Book of the Day. Crow Fair – Thomas McGuane.

Crow Fair

by Thomas McGuane

Crow Fair-Thomas McGuane

A new book of stories, the first in nine years from Montana’s finest, Thomas McGuane, one of my very favourite authors.
Great title too, obviously.
Less good the stain on the scanner that makes it look like someone has snotted on the jacket.

£17.99 Knopf Hardback (US)
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Ten Years in an Open Necked Shirt.

by John Cooper Clarke

Ten Years in an Open Necked Shirt-John Cooper Clarke

I once saw John Cooper Clarke at the Lyceum with Pauline Murray and The Invisible Girls, supported by Duran Duran.
Like the best poetry, this stuff is timeless.

£7.99 Vintage Paperback
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Citizen Vince

by Jess Walter

Citizen Vince-Jess Walter

By the author of Beautiful Ruins (voted the shop’s favourite book of 2013) Citzen Vince is an earlier Edgar Award winning ‘crime novel’ and the second book that I read this year set against a backdrop of the Carter/Reagan election. I was talking to an editor from a literary imprint recently, who said, Jess Walter? I always thought he was a bit ‘popular’, which may explain why this book is, as Nick Hornby says, inexplicably out of print in the UK. Whatever, it’s brilliant.

£9.99 Harper paperback
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So Many Stars

by Andy Warhol

So Many Stars-Andy Warhol

Gorgeous board book made from early Warhol drawings, perfect for the hip nipper in your life.

£8.99 Galison Board Book
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The Manly Art of Knitting

by Dave Fougner

The Manly Art of Knitting-Dave Fougner

The Manly Art of Knitting was originally published in 1972… It was initially published with the hope that it would encourage men to take up knitting as well as be embraced by veterans of the craft.
This year why not tell him to knit his own stocking.

£12.00 Gingko Press Hardback
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The Crystal Palace

The Crystal Palace model kit-Another Studio

Today’s Book of the Day is not a book but a kit containing five stainless steel etched pieces which fold and lock together to make a model of the Crystal Palace. The kit includes step-by-step instructions, a short building history and an attractive envelope for posting as a gift.

£15.50 Another Studio
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How to Write Everything

by David Quantick

How to Write Everything-David Quantick

Writing is very boring, except when it isn’t…
Excellent advice on most forms of writing, with a bonus cover by the inimitable Steven Appleby

£10.99 Oberon Books Paperback
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Football Clichés

by Adam Hurrey

Footbal Cliches-Adam Hurrey

After last night’s debacle – a catalogue of errors and a hatful of chances missed – half an hour with this little beauty is just what the doctor ordered.
NB page 102 ‘it’s possible to pinpoint the exact moment a manager becomes beleaguered. The perimeter of the technical area suddenly becomes a precipice as he stands all alone…’

£9.99 Headline Hardback
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London Pub Reviews

by Paul Ewen

London Pub Reviews-Paul Ewen

First book, and equally funny, by the author of Francis Plug How to be a Public Author.
A sort of, How to be a Public Drinker.
Dedicated to his wife, for the many late night police station visits, the flowers at the hospital, the bail money and the legal representation.
Signed copies.

£7.99 Shoes with Rockets Paperback
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Francis Plug How to be a Public Author

by Paul Ewen

Francis Plug How To Be a Public Author-Paul Ewen

Did Julian Barnes fly up to the gallery of the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford on tiny wires before his head fell off? Find out this evening when Paul reads from one of the funniest, cleverest novels for many a year.
Order or reserve a signed copy and put it towards your pension fund. But read it first.

£11.00 Galley Beggar Posh paperback.
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Stay Up With Me

by Tom Barbash

Stay Up With Me-Tom Barbash

One of my favourite books of the year; for fans of the American short story that invoke the C-word (Cheever) and even more so, Tobias Wolff (who gets a namecheck in the acknowledgements). These elegantly well-told stories, mainly concerning the monied denizens of Manhattan, fraying at the edges. People who tip waiters $20 because they lied to them. People bewildered by the limits, or otherwise, of their own morality. People who get told by old ladies whom they have robbed, You are not who you think you are.
Excellent stuff.

£12.99 Simon & Schuster Hardback
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Lila

by Marilynne Robinson

Lila-Marilynne Robinson

Revisiting the characters and setting Of Gilead and Home.

Lila, homeless and alone after years of roaming the countryside, steps inside a church in the small town of Gilead in Iowa – the only available shelter from the rain – and ignites a conversation and a romance that will reshape her life. She becomes the wife of a minister and widower, John Ames.

£12.99 Virago Hardback

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