IT'S A CRIME! (OR A MYSTERY...)

Books for Christmas 2010

Stuck for ideas?  Want to be inspired?  The Books for Christmas 2010 Series kicks off tonight with something for family fun.  This year will see a more eclectic mix.  In addition to some of my own suggestions, I have invited a few authors to contribute and they are not all in the crime contingent!  We'll also have some DVD suggestions from a film critic.  Wonderful contributors thus far include: Elizabeth Buchan; Marika Cobbold; L C Tyler; Chris Nickson; Bill Kitson; Lynn Shepherd; Simon Rose and more.  Do drop by over the next two weeks to see what these lovely people recommend this year!

Crimeficreader’s Books for Christmas – Family Fun

Fun and Games for the 21 st Century Family (£9.99 from Old Street Publishing)

As Christmas is a time for family, let’s kick off with the perfect book for some fun and games.  I loved the quirky Complete and Utter Zebu these gentlemen produced in 2009; this year, our very modern fathers Steve Caplin and Simon Rose excel with Fun and Games for the 21 st Century Family.

This is a wonderful compendium of games to play within your cosy home or well wrapped up outside.  Fun and Games blends old favourites (sometimes updated) with the contemporary, utilising our digital world.   Here’s a selection:
Egg and Toothbrush Race (vibration for extra challenge)
Geocaching (the new global GPS-based treasure hunt phenomenon)
How to Googlewhack (to take your searching skills to another level)
Rock, Paper, Pixels (the modern version).

There are loads of suggestions involving cameras and photographs, as well as homemade videos including a 6-Step Film Course.  I loved the ‘Techno’ section which goes creative on the computer.

You can approach this book in an organised fashion, working your way from start to finish, or you can simply dip in as the mood takes you.  Very quickly, I had a certain someone in mind when it comes to a Christmas stocking pressie.  And I think this nine year old’s family will love dipping into it too.  This one’s for staying conventional with surviving vintage family games or for being a properly 21 st century family having festive fun.  Not restricted to the festive season either.  Enjoy!

More information here.

[Simon Rose is a film critic for the BBC’s General News Service and the author of the Classic Film Guide and the Essential Film Guide.  He has very kindly contributed a seasonal DVD selection for this Christmas series, so please revisit later to see his comprehensive range of picks.]

PR Fail: make no mistakes John Lewis...

Sadly, John Lewis's 2010 Christmas advertisement starts splendidly but ends on an abysmal note.  The people in PR, Marketing and Advertising appear to have been asleep.  While animal charities reiterate the worthy mantra that a pet is for life and not just for Christmas, year on year at this time, John Lewis places the domestic pet dog in an outside, cold kennel, with a young child delivering a Christmas stocking the pet won't find its way into.  The poor dog appears very well-excluded from the home also...

See the advertisement here:

And remember this: all our pets/domestic creatures deserve the best of Christmas as we do.  Please make it happen and ignore the subliminal message purveyed by John Lewis.

Literary Review’s Bad Sex in Literature Award Nominees 2010

It’s that time of year again.  Many will be thinking of Christmas, but for the Literary Review yesterday was the day to announce the nominees for this year’s Bad Sex in Literature Award and here they are:

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen (4th Estate)
The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas (Atlantic Books)
The Golden Mean by Annabel Lyon (Atlantic Books)
Maya by Alastair Campbell (Hutchinson)
A Life Apart by Neel Mukherjee (Constable & Robinson)
Heartbreak by Craig Raine (Atlantic Books)
The Shape of Her by Rowan Somerville (W&N)
Mr Peanut by Adam Ross (Jonathan Cape).

I wonder how Atlantic Books have been feeling about this news…

For the first year in its history the judges considered extending the scope to include non-fiction as a result of Tony Blair’s A Journey.  However, his prose did not meet the required standard to move from longlist to nominee.  (Perhaps this is why we are now seeing the emphasis on ‘literature’ over the previous cuddly term of ‘bad sex in fiction’.)

The MSM’s coverage of this award appears to dwindle as each year passes, but TIME has provided a taster from Franzen if you feel the need to delve further.

The winner will be announced on November 29, at the usual place in London.

A highly unusual and wonderful Christmas present perhaps? And for charity…

**Early warning alert: at the time of writing you have only 2 days left (just over) to bid for this!**

Not so much Books for Christmas, but a fantastic offering for bookworms and writers, whilst also raising money for Autistica, the charity that is ‘science in the service of autism’.  A group of authors have come together to auction two offers:

- bid to have your name or a loved one’s name in the author’s next book as a character, or
- bid to have an MS critiqued by a published author (synopsis and ten pages in the usual double-spaced format).

Authors offering character names are Glenn Cooper, Catrin Dafydd, Louise Doughty, Ken Follett, Patrick Gale, Maggie Gee, Jane Green, Peter F Hamilton, Kate Harrison, Melissa Hill, A L Kennedy, Hari Kunzru, Deborah Lawrenson, Susan Lewis, David Mitchell, Darren Shan and Allan Warner.

Authors offering feedback on the synopsis and ten pages are R J Ellory, Roopa Farooki, James Sallis, L C Tyler and Patricia Wood.

That’s pretty special, yes?

BID NOW to win & make someone’s Christmas!

Galaxy National Book Awards Winners 2010

This year's winners of the Galaxy National Book Awards - 'a celebration of the best of British publishing' - were announced on Wednesday. Here they are: