Patricia Highsmith

The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico

Miss Mackenzie by Anthony Trollope

You can read more about the Neglected Classics series, vote, and suggest your own neglected favourites here.

She is too fond of books and it has turned her brain

Long Barn Books, the publishing house owned and run by novelist Susan Hill have started selling this coffee mug with the wonderful Louisa M. Alcott quotation on it: "She is too fond of books and it has turned her brain". I am rather taken with it and shall drop heavy hints for Christmas!