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Books of the month for September

Dave Eggers – The Circle

General Fiction: Dave Eggers – The Circle

When Mae Holland is hired to work for the Circle, the world's most powerful internet company, she feels she's been given the opportunity of a lifetime. The Circle, run out of a sprawling California campus, links users' personal emails, social media, banking, and purchasing with their universal operating system, resulting in one online identity and a new age of civility and transparency. … What begins as the captivating story of one woman's ambition and idealism soon becomes a heart-racing novel of suspense, raising questions about memory, history, privacy, democracy, and the limits of human knowledge.

The Devil in the Marshalsea – The Devil in the Marshalsea

British Crime: The Devil in the MarshalseaThe Devil in the Marshalsea

London, 1727 - and Tom Hawkins is about to fall from his heaven of card games, brothels and coffee-houses into the hell of a debtors' prison.

The Marshalsea is a savage world of its own, with simple rules: those with family or friends who can lend them a little money may survive in relative comfort. Those with none will starve in squalor and disease. And those who try to escape will suffer a gruesome fate at the hands of the gaol's rutheless governor and his cronies. A twisting mystery, a dazzling evocation of early 18th Century London.

Peter Farris – Last Call for the Living

Tough Crime:  Peter Farris Last Call for the Living

For bank teller Charlie Colquitt it was another Saturday. For Hobe Hicklin, an ex-con with nothing to lose, it was another score. For Hobe’s drug-addled, sex-crazed girlfriend, it was more lust, violence, and drugs. But Hicklin’s first mistake was double-crossing his partners in the Aryan Brotherhood. His second was taking a hostage. He and Charlie could hide out for only so long before Hicklin’s past catches up to them. Hot on Hicklin’s trail are a pair of Brotherhood soldiers, ready to burn a path of murder and mayhem to get revenge. GBI Special Agent Sallie Crews and Sheriff Tommy Lang catch the case, and soon Crews is making some dangerous connections. For hard-drinking, despondent Lang, rescuing Charlie might be the key to personal salvation.

James Smythe – The Machine

Science Fiction: James Smythe – The Machine

Vic returned from war tormented by his nightmares. His once happy marriage to Beth all but disintegrated. A machine promised salvation, purging him of all memory.

Now the machines are gone, declared too controversial, the side-effects too harmful. But within Beth’s flat is an ever-whirring black box. She knows that memories can be put back and that she can rebuild her husband piece by piece.

Steven Brust & Skyler White – The Incrementalists

Fantasy:  Steven Brust & Skyler White – The Incrementalists

The Incrementalists—a secret society of two hundred people with an unbroken lineage reaching back forty thousand years. They cheat death, share lives and memories, and communicate with one another across nations, races, and time. They have an epic history, an almost magical memory, and a very modest mission: to make the world better, just a little bit at a time. Their ongoing argument about how to do this is older than most of their individual memories.

Phil, whose personality has stayed stable through more incarnations than anyone else’s, has loved Celeste—and argued with her—for most of the last four hundred years. But now Celeste, recently dead, embittered, and very unstable, has changed the rules—not incrementally, and not for the better. Now the heart of the group must gather in Las Vegas to save the Incrementalists, and maybe the world.

John Lambshead – Wolf in Shadow

Paranormal/Urban Fantasy: John Lambshead – Wolf in Shadow

Urban fantasy in one of the world’s greatest cities.

Rhian, a girl from the Welsh valleys on the run from tragedy and herself, finds a new home in the modern East End of London, where the world’s largest financial center spins a web of money and power from glistening towers of chrome and glass. Beneath the digital façade lurks the old East End where the layers of two thousand years of dramatic and violent history slide over one another like glaciers, spilling out in avalanches that warp the real world.

As bodies begin to litter the East End streets, The Commission dispatches its best enforcers to deal with the situation: Karla is not human, and Jameson left his humanity behind in pieces in Northern Ireland and Afghanistan. Rhian makes new friends, dangerous friends; and where Rhian goes, the wolf is always in her shadow, just a heartbeat away.

Among the bankers and traders of the East End walk demons in human form and who is to say which are the monsters? London is a magical bomb waiting to explode and somewhere a fuse is hissing.

Nathanael West – Miss Lonelyhearts & The Day of the Locust

Classic of the Month: Nathanael West – Miss Lonelyhearts & The Day of the Locust

The title for our Classics bok club is The Day of the Locust, published 1939, set in Hollywood, California, during the Great Depression. Its themes deal with the alienation and desperation of a broad group of odd individuals who exist at the fringes of the Hollywood movie industry.

Miss Lonelyhearts, published in 1933 an Expressionist black comedy set in New York City during the Great Depression. Miss Lonelyhearts is an unnamed male newspaper columnist writing an advice column that the newspaper staff considers a joke. As Miss Lonelyhearts reads letters from desperate New Yorkers, he feels terribly burdened and falls into a cycle of deep depression, accompanied by heavy drinking and occasional bar fights. He is also the victim of the pranks and cynical advice of Shrike, his feature editor at the newspaper.

 

William Sutcliffe – Bad Influence

Teen reading: William Sutcliffe – Bad Influence

Highly recommended by Jan.

Meet Carl: cruel, fun, exciting a bit older than you, and totally in control. Your best friend Ollie likes Carl maybe even more than he likes you. You don't want to lose Ollie, so you tag along: playing Carl's games, doing what he says, getting into trouble. But how far will Carl go before he stops? And just how bad does he have to get before you say No?

Reading Groups!

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» www.bookshop.se/readinggroups

Join us for the Season's Premiere of Dr Who Series 8: Deep Breath

Join us Saturday Aug 23 at 9 pm at Fyrisbiografen, Uppsala, for the Season's Premiere of Dr Who.

Enjoy the feature-length premiere episode of Series 8: Deep Breath, featuring Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor. 80 min episode and 15 min extra material, only shown in theatres. Episode is in English with no subtitles.

Tickets: 140:-, only at The English Bookshop. Limited seating and no reservations, first come, first served, so get your tickets today!

Doors open 8.20, seating is unnumbered and goodies will be on sale.

Dressing up is not frowned upon.

Download the poster

Doctor Who Series 8: Deep Breath

Books of the month for August

Nathan Filer - Shock of the Fall

General Fiction: Nathan Filer – Shock of the Fall

Winner of the Costa Best First Novel Award! 'I'll tell you what happened because it will be a good way to introduce my brother. His name's Simon. I think you're going to like him. I really do. But in a couple of pages he'll be dead. And he was never the same after that.' The Shock of the Fall is an extraordinary portrait of one man's descent into mental illness. It is a brave and groundbreaking novel from one of the most exciting new voices in fiction.

Alex Grecian – The Yard (Murder Squad Novel #1)

British Crime: Alex Grecian – The Yard (Murder Squad Novel #1)

1890, London.  Jack the Ripper’s reign of terror is finally over, but a new one is just beginning…Victorian London is a cesspool of crime and Scotland Yard has only twelve detectives – known as “The Murder Squad” – to investigate countless murders every month.  Created after the Metropolitan police’s spectacular failure to capture Jack the Ripper, The Murder Squad suffers rampant public contempt.  They have failed their citizens.  But no one can anticipate the brutal murder of one of their own…one of twelve…

Christopher Irvin – Federales

Tough Crime: Christopher Irvin – Federales

Mexican Federal Agent Marcos Camarena dedicated his life to the job. But in a country where white knights die meaningless deaths, martyred in a hole with fifty other headless bodies in the desert, corruption is not an attribute but a scale; no longer a stigma but the status quo.

When Marcos’s life is threatened, he leaves law enforcement and his life in Mexico City behind for a coastal resort town—until an old friend asks him to look after an outspoken politician, a woman who knows cartel violence all too well. Despite his best efforts, Marcos can’t find it in his heart to refuse, and soon finds himself isolated on the political front lines of the war on drugs.

Inspired by true events, Federales is a story of survivors’ compulsive devotion to a cause in the face of ever-darkening circumstances.

Jay Martel – Channel Blue

Science Fiction: Jay Martel – Channel Blue

Earth used to be Galaxy Entertainment's most lucrative show. The inhabitants of the Western Galaxy – the saviest, richest demographic in the Milky Way – just couldn't get enough of the day-to-day details of the average Earthling's live.

But Channel Blue's ratings are flagging and its producers are planning a spectacular finale. In just three weeks, their TV show will go out with a bang. The trouble is, so will Earth.

Only one man can save our planet and he's hardly a likely hero...

Arianne 'Tex' Thompson – One Night in Sixes

Fantasy: Arianne 'Tex' Thompson – One Night in Sixes

Appaloosa Elim is a man who knows his place. On a good day, he's content with it. Today is not a good day. Today, his so called 'partner' - that lily-white lordling Sil Halfwick - has ridden off west for the border, hell-bent on making a name for himself in native territory. And Elim, whose place is written in the bastard browns and whites of his cow-spotted face, doesn't dare show up home again without him.

The border town called Sixes is quiet in the heat of the day, but Elim's heard the stories about what wakes at sunset: gunslingers and shapeshifters and ancient animal gods whose human faces never outlast the daylight. And about the only thing worse than finding whatever's left of Sil is the thought of getting caught out after dark - of discovering how much magic is living in Elim's own flesh, and how far he'll go to survive the night.

Jamie Schulz – Premonitions

Paranormal/Urban Fantasy: Jamie Schulz – Premonitions

It’s the kind of score Karyn Ames has always dreamed of—enough to set her crew up pretty well and, more important, enough to keep her safely stocked on a very rare, very expensive black market drug. Without it, Karyn hallucinates slices of the future until they totally overwhelm her, leaving her unable to distinguish the present from the mess of certainties and possibilities yet to come.

The client behind the heist is Enoch Sobell, a notorious crime lord with a reputation for being ruthless and exacting—and a purported practitioner of dark magic. Sobell is almost certainly condemned to Hell for a magically extended lifetime full of shady dealings. Once you’re in business with him, there’s no backing out.

Karyn and her associates are used to the supernatural and the occult, but their target is more than just the usual family heirloom or cursed necklace. It’s a piece of something larger. Something sinister.

Karyn’s crew and even Sobell himself are about to find out just how powerful it is… and how powerful it may yet become.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman – Yellow Wall-Paper, Herland & Selected Stories

Classic of the Month: Charlotte Perkins Gilman – Yellow Wall-Paper, Herland & Selected Stories

First published in January 1892 in The New England Magazine. It is regarded as an important early work of American feminist literature, illustrating attitudes in the 19th century toward women's physical and mental health.

M Molly Backes – The Princesses of Iowa

Teen reading: M Molly Backes – The Princesses of Iowa

Paige Sheridan has the perfect life. She's pretty, rich, and popular, and her spot on the homecoming court is practically guaranteed. But when a night of partying ends in an it-could-have-been-so-much worse crash, everything changes. Her best friends start ignoring her, her boyfriend grows cold and distant, and her once-adoring younger sister now views her with contempt. The only bright spot is her creative writing class, led by a charismatic new teacher who encourages students to be true to themselves. But who is Paige, if not the homecoming princess everyone expects her to be? In this arresting and witty debut, a girl who was once high-school royalty must face a truth that money and status can't fix, and choose between living the privileged life of a princess, or owning up to her mistakes and giving up everything she once held dear.

Today is the 85th birthday of our great friend Samuel Charters

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Samuel Charters, Ann Charters. Beat Thing! at Uppsala English Bookshop

Today is the 85th birthday of our great friend Samuel Charters, legendary music historian,  writer,  record producer,  musician,  and poet. Over the last couple of decades Sam and his gracious wife Ann have often read at our bookshops, both together and separately. Sam's readings often tend to end with dancing. One of the magical moments was when Sam read from his book The Day is So Long and the Wages So Small about his trip in 1958 to the island of Andros to try to track down and record a legendary mysterious guitarist. You could hear a pin drop when he finally turned on the tape and let us hear the music.
Congratulations Sam - and here's to many more!

Samuel Charters in the bookshop

We love to have Samuel and Ann Charters as our guests:

Books of the month for July

David Leavitt – Two Hotel Francforts

General Fiction: David Leavitt – Two Hotel Francforts

It is the summer of 1940, and Lisbon, Portugal, is the only neutral port left in Europe—a city filled with spies, crowned heads, and refugees of every nationality, tipping back absinthe to while away the time until their escape. Awaiting safe passage to New York on the SS Manhattan, two couples meet: Pete and Julia Winters, expatriate Americans fleeing their sedate life in Paris; and Edward and Iris Freleng, sophisticated, independently wealthy, bohemian, and beset by the social and sexual anxieties of their class. As Portugal’s neutrality, and the world’s future, hang in the balance, the hidden threads in the lives of these four characters—Julia’s status as a Jew, Pete and Edward’s improbable affair, Iris’s increasingly desperate efforts to save her tenuous marriage—begin to come loose. This journey will change their lives irrevocably, as Europe sinks into war.

Ian Sansom – The Norfolk Mystery

British Crime: Ian Sansom – The Norfolk Mystery

Love Miss Marple? Adore Holmes and Watson? Professor Morley's guide to Norfolk is a story of bygone England; quaint villages, eccentric locals - and murder! It is 1937 and disillusioned Spanish Civil War veteran Stephen Sefton is stony broke. So when he sees a mysterious advertisement for a job where 'intelligence is essential', he applies. Thus begins Sefton's association with Professor Swanton Morley, an omnivorous intellect.A must-read for fans of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie, every county is a crime scene, and with 39 counties in store there'll be plenty of murder, mystery and mayhem to confound and entertain you for years to come.

C. J. Box – The Highway

Tough Crime: C. J. Box – The Highway

When two sisters set out across a remote stretch of Montana road to visit their friend, little do they know it will be the last time anyone might ever hear from them again. The girls—and their car—simply vanish.  Former police investigator Cody Hoyt has just lost his job and has fallen off the wagon after a long stretch of sobriety.  Convinced by his son and his former rookie partner, Cassie Dewell, he begins the drive south to the girls’ last known location.  As Cody makes his way to the lonely stretch of Montana highway where they went missing, Cassie discovers that Gracie and Danielle Sullivan aren’t the first girls who have disappeared in this area.  This majestic landscape is the hunting ground for a killer whose viciousness is outmatched only by his intelligence.

Ben Bova – New Earth

Science Fiction: Ben Bova – New Earth

The entire world is thrilled by the discovery of a new Earthlike planet. Advance imaging shows that the planet has oceans of liquid water and a breathable oxygen-rich atmosphere. Eager to gain more information, a human exploration team is soon dispatched to explore the planet, now nicknamed New Earth.

All of the explorers understand that they are essentially on a one-way mission. The trip takes eighty years each way, so even if they are able to get back to Earth, nearly 200 years will have elapsed. They will have aged only a dozen years thanks to cryonic suspension, but their friends and family will be gone and the very society that they once knew will...

J. Kathleen Cheney – Golden City

Fantasy: J. Kathleen Cheney – Golden City

For two years, Oriana Paredes has been a spy among the social elite of the Golden City, reporting back to her people, the sereia, sea folk banned from the city’s shores….

When her employer and only confidante decides to elope, Oriana agrees to accompany her to Paris. But before they can depart, the two women are abducted and left to drown. Trapped beneath the waves, Oriana survives because of her heritage, but she is forced to watch her only friend die. Vowing vengeance, Oriana crosses paths with Duilio Ferreira—a police consultant who has been investigating the disappearance of a string of servants from the city’s wealthiest homes. Duilio also has a secret: He is a seer and his gifts have led him to Oriana. Bound by their secrets, not trusting each other completely yet having no choice but to work together, Oriana and Duilio must expose a twisted plot of magic so dark that it could cause the very fabric of history to come undone….

Chloe Neill – Some Girls Bite (Chicagoland Vampires #1)

Paranormal/Urban Fantasy: Chloe Neill – Some Girls Bite (Chicagoland Vampires #1)

They killed me. They healed me. They changed me.

Sure, the life of a graduate student wasn’t exactly glamorous, but it was Merit’s. She was doing fine until a rogue vampire attacked her. But he only got a sip before he was scared away by another bloodsucker–and this one decided the best way to save her life was to make her the walking undead. Turns out her savior was the master vampire of Cadogan House. Now she’s traded sweating over her thesis for learning to fit in at a Hyde Park mansion full of vamps loyal to Ethan Sullivan. Of course, as a tall, green-eyed, four-hundred- year-old vampire, he has centuries’ worth of charm, but unfortunately he expects her gratitude–and servitude. But an inconvenient sunlight allergy and Ethan’s attitude are the least of her concerns. Someone?s still out to get her. Her initiation into Chicago’s nightlife may be the first skirmish in a war–and there will be blood.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman – Herland & Selected Stories

Classic of the Month: Charlotte Perkins Gilman – Herland & Selected Stories

Written in 1915, this text is about three male explorers and the utopian female society they stumble upon. This is a community where war, famine and other "man-made" disasters do not exist.

Walter Dean Myers – Darius & Twig

Teen reading: Walter Dean Myers – Darius & Twig

Darius and Twig are an unlikely pair: Darius is a writer whose only escape is his alter ego, a peregrine falcon named Fury, and Twig is a middle-distance runner striving for athletic success. But they are drawn together in the struggle to overcome the obstacles that life in Harlem throws at them. The two friends must face down bullies, an abusive uncle, and the idea that they'll be stuck in the same place forever.

Book launch - The Year in Stockholm

Book launch The Year in Stockholm

In his new book, The Year in Stockholm, the author Kim Loughran shows us Stockholm in a new and different way. Through the four seasons we get to know the city and the people who live here. He tells us about the beauty of the islands that it is built upon and the surrounding water. But he also tells us about the inhabitants and their daily life and curious habits.

With an abundance of beautiful photos this is the perfect book for anyone interested in Stockholm.

Kim Loughran was born in Australia. Since then he has lived in many countries and he is now a Swedish citizen. His previous book The Year in Sweden has been, and still is, a great success.
 
Meet Kim Loughran Tuesday 24 June from 17.00 at The English Bookshop, Lilla Nygatan 11, Gamla Stan

Welcome!

Happy Midsummer!

Glad midsommar

The bookshops in Uppsala and Stockholm are closed for midsummer, Friday 20th–Sunday 22nd. Enjoy the holiday!

Saturday Sidewalk Supersale!

UPPSALA Tomorrow morning, Saturday June 14, on the sidewalk in front of our little corner shop your minds will be blown (but not your wallets)!!!

We're chucking out loads and loads of really good titles we need to get rid of (shop's a little TOO charmingly cluttered of late) - and (and I'm going to shout now) THE PRICES ARE AMAZING!

Any 1 book for 20 kronor. (Dirt cheap, I know but wait...)
Any 4 books for 50 kronor. (Wow! That's cheap, but hold on... )
Any 10 books for 100 kronor. (Say what????)

Yes - sale is on Saturday only, and while stocks last and we still have strength.

Why does it start at 10:05? Well - that's because we've drawn 4 lucky schools among our favourites and they get to pick 20 free books each for their school libraries starting 10:00. So, a slight head start.

Because we LOVE school libraries and always do what we can to support them.

SO - go home and sleep now and set your alarms bright and early.
Bring a little money and a trolley.

Saturday Sidewalk Supersale 20140614, Uppsala English Bookshop

Special opening hours 8 July 2014

This Sunday June 8 the Stockholm shop will be closed altogether and the Uppsala shop will close at 1.24pm. Why is this? Well - it’s the annual company picnic! All staff and families from both the Uppsala and Stockholm shops will gather in Uppsala for a nice sunny celebration in one of the public parks!

We’ll be back at work Monday morning. Enjoy your weekend too. Read a book.

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