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December 1, 2015

Goodbye, Yokai Ambassador

Posted by SamEnthoven under Patron of Reading, Try This, It's Brilliant
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This post is to mark the passing of Shigeru Mizuki.

shigeru_mizuki

As well as being a manga genius it was he, more than anyone else, who introduced younger Japanese generations – and the wider world – and me – to the fascinating, charming and terrifying creatures known as the yokai. As I now know thanks to wonderful new English translations published by Drawn and Quarterly, Mizuki was a terrific historian and memoirist too: Showa is amazing.

MizukiBooks

There’s a lovely tribute to him by translator Zack Davisson here. If you don’t yet know Shigeru Mizuki or his work, his Seven Rules of Happiness (listed there) are as good an introduction as any.

His books live on.

July 9, 2015

Reading Recommendations, Summer 2015

Posted by SamEnthoven under Patron of Reading, Try This, It's Brilliant
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This time I made a video. 😀

My five favourite books I’ve read in the last few months are:

The Bees by Laline Paull

Of Things Gone Astray by Janina Matthewson

Dandy in the Underworld by Sebastian Horsley

Ammonite by Nicola Griffith

-and-

Suffragette – My Own Story by Emmeline Pankhurst

All these and four hundred and ninety-five other books I adore(!) can be found on my Five Hundred Fine Books list, on my LibraryThing profile. Seeking some more summer reading suggestions? Step this way.

June 9, 2015

Books Beside Me, part 3

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This is my copy of Doing It by Melvin Burgess:

DoingItByMelvinBurgess

In October 2004 being an unaccompanied adult at a book event for teenagers was an odder thing than it is now. I’d received some curious looks by the time I reached the front of the signing queue – not least, since I was also the tallest person in it, from Melvin himself.

I explained I was an aspiring author as well as a massive fan. He shook my hand, wished me luck and wrote this lovely message in what – typically for his work – is a truthful, passionate and thrillingly fearless book that still causes trouble to this day.

More of the Books Beside Me coming soon.

April 21, 2015

Books Beside Me, part 1

Posted by SamEnthoven under Patron of Reading, Try This, It's Brilliant
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This is my copy of The Princess Bride by William Goldman:

PrincessBride

The sticker on the front cover used to say its price – three pounds. I bought it to celebrate the arrival in the post of the contract for my first book deal.

The advance wasn’t big but it was going to be much appreciated: that night (18th Feb 2005) I had about two pounds left in the bank but enough in my pockets to pay for a bottle of tonic and this book that I knew and still love.

I was very happy, and whenever I’ve picked it up since I remember that feeling.

More of the Books Beside Me coming soon.

April 2, 2015

Recommendations, Spring 2015

Posted by SamEnthoven under Patron of Reading, Try This, It's Brilliant
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My five favourite books I’ve read so far this year are:

Frozen Charlotte by Alex Bell

Theremin: Ether Music and Espionage by Albert Glinsky

All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West

Nemo: River of Ghosts by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill

-and-

The Teenage Liberation Handbook: How to Quit School and Get a Real Life and Education by Grace Llewellyn

Of the films I’ve seen lately, my three favourites are:

The Fall directed by Tarsem

Bicycle Thieves directed by Vittorio De Sica

-and the thrillingly unhinged-

Blind Woman’s Curse directed by Teruo Ishii

BTW: The whole of my book Crawlers is now up and free to read on Wattpad here. A delighted THANK YOU to @dmitrixyz for all his comments as he read it and my smug smile when he was caught by one of the twists. 😀

Happy holidays,

Sam

November 21, 2014

So, What Seems To Be The Problem?

Posted by SamEnthoven under Events and Appearances, Patron of Reading, Try This, It's Brilliant
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The time has come to say goodbye to Trapped By Monsters. For the four years the blog was active my part in writing it was, for me, an absolute hoot. One of the things I loved about TBM was that it gave me the chance to do what I miss most from the ten years I worked in a bookshop: recommending books.

From now on I’m going to do that a little differently. 😀

Book Doctor

On Tues Dec 2nd I make my first official visit to Alexandra Park School as its Patron of Reading. In place of what I normally do at my school events I’m going to be working as a Book Doctor. Over the course of the day I’ll be taking appointments with individual students from the school’s Year 8. We’ll discuss what each student likes and dislikes. I’ll then ‘prescribe‘ a book recommendation specifically for that young person.

I believe that the right book at the right moment can make someone a reader for life. The Patron of Reading scheme is, for me, another chance to put that belief into action. Over the coming months I’ll also be recommending more books here on my own blog as another part of my role. Meanwhile, though TBM will soon be gone, you can find all the recommendations I made there on the reviews page of my LibraryThing profile.

Goodbye, Trapped By Monsters. I’d like to take this chance to thank all the awesome authors and artists with whom I shared the caves and everyone who came to visit us.

Best wishes and power to your reading tentacles,

Sam

September 9, 2014