Do not go gentle into that good night.
The voice was that of Richard Burton (I’ll explain in a moment) and it may have been how I was constructing the words in my mind. This morning, looking out over the field towards the rising sun, it was not that long ago that the day would have been in full swing by this hour. But here we are, early Autumn and the night is gently slipping in towards the beginning of the day, and later, tiptoeing back, its fingers snaking into pockets and taking away the light again: slowly and surely the sands slipping through the fingers, gently and quietly as we barely notice the passing of time. And there he was, Richard Burton, the voice in my head as the words came from my fingers, and that’s it, I can’t get the opening lines from Jeff Wayne’s ‘War of the Worlds’ out of my head now!
I suspect the way stories sound in our own minds is all part of how we engage with an author’s writing, and that’ll be why the choice of narrator for an audio book is so important. We’re really keen to explore the world of downloadable audio books in the coming months, we have some plans and ideas we’d like to develop and share with Coles customers. In the meantime, here’s Richard again, at least in our heads.
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
If you like Before the Coffee Gets Cold, then you’re going to love The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai. Inside this peculiar restaurant, customers are transported back in time, recreating some of their most loved memories through food. To make the story even better, there’s cats. Another top pick of the week is Juan Calle’s and Santiago Calle’s The Shocking Horror Colouring Book. In this you can use your own vivid imagination to colour the most gruesome and horrific scenes, just in time for Halloween.
New in fiction this week is Laurie Gilmore’s The Pumpkin Spice Cafe – a cosy romance novel, set in a sleepy small town, surrounded by red, autumnal, falling leaves. On the other end of the spectrum, Christmas and Other Horrors is an anthology edited by Ellen Datlow, and featuring bestselling authors, such as Stephen Graham Jones, Garth Nix and Josh Malerman. All stories are centred around the winter solstice, focusing on the grim, dangerous and unholy; the perfect book to usher in the darker evenings!
We also have two great fiction companions: The Book Lover’s Almanac by Alex Johnson brings a delight every day of the year. Featuring author letters, diaries, famous author gossip, and extracts from some of the greatest novels around. And The Worlds of Dune by Tom Huddleston, which explains everywhere that Herbert gained inspiration for his epic saga, alongside mesmerising illustrations inspired by the books.
For young adults, Katya de Becerra has a new paranormal fiction: When Ghosts Call Us Home. Never, ever look directly into the eyes of a ghost. Because once you see it, once you see her, once you acknowledge her impossible existence, you can never un-see it. And that’s how she gets you… For children even smaller we have the fabulous new non-fiction, Around the World in 80 Inventions, by Matt Ralphs and Robbie Cathro. From the wheel to the space rocket, the bow and arrow to the atom bomb, chocolate to toothpaste, and the battery to the quantum computer, find out about innovations from the ancient world right up to the twenty-first century.
And lastly, we have some tantalising new non-fiction. Everyone’s favourite therapist, Alain de Botton, is back with his new book A Therapeutic Journey: this is a book about getting unwell. About losing direction and hope. About imagining that we have let ourselves and everyone down. But it’s also a book about getting better. We also have The Mad Emperor by Harry Sidebottom: a fourteen-year-old Syrian boy, egged on by his grandmother, led an army to battle in a Roman civil war. Against all expectations, he was victorious. Varius Avitus Bassianus, known to the modern world as Heliogabalus, was proclaimed emperor. Michael Lewis’ new book, Going Infinite, tells the story of Sam Bankman-Fried, the creator of the cryptocurrency FTX and the youngest billionaire. It also tells the story of how everything fell apart for him. Lastly, we have curry legend Dan Toombs, he’s back with his latest book The Curry Guy – One Pot, where he tells you how to make the best curries with the least fuss.
As always, if there’s anything you need help with, or anything you need ordering in, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
From Amber
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