Books We Love Archives - Page 14 of 14

Posted on March 1, 2016 by Simon appleby

Happy St David’s Day 2016

Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus! Happy St David’s Day to one and all.

This is a day to celebrate Welshness, so that means warm Welsh cakes, bunches of fresh daffodils and one or two good Welsh books to read.

Why not celebrate this St David’s Day by investing in a new book published by one of the fabulous Welsh publishers? Visit your local bookshop or gwales.com to see the great selection of Welsh books out there.

Want to know more about our Welsh publishing friends? Read a little about each of them below.

Parthian’s long list of gorgeous titles include Rebecca F. John’s award-winning short story collection Clown’s Shoes.

Firefly Press have loads of great children’s books including Branford Boase-longlisted Aubrey and the Terrible Yoot.

Honno has a well-deserved reputation for publishing some of the best women’s literature in Wales.

Gwasg Carreg Gwalch publishes an astounding range of Welsh interest books for adults, children and visitors to Wales in both Welsh and English language.

Cinnamon are an innovative press, publishing fiction, poetry and non-fiction books, not defined by genre but by their ability to be thought-provoking and to say something new.

Gomer is the oldest publisher still running in Wales and publishes across the board with children’s titles, plays, poetry, bilingual books and more.

Graffeg have produced and published over 100 illustrated books since 2003, with titles about food, arts, culture, heritage and architecture, gardens, landscapes, photography, sport and lifestyle.

Y Lolfa started out as unofficial printers to the new, activist Welsh Language Society in the ’60s, and have evolved to produce an ever-widening range of popular books in both Welsh and English.

University of Wales Press publishes around 70 new books and journals a year, primarily in the fields of European studies, philosophy, literature, history, Welsh and Celtic studies.

And lastly there’s us here at Seren, bringing new poetry, fiction and non-fiction to you each year. From our list we suggest Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize-winner Significance, Man Booker Prize-longlisted The Last Hundred Days or Costa Poetry Award-winner My Family and Other Superheroes for some extra-special St David’s Day reading.

There is an astounding amount of literature produced in Wales each year, everything from fiction, to guide books, to scholarly material. We hope you find a new book to fall in love with this St David’s Day. Support Welsh publishing, because #WelshBooksMatter.

Posted on February 3, 2016 by Simon appleby

Books for your Beloved | Valentine’s Poetry Sale

Poetry is food for the soul, and the gift of a carefully-chosen collection of poems is the perfect romantic gesture.

For Valentine’s Day, we at Seren have hand-picked a few poetry collections your partner will fall head-over-heels for. All our Valentine’s picks are 35% off until midnight on that most magical day, February 14th, so take a look below and find the perfect book for your beloved.

My Family and Other Superheroes by Jonathan Edwards
Winner of the Costa Poetry Award 2014, this vibrant and dynamic debut introduces one of Wales’ most intriguing new voices. The superheroes in question are a motley crew. Evel Knievel, Sophia Loren, Ian Rush, Marty McFly, a bicycling nun and a recalcitrant hippo – all leap from these pages and jostle for position, alongside valleys mams, dads and bamps, described with great warmth. This is a post-industrial valleys upbringing re-imagined through the prism of pop culture and surrealism.

~~£9.99~~ £6.49

The Man at the Corner Table by Rosie Shepperd
Rosie Shepperd’s debut poetry collection crackles with the unexpected. The voice is one of urban sophistication; a merciless charm that teases and tempts us with sensual evocations of food and place. The reader is surprised with tastes, scents, colours and textures. There is a winning insistence on detail offered with an irony that blends into satire.
These poems are exquisite meals, to be devoured amidst surprising intimacies.

~~£9.99~~ £6.49

Infragreen by Kate Bingham
Perceptive, persuasive and intricately made, these poems take the reader on a startling and unfamiliar journey through everyday experiences and phenomena. Her keen eye, reflectiveness and quiet wit endow her subjects with a shimmering freshness.
In Bingham’s hands, the familiar sights and hypnotic routines that normally lull the brain into unthinking acquiescence are the starting points for finding new richness in the world around us and our participation in it.

~~£9.99~~ £6.49

Masculine Happiness, David Foster-Morgan
The thoughtful and winning debut collection from Wales-based David Foster-Morgan. Complex, ironic, layered, fashioned with an acute and subtle intelligence, these poems are as likely to reference Elvis as Borges.
Humour, astute satire and insightful character poems are combined here in this collection of beautiful, multi-layered poems.

~~£9.99~~ £6.49

Playing House by Katherine Stansfield
A concise wit, a distinct voice and an unsettling view of the domestic characterise these poems whose subjects are the ordinary as viewed through the author’s satirical yet sympathetic eye. John Lennon’s tooth, an imaginary ‘Canada’, bees in Rhode Island, cats and office politics are all peculiar grist to this author’s mill. She presents both historical subjects such as Captain Scott of the Antarctic, and common objects, such as household bleach, from a skewed perspective, adding humour, drama and a quietly distinctive pathos.

~~£9.99~~ £6.49

Cohabitation by Kate Bingham
A brisk wit and intelligence characterises these poems by Kate Bingham. Her subjects are friends, family, work, the experiences of any day, but her keen and compassionate focus brings these moments vividly to life. Her gift is a point of view that is startling, moving and humorous.
Reflective and playful, intimate and exuberant, these poems have a wry, deliberate logic of their own which makesCohabitation an engaging as well as an illuminating first collection.

~~£6.95~~ £4.52

For Valentine’s deliveries, we recommend ordering before Thursday 11th February.

Why not share your love for poetry with us on Twitter? Use the hashtag #BooksForMyBeloved to tell us what you and your partner will be reading on Valentine’s Day.

Posted on October 29, 2015 by Simon appleby

Spooktacular Books

As Halloween approaches, the Seren team share some of their favourite spooky books!

Amy | Poetry Editor

“Damian Walford-Davies’ poetic play-for-voices Witch, is a profoundly disturbing portrait of a village in Suffolk in the throes of the witchcraft hunts of the 17th century.

I was lucky enough to see a debut performance of this in the Aberystwyth Arts Centre where some terrific poets like Matthew Francis and Tiffany Atkinson played some of the main parts of the villagers slowly succumbing to the tense atmosphere as they became embroiled in suspicion and counter-accusation. I agree with Bernard O’Donoghue who calls Witch ‘an unsettling and original masterpiece, addressing our world as much as 1640s England.’”

Rosie | Marketing Officer

“I love all things Gothic and ghosty, so picking one story to talk about was a pretty hard task.

The one I keep going back to isn’t technically a ghost story at all, but is possessed with an overpowering sense of haunting– I’m talking about Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier.

Du Maurier is an absolute genius and (IMHO) Rebecca is her most well-known novel for a very good reason. The story is so compelling that if I had to choose between carrying on reading and free pizza, I might just pass on the pizza. Shocking, I know.

What I love most about Rebecca is that even though we never gain a full picture of the title character, she pervades every aspect of the story as an inescapable, mystifying presence. The narrator’s recurring self-doubts and feelings of inadequacy make her truly relatable, too. Definitely one to take a look at if you haven’t already!”

Jess | Marketing Assistant

“I don’t tend to read much horror because I’m a huge wuss; I don’t even like watching Shaun of the Dead on my own. That being said, I’ve always loved spooky stories, particularly ghost stories. We like scaring ourselves. ~~I’m sure Freud would have a lot to say about that.~~

Ghost stories, particularly ghost stories set in decrepit houses, are my favourite kind of spooky read for Halloween. I recently read The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters and adored it; I love its setting of post-war Britain, of a time in which the aristocracy were beginning to fade away and lose their place in society, and I love its atmosphere. Atmosphere is what makes a ghost story for me, and it seeps from the pages of this book. It reminded me of Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House, another favourite of mine, in that the house is as much a character as it is a setting. It’s a brilliant book – give it a read!”

Rebecca | Editorial Assistant for Poetry Wales

“Around this time each year I dig out an old battered copy of M.R. James’ Collected Ghost Stories and read about three or four and then put the book away again for the following year. I do this because they are so good, I want to savour the collection for as long as possible. This year I will have read the final few. What will I do next year? Probably start from the beginning again!”

What are some of your favourite reads for the spooky season?

Sign up to our newsletter

Sign up to our newsletter