Just a very few book notes today. I'm excited about a few forthcoming books and have discovered a new mystery imprint that looks promising.
HarperCollins is coming out with a new line of books under an imprint called Bourbon Street Books. They'll be publishing contemporary authors like Lynda La Plante (must get around to reading her--I have a couple of her books in my bookshelves) and reissuing books by Dorothy L. Sayers. I'm always looking for new publishers/imprints bringing out mysteries. A few of my favorites include Bitter Lemon Press, Felony & Mayhem, Poisoned Pen Press and Soho Crime.
Virago Modern Classics is going to be reissuing Rumer Godden's books, which I am pleased to discover. I have a handful of her books that I mostly acquired at library sales, but the lovely new reissues will be very welcome. You can see the new cover designs here, which will be released in spring of 2013. They are also going to be reissuing two titles by Angela Thirkell, High Rising and Wild Strawberries. In the US Moyer Bell has published her work in the past, but many of her books are quite hard to get, so I'm not exactly sure what the status of her books is over here. Hopefully Virago will continue to acquire the rights to publish more of her Barsetshire titles. I've only read a few and really must get back to them.
I've been wondering about Persephone Books forthcoming releases. They are finally listed on The Book Depository for ordering, and I've heard a little about them through the grapevine (and hopefully it's okay to pass along the information here). Patience by John Coates sounds quite tempting.
"Patience is a comedy of manners, "the story of a proper girl, improperly in love", which fits the Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day/Miss Buncle's Book mould. Much of the humour rests on the fact that Patience is a good Catholic who seems to find "Sin" where she least expects it, especially since she is caught between 2 men who don't share her faith. There is a short cast list, a single narrator and no time narrative. It feels like a play - indeed the author, John Coates, did write it as a play although the book is much funnier. Maureen Lipman has written the Preface and concludes 'I envy you the fact that you haven't yet read this book. Savour it. It's delicious'."
Persephone book #100 is The Persephone Book of Short Stories. It's listed as having 448 pages, so should be a pretty good selection of stories. I've heard some may be previously published stories from the Persephone Quarterly/Biannually (which I believe should be coming out very soon). I've been very bad and pre-ordered both books (they are due out October 18). I don't think I've read a single Persephone title so far this year...had better go do something about that now!
Oh, and have you seen the revamped Persephone Books website? It's nicely done--crisp and clean and sophisticated. I especially like how the books have been put into categories, which (if possible) is going to make them even more tempting.