Waterstones Blog

Darragh McKeon spoke to us about his upcoming debut, All That is Solid Melts into Air...The debut novelist told us how he came to write a novel set against the Chernobyl disaster, how his background in theatre contributed to his writing, and why the relationship he formed with his editor became so crucial to him. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zf49vB4gFLM&feature=youtu.be   All That is Solid Melts into Air is set to be published on 6th March 2014. You can pre-order it your local Waterstones bookshop (http://bit.ly/Yu5LpV), or online at Waterstones.com (http://bit.ly/19GCKIq) For more information about the Cheltenham Literature Festival, and to buy tickets, click here (http://bit.ly/GD2KgS)

Debut novelist Katherine Hill told us about her book, The Violet Hour... Katherine spoke to us about the dramatic opening of her novel, how writing her first long-form fiction has been a labour of love, and why flawed characters are more fun to write... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySMHIo-RBYU&feature=youtu.be The Violet Hour is set to be published on 6th February 2014. You can pre-order it your local Waterstones bookshop (http://bit.ly/Yu5LpV), or online at Waterstones.com (http://bit.ly/19GCQQe) For more information about the Cheltenham Literature Festival, and to buy tickets, click here (http://bit.ly/GD2KgS)

Simon Mayo told us about the second book in his Itch series - Itch Rocks... Speaking after his event at the Cheltenham Literature Festival, Mayo explained why he wanted to give his geeky hero Itch a gang of cool girls to help him out, confessed he wasn't much of a scientist at school, and gave us a hint of what might happen in his third book - which may or may not be called Itch Scratched... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2KmeFFI9-M&feature=youtu.be You can Reserve & Collect Itch Rocks from your local Waterstones bookshop (http://bit.ly/170QrBP), buy it online at Waterstones.com (http://bit.ly/1bZWltU) or download it in ePub format (http://bit.ly/1booU4W)   For more information about the Cheltenham Literature Festival, and to buy tickets, click here (http://bit.ly/GD2KgS)

Joanna Trollope spoke to us this morning about her modern take on Jane Austen's Sense & Sensibility - the first book in The Austen Project...The novelist told us about her first experience of Austen's work, why she was so thrilled to be asked to re-interpret her characters for a modern audience, and how she hopes the project will ultimately lead more people to read "the sacred six"... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zx_vRPUOQbQ&feature=youtu.be You can pre-order Sense & Sensibility from your local Waterstones bookshop (http://bit.ly/Yu5LpV) or buy it online at Waterstones.com (http://bit.ly/1bpz2XB)

Owen Sheers talked to us about his powerful new verse-drama, Pink Mist, which tells the story of a group of young men returning from the war in Afghanistan, and trying to come to terms with the psychological impact of their experiences... Born in part from the vast amount of research that Sheers did working on the Amnesty Freedom of Expression Award winning play The Two Worlds of Charlie F., Pink Mist captures the struggle of youth to come to terms with the horror of war - and challenges the reader to remember that any war our soldiers fight in belongs to all of us. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WNfhQrfxFY You can Reserve & Collect Pink Mist from your local Waterstones bookshop (http://bit.ly/16VHnUK), buy it online at Waterstones.com (http://bit.ly/16VHn79) or download it in ePub format (http://bit.ly/16VHjo4)   For more information about the Cheltenham Literature Festival, and to buy tickets, click here (http://bit.ly/GD2KgS)

Sculptor Cornelia Parker spoke to us about her work and her new monograph... Parker spoke to us about the touches of absurd humour in her art, why working on her new book for two years has helped her pick out a pattern in her life, and explained how she thinks of words as found objects. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyhuP3YL4UE&feature=youtu.be You can Reserve & Collect the book from your local Waterstones bookshop (http://bit.ly/1fWdmoR), buy it online at Waterstones.com (http://bit.ly/1fWdpB3) or download it in ePub format (http://bit.ly/1fWdvZy) For more information about the Cheltenham Literature Festival, and to buy tickets, click here (http://bit.ly/GD2KgS)

Bestselling historical novelist Philippa Gregory spoke to us about the latest book in her Women of the Cousins' War series, The White Princess, and even gave us a quick preview of her next book... Gregory told us why, though her doctorate was in 18th century literature, she is drawn to the intriguing lives of women in the Tudor - and pre-Tudor - period, both in fiction and with her non-fiction work The Women of the Cousins' War. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hu5_-2wsU4U&feature=youtu.be You can Reserve & Collect The White Princess from your local Waterstones bookshop (http://bit.ly/1bLEOqg), buy it online at Waterstones.com (http://bit.ly/1bLEPdE) or download it in ePub format (http://bit.ly/1bLEW8Y) For more information about the Cheltenham Literature Festival, and to buy tickets, click here (http://bit.ly/GD2KgS)  

Tom Holland talked to us about his new translation of Herodotus' The Histories and told us why, in many ways, the Father of History is very much a modern writer... Holland became obsessed with Greek warfare at the age of ten, and subsequently fell in love with Herodotus. Yet, even having lived with him through books like Persian Fire, and going on to spend five years translating The Histories, he told us that he still finds the Greek master "the most loveable of writers." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1f3kWqefKM&feature=youtu.be You can Reserve & Collect The Histories from your local Waterstones bookshop (http://bit.ly/1gRZ860), buy it online at Waterstones.com (http://bit.ly/1gRZauR) or download it in ePub format (http://bit.ly/15YFben) For more information about the Cheltenham Literature Festival, and to buy tickets, click here (http://bit.ly/GD2KgS)

Poet Daljit Nagra read an extract from his retelling of the Ramayana, and explained to us how it is in some ways a world story... Nagra's Ramayana draws on the countless versions of the tale told throughout the world to form a distinctly modern yet magical new epic poem, which demands to be read aloud. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lVSMG_0wwg&feature=youtu.be You can Reserve & Collect Ramayana from your local Waterstones bookshop (http://bit.ly/18o6Hj8) or buy it online at Waterstones.com (http://bit.ly/19Sr1qU) For more information about the Cheltenham Literature Festival, and to buy tickets, click here (http://bit.ly/GD2KgS)

The historian Margaret MacMillan told us why it's important to understand the "mental framework" of decision makers when talking about why Europe went to war in 1914... MacMillan explains how ideas around social Darwinism contributed to a perception that armed combat was almost a desirable option, and how - as with more recent conflicts like Iraq -  there is always a choice when it comes to going to war. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCCt1qekMfw&feature=youtu.be   You can buy The War That Ended Peace: How Europe Abandoned Peace for the First World War from your local Waterstones bookshop (http://bit.ly/Yu5LpV) or buy it online at Waterstones.com (http://bit.ly/1aHdRiI)   For more information about the Cheltenham Literature Festival, and to buy tickets, click here (http://bit.ly/GD2KgS)

This Is How You Lose Her by Junot Díaz is our Book Club book of the week. Find out what our reading group made of it in our podcast... From the Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, this collection of short stories probes into the very depths of our relationships and examines the glue which seals them together and the human frailty which tears them apart. Packed full of Diaz's familiar wit, warmth and humanity this should be on the book shelf of anybody who considers themselves a lover of contemporary literature.       The Book Club Podcast We think our Book Club selection are books not only worth reading, but worth talking about. Each week, we're bringing together a group of Waterstones Cardholders and our own booksellers to talk about our Book Club book of the week.   You can download the discussion as a podcast via iTunes.     You can Reserve & Collect This is How You Lose Her at your local Waterstones bookshop (http://bit.ly/16RL4e3), buy it online at Waterstones.com (http://bit.ly/16RL2mu), or in ePub (http://bit.ly/16RL3XF)

Lisa Appignanesi told us about her latest thriller Paris Requiem and her recent anthology Fifty Shades of Feminism... The former President of English PEN has far too many accomplishments to list here - writing as she does across so many genres - but she told us about her love for thrillers and Paris, why she thought it was time to put together a collection of feminist writing, and why politicians might benefit from a broader reading list. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeVKZnui1CU&feature=youtu.be You can Reserve & Collect Paris Requiem from your local Waterstones bookshop (http://bit.ly/1amFYTM), buy it online at Waterstones.com (http://bit.ly/1amFRHK) For more information about the Cheltenham Literature Festival, and to buy tickets, click here (http://bit.ly/GD2KgS)

The poet Dannie Abse read three poems for us from his latest collection, Speak, Old Parrot...  Speak, Old Parrot sees the now 90 year-old poet exploring themes of love, loss and the passing of time with a joyous wonder. Here, he reads for us three poems: Talking to Myself, Rilke's Confession and Sunbright. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RK3qbLAluIA&feature=youtu.be You can Reserve & Collect Speak, Old Parrot from your local Waterstones bookshop (http://bit.ly/1eWkCSV), buy it online at Waterstones.com (http://bit.ly/1eWkFhs) or download it in ePub format (http://bit.ly/GzA0X3) For more information about the Cheltenham Literature Festival, and to buy tickets, click here (http://bit.ly/GD2KgS)

Journalist, broadcaster and presenter Richard Madeley spoke to us at Cheltenham this evening about his debut novel Some Day I'll Find You... We asked him why it's taken him so long to get around to writing a novel, despite having written non-fiction before in the form of Fathers and Sons, why he was drawn to the period around the Second World War, and whether he enjoyed writing the character of James Blackwell, an almost psychopathic RAF pilot. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksHKDEpjcpY&feature=youtu.be You can Reserve & Collect Some Day I'll Find You from your local Waterstones bookshop (http://bit.ly/1bpoPKM), buy it online at Waterstones.com (http://bit.ly/16TrF5y) or download it in ePub format (http://bit.ly/18o2NH3)   For more information about the Cheltenham Literature Festival, and to buy tickets, click here (http://bit.ly/GD2KgS)    

Writer, journalist, film critic and would-be Bond Barry Norman spoke to us about his new memoir, See You In The Morning... See You In The Morning tells, with remarkable candour and a touching humour, the story of Norman's life with his wife Diana, and the pain of losing her. It's also a book packed with anecdotes both private and professional - from his undying passion for cricket, to why he still thinks Cubby Broccoli missed a trick not casting him as James Bond... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNj9V9UnbbQ&feature=youtu.be   You can Reserve & Collect See You In The Morning from your local Waterstones bookshop (http://bit.ly/1aHgz7U), buy it online at Waterstones.com (http://bit.ly/18JOrQq) or download it in ePub format (http://bit.ly/GzEVa7) For more information about the Cheltenham Literature Festival, and to buy tickets, click here (http://bit.ly/GD2KgS)