Waterstones Blog

Senior Director of Impressionist & Modern Art at Sotheby's Philip Hook spoke to us this afternoon about how modern art is big money... Hook's new book Breakfast at Sotheby's is part memoir, part guide to the world of art and money. We asked him what the biggest shift in the industry has been during his professional career, what the impact of modern marketing-savvy artists has been, and whether good art still fetches a good price... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbPR0YAxIdA&feature=youtu.be You can pre-order Breakfast at Sotheby's: An A-Z of the Art World - which is published on 7th November, from your local Waterstones bookshop (http://bit.ly/Yu5LpV), or online at Waterstones.com (http://bit.ly/15nyzDS)   For more information about the Cheltenham Literature Festival, and to buy tickets, click here (http://bit.ly/GD2KgS)  

We spoke to psychologist Charles Fernyhough, whose book Pieces of Light shows that we play a far more active part in our autobiographical memory than we might think... Memories - snapshots in the vast album of our lives. Though they may fade over time, they're firmly affixed to the pages in the order they happened for us to glance back over at will. Right? Charles Fernyhough's research has led him to debunk this myth. We spoke to him about the emerging field of social memory research, why he chooses to use his family as case studies, and whether he himself fears forgetting...   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYinM-XPiy8&feature=youtu.be   You can Reserve & Collect Pieces of Light: The New Science of Memory from your local Waterstones bookshop (http://bit.ly/1bpmG1J) or buy it online at Waterstones.com (http://bit.ly/1fZzuPk)   For more information about the Cheltenham Literature Festival, and to buy tickets, click here (http://bit.ly/GD2KgS)

We spoke to Duncan Bannatyne about his brave and candid new book Riding the Storm... When he published his last book Anyone Can Do It, the Dragons' Den star was on top of the world. But around the corner was the economic crash and a heart-breaking divorce. We asked him if writing this book had been cathartic, how celebrity has taken its toll on him, and what advice he could give to would be entrepreneurs...   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RsfD7SrjqA&feature=youtu.be   You can Reserve & Collect Riding the Storm from your local Waterstones bookshop (http://bit.ly/19SlMY8), buy it online at Waterstones.com (http://bit.ly/15GkaFh) or download it in ePub format (http://bit.ly/18Jnuho)   For more information about the Cheltenham Literature Festival, and to buy tickets, click here (http://bit.ly/GD2KgS)  

Craig Revel Horwood's new book, Tales from the Dance Floor, not only sheds light on some of the back stage shenanigans of Strictly Come Dancing, but also on the true nature of the award-winning dancer, choreographer and director...   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sisr2Oh2sjc&feature=youtu.be   You can Reserve & Collect Tales from the Dance Floor from your local Waterstones bookshop (http://bit.ly/18nWfIE) or buy it online at Waterstones.com (http://bit.ly/18JB2HU)   For more information about the Cheltenham Literature Festival, and to buy tickets, click here (http://bit.ly/GD2KgS)  

We had the pleasure of speaking to Neil McKenna this afternoon about his book Fanny & Stella: The Young Men Who Shocked Victorian England... It was the scandal that gripped the nation; a story that had everything - gay sex, cross-dressing, prostitution, a state trial, conspiracy... But at the centre says Neil McKenna are two brave young men. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWONz5YfVWY&feature=youtu.be Read the exclusive blog posts which Neil wrote for us last year in recognition of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) History Month, where he pieces together and finds a pattern in some fragments from his life as a writer. You can Reserve & Collect Fanny and Stella: The Young Men Who Shocked Victorian England from your local Waterstones bookshop (http://bit.ly/1fFdviV), buy it online at Waterstones.com (http://bit.ly/GzEGvC) or download it in ePub format (http://bit.ly/16cM8a1)   For more information about the Cheltenham Literature Festival, and to buy tickets, click here (http://bit.ly/GD2KgS)    

Louis de Bernières treated us to a reading from his début poetry collection, Imagining Alexandria: Poems in Memory of C.P. Cavafy... Although he achieved his success as a novelist, Louis de Bernières has always written, and loved writing, poetry. We spoke to him about his collection Imagining Alexandria and the poet who inspired it, C.P. Cavafy... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTRhhMj8Gpw&feature=youtu.be   You can Reserve & Collect Imagining Alexandria: Poems in Memory of C.P. Cavafy from your local Waterstones bookshop (http://bit.ly/150myEk), buy it online at Waterstones.com (http://bit.ly/1dTHsHN) or download it in ePub format (http://bit.ly/GzzWqx) For more information about the Cheltenham Literature Festival, and to buy tickets, click here (http://bit.ly/GD2KgS)

What does the future hold? It's in your hands says Mark Stevenson... We spoke with Mark Stevenson about future-fear, the possibilities of being a possibilist, and why making a film isn't as easy as it sounds. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1N-L28Scq_g&feature=youtu.be You can Reserve & Collect An Optimist's Tour of the Future from your local Waterstones bookshop (http://bit.ly/1dTBbvB), buy it online at Waterstones.com (http://bit.ly/18Ja1pS) or download it in ePub format (http://bit.ly/15HSY3B) Visit The League of Pragmatic Optimists for more on Mark's vision   For more information about the Cheltenham Literature Festival, and to buy tickets, click here (http://bit.ly/GD2KgS)

We spoke to our second rock & roll legend of the week today at Cheltenham: Graham Nash... Twice inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Graham Nash has come a long way since his childhood in Salford. He told us about the first time he sang with David Crosby and Stephen Stills, what his only regrets are, and why he only ever looks to the future... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpo92oXdejs You can Reserve & Collect Wild Tales from your local Waterstones bookshop (http://bit.ly/1fZuuKw) or buy it online at Waterstones.com (http://bit.ly/15HXhMb) For more information about the Cheltenham Literature Festival, and to buy tickets, click here (http://bit.ly/GD2KgS)

Historian, biographer and novelist Miranda Seymour told us why three-hundred years of Anglo-German friendship is not something to be forgotten... In her new book Noble Endeavours, Miranda Seymour outlines a history of mutual respect, admiration, collaboration and inspiration between the nations of Britain and Germany which lasted three centuries until the World Wars, and "twelve years of monstrous meditated evil" clouded our memories. Her book is here to offer an insight into this fascinating forgotten period, and also "a handshake to history", in the hope of rekindling past friendships... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAENX8AdbB4&feature=youtu.be   You can Reserve & Collect Noble Endeavours: The Life of Two Countries, England and Germany, in Many Stories from your local Waterstones bookshop (http://bit.ly/GzGyEg), buy it online at Waterstones.com (http://bit.ly/16TePo5) or download it in ePub format (http://bit.ly/16Eh7hB)   For more information about the Cheltenham Literature Festival, and to buy tickets, click here (http://bit.ly/GD2KgS)

This afternoon we spoke to Katie Waldegrave, whose debut biography The Poets' Daughters tells the often overlooked story of Dora Wordsworth and Sara Coleridge... Growing up together, Dora Wordsworth and Sara Coleridge shared a friendship born out of mutual understanding that their fathers were not like other people's. Katie Waldegrave tells us how she was drawn to tell the story of these two extraordinary, and sometimes tragic lives...   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiWQGGRSEdI   You can Reserve & Collect The Poets' Daughters from your local Waterstones bookshop (http://bit.ly/170HR61), buy it online at Waterstones.com (http://bit.ly/GzGAfv) or download it in ePub format (http://bit.ly/18JhbKO)   For more information about the Cheltenham Literature Festival, and to buy tickets, click here (http://bit.ly/GD2KgS)

We spoke to Victoria Hislop about her anthology The Story: Love, Loss, and the Lives of Women...  Victoria Hislop told us how she has been gradually drawn into the world of the short story, what it is about them that she finds so alluring, and why Nicola Barker is a better choice for reading on the tube than Alice Munro. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZfvRVBWNkw&feature=youtu.be You can Reserve & Collect The Story: Love, Loss, and the Lives of Women from your local Waterstones bookshop (http://bit.ly/1bAPneF), buy it online at Waterstones.com (http://bit.ly/1bAPlnd), or in ePub format (http://bit.ly/1bAPpTN)

On a sunny Sunday in Cheltenham, we caught up with Sarah J. Maas to talk about her Throne of Glass series... Hot-foot from London Film and Comic Con 2013, YA sensation Sarah J. Maas talked to us about her own teen reading habits, why Buffy is the best and it's "awesome" to be a geek" , and why her online community of fans is so important to her... We also surprised her with a couple of questions from her fellow Bloomsbury author Sammantha Shannon... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnKq6K15x_M&feature=youtu.be You can Reserve & Collect Crown of Midnight, the second book in the Throne of Glass series, from your local Waterstones bookshop (http://bit.ly/15TJmCT), or buy it online at Waterstones.com (http://bit.ly/15TJkuR) For more information about the Cheltenham Literature Festival, and to buy tickets, click here (http://bit.ly/GD2KgS)

Film maker and adventurer Graham Hoyland spoke to us this afternoon about the deadly allure of Mount Everest... Having learned of the mysterious disappearance of the 1924 Mallory-Irvine expedition when he was just twelve, Graham Hoyland became not only obsessed with the mountain itself - he wound up being the fifteenth Brit to make it to the summit - but also with discovering the truth behind those last fateful hours on Everest. Did they make it to the top? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_q2iqg5S_g&feature=youtu.be You can Reserve & Collect Last Hours on Everest from your local Waterstones bookshop (http://bit.ly/15TYkJ5), buy it online at Waterstones.com (http://bit.ly/15TYgcu) or download it in ePub format (http://bit.ly/15TYiRy)   For more information about the Cheltenham Literature Festival, and to buy tickets, click here (http://bit.ly/GD2KgS)

We caught up with the quite frankly hilarious Louise Rennison this afternoon at Cheltenham, and we're very glad we did... The queen of teen comedy spoke to us about her latest book - The Taming of the Tights, why she recently got sent to see the headmistress herself, and how she came to have a fully-functioning snog-o-meter in her house... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBIMgcEf6Pg You can Reserve & Collect The Taming of the Tights from your local Waterstones bookshop (http://bit.ly/1geacgm), or buy it online at Waterstones.com (http://bit.ly/1gea7JI) For more information about the Cheltenham Literature Festival, and to buy tickets, click here (http://bit.ly/GD2KgS)

Biographer and historian Philip Ziegler has turned his eye from kings and prime ministers to the king of theatre, Laurence Olivier... "I've always been stage-struck" Philip Ziegler told us when we spoke to him today about all things Larry. Yet writing this book has been a challenge like no other, since even by the admission of Olivier's own friends, he was a hard man to truly know... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2C-skVLrq54&feature=youtu.be You can Reserve & Collect Olivier from your local Waterstones bookshop (http://bit.ly/19rRtXD), buy it online at Waterstones.com (http://bit.ly/19rRs64) or download it in ePub format (http://bit.ly/19rRv1A) For more information about the Cheltenham Literature Festival, and to buy tickets, click here (http://bit.ly/GD2KgS)