You can only do what you can do – but do it as well as you can.
Like many of the great observations of life, it came from a conversation with a friend. That coming together of minds & hearts is enriching for the soul – it’s strength in numbers; there’s more than one of you that feels or thinks the same way; it’s the affirmation which comes from being close to someone. Sure, a true friend can also tell a truth which may be at odds, but that sort of ‘hard’ truth can also enrich – it expands your view, you start to see the world through another’s eyes, your appreciation of variety grows and as a result so does your tolerance. As the chaps on The Rest is Politics podcast espouse – it’s good to disagree agreeably. In an age when we are being dragged to the extremes, the pragmatism of the middle ground can easily get drowned out by the noise of the ‘pile-on’ of polarisation – it’s the classic binary trope of social media – ‘if you’re not with me, you’re against me’. Where is the nuance? where is the shade & tone? where is the colour? Lose those attributes and you lose tolerance.
So where is the nuance, the shade & tone, the colour? In our case, that’s an easy one to answer – we find it on the pages of books. Writers are the great observers, from their eyes and their imaginations come ideas and feelings which can enrich – they are the painters of the images we see in our minds. What I have always found interesting is that the process of reading is a calm and gentle activity – the enrichment becomes deeper, wider and more meaningful when it’s done with some thought.
That great observation from the friend? You can only do what you can do – but do it as well as you can and look out for the like-minded souls, make them your companions as we pootle along.
Last week’s newsletter included one of those quiet and gentle books which can often slip under the radar – Enchantment by Katherine May. This is not one of those woo-woo books which goes off on one – it’s just a hug in literary form, a friend joining you for a walk. As a favourite of ours, we thought we’d feature it again below in our Coles Signed Editions section – I’m sure you’ll like it.
Everything is Going to be All Right by Derek Mahon
How should I not be glad to contemplate
the clouds clearing beyond the dormer window
and a high tide reflected on the ceiling?
There will be dying, there will be dying,
but there is no need to go into that.
The poems flow from the hand unbidden
and the hidden source is the watchful heart.
The sun rises in spite of everything
and the far cities are beautiful and bright.
I lie here in a riot of sunlight
watching the day break and the clouds flying.
Everything is going to be all right.
from Faber’s New Selected Poems by Derek Mahon
You’re probably well aware of our fiction pick-of-the-week already, despite it only being out for two days! Suzie Miller originally wrote the script for Prima Facie, bringing it to life on stage (you might recognise Jodie Comer on the posters). Now Suzie Miller has published her first novel of the same story: Tessa Ensler has disguised her working-class roots since her uni days at Cambridge and now she’s one of the best lawyers in her field. However, when a date with a colleague goes horrible wrong, she finds that the law might not always be on her side. Our top non-fiction choice of the week is How to Win An Information War by Peter Pomerantsev. Grounding us in 1941, there was only one voice of dissent within Nazi Germany – Der Chef – a military official questioning the Nazi regime, and leaking classified Nazi secrets. But what these audiences didn’t know was that Der Chef was a fiction, a character created by the British propagandist Sefton Delmer…
Other new fiction titles include: The Eye Collector by Sebastian Fitzek, the first in a deeply disturbing new trilogy – for fans of horror and crime alike; Practice by Rosalind Brown centres around an Oxford University student whose life is repeatedly thrown awry, exquisitely crafted, wryly comic, and completely original, this novel is about the repercussions of a rigid routine, the relationship between the mind and the body, and the pleasures of literature; Katherine Heiny’s Games and Rituals is now out in paperback, these eleven short stories focus on all types of relationships, from friendship, to true love; and for young adults, Melissa Welliver’s Soulmates and Other Ways to Die is an enemies-to-lovers romance – “Good news: We all have a soulmate. Thanks to a gene mutation, out there somewhere is our perfect match. Bad news: Your soul bond means you feel their pain before you’ve even met.”
In non-fiction, And How Does That Make You Feel? by Joshua Fletcher is a funny and illuminating self-help book about what goes on behind closed doors in therapy; How to Be Old by Lyn Slater (a.k.a. The Accidental Icon) is a memoir about defying stereotypes and taking risks later in life; Ramie Targoff’s Shakespeare’s Sisters tells the tale of four women writers who, against all odds, made themselves well-known and revered in the time of the Bard; and our favourite brand, Higgidy, has released a cookbook – Clever with Veg by Camilla Stephens is a vegetarian cookbook that will make your mouth water (it made mine!).
And for children, Piu DasGupta’s Secrets of Snakestone is a breathtaking adventure for 9-12 year-olds, this is a deadly race to solve a family mystery and a vicious crime that stretches from the jungles of Calcutta to the sewers of Paris. Whilst, Unicorn Boy by Dave Roman is great for 5-8 year-olds, this is a hilarious graphic-novel, in the style of Dog Man, where the shyest boy in school unwittingly sprouts a unicorn horn overnight!
As always, if there’s something you need help with, or a book you need ordering, please call or email us!
From Amber
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The full newsletter with links to books – including this week’s Signed Editions – can be found HERE
