News from Abbey's Bookshop

A True Crime Story from 1930's Peking

2011-09-04T09:05:00.005+10:00

Midnight in Peking by Paul French is a tremendously interesting book which keeps you enthralled from page one. In Peking in the thirties, Pamela, the teenage daugher of a former consul to China, was murdered. Her body, horribly mutilated and with her heart and other organs missing, was found close to where she lived.

As Japanese troops begin to encircle the nervous inhabitants of the city a police investigation begins. Jointly headed by a Chinese detective and a British policeman, they attempt, though their authority is severely restricted, to solve the crime.

Pamela's father, Edward, was not well liked amongst the European community,- he was not a good mixer and lived outside their European enclave in a house in one of Peking's winding alleys. His grief seemed genuine and yet his wife, a robust and beautiful woman much younger than her husband had died, seeming inexplicably, some years previously.

Pamela was a troublesome teenager too, disruptive and expelled from the city's schools. And close by their home were the 'Badlands', a seething maze of bars and brothels. Fascinating, exciting and tragic, this is a great book that makes you seethe with indignation. Peter Smith

Congratulations Lindy!!!

2011-07-25T09:48:00.013+10:00

Congratulations to our very own Lindy Jones, winner of the Bookseller of the Year Award, sponsored by the Australian Booksellers Association and Text Publishing!

Lindy is one of our buyers, and she spends a lot of her time here selecting great books for our customers to enjoy. She spends a lot of her own time reading as many of these books as she can so she can make the right choices. Lindy's knowledge of what makes a good book is why she has been chosen to be a judge for both the Indie Awards and the ABIA Book of the Year.

Lindy is also responsible for our excellent Children's Books department, and is THE person to see if you want advice in this area.

Lindy also uses her knowledge of children's books to participate in The Specialist Children's Booksellers Group, who have recently produced the third edition of their booklet Don't Leave Childhood Without. She has also been involved with the Benjamin Andrew Footpath Library which provides books to homeless and disadvantaged people.

It's people like Lindy that make the book trade a special place to work in. Dave

Castles, Follies and Four-Leaf Clovers by Rosamund Burton

2011-07-13T10:37:00.008+10:00

St. Declan's way is an obscure and none too easy to follow pilgrimage path which winds its way from Cashel to Ardmore on the coast of Ireland.

Rosamund, a slender adventurer with not much experience in humping a pack decides to walk the track in the wettest summer on record. This is detailed and reflective account of her walk through the beautiful countryside that she left long ago.

Though born in Ireland Rosamund was raised in England, returned to Ireland to live with her parents in a castle and is now based with her husband, in Sydney. She is an unusual travel writer for her journey is as much a journey of the spirit as it is a traversing of country. Is Ireland where she 'belongs' - can she re-connect with a country and a people that she feels a deep affinity for after living away for so long? It's evident that Rosamund has a love for the green Irish countryside, its beauty and strangeness. The wildflowers and healing plants she comes across are described vividly.

This is no journey of great hardship, rather a loving (and wet) tramp through the mythic Irish countryside with its dark rushing rivers and misty mountains that might just harbour fairies and leprechauns. Rosamund, you feel, is quite prepared to acknowledge the existence of such creatures.

As she walks the overgrown paths and climbs the sodden hills in the soft rain she tells us something of the history of the place, sometimes benign, sometimes bloody. The people she meets along the way are always ready to regale her with the local legends. Her affection for the land and its people shine through this book. Peter Smith

The Longlist for the 2011 Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books

2011-06-27T08:30:00.007+10:00

The longlist for the 2011 Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books has been announced. Good luck trying to pick just one winner out of these fantastic books!

Alex's Adventures in Numberland by Alex Bellos

The judges said: “A playful book that joyously takes us all by the hand on a grown-up trip through the world of mathematics”

Here on Earth: An Argument for Hope by Tim Flannery

The judges said: “Depicting the Earth as a superorganism of which we are just a part, the author uses his optimistic, experienced voice to unravel the natural history of our world and ourselves.”

Massive: The Missing Particle That Sparked the Greatest Hunt in Science by Ian Sample

The judges said: “An exciting adventure through the world of the biggest subject in physics: the Higgs boson.”

Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach

The judges said: “This sharp and witty exploration of spaceflight is a rare combination - a science book with a sense of humour.”

Spider Silk: Evolution and 400 Years of Spinning, Waiting, Snagging and Mating by Leslie Brunetta and Catherine L. Craig

The judges said: “This book uses an unlikely subject to draw out many of the major principles of biology, drawing the reader into the surprisingly fascinating world of the spider.”

The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean

The judges said: “A charming book that brings the elements of the periodic table to life.”

The Fever: How Malaria Has Ruled Mankind for 500,000 Years by Sonia Shah

The judges said: “This book looks at an immense political and scientific challenge, malaria, and illuminates the heroic role science has played in the battle against it.”

The Price of Altruism: George Price and the Search for the Origins of Kindness by Oren Harman

The judges said: “This book has a wonderfully engaging biographical curve, interwoven with the scientific theories of altruism postulated by its hero.”

The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves by Matt Ridley

The judges said: “Reading this book made us all feel more cheerful and provided a welcome counter-balance to some of the distortions of science by the media.”

The Rough Guide to the Future by Jon Turney

The judges said: “We really enjoyed the unusual format of this book, whose many summaries, boxes, graphs and illustrations made the huge range of issues covered really accessible.“

The Wavewatcher's Companion by Gavin Pretor-Pinney

The judges said: “A lovely, eccentric book filled with fascinating science that takes apart all elements of waves.”

Through the Language Glass: How Words Colour Your World by Guy Deutscher

The judges said: “A quirky book about the science of language, brought to life with history and anecdote.”

What Technology Wants by Kevin Kelly

The judges said: “The concept at the centre of this book, that technology is evolving somehow and ‘going somewhere’, felt immensely relevant and intrigued us all.”

Bestselling Science Books

2011-06-11T18:59:00.009+10:00

1) Merchants of Doubt by Naomi Oreskes and Eric Conway

The troubling story of how a cadre of influential scientists have clouded public understanding of scientific facts to advance a political and economic agenda.

2) Climate Change Denial by Hayden Washington and John Cook

Shows how we can break through denial, accept reality, and thus solve the climate crisis. The authors examine the nature of climate change denial, its history, how we let denial prosper, and how we can roll back denial.

3) Hidden Reality by Brian Greene

Explores our most current understanding of the universe, its deepest laws of nature, and our continuing quest to know more. The Hidden Reality reveals how major developments in different branches of fundamental theoretical physics - relativistic, quantum, cosmological, unified, computational - have all led us to consider one or another variety of parallel universe.

4) The Business of Nature: John Gould and Australia by Roslyn Russell

A tale of enduring love and of a man’s unending ability to see beauty in nature, despite the greatest of life’s tragedies.

5) The Beginning of Infinity by David Deutsch

In this important new book David Deutsch, argues that explanations have a fundamental place in the universe. They have unlimited scope and power to cause change, and the quest to improve them is the basic regulating principle not only of science but of all successful human endeavor.

Don't Leave Childhood Without This!

2011-06-03T07:18:00.004+10:00

Don't Leave Childhood Without… came about when a group of experienced children's booksellers based in Sydney (The Specialist Children's Booksellers) decided that there was a need for a small and inexpensive guide to the books that we thought were essential reading for youngsters. When we added up our combined time in the book trade, we came up with the impressive figure of 300+ years, so putting aside dodgy maths, we thought we were entitled to say we were experts!

The first edition came out in 2002, after many late nights, occasionally heated (but mostly good-natured) discussions over what constituted indispensible reading matter, and an awful lot of unforeseen details that needed clarifying. When we had sold - much to our delighted surprise - most of the first print run by the first year and a half, we decided to update and reprint. More late nights, heated discussions and unforeseen details to clarify, we printed 10 000 copies of the second edition in 2004, and this time were in a position to make a profit, which we decided to funnel towards the Indigenous Literacy Foundation.

Our little guide has continued to sell steadily, and raise a nice amount for the cause of advancing literacy in underprivileged areas, and we have been very proud of it. But even 10 000 copies run out eventually, so the group decided to embark on the third edition. After (yep, you guessed it) more late nights, warm discussions and the inevitable small details that always crop up, but this time with the help of the indefatigible Simon Milne of Leading Edge Books (a buying group set up to assist independent bookshops) the third edition arrived last month. The art design has been tweaked, but the guiding principles remain the same: all children should have access to quality books. And yes, all profits still go to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation, so you help the children you know by using it, and children you don't, by buying it! Lindy

Don't Read This Book Just Before You Go To Sleep!

2011-05-07T18:42:00.006+10:00

S.J. Watson's Before I Go to Sleep is a cerebral thriller, the sort that compels you to keep reading to see how the author will handle his topic, as much as for how the story will unfold.

Christine wakes up, in a strange room next to a strange man, with no memory of how she got there. In the bathroom she sees photographs of him, labelled as her husband - and also sees that she has aged. Every day of her life she wakes up and she doesn’t know where she is, what has happened or who she’s with, and her husband has to remind her all over again. But when she finds that she is leaving secret notes for herself, and is keeping a journal hidden from him, the flashes of dreams and impressions she experiences throughout the day start to coalesce into a vivid and horrifying uncertainty even worse than her persistent amnesia.

At times quite creepy - especially as you start to understand what is probably happening before the character does - the suspense and cleverness of the narration make for a great read! Lindy

Click here to read what inspired S.J. Watson to write Before I Go to Sleep.

The Vogel Award 2011

2011-05-04T09:03:00.003+10:00

Wednesday night and off to the Vogel Award. This year was different, in that the premier literary award for an unpublished manuscript (with part of the prize being publication the following year) was announced the day before the book was available to buy. Hooray, say the booksellers; every one of us there have had the inevitable phone call the next day at work along the lines of "have you got the Vogel winner?" as there is always someone who didn't hear the bit about it being awarded to an unpublished work…

The award was announced by Tim Winton. I've been fortunate enough to have heard him speak a few times and Tim is the only man in the room who thinks he's no good at public speaking! He told of being awarded the Vogel back in 1981, of dining at Len Evans' establishment (wearing a borrowed pure polyester lounge suit in beige and with 'lapels as wide as verandahs'), of the cultural shock of coming from Charles Court's state and sitting opposite Don Dunstan resplendent in a batik suit, of being in awe that someone like Robert Drewe thought he, Tim Winton, could write well enough to win a prize. As he said, it confirmed his desire to be a professional writer, not someone doing it as a hobby. The difference the Vogel could make, and did, and has!

The young Tasmanian who was announced as the winner (Rohan Wilson for The Roving Party) looked at the crowded room, and rather endearingly said "S##T, that was TIM WINTON!!!!" He went on to say what a difference the prize would make to him, that he and his wife and little son could live on the money for a year, that it was just staggering to win. I spoke with him later on in the evening, and he was still on a cloud somewhere above the rest of us. Even asking what he was doing his PhD on (the interface between history and historical fiction - I think!) didn't bring him down!

Over the thirty years of the Vogel being awarded, it has amounted to roughly a million dollars and the careers being launched of a number of wonderful, interesting and influential writers. Congratulations to all involved, particularly the Stivns family who have honoured their father's desire to give back something to his adopted country. We are all the richer for it! Lindy

The 39 Steps - Our Vintage Classic of the Month!

2011-05-02T15:18:00.002+10:00

The 39 Steps by John Buchan

First published in 1915 (just before my time) this neverthless is one of the best espionage novels ever written in my opinion. It has been made into movies many times, sometimes disastrously, but it is only with the whole book that you get the real feel of the story. This novel introduces Richard Hannay for the first time and like subsequent books in the series involve a chase across open country with the life of the hero at stake and sometimes the villain. The book moves at a rapid pace and the villain of the piece is truly dastardly and if like me as a youngster you enjoy a thrilling chase and a baffling solution then this is highly recommended even if you have seen the movie (or one of them). The best movie version I think is the Alfred Hitchcock version starring Robert Donat. Peter M.

Join us for the launch of The Tin Ticket!

2011-04-18T17:43:00.006+10:00

Abbey's will be hosting the launch of The Tin Ticket: The Heroic Journey of Australia's Convict Women on Thursday 12 May (6:00pm for 6:30pm) at our shop at 131 York Street Sydney.

The author Deborah Swiss will be here to talk and take questions from the audience about the heartbreaking, horrifying, and ultimately triumphant story of the women exiled from the British Isles and forced into slavery and savagery, who created the most liberated society of their time.

Please RSVP to David Hall davidh@abbeys.com.au or 02 9264 3111 by Tuesday May 10. We hope you can join us!

Our Fiction Cup Runneth Over in April!

2011-04-13T13:54:00.004+10:00

We have some excellent new fiction books this month. Here are Lindy's thoughts on her favourites:

My Dear I Wanted to Tell You by Louisa Young

There are many excellent novels on WWI, and this one should join them! Riley Purefoy is working class, bright and eager to improve himself. Coming to the notice of a famous artist, he forms a friendship with Nadine Waveney, whose parents are rich, artistic bohemians. He is sure of his place in her world, until her mother's prejudices force him to the impetuous act of signing up to fight in the war that should be finished by Christmas. In the trenches of France, he forms relationships, most notably with his commanding officer, Peter Locke. Peter's beautiful wife Julia, and his sister Rose, a nurse with no hopes of marriage, wait for him to return. Nadine, defying parents and social expectations, volunteers to nurse in France, and waits for Riley. I can't say much more without spoiling the story but characterisation is pitch-perfect, descriptions of class and prejudices ring true, and the appalling nature of the new way of warfare, and the de-humanising of the soldiers is clearly caught. As well, the effects of the people back home are well portrayed, and the awfullness of not understanding what their loved ones are going through - all this is captured in a clean and sparse narrative style, vividly distinctive and flowing easily. One of the very best books I've read about the war, I can't recommend it highly enough!

The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht

In an unnamed country, one with deep similarities to somewhere once contained by Yugoslavia, Natalia learns that her grandfather, a once respected doctor and surgeon, has died in a town no-one knew he was visiting. Being a doctor herself and engaged in a mission to an orphanage nearby, she sets off to find out why. She suspects it has to do with the Deathless Man, someone he kept meeting at pivotal moments in his life. As she tries to find out, the narrative is interspersed with scenes from her grandfather's childhood, in a remote village where superstition ruled. In the war, an escaped tiger had found his way there, and the deaf-mute wife of the local butcher had made a connection with both the beast, and the young boy. A very promising debut with some wonderful imagery, from the youngest ever author to make the New Yorker's Top 20 Writers Under 40.

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender

Rose discovers on her 9th birthday, that she can taste emotions in anything she eats. Her cheerful mother is revealed, through the agency of a chocolate lemon cake, to be full of despair. Her father, a scientist, is detached; but her older brother, a strange, probably undiagnosed Asperger's person, is the real worry with his unexplained mental and physical absences. Rose is too young to know the things she learns from eating, and this in turn fuels a true aversion to food that anyone has touched - even then, she can taste the emotions of the people who grew or harvested the food sources. An inventive tale, where the strangeness of Rose's family life and 'gift' actually does not seem so fanciful.

When God Was a Rabbit by Sarah Winman

Personally I found last year's fiction very disappointing - but this year! There are some wonderful novels and this is one of them. When I got to the end of the book, I immediately went back and re-read it with as much delight as the first time! Elly is a precocious child, due more to her brother Joe's influence rather than anything her eccentric parents do. At school she has one friend, Jenny Penny who is a wild-haired oddity of a child with peculiar talents. She also has a rabbit (who sometimes talks to her), a madly endearing famous actress lesbian aunt, and a secret only her brother knows. When her father wins the pools and relocates the family to Cornwall, life becomes even more interesting. A book about love, and what makes family, and friends. Every character, no matter how minor, is fully drawn; the writing is sparkling and fresh; there are moments of deep poignancy and others of comic brilliance. Not to be missed -really!

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

This is another favourite novel for me so far this year. It is about Ernest Hemingway's first wife, his Paris wife, Hadley Richardson. Swept off her feet by the younger Hemingway, they marry in 1920. Escaping their respective (and respectable) families, they manage to go overseas hoping it will be both cheaper to live, and closer to the artistic heart of post-war culture. It isn't long before they are part of the ex-pat society, living, loving and drinking to the full. As Ernest struggles to find his literary voice, and experience as much as he can, Hadley fights to keep up, particularly when their son is born and it becomes increasingly apparent that having a family and stability isn't what Ernest wants. A believable voice of quiet intensity and some desperation, this book appealed highly (and I'm not even much of a Hemingway fan - so getting me to feel some sympathy for the man is a great feat indeed!)

The Award-Winning Shaun Tan!

2011-04-11T10:48:00.011+10:00

It is always heart-warming when someone you have been following for years is given acclaim by the world at large. So it is with Shaun Tan. Awarded the prestigious (and valuable!) Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award for 2011, this follows on from his Oscar Award given for the animation of his fabulous picture book The Lost Thing. Shaun has also recently won the Dromkeen Medal 2010, which is awarded to an Australian citizen who has made a significant contribution to children's literature. A thoughtful artist who interprets the world around us with great technical proficiency and an eye for the parallels of narration and illustration, Shaun does not create his books solely with children in mind, but for anyone who is open to the beautiful oddities of the worlds around us, and within. Take the time and have a look! Memorial (written by Gary Crew), The Rabbits (written by John Marsden), The Red Tree , The Lost Thing, The Arrival ,(also in a special box set along with Sketches from a Nameless Name ) Tales from Outer Suburbia. See also The Bird King and Other Sketches. Lindy

Gary Corby talks about The Pericles Commission

2011-04-04T20:22:00.004+10:00

Gary Corby's first book, The Pericles Commission has been very well received by both the public and the critics. He was kind enough to answer some questions from Abbey's about his work - oh, and he dropped in and signed some copies of his book as well!

You have set your crime novel in the somewhat neglected period of Classical Athens compared to Ancient Rome or Egypt. Was this a conscious decision and why a crime novel rather than a straight novel? I've always loved puzzle stories, both of the murder mystery kind and the science fiction kind. (Galaxy Bookshop was a favourite haunt, back in my university days when I could pass by frequently!) Classical Athens was one of the most exciting periods of human history. These people started western civilization; you can't get much more critical than that! They all lived in a period of just 50 years, in a place no larger than a modern town, and they all knew each other. Also, they killed each other in such interesting ways. So when I decided to write a novel, it was the most natural thing to write a murder mystery set in ancient Athens.

In the next novel Nico visits Themistocles in the Persian Empire. Are you going to continue a longer series with Nico as the main character? If so, how far afield do you see him travelling? Nico’s adventures will eventually take him around much of the known world. The second book is The Ionia Sanction. Ionia was the western coast of what's now Turkey, and part of the Persian Empire. The third book takes place at the Olympics of 460BC. Nico's definitely going to Egypt some time. I already have notes for that one and a fair idea of the characters. After that, there are so many options: Southern Italy was entirely Greek; Carthage was up and running; Marseilles in southern France began as a Greek colony called Massilia. Readers have begun to send me requests for Nico to go to certain places! Several readers want him to go further inside Persia. I'd like to get him to Susa and Babylon. That would certainly be a perilous mission because it's right in the heart of the enemy empire. I'll keep writing these books so long as people want to read them. There's no shortage of material. The Golden Age of Greece was 50 years packed with tales of adventure, war, conspiracy, lust, love, corruption, power politics, assassination...you name it and it happened.

You have used a mix of real and fictional characters and events will this continue in future books? Absolutely. Luckily for me, because the period is largely untapped, there are huge wells of history from which to turn real events into stories so strange, they read almost like fantasy. I’m somewhat driven by when things actually happened. The years 460 to 461 BC were among the most momentous in history and the first three books take place in quick succession in less than 12 months of story time. I’ll have to slow the pace soon though, or at 3 books per story year I’ll need 150 books to get my heroes through the entire Golden Age.

Did you do any specific research for this book, or did you just draw on your existing knowledge of ancient Greece? I do massive amounts of research. I once spent three hours proving the ancient Greeks had garlic, so I could write one line of text. Because I use a large number of historical people in the stories, I study their lives in minute detail to make sure I don’t break real history. I’m very keen on the historical accuracy aspect. Original sources are crucial. I read a lot of classics written in the 5th century BC, which may sound ultra-nerdy, but really is fascinating. Herodotus was the father of history, and he's researching his great work, which we know as The Histories, at the very moment Nicolaos is solving murders. So I’ve picked a very decent time to be writing in! (I can absolutely guarantee Herodotus will appear as a character in a later book.) Being immersed so heavily in the ancient world makes you view the modern world in a very different way. If you think modern politics is tough, try the ancient version in which losers are regularly exiled or killed. Also, the mindset of everyday life was a weird combination of the totally familiar and something like from another planet.

Can you recommend any non-fiction books for anyone who wants to learn more about Periclean Athens? All the Greek novels of Mary Renault! They're fiction, not non-fiction, but they're simply the best stories of ancient Greece ever written, and I'm quite sure they'll be available at Abbey's Bookshop. Other than that, why not go straight to the horse's mouth? Herodotus and Thucydides! Herodotus is a fine old chatterbox and reads more like a Boys' Own Adventure than the founding document of history and anthropology. Thucydides is full of geopolitics and is better than any modern thriller. Thanks for the terrific questions! I've really enjoyed answering them. If anyone's interested, I keep a blog at GaryCorby.com, in which I rattle on about the publishing experience and ancient history.

Kingpin

2011-03-22T05:30:00.004+11:00

Kevin Poulsen's Kingpin tells the story of Max Butler, a hacker/cybercriminal. It focuses more on Max and the people involved with him than it does on the technical aspects of cybercrime.

A former hacker himself, Poulsen spent time in prison before becoming a journalist. Comprising 36 short chapters, the book is very readable, and offers a very interesting look into the world of cybercrime. It also gives some insight into the how Max Butler's mind works, and how he ended up behind bars. Max is not presented as a hero, but as someone who couldn't or wouldn't fight the compulsive side of his personality and paid the price.

Poulsen also presents the law enforcement side of the story well, and the way the FBI, the US Secret Service and others "cracked" the case is fascinating. Dave

Robin Williams Launches "The Force"

2011-02-25T11:01:00.004+11:00

Lyn McLean, Australia’s foremost consumer advocate on the issue of electromagnetic radiation (EMR), will be in conversation with acclaimed science journalist and broadcaster Robyn Williams (ABC Radio National Science Show) at Abbey's Bookshop.

The Force: Living Safely in a World of Electromagnetic Pollution shows us why electropollution is among the most important health issues of our time. Many scientists have long believed that there is a link between health problems and radiation from mobile phones, wireless connections, powerlines, and electronic devices. Radiation has been linked to issues such as childhood leukaemia, brain tumours and a whole host of other ailments, from fatigue to miscarriage.

The event is on Thursday 3rd March, 6:00pm for a 6:30pm start at Abbey's Bookshop 131 York St Sydney. RSVP to davidh@abbeys.com.au or 02 9264 3111.

A Very Sweet Story

2010-12-30T19:04:00.005+11:00

Deborah Cadbury is not just a descendant of the founders of the biggest chocolate brand in the world, but also a bestselling historian. Chocolate Wars is only part family history; in telling the tale of how the chocolate business has moved from the idealistic Puritan principles of its Quaker founders to globalised, profit-driven modern capitalism, Cadbury tells what she calls “a parable of our times”. She narrates the story, too, of the development of the product itself: from an oily, exotic drink that was sometimes dangerously stretched with substances like red lead and veal fat, to the globally mass-produced chocolate bars we are all so familiar with today. Cadbury includes a wealth of detail about the characters and companies, such as Hershey, Mars and Lindt & Sprüngli, that drove the creation of the chocolate industry, and the ideals that animated them. This engaging tale, about a product many of us now cannot imagine living without, is an inspired angle from which to portray the development of the global corporate economic culture in which we find ourselves today. Helen

Helen really likes 'Sydney'

2010-11-25T21:42:00.004+11:00

Sydney by Delia Falconer

Part of a beautifully bound series on Australia’s capital cities that already includes In Search of Hobart and Brisbane, with forthcoming volumes on Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide, Delia Falconer’s thoughtful and evocative little book on her home town leaves you thinking about the city, and indeed about everyday existence, in a new way. Part memoir, part history (both official and anecdotal), part poetic meditation on place, this book explores and seeks to explain Sydney’s many contradictions and idiosyncrasies. Falconer’s Sydney is a steaming, fecund, summery city: jacaranda trees in full bloom, the whine of mosquitos, the relief brought by a cool change at one in the morning. Yet she observes an undercurrent of melancholy as Sydney’s fundamental emotion, and this notion has a bearing on her reading of every aspect of the city, from its famous brashness, to the quality of its sunshine, to its inhabitants’ love of touristy activities like the Bridge Climb. Falconer also masterfully weaves a strong sense of artistic tradition into the fabric of her personal encounter with the city through references to the literature, art and culture that has shaped the city’s consciousness. This perceptive and imaginative book provides a fresh yet familiar idea of Sydney, and an atmospheric portrayal of an elusive subject. Helen

A Happy Author

2010-09-17T08:47:00.007+10:00

James Hannam, author of God's Philosophers: How the Medieval World Laid the Foundations of Modern Science has sent us a nice email:

"Sorry to write out of the blue. I just wanted to thank you for doing so well with my book.

I don't think I've ever seen it in a bestseller list before so it was great to be only one place behind Tony Blair!

Best wishes, James"

God's Philosophers has been shortlisted for the 2010 Royal Society Science Book Prize.

"The Cloud Man" visits Abbey's

2010-09-06T21:27:00.006+10:00

Gavin Prettor-Pinney, founder of The Cloud Appreciation Society and author of The Cloudspotter's Guide and The Wavewatcher's Companion dropped into Abbey's today.

Gavin has just returned from the Melbourne Writer's Festival and was kind enough to call in at short notice and give a reading and chat to some of his Sydney-based fans. He also gave us a short history of the Cloud Appreciation Society, which apparently started out as a bit of a joke, and now has over 23,500 members in over 88 countries!

Gavin is a lovely man, with, dare I say it, a very sunny disposition and the only problem with his visit was that he couldn't stay longer than he did. And if you missed Gavin talking about waves on Radio National's Late Night Live in July, here is a link to the program.

Getting Rid of Books

2009-12-29T07:11:00.003+11:00

The New York Times has published an article called Books You Can Live Without in which they invited some "book people" to give their thoughts on culling personal libraries.

Running out of space for books is a problem for quite a few Abbey's customers, and there is some good advice in this piece if you are facing this problem yourself.

The contribution I enjoyed the most, however, was by the novelist Joshua Ferris, author Then We Came to an End and the forthcoming The Unnamed. He opened with "Get rid of books? Are you kidding?" and closed with this: "Sometimes when I hear of a book I want, I buy it and then I put it away with every reassurance that it will be read soon, forget about it, hear about it again, buy it again, and only realize my mistake when I place it next to its twin on the bookshelf. It’s an addiction of good intentions.

Books are notes from the field, bound and domesticated, life brought into narrow focus. Get rid of a book? No way. Every one is a brick keeping the building standing. Books are my life. I leave and come back, and the books I find there tell me I’m home." Dave

World Wide Words

2009-10-31T22:51:00.008+11:00

If you are a word-lover you really should check out World Wide Words. It's run by Michael Quinion, the author of many books on words, including Gallimaufry: A Hodgepodge of Our Vanishing Vocabulary and Why is Q Always Followed by U?.

As well as featuring losts of interesting information on all aspects of international English there are very useful reviews of word-related books, including two new books at Abbey's: The F Word and the Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary. And don't forget to sign up for the free weekly newsletter!

Elizabeth Blackburn Biography

2009-10-10T13:19:00.006+11:00

We have just received stock of Elizabeth Blackburn and the Story of Telomeres: Deciphering the Ends of DNA, which was published in paperback this year. It tells the story of Elizabeth Blackburn's life and work and the emergence of a new field of scientific research on the specialized ends of chromosomes and the telomerase enzyme that extends them. Winning the Nobel Prize for Medicine is only the latest accolade to be bestowed on Elizabeth Blackburn and this biography offers a real insight into the tension between pure and applied science and also into the politics of science.

If you would like to learn more about telomeres you can read a Scientific American article written by Elizabeth Blackburn and her fellow Nobel Prize winner Carol Greider here.

Wonders of a Godless World

2009-09-30T18:42:00.002+10:00

Miles Franklin-winner Andrew McGahan's new novel Wonders of a Godless World will be offically published tomorrow. Allen & Unwin have prepared a book "trailer" which you can view here.

From the people who brought you the OED...

2009-09-25T09:48:00.008+10:00

Oxford University Press has produced the perfect companion to the Oxford English Dictionary. More than 40 years in the making, the Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary contains almost 800,000 meanings organised into more than 236,000 categories and subcategories.

It was produced by a team at the English Language Department of the University of Glasgow, and apparently one member of the team has been there from day one!

Volume 1 contains the thesaurus, which follows a unique thematic system of classification, with entries arranged in a comprehensive semantic hierarchy according to their meanings and volume 2 is the alphabetical index listing all the synonyms in Volume 1.

Stock is due in November and it will be available at the introductory price of $550 (usually $595). Click here to learn more about this superb publication and reserve your copy.

The Science Book of the Year is Announced

2009-09-16T17:44:00.004+10:00

Richard Holmes' The Age of Wonder has been chosen as the winner of the 2009 Royal Society Prize for Science Books. We currently have the hardback in stock. The paperback is due in November.

In The Age of Wonder Richard Holmes investigates how a fascination for science swept across Britain at the end of 18th century, using the stories of the scientists involved to engage the reader. The book covers a variety of disciplines including astronomy, chemistry, botany, philosophy, and even poetry, as it explores how the science of the time evolved.

The other five shortlisted titles were:

What the Nose Knows: The Science of Scent in Everyday Life by Avery Gilbert

Bad Science by Ben Goldacre

Decoding the Heavens: Solving the Mystery of the World's First Computer by Jo Marchant

The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules our Lives by Leonard Mlodinow

Your Inner Fish: The Amazing Discovery of our 375-million-year-old Ancestor.

The Lost Symbol has been found at Abbey's

2009-09-15T14:34:00.004+10:00

Today was the first day we were able to sell Dan Brown's new thriller The Lost Symbol. The response to this long-awaited follow-up to The Da Vinci Code has been great!

We are of course also providing a free copy of Mo Hayder's Ritual which usually sells for $21.95, as well as taking $10 off the recommended retail price of $49.95 of The Lost Symbol, so it's no wonder we are selling so many copies.

It appears that The New York Times couldn't wait to tell everyone about The Lost Symbol so they broke the worldwide embargo and published a review yesterday. You can read it here.

Our next big release is only two weeks away, on 1st October. It's The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, the final volume in Stieg Larsson's spectacularly successful Millennium series.

Awards News

2009-09-08T20:21:00.004+10:00

The six shortlisted titles for this years Man Booker Prize for Fiction have been announced. They are:
The Children's Book by A S Byatt
Summertime by J M Coetzee
The Quickening Maze by Adam Fould
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
The Glass Room by Simon Mawer
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
The winner will be announced on October 6th.

Scottish author Philip Kerr has won the world's most lucrative crime fiction prize, the RBA international prize for crime writing, for his novel If the Dead Rise Not. Kerr's book beat more than 160 others to land the €125,000 (A$209,500) prize. The book is the last in his series of 'Berlin noir' novels featuring detective Bernie Gunther, and covering a period that includes Hitler's rise to power and postwar Germany's struggle to come to terms with its past. The author said he was surprised at the size of the prize: "I recently got a prize in France which was a few bottles of wine."

A Beautiful Place To Die, the debut novel by Sydney-based filmmaker turned crime writer, Malla Nunn, has won Sisters in Crime’s Davitt Awards for the best (adult) crime novel by an Australian woman in 2008.

2009 Ned Kelly Award Winners Announced

2009-09-01T18:57:00.007+10:00

The winners of the 2009 Ned Kelly Awards, presented by the Crime Writers Association of Australia were announced last Friday. The joint winners of the Fiction Award were Peter Corris for Deep Water and Kel Robertson for Smoke & Mirrors.

The Non-Fiction Award went to Chloe Hooper for The Tall Man and Nick Gadd won the First Fiction Award for Ghostlines.

Shane Maloney was given a lifetime achievement award.

Category Award Winners for the 2009 Indie Award

2009-08-17T17:56:00.006+10:00

The four books listed below form the shortlist for the Indie Book of the Year Award 2009. Congratulations to the authors of each category winner. The Book of the Year will be announced 28 September.

Pearl Verses the World by Sally Murphy (Children's category winner)

A beautiful little verse-novel, which impressed me with its sensitivity, language and fitting illustrations. Pearl lives with her Mum and Grandma, but her grandmother is declining rapidly and Pearl is unable to come to terms with what is happening. She also has problems at school, often with her poetry assignments, as she can't make her poetry rhyme. How Pearl copes makes for a warm and uplifting story; even tough old booksellers have been known to shed a tear!

Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey (Fiction category winner)

Set in Western Australia in the 60s this is a blazing good read. Charlie Bucktin has his troubles (apart from adolescence!) but not as many as Jasper Jones, the town's 'bad kid' who one hot evening comes to Charlie for help. What Jasper shows Charlie is the body of a hanged girl, and in that moment, Charlie's life shifts. A distinctive voice shapes the narrative, and the prejudices of small town Australia could well stand in for all that is wrong - and sometimes, all that is wonderful - about our society.

The Virtuoso by Sonia Orchard (Debut Fiction category winner)

An assured and deft portrait of an outsider, inspired by the Australian pianist Noel Mewton-Wood, this is steeped in the bohemian times after 1945. A young music student meets a gifted and talented pianist, and they become lovers A grand passion, music, the fragility of love and life, and the consequences of not being true to oneself - this is quite beautifully done. A very polished debut - there are muti-published authors who are not so impressive!

The Tall Man by Chloe Hooper (Non-fiction category winner)

Having been a judge in this category, I am not at all unbiased about this book - it was my first choice (as it was with others of my four fellow judges). It tells the story of Cameron Doomadgee's death in custody, of the policeman who was charged over it, of Palm Island - it is one of the most measured and moving examinations of white/indigenous relationships I have ever read. A powerful, affecting and complex book, careful but not cold in its style, thoughtfully done. The sort of book you think about again and again. Lindy

More great books coming this Christmas!

2009-07-09T21:00:00.005+10:00

Spent two days this week at a roadshow, where publishers presented their great white hopes for Christmas. 750 titles later… but there are some amazing books due in the latter part of the year!

In Fiction: the new Andrew McGahan novel Wonders of a Godless World. I scored an advance copy and have almost finished it - let's just say it is a complete departure from his other novels, but is touched with brilliance (and a fair bit of science!)

New novels from Margaret Atwood (The Year of the Flood returning to the world of Oryx and Crake), Barbara Kingsolver (The Lacuna, based on the lives of Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and Trotsky), Louis de Bernieres (Notwithstanding, set in small town Sussex), Bernard Cornwell (The Burning Land, about King Alfred), Paul Auster (Invisible - a coming of age novel drawing on Auster's own life), Orhan Pamuk (The Museum of Innocence, set in 1975 Istanbul) and Audrey Niffenegger (Her Fearful Symmetry, a modern ghost story).

Also from Joseph Kanon (Stardust, set in 1950s Hollywood),Sebastian Faulks (A Week in December, described as a powerful contemporary novel set in London), William Boyd (Ordinary Thunderstorms - a strong conspiracy novel), Alex Miller (Lovesong - set in Paris, Tunisia and Australia) and John Irving (Last Night in Twisted River - a brick of a book set in 1954 New Hampshire). AND a new Corinna Chapman novel for the fans of Kerry Greenwood (Forbidden Fruit).

In Children's books: no doubt the best of the year will be a follow up to the phenomenal Diary of a Wombat - Baby Wombat's Week by Jackie French and Bruce Whatley. It is every bit as adorable, witty and beautiful as the original title!
Robert Ingpen turns his hand to illustrating Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (remember his gorgeous efforts with Wind in the Willows, Treasure Island, and Peter Pan?) The ninth Ranger's Apprentice novel (Halt's Peril) will be eagerly awaited. There is a great quirky little board book called It's Great to Have a Duck which had everyone laughing out loud; and a delightfully skewriff book which reminds me strongly of Struwwelpeter or even Saki (Cautionary Tales for Boys and Girls)

Non-fiction also promises some great treats! What about a new Peter Ackroyd - Venice - or a new Don Watson - Bendable Learnings: The Wisdom of Modern Management - or a new William Dalrymple - Nine Lives - or even a new Paul Barry (but we can't tell you anything about this one other than it's a BIG name getting the Alan Bond/Kerry Packer treatment…)

I'm looking forward to a collection of newspaper columns from the Great Curmudgeon Himself, Alan Ramsey; a history on the Kokoda Track told from the Japanese perspective called The Path of Infinite Sorrow by Craig Collie and Hajime Marutani (apparently this is the name the Japanese call Kokoda); a digger's diaries from Fromelles and the Somme - Over the Top by H G Hartnett, and a long overdue book on The Australian Light Horse by Roland Perry who did that interesting book on Monash a few years ago. There's a stunning photography book, Bird, from Andrew Zuckerman, who brought us Wisdom last year; a great big colourful book on The Mind and Times of Reg Mombassa; one on botanical art in Australia from the 1830s called Women of Flowers; Creative Lives, another wonderful National Library publication drawing on the personal papers of Australian writers and artists. And one of those fascinating biographies on 20th century writers that have been so readable of late, this time on Evelyn Waugh, called Mad World.

So there you have it - just some of the exciting titles you can look forward to! Start planning your summer reading now!! Lindy

Greg reports from the Leading Edge Books Christmas Roadshow

2009-07-08T20:34:00.002+10:00

Having just gotten back from the Leading Edge Christmas Roadshow, where publishers and distributors present the pick of their Christmas season titles to independent booksellers, I can confidently say that there are lots of titles to be excited about this Christmas.

For all those Twilight fans out there there’s a book coming called Twilight and Philosophy (no it’s not meant to be a oxymoron), new novels by John Bainville and Nick Hornby. Peter Temple’s sequel to the Broken Shore called Truth; a new Peter Carey called Parrot and Oliver in America (lets hope its better than the last one) and Dave Eggers' adult version of Where The Wild Things Are simply titled The Wild Things.

Thomas Pynchon has written a detective noir novel Inherent Vice, James Ellory is back and so is Inspector Wexford. As for non-fiction there’s the French equivalent of Silver Spoon called I Know How To Cook; the diaries of Sofia Tolstoy and a new Don Watson looking at the language of modern management, plus there is a beautiful book by Carl Jung never before published called The Red Book. Edmund Campon has put pen to paper to record his thoughts and reflections; David Thompson’s Thai Food has always been a bestseller this time he goes in search of Thailand’s street markets and stalls in a book called Thai Street Food, plus there's a new Clive James - I could go on, but you’ll just have to wait for our Catalogue in November. Greg

Edna: The Inside Story

2009-07-03T22:45:00.006+10:00

It's not every day an incarnation of one of Australia's Truly Great Megastars calls in! (OR, what a rep has to do to sell his company's books…)
Anyway possums, it may tickle your glands to know that there will be a scurrilous, revealing and totally inappropriately intimate biography of our Very Own Edna, by that nasty little man Barry Humphries. Oh the juicy bits of information that may find their way on to the printed page! If Edna can't whip her lawyers into shape to do their job properly (well, it always worked for Norm) you just never know what will come to light…

You have to wait for it: it's due October! Lindy

Another Miles Franklin Award for Tim Winton!

2009-06-18T21:10:00.004+10:00

Congratulations to Tim Winton for winning the 2009 Miles Franklin Award with Breath. This is Tim's fourth Miles Franklin Award. His previous winning novels were Dirt Music (2002), Cloudstreet (1992) and Shallows (1984).

The other short-listed novels this year were Ice by Louis Nowra, The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas, Wanting by Richard Flanagan and The Pages by Murray Bail.

Breath has also won the Indie Award for 2008 and the audio version has picked up an Earphones award.

Wolfson History Prize-winners Announced

2009-06-18T13:35:00.010+10:00

The winners of the 2008 Wolfson History prize are Mary Beard for Pompeii: Life of a Roman Town and Margaret McGowan for Dance in the Renaissance: European Fashion, French Obsession.

Previous winners include Antony Beevor, Roy Porter and William Dalrymple. A full list can be downloaded from here.

Debut novel wins the IMPAC Award

2009-06-13T10:39:00.014+10:00

Man Gone Down by American writer Michael Thomas has won the 2009 IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.

The IMPAC award is unique in that it receives its nominations from public libraries around the world. Man Gone Down was nominated by The National Library Service of Barbados, Bridgetown, which described it as “A vibrant, well written first novel, an exploration of identity, inter-racial relationships and societal values through the eye of a black male.”

One of the judges, Irish academic and writer James Ryan said “We never know his name. But the African-American protagonist of Michael Thomas’ masterful debut, Man Gone Down, will stay with readers for a long time. He lingers because this extraordinary novel comes to us from a writer of enthralling voice and startling insight. Tuned urgently to the way we live now, the winner of the International Dublin IMPAC Prize 2009 is a novel brilliant in its scope and energy, and deeply moving in its human warmth.”

Other shortlisted books were The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz, The Burnt-Out Town of Miracles by Roy Jacobsen, Ravel by Jean Echenoz, Animal's People by Indra Sinha, The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamed, The Archivist's Story by Travis Holland and The Indian Clerk by David Leavitt.

Byron Bay Writers Festival

2009-06-07T22:32:00.004+10:00

The 2009 Byron Bay Writers Festival is on 7-9 August. You can get all the details here.

Galaxy wins again!

2009-06-05T11:05:00.003+10:00

Congratulations to our sister shop Galaxy Bookshop for again winning the Australian Book Industry Awards NSW Specialist Bookseller of the Year.

They are now shortlisted for the Australian Specialist Bookseller of the Year Award which will be announced on 23rd June.

Alice Munro wins 2009 Man Booker International Prize

2009-05-27T17:14:00.004+10:00

Canadian author Alice Munro has just won the third Man Booker International Prize. Worth £60,000 to the winner, this is awarded once every two years to a living author for a body of work that has contributed to an achievement in fiction on the world stage. It was first awarded to Ismail Kadaré in 2005 and then to Chinua Achebe in 2007. Munro is one of Canada's most celebrated writers and is often considered the world's finest short story writer. Abbey's has a number of her books in stock, with plenty of copies of her 2006 work The View from Castle Rock at a special price of $12.95.

A great story about how important books are to people who have nothing.

2009-05-12T20:20:00.002+10:00

http://www.mindfood.com/at-footpath-library-people-cause-community.seo

A new Robert Hughes book is coming!

2009-04-29T12:46:00.003+10:00

It is easy to become a little blasé about new books sometimes - afterall, I see the lists for dozens of publishers every month, easily a couple of thousand titles to sift and sort through in the endlessly fascinating task of ensuring Abbey's has a wide and varied mix of books on the shelves. So it is a great pleasure when you learn a favourite author has a new book coming up sometime in the future, and yesterday I was given the details of the new (drumroll please Maestro!) Robert Hughes title!

To be called Rome: A Cultural History it will be over 400 pages long, and follows the development of the Eternal City, from pastoral settlements that coalesced into a city in the 8th century BCE, through to its becoming the capital of the Roman Kingdom, Roman Republic and Roman Empire. The decline after the fall of the Empire, its increasing importance as Christianity took hold and the Roman Bishop eventually turned into the Pope and the city became the centre of the Catholic Church are dealt with. The tumultuous times of the 19th century, and the even more crazy times of the 20th will be considered. And while I have not seen any advance pages yet, I am confident the book will be everything we expect from Hughes - sumptuous writing, sweeping narrative, considered and measured and no doubt at times quite magisterial, revealing a mass of details and occasional flashes of sly humour.

Can't wait? - well we have to! The book is slated for an October release, it will be in hardback at $55 (though that price may change) - and of course, we are quite happy to take advance orders! Lindy

The Other Side of the Argument

2009-04-20T18:52:00.007+10:00

Some years ago a customer came into our shop and wanted to buy The Fabrication of Aboriginal History and Whitewash: On Keith Windschuttle's Fabrication of Aboriginal History, one of the books written in response to it.

He explained that he had gone to another shop nearby - they had Whitewash, but when he said he also wanted to buy the Windschuttle book, they said something like "we don't stock books like that!". The customer said he appreciated the fact that we were prepared to carry books representing both sides of the argument.

I hadn't really thought about it before, but I do like the fact that we had those books, and the fact that we carry plenty of books on the Holocaust as well as Mein Kampf, and the fact that we have plenty of books on religion by believers, but also books like Why I Am Not a Christian and Why I Am Not a Muslim.

I don't think booksellers are by nature any less intolerant of other people's viewpoints than anyone else, but I think it's important that we try to be as tolerant as possible during working hours - writing and reading books is a great way to conduct a debate, and it's important for our community that these debates take place. I for one am proud that I can say that some of the work I do contributes to to making this country a more thoughtful, tolerant and stimulating place to live.

Which is why I'm happy to be selling Ian Plimer's Heaven and Earth. When someone of Professor Plimer's standing feels strongly enough about a subject to write a 500-page book with over 2,000 footnotes, I think we should all have a look at what he has to say. And if even as I write these words someone is feverishly working on a response to the good Professor, all I can say is - bring it on!

And I'm happy to announce that Professor Plimer will be visiting Abbey's on Tuesday 12th May between 3:30 and 4:30pm to sign copies of his book and chat with anyone who wants to discuss the pros and cons of his arguments! Dave

The Horror of Abbey's

2009-04-08T10:42:00.004+10:00

Interesting thing here at Abbey’s: we assume our customers are well-read and classically inclined - in most senses of the term. And that they will, as a rule, be more sympathetic to Suetonius than Stephen King. But here are a couple of titles to upset our ready-made assumptions: Let the Right One In and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Swedish author John Ajvide Lindqvist wrote a disturbing novel a few years ago about a bullied boy and his infatuation with a young girl he only saw at night, while all around were dead bodies drained of blood and strange sexual undertones. A few days ago, I placed a small comment about Let the Right One In (and the current, very well realized, film version) in an email newsletter and of all the books mentioned, this 2004 novel of vampire love generated the most “click-throughs”.

Jane Austen has for years been the subject of updates and, as Hollywood names them, “re-imaginings”. From Emma as Clueless, through Bridget Jones’ famous diaries, and the recent Lost in Austen, Jane has been given ample reason not to be still in her grave. Now she has zombies to contend with. (Or as the book’s subtitle puts it: “now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem”.) Pride and Prejudice and Zombies has - so far, as I’m only partway through an advance copy - a recognisable Elizabeth Bennett, concerned as always with the attempts to marry off her family to the wrong men, with her doubts about D’arcy and the behaviour of so-called civilized members of the respectable classes. There’s also a very real threat from an ongoing war with the cannibalistic infected, who surround pockets Regency England and most of the balls that the Bennett sisters long to attend. The witty dialogue and veiled insults remain – in many cases word for word Austen - but “co-“author Seth Graham has added the Bennetts’ martial arts training and the nice thematic opposition between the rules of an insecure society and the violence of the uncivilized mass. Great fun, for those with a certain taste in literature.

These two books are examples of a recent trend in publishing – think Twilight pushing out beyond the teenage girl. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies will be at Abbey’s, and if the buzz from the US (it’s #10 on a certain famous US online book retailer) and the customer requests here are anything to go by, expect to see multiple decaying Jane Austen’s among our shelves quietly, silently, making their way into people’s shopping baskets. We still stock Suetonius, of course, even if he doesn’t do undead (yet). Adrian

Abbey's has won an award!

2009-04-06T22:24:00.004+10:00

It's always nice to be recognised by your peers. At the recent Leading Edge Books Conference Abbey's was voted the Leading Edge Metropolitan Bookshop of the Year.

Leading Edge Books comprises 180 independent Australian bookshops, so it's quite an honour to win this award, especially when you know how outstanding many of those other shops are! Dave

The Francis Forbes Society Essay Competition

2009-03-02T21:06:00.005+11:00

Last week I attended the awards ceremony for the 2008 Australian Legal History Essay Competition, which is run by The Francis Forbes Society for Australian Legal History. Abbey's is proud to be one of the sponsors of this competition, which aims to stimulate interest in Australian legal history.

The competition topic was "How can a lawyer defend somebody he or she `knows' is `guilty'? What is it to `know' that somebody is `guilty'?" The winners were Adam Arnold (University of NSW), Sarah Dorn (University of Melbourne) and Ben Nam (St Pius X College Chatswood). You can download the three essays here.

The ceremony was held at the State Library of New South Wales and the Guest of Honour was former Chief Justice of the High Court Sir Gerard Brennan, AC. We were also honoured to be joined by the newest member of the High Court Virginia Bell SC.

Details of the 2009 competion are available from the Society's website. Dave

The end of the millennium is in sight

2009-02-28T07:52:00.008+11:00

The third and final book in Stieg Larsson's Millennium series should be available in October or November.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest will be one of the most anticipated books of 2009, with huge sales worldwide for The Girl with the Dragon Tatto and The Girl who Played with Fire.

Pre-order your copy now and you will be one of the first people in Australia to find out what happens to Lisbeth Salander!

A visit from the author of The Good Mayor

2009-02-26T22:56:00.003+11:00

Sometimes when you read a book and enjoy it wholeheartedly, and recommend it unreservedly, you can be a little tentative when the chance occurs of meeting the author.

My absolute favourite novel of 2008 had to be The Good Mayor , a debut novel by a Scottish journalist, Andrew Nicoll. It is the sort of charming feel-good-but-not-sentimental read that is a true delight, full of characters you enjoy spending time with (even the minor ones are beautifully rendered), well written and just a little bit quirky (the omniscient sometime narrator is the patron saint of the small town the story is set in, who from the cathedral her statue is placed upon, can see far and wide). It is slightly old-fashioned, in that it has a beginning, a middle and an end, told in past tense with the feeling of post WWII, although no year is given, and the greater events of the world are not mentioned at all. At times it is quite funny, at others quite dark - and it has the best last line of any novel I can remember reading!

Andrew came into the shop today, on the way to Perth for their writers' festival. I have to say, he was as delightful as his book, with a lovely line of self-deprecation rendered in his soft Scottish accent. He can't believe his luck, travelling to Australia, speaking with readers, doing the whole publicity-whirl with good humour and grace (it must get awfully wearing - oh yes, another bookshop to visit and you can't even browse). It was when he said he expected the Fraud Squad to descend upon him - he wasn't a Writer - that I was completely charmed!

So, if you haven't read The Good Mayor yet, have a look at it. Despite Andrew's claim, he is a writer, and a fine one at that! It's just the thing to take your mind off all the doom-and-gloom around (and we have a limited number of signed copies available).

Lindy

Scandinavian Crime Fiction

2009-02-24T07:00:00.010+11:00

There was an excellent article in The Guardian recently about how the British are just discovering the wonderful crime books coming from people like Henning Mankell and Stieg Larsson, to name just two. You can read it here .

To order books by any of these authors just go to our website and put their names in the search box. We also have some of their books in languages other than English. And if you want to keep in touch with the latest and greatest crime books from Scandinavia and the rest of the world, go here to sign up for our monthly Crime Chronicle newsletter. The current and past issues are available here.

A very satisfied customer

2009-02-20T12:15:00.002+11:00

Many of our customers take the trouble to let us know how much they appreciate the service we provide. Below is the text of an email we received yesterday. It highlights the advantage of buying your books from a real bookshop that actually has tens of thousands of books on its shelves as opposed to those businesses that just have a website and an account with a book wholesaler:

I just wanted to thank you for your fantastic work in taking orders and delivery. I found a book online on your website, called up straight away, ordered it over the phone Tuesday (17th) morning and it arrived this morning Thursday 19th before I left for work!! Awesome work.

This was impressive because I had previously found the same book at____________, only because I searched online for the book and it was the first site that came up with it, I ordered and paid for it immediately, they said 7-10 working days, 3 weeks later they couldnt even give me an ETA on the book, so I cancelled the order, got my money back and 2 days later I had the book from you guys.

Good customer service, ease of contact, honesty and just good business are beautiful things and so often people forget that it doesnt take much effort at all to do a fantastic job and that is exactly what you guys did.

Thanks heaps and keep it up!!

Best Regards,
Jesse

Christopher Hibbert

2009-02-16T15:04:00.000+11:00

If you missed the news, the prolific popular historian Christopher Hibbert passed away last December. Two of his most famous books The Rise and Fall of the House of Medici (1974) and The French Revolution (1981) are still regularly sold here at Abbey's.

Rome: The Biography of a City is also regarded as one of his best works, and the third edition of The London Encyclopedia came out last year. Some of his other books we carry include biographies of King Arthur, Mussolini and Nelson.

More Darwin & Evolution books are here.

2009-02-11T21:23:00.002+11:00

Just in time for Charles Darwin's 200th birthday tomorrow we have a bunch of new books about the man himself, his writings and ideas and a major new book on what we know about evolution 150 years after The Origin of Species.

Evolution: The First Four Billion Years, edited by Michael Ruse and Joseph Travis is an authoritative and comprehensive summary of our current understanding of evolution. It also covers the history and philosophy of evolution and the interaction between evolutionary study, and religion and society. You can download an excerpt here .

Steve Jones is one of the best writers on evolution and Darwin going around, and his latest book won't disappoint his legion of fans. Darwin's Island looks at the huge amount of work Darwin performed at his home in Down House on topics as different as dogs, barnacles, insect-eating plants, orchids, earthworms, apes and human emotion.

Darwin had the help of many people in creating his "revolution", and three of the most important were Alfred Wallace, T H Huxley and Joseph Hooker. These three and Darwin himself are the subject of Darwin's Armada: How Four Voyagers to Australasia Won the Battle for Evolution and Changed the World by Iain McCalman.

The Cambridge Companion to the Origin of Species, edited by Michael Ruse and Robert Richards contains 18 essays on everything from "the origin" of the Origin to the rhetoric of the Origin and its impact on political theory and philosophy. You can read the table of contents here and an excerpt here.

Abbey's gets a mention in Column 8!

2009-02-06T13:40:00.001+11:00

It's always nice to get positive feedback from our customers - especially when it's via the Sydney Morning Herald.

In today's Column 8 there is a reference to a shop assistant who didn't know whether Sinatra was spelt with a C or an S and that was followed by this item:
"Thankfully, there is good news on this front, from Alicia Parmiter of Jindalee, Queensland, which we happily pass on. "In a city bookshop a couple of years ago, I took a copy of the works of Catullus to the counter. I thought the young 'checkout chick' looked out of place in such an establishment, but reconsidered when she not only recognised the poet, she enthused about his work and eagerly opened the book to her favourite poem. I have to give the bookshop a plug, although many readers will undoubtedly already be familiar with it - Abbey's. Obviously you're not obliged to pass on the plug if there are any commercial constraints." None whatsoever - bookshops that hire literate staff can only be applauded."

Ending World Poverty

2009-02-05T12:38:00.001+11:00

Peter Singer came into Abbey's yesterday to sign copies of his new book The life you can save: Acting now to end world poverty. There is a website for the book which has information on world poverty and an extract from the book. Philip Adams interviewed Peter on Late Night Live last night. If you would like to listen to it, here's the link.

The Girl Who Played With Fire

2008-12-24T09:49:00.003+11:00

The sequel to Stieg Larsson's The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire is now in stock - just in time for Christmas! We also have stock of Dragon Tattoo in paperback format.

A fascinating talk by Geoffrey Blainey

2008-11-29T15:06:00.006+11:00

Geoffrey Blainey recently gave a talk at the State Library of NSW about his new book Sea of Dangers: Captain Cook and His Rivals. You can watch a video of his talk here. You might also like to check out Cook's Endeavour Journal: The Inside Story and The Journals of Captain Cook.

Superorganisms

2008-11-22T09:52:00.010+11:00

Steve Jones, author of Coral and The Single Helix has written an excellent review of Bert Bert Hölldobler and E. O. Wilson's The Superorganism in The New York Times. If you are interested in learning more about the social life of honeybees, a book published earlier this year called The Buzz About Bees by Jurgen Tautz is definitely worth reading.

James Crumley 1939-2008

2008-10-08T21:26:00.004+11:00

Despite the marvels of the ever-present and faster-than-gossip internet, some news filters through slowly. I was saddened today to hear of the death last month of the US crime writer James Crumley. With books such as "Dancing Bear", “The Last Good Kiss,” and “The Mexican Tree Duck”, Crumley created some wonderful characters and great sentences. His writing probably had its flaws but his then unusual approach, first encountered years ago, introduced me to the pleasures of the American crime novel. He was surprising and reassuringly fatalistic at the same time. Whatever book followed one of his novels was sure to pall and it is with no small interest that I now dust off my tattered copy of his three novel omnibus “The Collection” one more time. The novels are again available in clean new editions - most on our shelves right now - but the creased, yellowing pages seem sadly appealing. Crumley died in Missoula, Montana, on September 17. Adrian

George Soros on the Credit Crisis

2008-09-29T17:49:00.006+10:00

We have just received stock of George Soros's The New Paradigm for Finanacial Markets: The Credit Crisis of 2008 and What it Means in paperback.

I was leafing through it and found in the chapter called My Outlook for 2008 the following: "Eventually, the U.S. government will have to use taxpayer's money to arrest the decline in housing prices. Until it does, the decline will be self-reinforcing, with people walking away from homes in which they have negative equity and more and more financial institutions becoming insolvent..." He wrote that on 23rd March this year.

If you are looking for some insight into the current situation in the financial world, this book looks like a good place to start. Dave

Balance & Harmony

2008-09-26T18:13:00.005+10:00

Amidst all the feverish preparations for the upcoming season of cheer and retail frenzy, there are calm oases of reward and the occasional cause to skite. The lovely people at Murdoch are publishing Neil Perry's forthcoming cookbook Balance & Harmony: Asian Food and they hosted a function at the master chef's Rockpool.

Mr Perry himself oversaw an Asian banquet for 22 lucky people (and didn't we all know how fortunate we were!) and before the food was served, we were treated to an explanation of the forthcoming dishes, and a bit of background to how the book came to be. Charming and articulate, he told us how he had grown up trying Chinese dishes (bringing back memories of the restaurants that had the little coda on the menus -Australian Dishes - for those who couldn't eat that foreign stuff!) but it wasn't until he toured Thailand with David Thompson of Darley St Thai fame, that he came to appreciate the beauty of the subtle depths of flavour achieved with spices used differently.

Everything we ate is featured in the new cookbook: White cut chicken (poached in a very simple method) with ginger and shallot; sichuan salt and pepper silken tofu (absolutely divine - not an adjective that has ever been paired with soybean curd in my words before!); steamed blue-eye trevalla with black beans; pork shoulder curry; sichuan style eggplant; and seasonal fruit to follow and cleanse the palate. Of course, the cooks amongst the company made a beeline for the finished copy on display, to try to work out what went into the dishes. Much to my amazement, the ingredients were simple, though you would have to source the occasional one from an Asian grocery, and the methods very easily achievable at home (as long as you have a good wok).

It will be a very beautiful book, with excellent paper and every now and then an insert to divide the sections, composed of art paper which is lovely to touch. The photography is delicious and the layout very easy to navigate. The limited first print run will be cased in a gorgeous cloth covered case, and subsequent printings will just be cloth covered binding without the box. Start hinting now to your principal gift-giver, how much you would like to cook for them out of this usefully beautiful book! Lindy

David Foster Wallace (1962-2008)

2008-09-20T10:18:00.004+10:00

Last week I was deeply saddened to hear the news of the death of the American novelist, David Foster Wallace. Best known for his darkly hilarious tome, Infinite Jest, Wallace was one of the shinning lights of American literature. According to Jonathan Franzen “He was a huge talent, our strongest rhetorical writer”.
Wallace was not just committed to fiction, he could write probing essays on tennis, the American political system, pornography and even mathematics. His book Everything and More was praised by New Scientist as one of the few books on mathematics that can have you laughing out loud. Although many compared him to Thomas Pynchon, I always saw him as the rightful successor to William Gaddis. He would look at the most painful of topics and have you laughing but between each giggle there was a brief moment of contemplation and unease. Wallace died on September 12, 2008, at the age of 46. He leaves behind a body of work that demands to be revisited again and again. Greg

The Garnaut Climate Change Review

2008-09-17T13:19:00.010+10:00

Cambridge University Press will be publishing The Garnaut Climate Change Review on 13th October 2008. It will be about 900 pages and will sell for $79.95.

Psst! Wanna Buy a Great Dictionary Real Cheap?

2008-09-09T18:19:00.007+10:00

When Oxford University Press reduced the price of the Oxford English Dictionary to $1,999 in 1999 I thought that you would never see this amazing dictionary offered at a lower price.

Well, I was wrong. To celebrate the 80th anniversary of the publication of the first edition of the OED, the price has been reduced to $1,300 for the 20-volume set - or $1,500 if you buy it bundled with the OED on CD-ROM.

This is an unbelievable price, and it's only available for a limited time. If you have always wanted to own all 20 volumes and 22,000 pages of this superb dictionary but didn't want to spend $2,500, then this is the news you have been waiting to hear.

If you have a computer, I would recommend buying the books plus CD-ROM bundle. Not only does the CD-ROM incorporate words that didn't make it into the printed volumes, it features powerful search capabilities which enable to explore the dictionary in ways not possible with books. It can also be loaded onto your computer, so if you have a laptop, you can take the world's greatest dictionary everywhere you go! Two things you need to know about the CD-ROM are: It is only available for the PC - there is no Mac version, and it is only licensed for a single-user (you cannot use it on a network).

We expect stock to arrive in October. Dave

The Lost Dog

2008-09-01T15:01:00.003+10:00

We have just received stock of the paperback edition of Michelle de Kretser's The Lost Dog. As well as winning the 2008 Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, it also was Book of the Year at this year's NSW Premier's Literary Awards and has been longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. So if you haven't read it yet, maybe you should, if only to see if you agree with the judges!

Orwell the Blogger

2008-08-30T12:50:00.007+10:00

The Orwell Prize, Britain’s pre-eminent prize for political writing, is publishing George Orwell’s diaries as a blog. From 9th August 2008, Orwell’s domestic and political diaries (from 9th August 1938 until October 1942) will be posted in real-time, exactly 70 years after the entries were written.

This wonderful initiative will be both a fascinating look at the life of one of the great writers of the 20th century as well as a window onto life in Britain during the lead-up to and early years of World War II.

A Gift to the Nation

2008-08-29T20:51:00.005+10:00

As part of the celebration of the 100th anniversary of Oxford University Press Australia they are making available online to all Australians The Australian National Dictionary. First published in 1988 it took ten years to compile, and was the product of the fullest and most detailed research ever undertaken into the history of the Australian English vocabulary.

It was the first comprehensive, historically based record of the 10,000 words and idioms that make up the Australian contribution to the English language. Each entry provides its own fascinating insight into Australia’s rich and diverse linguistic heritage.

This is a fantastic resource for anyone interested in Australian English, as is Speaking Our Language: The Story of Australian English, a wonderful book being published by OUP in October.

Spooks

2008-08-28T20:08:00.004+10:00

I had the pleasure today to meet Joseph Delaney, a very gently spoken bright-eyed man, who is the author of the amazing Wardstone Chronicles series of books. They are set in a County modelled on his native Lancashire (he uses actual locations) and follow Thomas Ward, seventh son of a seventh son, who is apprenticed to the local Spook. Spooks are the people who keep the population safe from supernatural aspects - the boggarts and ghosts and various witches that wish to do harm on innocent people. Being the Spook's apprentice is a hard and difficult, often thankless, job, but Tom has a natural aptitude. Not to mention his best friend Alice, who was raised by witches and is looked down upon with a great deal of suspicion by Mr Gregory the Spook.

As the series develops, an evil beyond the memories of the locals, is awakening. Tom's mother, who has a very interesting background, believes he will be of great importance in the coming struggle. So far there are five titles (Spook's Apprentice; Spook's Curse; Spook's Secret; Spook's Battle and Spook's Mistake). Joseph Delaney is in the final draft of the next one (Spook's Sacrifice) which he gave me a quick rundown on, and will also write a book telling Alice's story before she met Tom. It is quite likely there will be another two titles, possibly more.

At present the first book is in pre-production stage for filming, directed by Kevin Lima. Like many writers, Joe is not involved in the process, apart from the occasional call checking on things like - what season is it, we need to get the costumes right, and what century would you place it - on discussion, they've gone for the 17th, as that was the time that 'witches' were hung at Pendle Castle in true life. When I read the books I see a slightly different time, myself, but as they have elements of earlier ages, but then they are set in a world not quite our own - and when did that ever stop a book from working?

Personally, I can't wait! These are top quality books - the writing is excellent in style and content, the feeling of place is wonderfully evoked, the character development is fascinating and the imaginative and interestingly plotted story lines are addictive. Tom is a character of moral depth and although it may be old-fashioned to say so, has strengths inherited from his parents and his upbringing.

These are aimed at children around 12, but you know what? If you think these books are only for children, then you're missing out yourself. Plenty of adult readers have discovered children's books like the Harry Potters and Artemis Fowls, the Dark Materials and the Twilight sagas - so why not give these a go - you may be surprised (and maybe even a little spooked...) Lindy

The Naked Husband

2008-08-24T10:24:00.003+10:00

If you’ve ever been in love, been hurt in love, or been tempted in, or out of love, this book is for you. Every woman will be touched by Mark D’Arbanville’s candidness, sensuality and romantic side and every man should take a leaf out of his book, as it were. Written under the label of 'fiction', one cannot help but think this is an autobiographical account. D’Arbanville’s writing gives his characters feelings, a soul and a life of their own. Mark delves into the human state and touches the deep-seeded roots of our sexual psyche. The Naked Husband is also stomach-achingly humorous. It is funny because it is true. But the truth, as the old adage goes, hurts; this book is certainly painfully true. Utterly 'unputdownable' (I ripped through this one in a few short hours of one night) and highly recommended to everyone. The Naked Husband, both the man and the work, will make you laugh out loud, shed a tear or two and probably make you fall in love with Mark D’Arbanville yourself. Bree

Hide the Jelly Beans!

2008-08-21T18:25:00.007+10:00

Abbey's gets a lot of interesting people through the doors (attracted to our fabulous books, no doubt) and sometimes they even pass for famous (ish). Yesterday Mr William McInnes, known to non-TV me as an author and fellow one-time resident of The Peninsula (Brisbane's equivalent of The Shire) but known to many others more familiar with moving pictures as a pretty good actor, was herded in, doing a whirlwind visit-the-bookshops-be-nice-to-booksellers performance.

Perhaps it was my black glucojel jelly-beans which he promptly helped himself to (that's okay, I don't like them) or perhaps he is always that exuberant, but I was treated to a one-man show of great virtuosity and good-humour, as he morphed into the sort of customer I used to regularly deal with on dole-days, after I mentioned my unfortunate past life as a bank teller in Redcliffe way back when. He tried out the horizontal rollers for good measure (work place health and safety of no concern!) clutching Tim Winton's newest novel (segue-ing into a fine rendition of a sniffy literary critic) and gave an impromptu reading from the new collection of Commander war-time comics with the requisite British good-chap and dastardly-Hun accents. Then he actually signed his new book whilst charming members of staff and giving one excited customer something to go home and tell his wife about ('you'd never guess who I saw today at Abbey's !!!')

You never do know who will walk in the door - that can be part of the fun... but maybe, if it's Mr William McInnes, hide the jelly beans! Lindy

Eureka!

2008-08-20T06:59:00.005+10:00

Last night a group of Abbey's employees attended the 2008 Australian Museum Eureka Prizes dinner. Abbey's is proud to be a long-time supporter of the Eurekas, the "Oscars" of Australian science.

Congratulations to all the winners. You can read all about them here. One of the highlights for me was the video produced by five-year-old Aydin Neighbour from St. Finbarr's Catholic Primary School. You can watch Aydin's video here - it's an amazing effort from someone so young!

On a sad note, Roger Muller from the Australian Museum is retiring this year, so he will no longer be involved with the Eurekas. Nobody has worked harder at making the Eurekas the success they are than Roger, and we wish him a long and happy retirement. Dave

The Island of the Ancients

2008-08-15T22:17:00.002+10:00

Well, I put on my social shoes and trotted off to a book launch/photographic exhibition opening on Wednesday night. The event was for the book The Island of the Ancients : The Secrets of Sardinia's Centenarians by Ben Hills, and the exhibition was of photographs taken by his wife, Mayu Kanamori, some of which are featured in the book. I was a guest of Murdoch Books, the publishers, and the only bookseller in attendance, which made for an interesting evening of people-watching - most of the other guests were connected to the 'artistic' community, I was told, and they are quite decidedly different from the book people I usually mingle with! Sartorially, black was the thing, and a cravat or two, and a grey pony-tuft or two, and some other small eccentricities, were on show. (Though I have a grumpy-old-woman moment when the conversations started rippling throughout the official speeches - there is bohemianism, and there is rudeness!) The food was delicious, and the Sardinian wine most quaffable (Argolias wine - Antonio Argiolas, whose raffish photograph graces the cover of the book, lays claim to being the world's oldest winemaker).
The book is an interesting mix of travel narrative, interviews, food, science and meditations on what makes a good life. The exhibition will run until 28th September, on the second floor of the Customs House at Circular Quay, and the technically proficient portraits of the centenarians (many are surprisingly youthful in looks - well they look 70 maybe, not 100!) are well worth a look. And what is the secret to the Sardinian's longevity... read the book!! Lindy

A Beautiful Place to Die by Malla Nunn

2008-07-30T14:15:00.004+10:00

This could well be the crime debut of the year. Set in a turbulent South Africa in the 1950's, Detective Emmanuel Cooper is called in to investigate the murder of an Afrikaans police office, Captain Willem Pretorius. Blending racial politics, sexual tension and family intrigue, Nunn has written a truly gripping thriller.I don’t normally read crime fiction but after reading the first chapter I couldn’t stop and although it is the oldest cliche in the book this is an absolute page-turner. This book introduces us to Cooper and some other memorable and frightening characters and promises to be the beginning of a very popular series. It is due to be released in September. Greg

Man Booker Longlist Announced

2008-07-30T05:43:00.003+10:00

Thirteen books have been selected to make up the longlist for this year's Man Booker Prize for Fiction, including Michelle de Kretser's The Lost Dog and Steve Toltz's A Fraction of the Whole.

The full list is available here.

It's Your Choice

2008-07-25T11:31:00.004+10:00

Voting is now open in this year's Eureka Prizes People's Choice Award. The six finalists include an immunologist who discovered a gene responsible for the autoimmune diseases lupus and diabetes, a microbiologist whose research could save thousands of people from disease caused by a flesh-eating bacterium and a biologist who is working to save endangered frogs species from a deadly fungus.

By voting you have a chance to win some great prizes, including gift vouchers from Abbey's.

Crime book wins the Samuel Johnson Prize

2008-07-18T18:29:00.004+10:00

The Suspicions of Mr Whicher: or The Murder at Road Hill House by Kate Summerscale has won the 2008 Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-fiction.

Here is what Rosie Boycott, the Chair of the judges had to say about the winner: “The Suspicions of Mr Whicher is a dramatic page-turning detective yarn of a real-life murder that inspired the birth of modern detective fiction. Kate Summerscale has brilliantly merged scrupulous archival research with vivid storytelling that reads with the pace of a Victorian thriller. The book is a rare work of non-fiction that mimics suspense genre and leaves one gripped until the final paragraph. Jack Whicher of Scotland Yard, who became the most celebrated detective of his day, is a complex, shabby character who immediately conjures up images of the scruffy looking LA cop, Columbo and even of Rebus. The Road Hill murder case was to dominate newspaper headlines and caused national hysteria, and inspired a generation of novelists from Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins to Conan Doyle.”

This is the 10th year of the Samuel Johnson Prize. Previous winners include Stalingrad by Antony Beevor, 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare by James Shapiro and Stasiland by Anna Funder.

Wanting for nothing

2008-07-18T01:02:00.002+10:00

Last night I had the pleasure of having dinner with Richard Flanagan, who is in Sydney putting the finishing touches to his novel Wanting, which is due out in November.

The dinner was organised by two of the wonderful people at Random House, John O'Brien & Brett Osmond, and joining us were some of Sydney's leading booksellers.

Wanting is based on a true story involving an aboriginal girl, the explorer Sir John Franklin and his wife, and Charles Dickens. It sounds like another great read from one of Australias's leading writers. It will also look great - it's going to be a beautifully produced hardback with a charcoal ribbon marker. Dave

Midnight's Children wins Best of the Booker

2008-07-10T22:25:00.002+10:00

Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children has just been named the winner of the Best of the Booker award. The six shortlisted titles were chosen by a panel of judges, and the decision then went to a public poll. Midnight's Children won with 36% of the vote.

This is the third time Midnight's Children has won a "Booker", after it won the 1981 Booker Prize and the Booker of Bookers in 1993.

Outliers

2008-07-08T20:35:00.003+10:00

Malcolm Gladwell, author of Blink and The Tipping Point has a new book coming out later this year. It's called Outliers, and in it Gladwell asks what makes high-achievers different? The answer, he suggests, has a lot to do with a person's culture, family, their generation and the idiosyncatic experiences of their upbringing.

It's due to be published in December, and you can order it here.

The Indie Award

2008-06-29T19:52:00.003+10:00

Abbey's is proud to be involved with the Indie Award. Chosen by Australian independent booksellers, the $18,000 prize will honour an Australian author for the best book of the past twelve months. The award is being managed by Leading Edge Books, a group of independent bookstores with member stores across Australia, both metropolitan and regional, including many of Australia's iconic independent bookshops. The award will demonstrate independent booksellers' commitment to Australian books and writers, with over 120 bookshops working together to sponsor this annual award. Our very own Lindy Jones is one of the judges this year.

Over 100 titles have been submitted to The Indie Award panel in the categories of Fiction, Debut Fiction, Non Fiction and Children's Books. Independent booksellers around the country are now madly reading, with the winner from each of the four categories to be announced on Monday 25th August. The winner of The Indie Award for the book of the year will be chosen by the booksellers from the four shortlist category winners and announced on Monday 6th October.

The award has the support of key people in the Australian book world, including Tim Winton who said "Everywhere else in the English-speaking world, bookselling has become the province of chains, of massive centralisation, of venality and a steady loss of competence on the shop floor. Thank God we still have booksellers passionately committed to our shared reading culture. This is something we must not give up. For nearly thirty years I've made a living from writing fiction in this country with the steady support of independent bookshops. This year I've been lucky enough to have a novel reach the top of the bestseller lists. A literary novel at number one. Hand-sold all the way there by people who take books personally."

Congratulations to Steven Carroll

2008-06-19T23:08:00.002+10:00

for winning the 2008 Miles Franklin Literary Award for The Time We Have Taken, published by Harper Collins!

Books on TV...on the internet

2008-06-14T14:07:00.005+10:00

If your monthly dose of the First Tuesday Book Club isn't enough, there are now book-related programs you can download or watch online.

Black iTV comes from Black Inc. - the people who publish the excellent Quarterly Essays and books like Van Diemen's Land and Dear Mr Rudd. It allows you to watch the latest Black Inc. events and book launches online.

Slow TV is produced by the people who own Black Inc. It provides interviews, debates, conversations and public lectures about Australia's key political, social and cultural issues. Not everything is book-related, but much of it is. Recently featured authors include Tim Winton, Michelle De Kretser, Les Murray and Paul Auster.

Titlepage.tv is a US program which recently completed it's first season. You can watch it through their website or download video or audio versions through iTunes.

Shaun Tan the Musical

2008-05-29T18:39:00.002+10:00

Today was a big day for Shaun Tan fans at Abbey's. Not only did we receive stock of Shaun's new book Tales from Outer Suburbia, but we also found out that the Australian Chamber Orchestra will be performing two pieces featuring Shaun's images in July. There will be performances in Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. Here is a link to a page with all the details.

The New Angel

2008-05-29T11:25:00.004+10:00

I've just finished reading a new book called The New Angel by Ali Alizadeh which has floored me. There are scenes in this novel that imprint themselves onto the brain, where they tend to reside for days.
The story concerns Bahram, currently living in Australia, who after receiving a phone call from someone in his past, begins to recall his time growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution and the Iran-Iraq war, and of his burgeoning love for Fereshteh (Persian for 'angel'). Much of the novel mirrors Ali Alizadeh's own story and it is the blurring of fact and fiction that makes this book so potent.
Alizadeh's anger at fundamentalism is so heartfelt that it is impossible to engage with the story from a detached distance. The vitriolic tone that seethes through the novel leaves the reader in no doubt the suffocating atmosphere such regimes pose on its citizens. This is not the book to read if looking for cold, objective reportage. This is a man trying to show that no matter where you run the past is always there waiting for its moment before it taps you on the shoulder and despite oppressive circumstances poetry(and all that word entails) and even possibly redemption is attainable. Greg

A Trio of Über Readers

2008-05-20T07:02:00.002+10:00

In case you missed it, last night's Late Night Live on Radio National featured Phillip Adams, Harold Bloom and Bob Carr talking about reading, great books and what they mean to them. Bloom, who has written many books on books (How to Read and Why, The Western Canon, etc) had nice things to say about Bob Carr's own book on books My Reading Life: Adventures in the World of Books. Here is a link to the Late Night Live homepage. Dave

Indigenous Literacy Project Launch

2008-05-07T17:16:00.003+10:00

I feel like the social butterfly, but this launch was for a very special reason. Yes, there was the chance to mingle with the leading lights of Sydney bookselling, and say hello to the heads of various publishing houses, and even see David Malouf across the room, but we were all there for a cause very dear to the book community's collective heart - the Indigenous Literacy Project.

Run in conjunction with the Fred Hollows Foundation, this project started with one bookseller asking why it was that indigenous children had a lower literacy rate than others in our country, and what could be done about it. Suzie Wilson of Riverbend Books in Brisbane started a reader's challenge with the local schools in her area and raised a nice little sum. The next year it extended to schools within the state, and more funds were raised. The money was used to purchase books and resources for remote communities in the Northern Territory, with the assistance of the Fred Hollows mob. With the support of people like Jeff MacMullen and Ian Thorpe, the challenge extended nationwide, and to adults as well as children. Last year in an effort to streamline the whole process, bookshops, publishers and distributors were asked to donate a percentage of their takings on a particular day. The support was overwhelming - close to a quarter of a million dollars was raised, and more communities were able to be helped. This year Indigenous Literacy Day will be held on the 3rd September, when the book community will once again donate a percentage of their takings; but this year the Reader's Quest will be reinstated. I was privileged to be asked to help compiling the children's lists, so of course I am not at all impartial, but I do think it is a wonderful collection of titles to choose from!

This is not a trickle down project, the people of the communities are fully involved and consulted, and without their support, all the well-meaningness of Australians on the edge of our continent would be negated. You and I know how essential it is to be able to read, and in the (paraphrased) words of the patron, Therese Rein, in her speech to launch ILP, reading gives you somewhere else to go, as well as the ability to make choices. All children should be given this opportunity, and this is one way we can make sure the opportunity is extended.

Have a look at the website http://www.worldwithoutbooks.org/. Get involved in whatever way you can. Mark 3-9-08 in your diary (it's the Wednesday before Father's Day). We live in a nation that can collectively say sorry, but individually, we can do something positive to show our support. It isn't that hard! Lindy

First Tuesday Book Club

2008-04-25T22:12:00.003+10:00

Just a reminder that the next two books to be featured on ABC TV's First Tuesday Book Club will be The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and A Farewell to Arms. By the way, if you fancy reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in Swedish or German we can oblige.

Breath

2008-04-24T22:38:00.002+10:00

It's only about a week before the long-awaited publication of Tim Winton's new novel Breath. That means you still have time to pre-order your copy and go into the draw to win a signed limited edition copy of Breath!

No Shortage of Shortlists

2008-04-20T19:45:00.010+10:00

Last week was a big week for announcements of shortlists of major literary prizes! The five titles shortlisted for the 2008 Miles Franklin Award were The Fern Tattoo by David Brooks, The Time We Have Taken by Steven Carroll, Love without Hope by Rodney Hall, Sorry by Gail Jones, and Landscape of Farewell by Alex Miller. The winner will be announced on 19th June.

Alex Miller's Landscape of Farewell was also shortlisted for the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, one of the 2008 NSW Premier's Literary Awards. The other titles were J.M. Coetzee's Diary of a Bad Year, Matthew Condon's The Trout Opera, Ron McCoy's Sea of Diamonds by Gregory Day, The Lost Dog by Michelle de Kretser and The Widow and Her Hero by Tom Keneally.

The six titles shortlisted for the Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction were Slicing the Silence: Voyaging to Antarctica by Tom Griffiths, Ochre and Rust: Artefacts and Encounters on Australian Frontiers by Philip Jones, High and Dry: John Howard, Climate Change and the Selling of Australia's Future by Guy Pearse, Sunrise West by Jacob Rosenberg, Another Country by Nicholas Rothwell and Courage by Maria Tumarkin.

David Malouf's Typewriter Music was shortlisted for the Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry, along with an illustrated history of dairies by Joanne Burns, Uncommon Light by Brook Emery, Westering by Peter Kirkpatrick, Two Kinds of Silence by Katherine Lomer and The Edge of Everything by Phyllis Perlstone.

The winners of the 2008 NSW Premier's Literary Awards will be announced on 19th May. A complete list of shortlisted titles and judges comments can be downloaded from here .

Also announced were the six titles shortlisted for the 2008 Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction. They were Fault Lines by Nancy Huston, The Outcast by Sadie Jones, When We Were Bad by Charlotte Mendelson, Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O'Neill, The Road Home by Rose Tremaine and Lottery by Patricia Wood. The winner will be announced on 4th June.

Vale John Archibald Wheeler

2008-04-15T18:36:00.002+10:00

One of the giants of 20th century physics passed away last weekend. John Archibald Wheeler is usually known for helping to invent the theory of nuclear fission and giving black holes their name.

At Abbey's he is known for co-authoring Gravitation, a 1,279 page book which has never been out of print since it was published in 1973 - in fact, we have sold 17 copies since 2001, which isn't bad for a book that currently sells for over $200! Dave

Napoleon wins

2008-04-13T21:51:00.003+10:00

Philip Dwyer's Napoleon, 1769-1799: The Path to Power has just been named joint winner of this year's National Biography Award. The other winner was These Few Lines: A Convict Story - The Lost Lives of Myra and William Sykes by Graham Seal.

Previous winners include Don Watson, Mandy Sayer and Peter Robb.

Woolshed Press

2008-04-12T10:08:00.003+10:00

There is still a certain optimism in the publishing world - thankfully!

Wednesday night saw me at the launch of a new children's imprint for Random House, held at their sparkling custom designed headquarters in North Sydney. There were booksellers, and people who work in chains (sorry if I sound snobby - there are some fine people in those places, but alas, mostly it doesn't matter to their owners what they actually sell...) There were authors, and illustrators, and librarians, and even illuminati like the amazing Maurice Saxby. There were certainly any number of publicists and sales managers and publishers and lots of those other workers with very esoteric titles, who usually are the glue that holds all the others together. Clutching our flutes of guava juice and champagne and happily relieving the waiters of their burdens on the paperbark lined trays (all those delightful little nibbles you would never make at home!) we were there to celebrate the launch of Woolshed Press.

Leonie Tyle, who worked for University of Queensland Press for many years before being lured to Random House, will be publishing six titles this year, and twelve titles a year thereafter. I'm pretty impressed by the calibre of the authors she has lined up, almost every one of them award-winning or award-listed Australians who are known for their strong story telling skills - James Roy, Catherine Bateson, Brian Caswell, Bill Condon, Anthony Eaton and Celeste Walters (just to begin with!) Leonie wants to celebrate quality, with an eye to commercial values (ie the kids want to read them) and educational potential (ie the teachers want the kids to read them).

And while another imprint will not mean much to the average buyer browsing in a bookshop, it is still a cause for optimism - particularly if it can be associated with children's books, and we can look forward to outstanding stories! Good luck to Leonie and her team (and thanks for the champagne!) Lindy

The 2008 Pulitzer Prize Winners at Abbey's

2008-04-08T22:29:00.005+10:00

Fiction: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
General Non-Fiction: The Years of Extermination by Saul Friedlander
Biography: Eden's Outcasts by John Matteson
History: What God Hath Wrought by Daniel Walker Howe

Meet The Bin Ladens

2008-04-06T18:05:00.005+10:00

We have just received stock of Steve Coll's new book The Bin Ladens. If you read his excellent (and Pulitzer-Prize winning) Ghost Wars, you will want to read this one as much as I do. Here is a link to a recent review in the New York Times. Dave

Eat the Document

2008-04-06T12:39:00.004+10:00

Just finished reading a fabulous new book called Eat the Document by Dana Spiotta, which is due in May. There seems to be a trend at the moment to try and understand the turbulent times of the late sixties and early seventies. However, unlike the awkwardness of Peter Carey's His Illegal Self, Spiotta's Eat the Document has such a fastidious eye for detail and character that one is immediately transported back to its shifting time zones.

With each alternating period Spiotta captures the fashion, the music and most importantly, the voice of each time. Fans of Don Delillo should eat this up and if you're interested, another recent novel that treads similar ground is Hari Kunzru's My Revolutions. Definitely worth checking out. Greg

An Excellent Primer on Cosmology

2008-03-30T18:37:00.004+11:00

This blog is good news for some of us part-time booksellers as we don't always get the latest blockbuster before they are released. So any comments we make are after the event and that is what I shall do here as some books are worth more than a pre-publish hagiograph and those that aren't will never be missed (refer here to Gilbert & Sullivan). Anyway,
I have just finished an excellent tome on Cosmology called The State of the Universe by Pedro Ferreira. I have read - or to be more accurate tried to read, some of his articles published a few years ago but I couldn't follow them as his use of grammar was very esoteric . So I was intrigued when I saw this tome on our shelves, thinking it would be as impenetrable as his previous works. What a surprise! It's very well written and lucid (maybe he has got a good editor). Also, he takes the reader in a step by stairs approach in the unfolding of Cosmological Theory, providing a non-esoteric working out of most of the important laws of the physical Universe from the Babylonians to Quantum Entanglement. When we arrive at the later stages of Relativity and Quantum Mechanics, Ferreira is careful in denoting what has been proven and that what is theoretical.
The real reason why I am trumpeting this work is that I now have a much clearer understanding of Keplers Elipses & the laws that pertain therewith.........Christopher

Imprimatur

2008-03-26T21:43:00.002+11:00

The British newspaper the Telegraph recently carried a report about the Vatican allegedly pressuring the Italian publisher of an exciting novel which will be published locally in May. Imprimatur is set in Rome in 1683 during the Battle of Vienna, and during their research the authors apparently found evidence that Pope Innocent XI had funded the Protestant hero William III (William of Orange). You can read the Telegraph article here. We expect stock of Imprimatur in early May. Dave

A Few Days in the Life of a Bookseller

2008-03-20T23:40:00.008+11:00

I'd like a bookshelf for every time I've heard the words, "I'd like to work in a bookshop". As if the job only entails reading books all day, interspersed with the odd literary conversation with customers only too happy to throw money into the open till! It is a wonderful career, which you follow for love, not money, and it certainly has compensations for the hard work of getting books on the shopfloor and into readers' hands(and that's another topic altogether!)

I was pretty damned lucky to attend a booksellers' conference in Alice Springs just recently. Yes! Booksellers have conferences! Likeminded owners and employees of independent bookstores gathered together, discussing and learning about various topics, book and business both. But the highlights are always the authors, who are coerced/cajoled/carefully selected to address the gathering.

This year we started with the inimitable Don Watson regaling us with tales of his travels by train within the USA and the book, American Journeys, which was the result. What an amazing companion he would be (and you know, he's not that bad-looking either...)

Kate Grenville was there, surprising an assortment of interstate booksellers who did not recognise her, when she casually joined in conversations and was generally a warm and witty presence round the tables. Kate is working on a new book concerned with one of the most interesting characters on the First Fleet. I don't know how much I can say, so will leave it there, but suffice to say, it will be eagerly awaited by her many fans (and the booksellers who she so impressed!)

One of my favourites was Thomas H Cook, an author of the most exquisitely unfolding psychological thrillers. Usually in his books, a death has occurred, and it is not the police procedural that is important, but the profound effects of the death upon those around. What a delight to meet him - a charming southern gentleman, with a glorious drawl and courtly manners. His new book will not be out till July (Master of the Delta) and it certainly sounds worth waiting for!

I had the great good fortune to share dinner with Geraldine Brooks one night. She is witty and perceptive, has the most infectious giggle and a great and abiding interest in the people around her. I think each one of us at the dinner table came away feeling we had met one of the most interesting and intelligent of people. I loved her new novel, People of the Book but so have many others, making it a well-deserved number one bestseller.

David Michie took a room full of booksellers and showed them how to do a two-minute meditation. Let's just say there were a lot of people who may not have been open-minded about the subject, but might now see the benefits. Have a look at his new book and you might also be convinced!

One of my favorite historical novels last year was Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani Anita has an interesting personal story herself, born of a Lithuanian mother and an Iranian father, and she was a most interesting speaker. Her book is on the Orange Prize longlist this year.

Tim Winton was the 'surprise' guest speaker this year, but it's pretty hard to disguise someone like Tim in a town like Alice (sorry, I've been dying to slip that allusion in!) We were privileged to hear him read from his new novel due in May, Breath What can I say? It will be something beyond special.

The gala dinner speakers were Judith Lucy who has a new book also due in May, called The Lucy Family Alphabet. I reckon this will be tragi-comedy writ large, and will have the added advantage of showing you your own family, no matter how odd, is nowhere near as eccentric as Judith's. The other big name to drop from the conference is Peter Carey. He also read from his novel His Illegal Self. Not my favourite of his works, I'm beginning to think he should start on topics nearer to his life - or go back to the great imaginings of his earlier stories. But one should be grateful when famous authors acknowledge the booksellers. Shouldn't one?

So, yes, working in the book trade can have its moments of true pleasure. What a shame conferences only come but once a year - thankfully the books come more frequently! Lindy

Eureka Science Prizes

2008-03-20T08:16:00.005+11:00

Last night some colleagues and I attended the launch of the 2008 Australian Museum Eureka Science Prizes. Abbey's is a long-time sponsor of the Eureka's, which keep on getting bigger and better each year.

The launch was held in the museum's brand new Dinosaurs exhibition which is absolutely brilliant. I highly recommend you visit it - you won't be disappointed. Dave

Benjamin Andrew Footpath Library

2008-03-19T16:36:00.004+11:00

The Benjamin Andrew Footpath Library empowers homeless and disadvantaged people by delivering a regular supply of books. They survive through the generosity of corporate and public donations and can be contacted via mailto:msmclach@bigpond.com

Sarah Garnett who has been running the service for a few years now, started with the gift of a book to a homeless man she knew. He spent the nights under a streetlight reading, as it was too unsafe for him to sleep. From that small start, she now has a weekly service, providing books free of charge to her visitors - they can take what they like, for as long as they want, and return -or keep - the books whenever they like. Lindy

Orange Prize Longlist

2008-03-19T10:11:00.006+11:00

The longlist for the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction has been announced. Two noteworthy books are Sorry by Gail Jones, which is also on the Miles Franklin longlist and The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani, who was at the recent Adelaide Festival. The shortlist will be announced on 15th April and the winner on 4th June. Dave

Attention all fans of Shaun Tan

2008-03-18T07:01:00.009+11:00

Great news! Shaun's first book since 'The Arrival' is being published in June. 'Tales from Outer Suburbia' contains fifteen intriguing illustrated stories about the mysteries that lurk beneath the surface of suburban life.

The publishers, Allen & Unwin, have kindly made available in PDF format the first two chapters. You can read them here. Dave

'Gone with the Wind' and copyright

2008-03-16T15:05:00.006+11:00

April will see the publication in Australia of an "unauthorised" sequel to 'Gone with the Wind'. It's called 'The Winds of Tara' and it was written by Katherine Pinotti. It was published in the U.S. a few years back, but because the copyright for 'Gone with the Wind' is still held by the estate of Margaret Mitchell, and they didn't agree to it's publication, the book was banned. They did agree to the publication of 'Rhett Butler's People' by Donald McCraig.

Apparently, it can be published in Australia because we have a different time limit on when copyright expires than they do in the U.S., which keeps extending the time books and other creative works are subject to copyright - something Lawrence Lessig and others have been highly critical of. In 'Free Culture: The Nature and Future of Creativity' Lessig argues that this is stifling creativity and innovation. Nobody wants to go back to the way publishing operated in the 18th century, when booksellers like Edmund Curll showed a total disregard for the rights of authors to earn a living from their work, but Lessig mounts a pretty persuasive argument that the law as it stands in the U.S. has gone too far the other way.

Unfortunately, booksellers in Australia aren't allowed to sell this book to people who live in the U.S., so I guess the biggest winners in this exercise will be the people who buy copies from us and sell them on eBay to Americans... Dave