Tall in the Land of Stories

The Lady of Shalott by Alfred Lord Tennyson

2011-11-20T04:33:00.000-08:00

The Lady of Shalott by Alfred Lord Tennyson

"Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson, FRS (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom during much of Queen Victoria's reign............"

"...Born on August 6, 1809, in Somersby, Lincolnshire, England,Alfred Tennyson is one of the most well-loved Victorian poets. Tennyson, the fourth of twelve children, showed an early talent for writing. At the age of twelve he wrote a 6,000-line epic poem.......".

The Poem has inspired many artists & musicians.

William Holman Hunt,The Lady of Shalott, c.1889-92. Manchester, Manchester City Art Gallery.

W.E.F. Brit ten's photogravure

John William Waterhouse (1849–1917) I am half-sick of shadows, said the Lady of Shalott. 1916. Oil on canvas.

John William Waterhouse: The Lady of Shalott [on boat] - 1888.Oil on canvas.The Tate Gallery- London, England

Actual Size (W x H): 200cm x 153cm

You can listen to musician, Loreena McKennitt's version of the Lady of Shalott :

"Loreena McKennitt (born February 17, 1957) is a Canadian singer, composer, harpist, accordionist and pianist who writes, records and performs world music..........."
The Lady of Shalott

Alfred Lord Tennyson

Part I

On either side the river lie

Long fields of barley and of rye,

That clothe the wold and meet the sky;

And thro' the field the road runs by

To many-tower'd Camelot;

And up and down the people go,

Gazing where the lilies blow

Round an island there below,

The island of Shalott.

Willows whiten, aspens quiver,

Little breezes dusk and shiver

Thro' the wave that runs for ever

By the island in the river

Flowing down to Camelot.

Four gray walls, and four gray towers,

Overlook a space of flowers,

And the silent isle imbowers

The Lady of Shalott.

By the margin, willow veil'd,

Slide the heavy barges trail'd

By slow horses; and unhail'd

The shallop flitteth silken-sail'd

Skimming down to Camelot:

But who hath seen her wave her hand?

Or at the casement seen her stand?

Or is she known in all the land,

The Lady of Shalott?

Only reapers, reaping early

In among the bearded barley,

Hear a song that echoes cheerly

From the river winding clearly,

Down to tower'd Camelot:

And by the moon the reaper weary,

Piling sheaves in uplands airy,

Listening, whispers " 'Tis the fairy

Lady of Shalott."

Part II

There she weaves by night and day

A magic web with colours gay.

She has heard a whisper say,

A curse is on her if she stay

To look down to Camelot.

She knows not what the curse may be,

And so she weaveth steadily,

And little other care hath she,

The Lady of Shalott.

And moving thro' a mirror clear

That hangs before her all the year,

Shadows of the world appear.

There she sees the highway near

Winding down to Camelot:

There the river eddy whirls,

And there the surly village-churls,

And the red cloaks of market girls,

Pass onward from Shalott.

Sometimes a troop of damsels glad,

An abbot on an ambling pad,

Sometimes a curly shepherd-lad,

Or long-hair'd page in crimson clad,

Goes by to tower'd Camelot;

And sometimes thro' the mirror blue

The knights come riding two and two:

She hath no loyal knight and true,

The Lady of Shalott.

But in her web she still delights

To weave the mirror's magic sights,

For often thro' the silent nights

A funeral, with plumes and lights

And music, went to Camelot:

Or when the moon was overhead,

Came two young lovers lately wed:

"I am half sick of shadows," said

The Lady of Shalott.

Part III

A bow-shot from her bower-eaves,

He rode between the barley-sheaves,

The sun came dazzling thro' the leaves,

And flamed upon the brazen greaves

Of bold Sir Lancelot.

A red-cross knight for ever kneel'd

To a lady in his shield,

That sparkled on the yellow field,

Beside remote Shalott.

The gemmy bridle glitter'd free,

Like to some branch of stars we see

Hung in the golden Galaxy.

The bridle bells rang merrily

As he rode down to Camelot:

And from his blazon'd baldric slung

A mighty silver bugle hung,

And as he rode his armour rung,

Beside remote Shalott.

All in the blue unclouded weather

Thick-jewell'd shone the saddle-leather,

The helmet and the helmet-feather

Burn'd like one burning flame together,

As he rode down to Camelot.

As often thro' the purple night,

Below the starry clusters bright,

Some bearded meteor, trailing light,

Moves over still Shalott.

His broad clear brow in sunlight glow'd;

On burnish'd hooves his war-horse trode;

From underneath his helmet flow'd

His coal-black curls as on he rode,

As he rode down to Camelot.

From the bank and from the river

He flash'd into the crystal mirror,

"Tirra lirra," by the river

Sang Sir Lancelot.

She left the web, she left the loom,

She made three paces thro' the room,

She saw the water-lily bloom,

She saw the helmet and the plume,

She look'd down to Camelot.

Out flew the web and floated wide;

The mirror crack'd from side to side;

"The curse is come upon me," cried

The Lady of Shalott.

Part IV

In the stormy east-wind straining,

The pale yellow woods were waning,

The broad stream in his banks complaining,

Heavily the low sky raining

Over tower'd Camelot;

Down she came and found a boat

Beneath a willow left afloat,

And round about the prow she wrote

The Lady of Shalott.

And down the river's dim expanse

Like some bold seer in a trance,

Seeing all his own mischance--

With a glassy countenance

Did she look to Camelot.

And at the closing of the day

She loosed the chain, and down she lay;

The broad stream bore her far away,

The Lady of Shalott.

Lying, robed in snowy white

That loosely flew to left and right--

The leaves upon her falling light--

Thro' the noises of the night

She floated down to Camelot:

And as the boat-head wound along

The willowy hills and fields among,

They heard her singing her last song,

The Lady of Shalott.

Heard a carol, mournful, holy,

Chanted loudly, chanted lowly,

Till her blood was frozen slowly,

And her eyes were darken'd wholly,

Turn'd to tower'd Camelot.

For ere she reach'd upon the tide

The first house by the water-side,

Singing in her song she died,

The Lady of Shalott.

Under tower and balcony,

By garden-wall and gallery,

A gleaming shape she floated by,

Dead-pale between the houses high,

Silent into Camelot.

Out upon the wharfs they came,

Knight and burgher, lord and dame,

And round the prow they read her name,

The Lady of Shalott.

Who is this? and what is here?

And in the lighted palace near

Died the sound of royal cheer;

And they cross'd themselves for fear,

All the knights at Camelot:

But Lancelot mused a little space;

He said, "She has a lovely face;

God in his mercy lend her grace,

The Lady of Shalott."

World War I Poetry

2011-11-11T07:00:00.000-08:00

Siegfried Sassoon

Suicide in the Trenches

I knew a simple soldier boy

Who grinned at life in empty joy,

Slept soundly through the lonesome dark,

And whistled early with the lark.

In winter trenches, cowed and glum,

With crumps and lice and lack of rum,

He put a bullet through his brain.

No one spoke of him again.

You smug-faced crowds with kindling eye

Who cheer when soldier lads march by,

Sneak home and pray you'll never know

The hell where youth and laughter go.

In Flanders Field

John McCrae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie,

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

Siegfried Sassoon: Declaration against the War

I am making this statement as an act of wilful defiance of military authority, because I believe that the War is being deliberately prolonged by those who have the power to end it. I am a soldier, convinced that I am acting on behalf of soldiers. I believe that this War, on which I entered as a war of defense and liberation, has now become a war of aggression and conquest. I believe that the purpose for which I and my fellow soldiers entered upon this war should have been so clearly stated as to have made it impossible to change them, and that, had this been done, the objects which actuated us would now be attainable by negotiation. I have seen and endured the sufferings of the troops, and I can no longer be a party to prolong these sufferings for ends which I believe to be evil and unjust. I am not protesting against the conduct of the war, but against the political errors and insincerities for which the fighting men are being sacrificed. On behalf of those who are suffering now I make this protest against the deception which is being practiced on them; also I believe that I may help to destroy the callous complacency with which the majority of those at home regard the contrivance of agonies which they do not, and which they have not sufficient imagination to realize.

September 2011 Newsletter

2011-10-01T07:17:00.000-07:00

Hello All,

At the end of August, the book world around Edinburgh was delighted and perplexed by these mysterious book sculpture gifts. These books sculptures below have captured the imagination of the literary world and the artist is as yet still unknown. The sculpture "gifts" are always addressed directly to someone and some of them have been made using books written by Ian Rankin. They are always left as “gifts” at literary events such as The Edinburgh Literary Festival. So far the only things known about the paper artist are : “........it is somebody who's an Ian Rankin fan and a poetry fan and a book and film fan and a Twitter user who reads Edwin Morgan with an eye for tiny detail and subtlety," said Lilias Fraser, reader development officer at the Scottish Poetry Library.

To read more about these sculptures, have a look at this article on the mysterious book sculptures : http://community.thisiscentralstation.com/_Mysterious-paper-sculptures/blog/4991767/126249.html

In auction news this month, a copy of Irma Stern's Congo fetched a staggering price of R 155 000.00 on the September auction from AntiquarianAuctions.co.za It was a signed presentation copy from an edition limited to 300 copies only. There was an inscription from the artist on the front free endpaper in blue crayon – 'To André with all my love, Irma, Jonb, 1944.' It was clearly a good month for Irma Stern as a painting by her fetched the higest price paid for a South African artisit in South Africa on the September Strauss & Co. Auction. The Painting of Two Arabs, set a new record for a work of art in South Africa when it sold in Cape Town for R21 166 000.00
While we are talking high ticket items, a dust-jacket (pictured left) is expected to come to auction on the 20th of October 2011 at Sotheby's in New York. It is estimated that it will fetch $150,000-$180,000. It is the first state dust-jacket for the first edition of the The Great Gatsby. Apparently there was a small printing error in the blurb of the rear panel of the dust-jacket, where the "j" of Jay Gatsby appears in lower case. All known copies of this dust-jacket have the "j" changed via hand in black ink. This is such a copy. A similar copy fetched $182,000.00 on auction in June 2009.
We will keep you posted........

We asked Agatha-Panter, the book shop cat if she wished to make a contribution to the newsletter. however, she claimed she was already over-worked and promptly collapsed :

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This Months Featured Unused Books

Where are You Now?

by
Mary Higgins Clark

It has been ten years since 21-year-old Kevin MacKenzie, Jr. ('Mac') went missing. A Columbia University senior, about to graduate and already enrolled in Duke University Law School, he walked out of his room and has never been seen again. However, he does ritually call to his mother every year: on her birthday, on his birthday, and on Mother's Day. Each time, he assures her he is fine, refuses to answer her frantic questions, then hangs up. Even the death of his father, a corporate lawyer, on 9/11 does not bring him home, or break the pattern of his calls. Mac's sister, Carolyn, is now 26, realises that neither she nor her mother will ever be able to have closure and get on with their lives until they find her brother. She sets out to discover what happened to Mac, and why he has found it necessary to hide from them. Her journey into the world of people who willingly disappear from their own lives leads her to learn about others who may or may not still be alive, and ultimately to a deadly confrontation with someone close to her who suddenly becomes an enemy - and cannot allow her to disclose his secret ...

Published Price : R190.00
TALL STORIES PRICE : R65.00

Mary Higgins Clark is considered by many to be the undisputed Queen of Crime.

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Romanesque

Romanesque (Paperback)
Norbert Wolf (Edited by)
Series: Taschen Basic Genre Series

Reaching its peak in the 11th and 12th centuries, the Romanesque movement was marked by a peculiar, vivid, and often monumental expressiveness in architecture and fine arts. The main centres were located in Italy, France, the German-language countries, Spain, and England, though the voices of Scandinavia and Eastern Europe expressed themselves distinctly in the genre, which patterned itself on antique and Byzantine art. Despite untold losses, countless Romanesque masterpieces remain preserved today. Highlights include: Frescoes in Galliano near Cantu, Sant'Angelo in Formis, Saint Chef, Saint-Savin-sur Gartempe, Lambach, S. Pietro al Monte near Civate, S. Clemente in Rome, from S. Maria de Tahull, Berze-la-Ville, Tavant, Panteon de los Reyes in Leon, Castel Appiano, from Sigena; the golden Altar-Piece from Lisbjerg; the Bayeux Tapestry; stained glasses in the Cathedral of Augsburg and Le Mans, mosaics in S. Clemete, Rome, and in S. Marco, Venice; coloured panels und crosses from La Seo de Urgel, Sarzana and the panted ceiling in St. Michael, Hildesheim; sculptures in Souillac, Autun, Santiago de Compostela; and examples of metalwork, of manuscripts and enamels. Each book in TASCHEN's "Basic Genre" series features: a detailed introduction with approximately 35 photographs, plus a timeline of the most important events (political, cultural, scientific, etc.) that took place during the time period, and a selection of the most important works of the epoch; each is presented on a 2-page spread with a full-page image and, on the facing page, a description/interpretation of the work and brief biography of the artist as well as additional information such as a reference work, portrait of the artist, and/or citations.

Format: Paperback - With flaps
Pages: 96

Published Price : R99.00
TALL STORIES PRICE : R25.00

If you are at all interested and you use Twitter, you can visit us @TallStoriesBook , we give almost daily updates relating to the book world.

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Orders are Being Taken for the Following Books :

Small Arms of the Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902

Author: Ron Bester and Associates
Kraal Publishers, Brandfort, South Africa
Hardback - 386
ISBN: 1-874979-31-6

This large book contains a comprehensive study of all rifles, carbines, handguns and edged weapons used by the opposing forces during the Anglo-Boer War. Contains fifteen chapters and is lavishly illustrated in both black-and white and colour. Complete with diagrams and thorough data. Well researched and informative volume. Contributers include Terry Wilson, Fred von Solms, Johan Hattingh, Frik Jacobs, Denny Rademeyer, Loyce Hillman, Duncan Noble, Hamish Paterson and Johan Loock.

Tall Stories Price :
R 650.00

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Artillery of the Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902

By
Lionel Cook

A comprehensive study of the artillery-
men of both sides in the conflict and of
their armament, their horses and much
else that concerns a gunner. Edited by
Ron Bester.
Hard Back 386 pages. Size 30 x 24cm

Tall Stories Price : R650.00
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This Months Featured Book

'Carvings from the Veldt'

Part Two.A Pictorial History of Rifle Stock-Art from the Anglo-Boer War.

First Edition. Near Fine. Pictorial laminated boards. Quarto. Hard cover.
SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR.
349 pp. Profusely illustrated, mostly in colour. Illustrated end-papers.

Part One of ‘Carvings from the Veldt’ was remarkably well received, so much so that the author has produced a second ‘follow-on’ edition. The new book features 306 new firearms: rifles, carbines and handguns used by both sides, the Boers as well as British and Colonial soldiers. The hard covered book contains over 1,400 images of carved and engraved weapons. In addition there are a further 25 farm maps, official forms and letters & a selection of swords, bayonets, bandoliers, ammunition, medals, a large variety of unit badges and headgear worn by both sides. Also included are two new chapters covering Anglo-Boer War re-enactor groups (in six countries) and Anglo-Boer war trench-art and carvings.

"Folklore and verbal tradition has it that in late 1899 Commandant General Piet Jorbert, who was in command of the ZAR forces, ordered that ..."the Transvaal burgers mark their rifles and that they should start to wear distinguishing marks of their nationality". The reason for this instruction was because burgers from both the Transvaal (ZAR) and Orange Free State (OVS) republics were operating together in the Natal campaign.

Thanks to this Boer custom and to Piet Joubert, we can still find these historic rifles that have their owners' names carved onto the stocks. Many Boer Generals also set an example by having their rifles carved, for example Louis Botha, C.F. Beyers & Ben Viljoen. As you will see featured in this book, the most imaginative, artistic and adventurous burgers also carved battle names, the names of their farms and Commandos, or the towns that they came from." - taken from the Preface.

This book is guaranteed to be of interest to a wide variety of collectors, military historians, rifle collectors, shooters, medal and badge collectors,researchers and students

R 950.00
Buy Now

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2011-09-09T09:41:00.000-07:00

She

Matthew Mokoena

She was a strong,
black,
loveless woman.
She said,
"He doesn't love me no more.
He doesn't hold me down or beat me against the concrete floor, doesn't hit me with concrete thoughts as he slams the bedroom door.
He doesn't deliver fists as gifts that fit my tits nor feeds the kids with love from lips, nor takes my hints not to brake my ribs, he's got skills but kills my emotions when he breathes from gills, HE doesn't love me no more."

She was the type who bragged to friends
about his jealousy, his strength and the power in his hands.
Yet the same hands transformed into fists, fists that tore her body into bits, bits that disfigured her body kits.
His hands transformed into fists that beat, bruised, abused and used her face as a comfort zone.
His hands... landed on her ribcage,
but she wasn't on the same page.
So his rage landed on her ribcage,
told her her friends, "This is love,"
but her friends weren't on the same page.
"Dump the bastard he's got rage,
like an animal he belongs inside of a cage."
"No, no, no," she said.
"He's my man and...
without him I'd go mad and..
he didn't get love from an early age."
Her excuses made him and exclusive explosive in her existence, but her persistence will ensure that woman like her face exstinction.

You see, if beating a woman was a test,
this man had passed it with distinction.

Every night neighbors had front row seats, if they missed it today, tomorrow the movie repeats.
This piece depicts,
how on a daily basis a womans life depletes, how the cycle of her life becomes complete.

See, she grew up in a society where heart attacks were a result of a very fat attack caused by ignorance of bioslim.
A society where woman believed a knife should be used for cutting, buttering and terminating unborn life.
I prayed that this type of woman would never be my wife, but had Eve aborted...
maybe, just maybe,
the Cain's in us wouldn't have survived.
He doesn't love her no more...

Finding out more about the poet was a little bit of a challenge, but I am a bit of a bloodhound and too stubborn to give up easily, so here goes :

Kunalati Matthew Mokoena was born and raised in the East rand & relocated from Tembisa to Spruitview in the late 80's. He attended Germiston High where he ultimately fell in love with Word. He completed his B-Tech in Finance and Accounting at T.U.T. where he was a member of the T.U.T Drama Society from 2004-2006. He has performed at many events, including the NASDEV cultural festival held in conjunction with Macufe and

the in 2004.

He was an official member of the T.U.T Street Poets Society from 2006-2007 and was the organisations chairperson in 2007.
A co-founder and former member of a band/a group/a movement known as

Matthew is currently involved with www.spokenmind.net "...is a home for the unique minds of poets, graphic artists, musicians and cinematographers.Through the special strategic collaborations and partnerships it has formed with other sharp role players, the Spoken Mind is also determined, through social responsibility projects, to change the lives of the millions of citizens of our beautiful country."

“Our word, your word, changing lives for the good.”

"I am by the Word, for the Word, In the Name of the Word."

Shosholoza

2011-09-03T11:22:00.000-07:00

I thought that, with all the fuss and excitement we have seen over the last couple of days with regards to the Springboks and The Rugby World cup, I would post the song Shosholoza since it appears to be quite strongly associated with the Springbok team.

The song gained further popularity after South Africa won the 1995 Rugby World Cup, and is a favourite at sport events in South Africa.

The following information is largely taken from the entry in Wikipedia :

Shosholoza is a Ndebele folk song that originated in Zimbabwe but was popularized in South Africa. The song was sung by all-male migrant workers that travelled by steam train from their homes in Zimbabwe to work in South Africa's diamond and gold mines. The sound "sho sho" uses onomatopoeia and is reminiscent of the sound made by a steam train. Stimela is the Zulu word for steam train. Zulu workers on the mines later took up the song to generate rhythm during group tasks and to alleviate boredom and stress. The original author of the song is unknown.
The song is so popular in South African culture that it is often referred to as South Africa's second national anthem.

Shosholoza
Shosholoza
Ku lezontaba
Stimela siphum' South Africa
Shosholoza
Shosholoza
Ku lezontaba
Stimela siphum' South Africa
Wen' uyabaleka
Wen' uyabaleka
Ku lezontaba
Stimela siphum' South Africa

The lyrics, roughly translated, mean :

Go forward
Go forward
on those mountains
Steam train from South Africa
Go forward
Go forward
on those mountains
Steam train from South Africa
You are running away
You are running away
on those mountains
Steam train from South Africa

Personally my favourite version of the song is the version by Dan Moyane, however, I cannot find an audio file of it on the internet.I am not a sports fan, I don't even know how you play rugby, so I cannot really appreciate the video (especially the 2 shots of dead animals), however, this is a very nice version of
Shosholoza & Nkosi Sikelel'i Afrika
(click above to listen)Here is a link to the Peter Gabriel version of the song (click on the image) :

The Knifemakers' Guild of Southern Africa Annual Show, September 2011

2011-09-01T13:30:00.000-07:00

Hello Folks, it is that time of the year again and Tall Stories will be exhibiting at :

The Knifemakers' Guild of Southern Africa Annual Show

The Show Venue and Dates :

Friday 2, and Saturday 3 September 2011.

Mosaïek Lifestyle Centre, Communio Exhibition Hall,
Danielle Street, Fairlands, Gauteng.
GPS co-ordinates, X: 27d56.1069m, Y: 26d08.7500m

Conveniently situated next to the N1 in Roodepoort to the
west of the city of Johannesburg, the premises are easily
accessible from the 14th Avenue off ramp, and offer secure
parking with access control.

The Exhibitors :

At the Guild Show, approximately 45 knifemakers exhibit, plus allied crafts and materials and equipment suppliers. All types of knives are usually on display, from miniatures to swords, folders to hunters, art daggers to kitchen utilities. Materials range from hi-tech steels to own forged damascus, mammoth ivory to micarta, and horn, bone and unique African hardwoods. South African knifemakers have developed a well deserved reputation for quality at international shows all over the world.

The exhibition runs over two days but is preceded by a 'preview' which is held on the Friday before the public exhibition on Saturday. This preview is intended to honor our most loyal supporters and offer the opportunity of inspecting or acquiring items from the current year's offerings, in a more leisurely and less crowded atmosphere. The attendance is by invitation to real enthusiasts. Welcome drinks and snacks are served and a bar service is available. Competition results are announced and the winning knives may be seen and handled, providing a good indication of current achievements and guide to the location of some of the noteworthy items around the hall. This preview invitation will normally be extended to all foreign visitors.

The above information is taken from the guild's website : http://www.kgsa.co.za/

Do come us and visit us there, we shall be selling various different books related to collecting knives.

2011-08-14T06:50:00.000-07:00

Tall Stories

____________________________________________

• Fine Books for Discerning Readers •

August Newsletter

Hello All,

This letter has been a long time in coming out, so we thought we would start things out with a bit of literary fun.

Something that we thought was quite fun which we would like to share with you is a recent topic which was generated by @RandomHouse via the social networking site of Twitter, which asked people to come up with the food equivalent of some classic literature titles, but with a food theme instead, so for example : Ernest Hemingway's "The Sun also Rises" became "The Bun also Rises". Please note that we have not given accreditation to various people for their originality, so if anyone feels maligned, we do apologise in advance. We thought we would share some of the more funny #FoodieLit translations with you :

Leek House - Bleak House by Charles Dickens, which was our contribution to the game.

The Thyme Traveller's Wife - The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenigger, which was also our contribution as well as The Time Traveller's Knife.

Peter Panini - Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie.

The Lord of the Onion Rings - Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien.

For Whom the Bellpepper Tolls - For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway, along the same thought was : Sylvia Plath's Bell Jar* which became The Bellpepper Jar

Little House on the Praline - Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

The Grapes of Broth - The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

Watercress Down - Watership Down by Richard Adams

The Merry Chives of Windsor - The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare

Midnight in the Garden of Food & Weevill - Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt

Yeast of Eden - East of Eden by John Steinbeck

Bury My Heart at Wounded Ghee - Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown

If you send in your #FoodieLit contributions, which have to be original & are not copied from the list,: #foodielit the most original title will win a gift voucher to the value of R100.00 from us. The winner will be notified on the 2nd of September, 2011.

* As an interesting afterthought for those of you who are interested in collecting Modern First Editions, The Bell Jar was not originally published under the name of Sylvia Plath but rather under the name of Victoria Lucas.

If you are at all interested and you use Twitter, you can visit us @TallStoriesBook , we give almost daily updates relating to the book world.

When I have been able to focus my eyes through the biting cold, I have been reading The Kindly Ones, by Jonathan Littel. A hugely interesting book, and one that gives the lie to any piece of advice you have ever seen about succesful creative writing. It is a tome of more than 950 pages about a bisexual German officer in the Einsatzgruppe of the SS during the Second World War, and has been met with howls of pleasure and outrage wherever it has been published.

Written in French by an American (son of one of my favourite spy authors, Robert Littel) and originally published in France, it won the Prix de Goncourt and sold more than 700 000 copies there. The books' American publisher paid $1 000 000 for the rights, and it has sold well all over the world. Not the stuff best sellers are made of, at all, it concentrates on the evil of the nazi extermination policy in Europe. Where Hannah Arendt described the same as the banality of evil, Littel's approach examines its bureaucratic nature. Max Weber introduced the concept of bureaucracy as an attempt to standardise administrative procedure. In the nazi system this degenerated into a rational, efficient system of murder that shifted, warped and changed the world's definition of what it meant to be human, and inhuman.

The main character is deeply unpleasant, and no-one, aside from those you or I would not want to know, can identify or sympathise with him. Yet the book is magnificent, and even crammed with historical detail to the point of redundancy and beyond, keeps you enthralled. It's description of the battle of Stalingrad is grippingly, horrifyingly real and leaves you shaken and thoughtful.

The next time you see a press of generic, mass market novels, do not despair – on occasion publishers will still print the exceptional. We live in hope.

P.S. We did ask Agatha-Panther, our book cat, to contribute to this newsletter. She only wanted to talk about food and how to take a marathon nap, and we deemed it not appropriate.

Our Unused Book

Specials for this Month.

*whilst stocks last.

Spa Wars

by
Chris Manby

When Emily Brown's life and business is turned around by a surprise visit from Carina Lees, immaculately-groomed reality TV star, she can't believe her luck.With just one other member of staff to help her out at her Essex salon The Beauty Spot, Emily is pushed for time as well as money, and so Carina's patronage and the subsequent financial success of the salon is more welcome than a sunbed session in December. But even with the assistance of skilled-yet-shabby new girl Natalie, things start to go mysteriously wrong, and it soon becomes clear that someone's got it in for the salon. And with tactics dirtier than a gardener's fingernails, the battle of the beauticians commences. For under all the make-up and manicures, Carina is not who she seems, and although confronting the past can be more painful than a bikini wax, Emily eventually has to stare the truth in the face and realise it's what's inside that really counts ...

Published Price : R185.00
Tall Stories Price :

R 95.00

More Unused Book Specials for this Month.

*whilst stocks last.

Special Air Service Rhodesia : The Men Speak

by
Jonathan Pittaway

Tall Stories Price : R450.00

Until now little has been known about the Rhodesian contribution to the history of the SAS. Now at last the men themselves tell their own stories of the exploits of that elite Special Forces unit during the Bush War and the years before.

Soft cover 590 pages, profusely illustrated in both colour and black & white.

This comprehensive volume starts with the birth of the SAS during the Second World War. Men from the British Commonwealth of the then Southern-Rhodesian joined the new parachute regiment, the Long Range Desert Group and the SAS.

Later chapters cover Malaya, the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Southern Rhodesia and finally Rhodesia up to the birth of Zimbabwe and disbanding of the Rhodesian SAS.

As it is written by those involved it is very evocative.

This is how Trooper Geoff Turner-Dauncey describes service in the jungles of Malaya:

“From the moment we stepped into the jungle until we returned to base we got soaked, and stayed wet... . With our operational dress torn and rotting... it was common practice to burn our clothes on returning to base. For a while troops returning to base from operations looked rather like clowns: wearing just PT shorts, sandals and berets, their bodies lavishly painted with mercurochrome, gentian violet and Whitfield's Lotion until their skin problems healed.”

Please Note :
Orders will be taken for this book, with a 2 week waiting period.

Our Featured Book for this Month.

* The History of the Zulu War and Its Origins.

Colenso Frances E.
&
Durnford, Lieut.-Colonel

Imprint: London, Chapman and Hall, Limited, 1880
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback

Royal Octavo. 491 + 24 pp (publisher, Chapman & Hall's catalogue dated February 16, 1880).Folding coloured map at rear. Some acid tape repairs. Some creases and tears to the map. Recased, with new headbands and end-papers. Recasing has original cloth laid down onto the boards. A good job as a recasing, although the end-papers are too white. Ink name on the half-title page with a small ( 5 cm) tear in the top edge of the page. Some light foxing around the title page. Overall a good copy. The authors deal with the background to the War from the Zulu perspective and are critical of Frere and his policy towards Cetywayo and the ultimatum which was presented to him. A scarce and important title. Hard Cover. Book Condition: Very Good. Binding: Olive Cloth. Jacket: No Jacket

Stock number:01470.

R 9000.00
Buy Now

&

January Highlight in the Africana Section. (Unused Book)

2011-01-14T06:48:00.000-08:00

Africa - Altered States, Ordinary Miracles
by Richard Dowden with a Foreword by Chinua Achebe

Hardcover, 576 pages,
Published by Portobello Books Ltd

Published Price : R 367.00

Tall Stories Price : R 150.00

Richard Dowden, one of the world's leading Africa correspondents delivers, after a lifetime's close observation of the miraculous continent, a landmark book on life and death in modern Africa.Dowden has now, after 35 years on the continent, written a memoiristic history of its peoples' experiences in the wake of the European withdrawal and the superpowers' arrival. He has been present at each of the continent's major crises and writes illuminatingly about them, but he is as passionate about the warmth, wisdom and joy he has encountered in peacetime, and the diversity of habits, attitudes and purposes to which he has been Britain's best witness. His book is no less than a benchmark publication on this most misunderstood and mishandled of continents.

Image of Chinua Achebe

2010-11-19T23:53:00.000-08:00

NOVEMBER, 2010 NEWSLETTER.

And We Are Back !

After an absence of a year, just one second before the tidal wave of despair engulfed you, just a breath before the last shred of hope curled up and died, a heartbeat before giving up and submiting to the horror of SABC tv, the Tall Stories Newsletter arrives. After a long silence due in part to aliens, vampires, sulphur pits and badly adjusted underwear, it returns. Huzzah, and hark the trumpets and the angelic choirs.
During said long silence, many things happened. Many did not, but that's another story.

Those of you who regularly attend the shop will have met the newest bookdealer. A ferocious(ly cute) cat called Agatha-Panther, she has been hard at work helping us in the shop by being nice to customers, demanding food and attention, and sitting in the windowsill, staring at the passing parade.
She arrived as a small bundle of kitten fur, and has grown into a seasoned and well-travelled book cat, handsome to behold and regal in her acceptance of the adoration in which she is held by all.

We were also pleased to witness Mario Vargas Llosa, a long favourite author, be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. For an interesting read and some background on this author, go to: http://bit.ly/cwJrXd

We were also pleased to learn that Bill Bryson is back in the United Kingdom, and has been appointed vice-chancellor of Durham University. An entertaining interview with him is found here: http://bit.ly/bKHWDL

It has been fifty years since the landmark Lady Chatterly's Lover judgment in Penguin Books' favour. For legal and literary interest, read this: http://bit.ly/8Y1U2X

Collections of Books for Sale :

We have two collections of books that we are going to be selling by themselves,in otherwords,the collections will not be broken up.
The first comprises approximately 129 titles, all about Aviation. From Vlamgat to Aircraft of the S.A.A.F. via Air War Flanders 1918 to I Flew For the Fuhrer.The second collection is comprised of around 96 titles, all about Rhodesia and Zimbabwe. From Contact to When a Crocodile Eats the Sun via Troopiesongs and Rhodesia Before 1920.If you are interested in either set, either contact us in the shop or at :
tallstories@megaweb.co.za

Our Unused Book Specials for this Month.
*whilst stocks last.

Mr. and Miss Anonymous

College senior Lily Madison is on her own and desperate to pay for her last semester of school. With nowhere to turn, she makes the difficult decision to donate her eggs to a fertility clinic. Sam Parker is also a penniless student who supplements his tuition money by visiting a sperm bank. One day, Lily and Sam meet at the clinic and talk about their secret. They agree that the clinic gives them an odd feeling, as if all is not as it seems. Despite their obvious attraction, Lily and Sam go their separate ways. Twenty years have passed and Lily often wonders if she has a child somewhere in the world. She also thinks a lot about Sam. Now a wealthy entrepreneur, Sam never forgot Lily either, and when he sees her in an airport one day, he falls for her all over again. But while they enjoy their unlikely reunion, a story on the news has them riveted. Two teenage boys are missing and their disappearance may be linked to the fertility clinic Sam and Lily visited in college. In a shocking twist, one of the boys looks exactly like Sam. Lily and Sam are now determined to find out what really went on at the clinic all those years ago. When the whole story comes out, the truth will be more than they bargained for. But they will discover that letting go of their secrets from the past is the best way to build a future worth fighting for...
Published Price : R185.00

Tall Stories Price :
R 95.00

Fern Michaels (born Mary Ruth Kuczkir) is an American author of romance and thriller novels, including nearly 50 best selling books with more than 70 million copies in print.

More Unused Book Specials for this Month.
*whilst stocks last.
Samurai Swords - A Collector's Guide to Japanese Swords

For 700 years Japanese civilization was dominated by a single warrior caste. This project looks at the weaponry & clothing of Samurai men and women over the centuries.
Fascinating history, detailed technical information, advice on collecting and preservation - all in a single volume. The pages are beautifully illustrated with dynamic paintings, specially taken photographs, detailed diagrams and maps
Tall Stories Price : R280.00

Hand colored Albumen print of a Samurai circa 1890 (photograph coutesy Wikipedia)

Samurai in armour, 1860s. Hand-coloured photograph by Felice Beato
(photograph coutesy Wikipedia)

A Sammurai katana in Koshirae
(photograph coutesy Wikipedia)

This Months Featured Book

* Beyond the Light Barrier *

Originally published in 1977 in Germany, the first two editions were sold out within weeks. This is the autobiogrpahy of Elizabeth Klarer, a Cambridge educated meterologist. who believed that she had had an affair (which resulted in a child) with an extraterrestrial being. It deals primarily with this affair with Akon, a male astrophysicist living on Meton, one of the planets of Proxima Centaur, which is apparently Earths' closest stellar neighbour, at a distance of 4.2 light years away from us. According to the author, she was taken, via spacecraft to Meton, where she lived with Akon and his family for four months. She apparently gave birth to their son whilst on Meton. Akon apparently continued to visit Klarer until 1963, when his work in this part of the galaxy was completed. Akon explained to Ms. Klarer the workings of the light-propulsion system used in his spacecraft. She in turn conveyed this information to the U. S. National Aeronautical and Space Administration as well as the S. A. Air Force authorities. This information is also documented in the book.

Imprint: South Africa, Howard Timmins, 1980
Edition: First South Africa Edition.
Binding: Hardback , with Dustjacket
Book Condition: Very Good. Jacket: Very Good
Binding: Blue Boards.Octavo.191 pp. Illustrated with black and white photographs. Slight spinal lean. Ink name of a previous owner on the front free end paper. Base of the boards slightly rubbed. Small chips in the top edge of the rear panel of the dust-jacket. Flaps of the dust-jacket creased. Closed tear in the rear panel of the dust-jacket (25mm). Slight wear to all edges of the dust-jacket.
R 650.00

STOCK CLEARANCE SALE

2010-11-19T02:17:00.000-08:00

Hello Folks !

We are having a bit of a stock clearance sale which will last until Sunday 21st November, 17 : 00, or, whilst stock lasts.

Titles on Sale include :

Pretty Dead Things

Barbara Nadel
Paperback, 373 pages, August 2008
Published by Headline Book Publishing

When Emine Aksu, the flamboyant wife of an Istanbul style guru, suddenly goes missing, Inspector Cetin Ikmen's investigation leads him deep into her strange and colourful past. Emine was a hippie when she was younger, who wholeheartedly enjoyed the liberated lifestyle that swept across Istanbul in the sixties. Her husband suspects that she was visiting an old friend at the time of her disappearance. Meanwhile, Inspector Mehmet Suleyman is called to a terrifying scene at the art deco Kamondo Stairs in the old banking district of Karakoy. The skeleton of a woman has been discovered in one of the large plant containers. Could these two bizarre incidents be linked?

Published Price : R82.00
Now : R 30.00

Memorandum - A Story with Pictures

Marlene Van Niekerk
Hardcover, 136 pages, November 2006
Published by Human & Rousseau

In this title about a hospital experience the text and visual images offer parallel narratives that resonate poignantly with each other. Adriaan van Zyl's series of more than 20 paintings portrays a patient's experience from waiting room to ward giving a quietly disturbing view of the soullessness of hospitals in general. Marlene van Niekerk's accompanying story is a narrative by JP Wiid, a lonely man who is diagnosed with cancer of the liver just before his retirement. The night before a scheduled operation he starts writing a "memorandum" about an experience he had during his first stay at the hospital - sharing a ward with two enigmatic men in a state of postnarcotic euphoria, he overheard their strange conversation, one which was to have a profound effect on his life. He writes how, in the ensuing four months, he becomes a regular visitor to the library, anxious to learn more about the diverse concepts he had been exposed to for the first time. Everything new which Wiid learns about the world comforts him and helps him to accept his fate. Most importantly he makes a friend for the first time - an eccentric but very helpful librarian. While writing the memorandum, Wiid makes a life-changing decision - not to have the operation the next day. He chooses instead to make the rest of his life worth living by filling it with knowledge about cultures, structures, histories, literature and music. In the process he discovers his true self - and his true vocation.

Published Price : R300.00
Now : R60.00

The Duel - Pakistan on the Flight Path of American Power

Tariq Ali
Hardcover, 304 pages, September 2008
Published by Simon & Schuster

Pakistan, the likely home of Osama Bin Laden and safe house for the Taliban forces fighting NATO in Afghanistan, stands on the front line of the war against terror. Yet, as recent events have shown, this long-time ally of the West and recipient of $10 billion of American aid in the past decade, is in deepening crisis. As President Pervez Musharraf struggles, with ever-diminishing success, to cling to power through states of emergency and imprisonment of his opponents, a range of forces are attempting to fill the vacuum that surrounds him: (before her death) Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, both previous presidents themselves and, Ali, argues, more corrupt than Musharraf himself; a lawyers movement that has taken to the streets demanding adherence to the constitution and the rule of law; and the Islamists in Waziristan and the North West Frontier whose increasingly effective assaults on the Pakistan army threaten to tip the country into full-blown civil war.With customary verve and acuity, Ali parses the prospects for these contending groups, drawing on extensive first-hand research and personal knowledge of many of the key players involved to assess the causes and consequences of Pakistan's rapid spiral into political chaos.

Published Price : R255.00
Now : R60.00

Kydd : The Admiral's Daughter

Julian Stockwin
Paperback - Trade, 324 pages, October 2007
Published by Hodder & Stoughton

In the eighth book of this popular series, Thomas Kydd and Nicholas Renzi return to England in 1803 after tumultuous episodes on the other side of the world to find England in peril of starvation and bankruptcy. Kydd is placed back in command of his beloved vessel, "Teazer," but he barely has time to prep her for the sea when he is sent on an urgent mission. Smugglers, enemy privateers, and treacherous sea conditions await Kydd on his journey to northern France on the eve of war, but equally worrisome events are occurring ashore. A growing attachment to the admiral's daughter curbs Kydd's blissful reunion with "Teazer" and he is forced to make a terrible decision that may cause the end of his friendship with Renzi--or the end of his naval career.

Published Price : R 145.00
Now : R 45.00

Patrick Parker's Progress
(New Edition)

Mavis Cheek
Paperback, 320 pages, March 2005
Published by Faber & Faber

Patrick Parker, child of bomb-devastated Coventry, adored and encouraged by his mother, fulfils his dream destiny to be a great architect and bridge builder. Audrey Wapshott, born at the same time, feels her dream destiny is to become Patrick's wife. But ambitious Patrick has other plans and Audrey, abandoned, is left to follow her own, random path to self-fulfilment beginning with Paris, and sinfulness, in the arms of a much older man. Mavis Cheek's eleventh novel will delight her many fans with its fast-paced, funny and insightful story of ambition, love and revenge.

Published Price : R 102.00
Now : R25.00

2010-03-17T17:01:00.000-07:00

Reel Ephemera

I have to confess, I am not fond of ephemera. This is not a a sentiment that the majority of my colleagues share. My feelings are not popular. However, every now and again, I come across an item which makes me pivot on my axis.

According to Wikipedia, ephemera is defined as
"....transitory written and printed matter not intended to be retained or preserved. The word derives from the Greek, meaning things lasting no more than a day. Some collectible ephemera include advertising trade cards, airsickness bags [yes, airsickness bags this was news to me to, hopefully these are unused items, bearly touched by human hands and throats. Not even Marilyn Monroes' throat would make me feel less queasy about this issue], bookmarks, catalogues, greeting cards, letters, pamphlets, postcards, posters, prospectuses, newspapers, stock certificates, tickets and zines. Decks of personality identification playing cards from the war in Iraq are a recent example of ephemera items which are gaining in popularity with people who are interested in collecting such items.

In library and information science, the term ephemera also describes the class of published single-sheet or single page documents which are meant to be thrown away after one use. This classification excludes simple letters and photographs with no printing on them, which are considered manuscripts or typescripts. Large academic and national libraries and museums may collect, organize, and preserve ephemera as history. A particularly large and important example of such an archive is the John Johnson Collection of Printed Ephemera at the Bodleian Library, Oxford."

We have just been offered an unusual item and I have to say, that I am fascinated by it. I have been absorbed for the entire day, pouring over it and researching it.

Above is said item.
Said item relates to the career of one Harry Curry. Mr. Curry appears to have had a rather enviable life. He was also a hoarder of note. The album contains a panorama of Harry's career, roughly between 1925 and 1939, from letters of acceptance into various positions for different film companies around the world including Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros. and Columbia Pictures, signed menu cards from events held by these companies, letters received aboard the White Star Line, a radiogram received aboard the "Samaria", Cunard White Star Line, telegrams received aboard the SS Queen Mary, telegrams received from the Union Steamship Company, airline tickets, telegrams received from the Western Union, newspaper clippings about his promotions and all sorts of other titbits. There is even a fold-out map pasted into the album, where he has outlined his journey aboard the T.S.S. “Themistocles”, from Melbourne to South Hampton, where he has had some of the crew members sign the map at the bottom.

The collection is not limited to letters, there are a couple of promotional, publicity cards from stars of the day (one of those being William Powell)

It also includes promotional matter related to publicity for movies that he launched in New Zealand such as “The Vagabond King”, "The Canary Murder Case", and "Maid to Order" (starring Julian Etlinge).

My ghast was flabbered to learn (from the letterheads) that a publicity manager was once known as an "Exploitation Manager". It appears that Harry took his job as an "exploitation manager” quite seriously. There is a newspaper article, “Stunting The Vagabond King”, which details Harry Curry staging

“a unique exploitation stunt.....that not only sent the picture merrily on its way to box-office records, but nearly sent Harry on his way to the place where exploitation men go when they die. It appears that Harry took to the air, heavily laden with handbills announcing the opening of the production......which he intended to drop on the seething masses below. All went well for some time, and the Paramounteer flung out hand-bills with great gusto. Then tragedy! A batch of 'bills caught in the aeroplanes rudder, making control of the machine impossible. As a fitting climax, Harry and the plane made a forced landing in the mud at St. Helier's Bay, none the worse for having introduced the first aerial exploitation stunt in that neck of the woods”.
I did mention that I have been enjoying reading the material, did I not ?

Not only did I learn of "exploitation managers", from these letters and letterheads, but I also learned a wee bit about film industry history. Some of the letterheads are from the "Famous Lasky Film Service" which was an earlier incarnation of "Paramount Pictures".

All these little details of which I had been oblivious. The album also contains bits of British film history in the form of photographs of the UK. Warner Bros. annual conventions and signed invitation forms as well as signed menus from these events. There a few amusing photographs and published caricatures of one Max Milder, who was the head of the London subsidary of Warner Bros., cigar always in hand and in the case of the caricatures of him – nearly eclipsing his head in size.

Mr. Curry clearly had a sense of humour. Whilst aboard the "Orca", he founded this club :

“Ye Jolly Olde Kocktail Klubbe – ye J. O.K.K. Loveth a good Drinker”, the membership card being “not returnable” and admittance being “one bottle as required” and their funds being 'We áint got much money but we sure see life". Under the the rules and regulations we see that the number of drinks per meeeting is described as "as many as you can freeze on to” and “Hoboes not on time to be ostracised. Charming ladies allowed sixty minutes latitude only – this on account of their well known proclivity”

The album also contains a humourous caricature of Mr. Curry captioned "The Social Lion" which appeared in the Paramount Punch, which appears to have been a journal for the trade.

For someone who is an "anti-clutter bug", this was quite an extraordinary object. I am amazed that someone can retain all these pieces, when I find myself in a world where architects appear to be competing to build places of captivity rather than homes, so small are they in size. Letters of appointment and congratulations I can understand as with the movie paraphernia, but the airline tickets, radiograms and telegrams, leave me bewildered, and yet this album captivated me from the start. I read it from cover to cover. It documents an interesting career of an interesting man in an interesting industry, but it doesn't stop there. Although we don't get the personal bumph of christmas letters and birhtday cards, we do get just enough of a view into the mans' life to make the collection interesting and we must remember that this also served as a family document, this was someones father, grandfather, uncle etc. I found the album to be more interesting in many ways than the average collection of ephemera as it is not sterile, but rather somehow alive with someones personality of past.

For those of you whose interest has been piqued with regards to the world of ephemera, go and have a look at The Ephemera Network.
And as they say in the classics "That's All Folks!".

Eco in the darkness

2010-02-08T08:23:00.000-08:00

Umberto Eco, he of inter alia The Name of the Rose, Foucault’s Pendulum, Travels in Hyper-Reality and How to Travel with a Salmon, is curating an exhibition of lists at the Louvre in Paris. What a splendid notion from a simply splendid person, a real-life, honest-to-goodness intellectual in a time of mental dwarves.

Lists, he says, are the way humans construct order out of chaos. It is the way they make sense of a perplexing world and a method of understanding the inexplicability of life and other humans.

I may be paraphrasing him a bit, just a smidgeon, but this would be my humble understanding of the great man’s thinking here. I cannot vouch for his thoughts on the missionary position, one-ply versus two-ply toilet paper (though any sane person would be able to deduce that with some clarity), David Icke’s sanity, or whether the moon ever feels lonely, but of this I am sure. Certainly lists are vitally important. They are tools without which we are unable to make our way in the world. Indeed, not to murder other people it is necessary daily to draw up a list of reasons not to, not least of which would be lists of ways of getting rid of all the bodies, which is really rather tricky when you think about it. I have spent some time cogitating on same, and making lists which are promptly destroyed lest they fall into the hands of people who will fail to understand the true context and spirit in which they were made and report me to the authorities. So I have found that I cannot, for instance and strictly in context you understand, bury them in our garden – it’s too small for the number of victims, and our dog will dig them up. And I daresay there’s nothing quite as off-putting as relaxing with a nice cold beer of an evening only to find your quadruped best friend entering the house with someone’s foot in her mouth.

As the electricity has just gone off (again) and the UPS is beeping at me while I hurriedly finish typing this, gnashing my teeth, I try to find the silver lining in this situation (it’s cheaper than taking Prozac).

(Ehm… er… ah… This may take quite a long time.)

Oh yes, having a bookshop means never having to say: ‘Rats, I forgot to bring a book to work,’ when the power goes out.

Tall Stories - Fine Books for Discerning People.Newsletter

2009-10-27T02:48:00.001-07:00

I am pleased this year to be able to say that not only do I know of the Nobel Prize winner for Literature, but I have even read her. This in sharp contrast to my disgrace of last year, but the less said about that the better. Herta Müller, I can now say with some authority, is a worthy winner.

This being the world, earth, and inhabited by humans, bookmakers took bets on who would win the $1.42m prize. Most punters lost their money, although if any had put money on Müller they would have cleaned up at 50 to 1 odds.

The favourite for this year was Amos Oz, with Algerian novelist Assia Djebar running a close second.

According to Ladbrokes, Oz was odds-on favourite at 4 to 1. Phillip Roth was ranked at 7 to 1, with Haruki Murakami at 9 to 1, who would have been my choice. If he does not win it this year, he should do so soon, along with Tim Winton, who has sadly been overlooked twice for the Booker Award but will still get that if there is any justice in the world. Paul Auster was a rank outsider at 100 to 1 odds.

The Booker Man prize went to Hilary Mantel. This did not surprise the bookies at all as she was the odds-on favourite.

My partner suggested that we contrast the Nobel Awards with the slightly less exalted Ig Nobel Awards, announced in early October. This award states its ambition as being: "first make people laugh, then think". The winner in the category of literature this year was the Irish national police force for issuing 50 tickets to one "Prawo Jazdy", which in Polish means "driver's license." Of further interest was the Ig Nobel award for Mathematics given to Zimbabwean, Gideon Gono and the Zimbabwean Reserve Bank for printing bank notes in denominations from 1 cent, to $100 trillion, ($100,000,000,000,000), thus "...giving people an everyday way to cope with a wide range of numbers — from very small to very big".

This month we are featuring 2 unused books and one collectable book.

The Alexandria Link - by Steve Berry

A hidden treasure. A forgotten truth. Cotton Malone is in trouble. His son has been kidnapped and his bookshop in Copenhagen attacked, all because he is the only man alive who knows the whereabouts of the Alexandria link -- the means of locating the most important cache of ancient knowledge ever assembled: the legendary Library of Alexandria, which vanished without trace fifteen hundred years ago. Now, Malone is forced to join the search for a forgotten truth hidden within that vast literary treasure -- a truth that, if revealed, will have grave consequences, not only for Malone, but for the balance of world power ... 534 pages, December 2007 Published by Hodder & Stoughton

Published Price : R114.00.Tall Stories Price : R50.00

Delizia! The epic history of the Italians and their food by John Dickie

Buon appetito! Everyone loves Italian food. But how did the Italians come to eat so well?

The answer lies amid the vibrant beauty of Italy's historic cities. For a thousand years, they have been magnets for everything that makes for great eating: ingredients, talent, money, and power. Italian food is "city" food.

From the bustle of medieval Milan's marketplace to the banqueting halls of Renaissance Ferrara; from street stalls in the putrid alleyways of nineteenth-century Naples to the noisy trattorie of postwar Rome: in rich slices of urban life, historian and master storyteller John Dickie shows how taste, creativity, and civic pride blended with princely arrogance, political violence, and dark intrigue to create the world's favorite cuisine. "Delizia!" is much more than a history of Italian food. It is a history of Italy told through the flavors and character of its cities.

A dynamic chronicle that is full of surprises, "Delizia!" draws back the curtain on much that was unknown about Italian food and exposes the long-held canards. It interprets the ancient Arabic map that tells of pasta's true origins, and shows that Marco Polo did not introduce spaghetti to the Italians, as is often thought, but did have a big influence on making pasta a part of the American diet. It seeks out the medieval recipes that reveal Italy's long love affair with exotic spices, and introduces the great Renaissance cookery writer who plotted to murder the Pope even as he detailed the aphrodisiac qualities of his ingredients. It moves from the opulent theater of a Renaissance wedding banquet, with its gargantuan ten-course menu comprising hundreds of separate dishes, to the thin soups and bland polentas that would eventually force millions to emigrate to the New World. It shows how early pizzas were disgusting and why Mussolini championed risotto. Most important, it explains the origins and growth of the world's greatest urban food culture.

With its delectable mix of vivid storytelling, groundbreaking research, and shrewd analysis, "Delizia!" is as appetizing as the dishes it describes. This passionate account of Italy's civilization of the table will satisfy foodies, history buffs, Italophiles, travelers, students -- and anyone who loves a well-told tale.

Published Price : R144.00. Tall Stories Price : R75.00

Our COLLECTABLE book for this month is.....British Fresh-Water Fishes (Two Volumes ) by Rev. W. Houghton.

First Edition xxvi, 202pp. William Mackenzie : London (1879). First Edition. Very Good / No Dust-Jackets. Folio. Illustrated with 41 full page, tissue-guarded colour plates as well as vignette head pieces, brick-red cloth, with gilt piscatorial emblems. All edges gilt. The 41 colour-printed xylograph plates are by Benjamin Fawcett of Driffield after A.F.Lydon, and another 64 woodcuts also by Lydon. Tear in the cloth of volume 1 (30 mm). Cloth on the spine-ends frayed. Loss of cloth on all corners. No inscriptions, all plates present and bright. Hinge giving (page 20), volume 1. Front paste-downs of both volumes - tears in the gutter. Overall a lovely set, with exceptional plates.

Alexander Francis Lydon (1836 - 1917) was an English engraver of natural history. He worked for Benjamin Fawcett the printer, to whom he had been apprenticed from an early age. Benjamin Fawcett (December 1808 - January 1893) was one of the finest of English nineteenth century wood block colour printers. He pioneered a system of engraving from multiple wood blocks that resulted in vivid, finely coloured works such as this marvelous book. This process was called chromoxylography (colour wood engraving). Rev. W. Houghton, served as rector of Preston-on-the-Weald Moors, Shropshire. At the same time, he was a serious naturalist who had previously authored Sea-side Walks of a Naturalist, and was a Fellow of the Linnaean Society of London, a scientific society for the study of biology founded in 1788. For this work, Houghton studied the specimens in the collection of the British Museum.

Price : R9000.00

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Old Pleasures Rediscovered.

2009-10-22T06:33:00.001-07:00

The Ghost, by Robert Harris

In interviews given to the press Robert Harris has had to answer many questions about his new book. To all that have read it, it seems closely modeled on Tony and Cherie Blair and their political reign in the UK. Harris has stated that he started out as an enthusiastic supporter of New Labour in the UK, but grew increasingly disillusioned as, like the rest of the world, all stood aghast at the direction the country took and the fashion in which it made itself into the lapdog of the USA. To many it seemed betrayal of earlier promise, and quite inexplicable. In this book Harris has crafted an explanation, and it will intrigue you. It is a wonderfully well-written political thriller, with more than a dash of conspiracy theory, and a marvelous twist, just after you think you’ve unraveled the plot all by yourself and are feeling smug, that will make you reconsider all you know of the history, even if for only a moment.

The book’s protagonist is a ghostwriter, one who immerses himself in the lives of other, well-known people, in order to write their autobiographies. In doing this he blurs the lines between his memories and theirs, and makes order and sense of their lives in such a way that lives that could have seemed dull become interesting and meaningful. As a chameleon of sorts, he slips easily into the skins of his subjects and, in a sense, becomes them for the time it takes to write the book.

His services are called upon to complete the memoirs of the past British Prime Minister, after the original ghostwriter is found drowned in Martha’s Vineyard. In the process he unravels a plot so dastardly that it would have made Machiavelli skip with glee. Though not beyond the call of far-fetched, you find yourself nodding thoughtfully and thinking – ‘could be, could be’. The character of Cherie/Ruth comes in for more than a bit of stick, as does British and American politics and the wars in the Middle East.

Before becoming a full-time writer Robert Harris worked for the BBC and was the political editor of The Observer. He is the author of several works of non-fiction, including A Higher Form of Killing: Secret Story of Gas and Germ Warfare and Selling Hitler: Story of the Hitler Diaries, but it is as a novelist that he really shines. His first novel, Fatherland, an alternative history in which the Germans emerged victorious from the Second World War, was a best seller and successfully filmed, as was his second, Enigma, about the breaking of the Enigma code at Bletchley Park in the Forties. The huge success of these two made it possible for him to be able to devote himself to full-time writing.

He is married to the writer Gill Hornby, who is the sister of best-selling author Nick Hornby.

There’s a lot of fine writing in that family.

Lives Less Ordinary

2009-10-17T04:47:00.000-07:00

Adolf Galland

Though war, death and destruction are almost always bad things in the grand scheme of things, some of those involved or caught up in it, by virtue of our prurient interest in these matters, come to our attention. Some of these people lead, or have lead, remarkable lives. Which is not to say that others do not, nor that one would have to have a hand in the slaughter of ones fellows to have such a life. Now, before succumbing utterly to the doctrine of the death of a thousand qualifications, I come to the point.

We bought a copy of The First and the Last, the autobiography of Adolf Galland. A man who lived a remarkable life. He was trained as a fighter pilot in the German Luftwaffe prior to the Second World War. He flew missions with the Condor Legion in the Spanish Civil War and the Luftwaffe in WW11. In 1941 he was placed in command of Germany's fighter squadrons and in the next year became the youngest general in the German military, aged 29. He remained in the same command until 1945 when, after pointing out that Hermann Goering was an idiot, something that, while patently true, did not endear him to either Adolf Hitler, or the commander of the Luftwaffe, Hermann Goering, and caused him to be dismissed from the High Command. He was sent back to active service and commanded the first ever jet fighter squadron. He survived the war with 105 victories to his credit, if credit be the right word.

In civilian life he built and ran a successful aviation firm. He became fast friends with some of his former adversaries, including the British fighter aces Johnny Johnson and Douglas Bader. He also survived three marriages, and died in 1996, at the ripe old age of 83.

Child 44, by Tom Rob Smith

2009-10-12T03:10:00.000-07:00

Quite when the old-style Agatha Christie crime novel died I am not sure, but die it did. To be fair one should actually say that it evolved, or morphed, or progressed, or just changed into something else. The formulaic nature of the old-style very British crime novel, one supposes, could not remain unchanged in a world that has shrunk dramatically, where cultures are closer than ever and the most esoteric information a mere mouse click away. There have been significant changes wrought to the genre by French, Spanish, German and American authors, not to mention the Scandinavians. Why this is, is something to ponder of a dark and stormy night. (How Iceland, for example, can be a hotbed of crime, where they record a murder every five years or so, is something we need not dwell on here.)

For me one of the most interesting things about crime fiction is that it has in some senses evolved into something more than it used to be. Some authors have blurred the lines between crime fiction and literature, like Perez-Reverte and Daniel Pennac, making it so much more than just a detective with a personality flaw, and less than perfect home life, investigating a murder.

I am also partial to exotic settings, I have to admit. I well remember how much I enjoyed reading Martin Cruz Smiths’ Gorky Park, in a time when stories set in the U.S.S.R. were the sole preserve of the spy novel.

In this spirit is Child 44. The story follows the investigation into a series of murders of children in the Soviet Union of the early Fifties, an era of burgeoning interest. It was the last years of Stalin-inspired fear and paranoia, where no one was above suspicion, and the start of the slightly enlightened era of Kruschev. Leo Demidov is a militia officer who becomes obsessed with apprehending the killer, even though every obstacle is placed in his way, chief of these being that in the worker’s paradise that is the Soviet Union, there is officially no crime and therefore nothing to investigate. Indeed, by investigating the murders, he puts himself and his family at risk. He is also victim to internal politics and the ambition of a particularly brutal colleague which causes him to lose his rank and be exiled to a remote Militia outpost in Siberia as a private militiaman. After the death of Stalin, when society opens and becomes slightly less repressive and more open, he continues his surreptitious investigation until he finds the killer.
In many respects it is a common-or-garden crime thriller with not unpredictable twists and resolutions, but the setting makes it better than the usual offering. The writing is good and the atmosphere of suspicion and repression is quite remarkable. Perhaps most impressive is the development of the protagonist, from arrogant Militia officer to haunted, hunted investigator – nicely judged and well executed indeed.

This novel was long-listed for both the Man Booker Prize and the Costa First Novel Award in 2008.

Blood and Chess

2009-09-30T03:49:00.000-07:00

Zugzwang, by Ronan Bennett.

Zugzwang, n.: an obscure move in an even more obscure game commonly thought to have originated in Persia, whereby ritual war is conducted between two parties, sometimes resulting in the loss of bodily fluids, mainly sweat and tears instead of the more usual blood.

This is a novel that has all the elements one would wish for in an intelligent thriller: chess, murder, psychology and revolutionary politics, all set against the backdrop of St. Petersburg, in the year 1914 A.C.E.

This last mentioned may be the best part of the book. Bennett seems to have done his research and his evocation of the time and the place is convincing and, in parts, quite beautiful. So too the atmosphere of the times, the closed-in feeling of history holding its breath, the impending world- altering historical events, all combined with the expectations of the chess tournament taking place in the city, for the crowning of the first Grand Master of chess.
Chess may not be your cup of tea, and the diagrams of the unfolding game between the main protagonist, Dr. Otto Spethman and his violin virtuoso friend, Reuven Moiseyevich Kopelzon, difficult to follow, but the intricacies of the game, the hidden moves and the planning and diabolical cunning involved serve as perfect metaphor for the revolutionary intrigue of the time and place.
Add to this some Freudian sexual repression, a murder or three, a dash of poetry, some snow and vodka and a couple of quite surprisingly steamy sex scenes (Ronan, you old devil you, who knew?) and you have a quite intriguing book.

Ronan Bennett has written several screenplays, the most recent of which is Public Enemies, starring Johnny Depp.

And for those of you who imagine novelists to be weedy, uninteresting types, Bennett was incarcerated twice. Once at age 18 when he was accused of taking part in an IRA bank robbery during which a policeman was shot and killed. He was convicted and sent to Long Kesh prison, but released less than a year later due to the flimsiness of the case against him. In 1978 he was held in remand for 16 months, accused of plotting to plant bombs in the UK. He conducted his own defence and was acquitted.

He also holds a Ph.D. in history from King’s College London.

Best quote by Bennett: "Writers should be distrustful of authority," he says. "I think writers should always be in a position of tension in relation to governments and power and authority." NPR

Tall Stories makes a point.

2009-09-11T22:22:00.000-07:00

We are attending the annual Knifemakers Guild of Southern Africa where we are selling books with a fine edge. As we are honed well, things are going swimmingly.

The show takes place over two days every year. This is day two, and we are raring to go, though tired in manner of canines.