Hoonaloon News September 2012

We`ll start this month`s newsletter with Berlie Doherty`s `A Beautiful Place for a Murder`. Doherty, a denizen of Derbyshire, is a prolific writer who embraces a variety of genres and formats. She is best known for her work for younger readers but does in fact write for adults as well. Encounter bookish Berlie at number 5292 in our listings, or visit her website at www.berliedoherty.com .

 

 

At 5279 we have Harold H Mather`s Clock and Watch Makers of Nottinghamshire. Horological Harold, a descendant of one of Bonnie Prince Charlie`s soldiers,  was something of a `gifted amateur` where antique timepieces were concerned and repaired/restored a number of those held in Nottinghamshire museums.

 

 

 

Over the pond and a world away, at 5247 we have Charles E Cobb Jr`s On the Road to Freedom ; A  Guided Tour of the Civil Rights Trail.

 

Cobb is well qualified to write on the Civil Rights movement, having been a field officer for the Student Nonviolent Co-Ordinating Committee and a prime mover in the establishment of `Freedom Schools`.

 

 

That`s all for this month, but remember, at any given time we have around 4,000 titles available online stock, with new titles added five times a week.

 

As explained in my previous posting, many of the items we are currently offering for sale have  been reduced in price by 25% (offer ends 15 Sept 2012).

 

In most cases we only have one copy of each book, so buy now to avoid disappointment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

News From Hoonaloon 31 August 2012

Our next monthly newsletter will be along shortly. In the meantime I just want to mention that a substantial portion of our stock is available now at dramatically discounted prices.

During our sale in July, we discounted all of the stock we were offering  for sale on ABE by 25%.

When the sale ended, we entered into an arrangement with ABE whereby those items that had been discounted as part of the sale continued to be offered at the discounted price, but new items added to our stock after the sale ended went online at the full price.

It`s no secret that retailers of all sorts are having to offer generous discounts to keep sales constant in these difficult economic times.

We are no exception to that, and for that reason, we are extending the arrangement we have with ABE until 15 Sept 2012 - all the stock that was discounted as part of the sale in July continues to be discounted, but items added after the sale ended are online at their full price.

Remember in most cases we only have one copy of each book  and once they`re gone they are in fact  gone, so grab yourself a bargain while stocks last. 

And don`t forget - Respect the Book !

Hoonaloon News August 2012

BIG NEWS ON BARGAIN BOOKS !

Our latest sale has now officially ended. However, as it was going well, we`ve come to an arrangement with ABE whereby all the books we still have that were reduced in the sale are still reduced, but all the new titles we add are going on at full price.

This will help us keep a constantly changing stock and also cater to current trends as it`s clear that book buyers are becoming more and more price-conscious. Understandable, in these troubled times.

We`ve not yet decided how long to continue with this arrangement, so buy now to avoid disappointment.

A FEW RECENT ADDITIONS TO OUR STOCK

We continue to stock a comprehensive crime section. It may well be that you`ve caught one of Alexander McGregor`s appearances on TV documentaries and if so you may well be tempted to savour one of his literary offerings. The Law Killers is his most successful book to date and our copy can be found at 5191 in our listings. Browse our catalogue if you wish to discover the full range of murder and mayhem that we have to offer.

Old Sibthorpian Daniel Taylor began his journalistic career with the Newark and South Notts Advertiser before moving on to more esteemed periodicals. His passion for Nottingham Forest continues unabated and finds an outlet in this worthy tome, which you will find at 5187 in our listings.

This attractive volume is an antiquarian pocket-sized hardback edition of R L Stevenson`s Catriona and can be found at 5234 in our listings. Books of this sort were the ancestors of today`s paperback and were aimed at working people who wanted something stylish, affordable and durable they could slip into their pocket and take to work. Many have survived to the present day and they continue to be cheap, practical ways of  acquiring the literature of the past. More fun than a Kindle ! 

That`s all for now, bargain hunters. If you wish to keep up to date with our other activities and obssessions, fell free to visit http://bookshelvesandbrownale.blogspot.com and/or http://thesextonblakeblog.blogspot.com .

All the Best,

Nick and Ann-Marie Osmond

Hoonaloon Books

Hoonaloon News July 2012

Nefarious doings in the Netherlands ! At 5104 in our listings, Janwillem Van de Wetering`s Hard Rain (number 11 in the author`s Amsterdam Cops series), finds detectives Grijpstra and de Gier investigating a series of killings and having to deal with the obstructiveness of corrupt officials along the way. "A fast-moving story that combines action, detection, satire, Zen philosophy and pure fun" - Fantastic Fiction.

Leicestrian literature looms large in our listings lately. Copies of J D Bennett`s `John Flower 1793 - 1961` can be found at 5092 and 5116 in our current catalogue, while the same author`s `Leicestershire Architects 1700 - 1850` is at 5093. For good measure, copies of Albert Robinson`s `The Whitwick and New Swannington Comforts Fund` can be found at 5105 and 5115, whilst Dennis Baker`s `Whitwick Schools at War` is at 5106.

Created  by writer Helen Wells (aka Helen Weinstock, Francine Lewis), Cherry Ames was a nurse with a sideline in crime-fighting and mystery-solving. You wonder where she found the time ! The Cherry Ames series was long-running (1943 - 1968), though not all the books were written by Wells - some were the work of Julie Tatham.

The theme of crimes solved  by an assertive young career woman fits nicely with modern sensibilities, which is probably one of the reasons a number of the Cherry Ames adventures are currently in print. A member of Mystery Writers of America, Ms Wells wrote many mystery stories aimed at a readership of teenage girls, usually involving an ambitious female lead character who solves cases that have baffled others. 

The two Ames mysteries in our stock at present are ;

5113 Julie Tatham - Cherry Ames, Mountaineer Nurse - World Distributors (UK) - 1963

5114 Helen Wells - Cherry Ames, Senior Nurse - World Distributors (UK) - 1963

AND FINALLY...

Perhaps I could take this opportunity to remind you that the current Hoonalooon Books Sale is currently underway and that all the books we currently have on sale via ABE have been reduced in price by 25%.

The sale will end on 27 July 2012

And remember our slogan - Respect the Book !

Hoonaloon Books Sale July 2012

Our latest sale is already underway and runs from 1 July 2012 -  27 July 2012.

All the items we have on sale via ABE will be discounted by 25%.

The discount has already been deducted from our listings, so all you have to do is choose your books and place your order.

Our usual monthly newsletter will be appearing soon - I had hoped to have it online already but, not for the first time, events have overtaken me.

Any questions, just get in touch.


Nick & Ann-Marie
Hoonaloon Books

P.S. While you await the dubious delights of the next newsletter, here are a few of the more recent additions to our stock. These three are not yet showing up online, but should appear within the next 24 hours.  

Hoonaloon News June 2012

Based in Leicestershire, David Bell (unconnected to the American novelist of the same name) is a former headmaster turned professional writer. For a while he wrote horror and crime stories, sometimes under the name Jack Wainer, but has made his name with numerous non-fiction books with a regional theme (Ghosts and Legends of Staffordshire and the Black Country, Leicestershire and Rutland Murder Casebook, Memories of the Nottinghamshire Coalfields and many others.

He is active in the Ashby Writers Club (www.ashbywritersclub.com) and the Crime writer`s association (www.thecwa.co.uk). Although normally published by Countryside Books, he has one book published by the Nottingham-based Five Leaves.

At present, we have two books by David Bell in stock, 5058  - Staffordshire and the Black Country Murder Casebook (pictured) and 4806 - Derbyshire Tales of Mystery and Murder. See our listings for details of condition and price.

At 5068 in our listings we have a US 1st edition of  Stones From the River, a major novel from German-born American writer Ursula Hegi.

Many of Hegi`s works explore her conflicted feelings about her German ancestry, and that is particularly true of this book, which looks at the impact of Nazism on the inhabitants of a fictitious German town.

Catherine Fletcher`s Our Man in Rome : Henry VIII and his Italian Ambassador (known in the US as The Divorce of Henry VIII) tells the story of Gregorio Casali, known as The Cavalier, Henry VIII`s ambassador to Rome from 1525 - 33 and the behind-the-scenes diplomatic intrigues behind Henry`s divorce from Catherine of Aragon.

Our copy is at 5078 in our listings.

J R Hale aka Sir John Hale aka John Rigby Hale was a British academic and a noted authority on Renaissance History.

The Renaissance in Europe was originally entitled Renaissance Europe ; Individual and Society 1480 - 1520.

Originally published by Collins in 1971, and later by Blackwells in 2000. This Folio edition largely follows the Blackwells edition. Despite my rather clumsy attempt to take a picture of it, it is a particularly fine volume, as Folios always are.

The Renaissance in Europe appears at 5076 in our listings.

As ever, if you have any questions, don`t hesitate to get in touch.

Hoonaloon News May 2012

Our April sale is now officially over. However, for an interim period the 30% discount is still being applied to all the items we put online before 27 April 2012, i.e. the vast majority of the books we have in stock.   The only exceptions to this are a handful of items that we have reduced in price by a greater percentage than 30% in order to clear them quickly, though these are few in number.

Items we have put online on 27 April 2012 and afterwards are not as yet discounted, though we will be having sales on a regular basis.

Here are a few recent additions to our catalogue ;

4976 Pauline Gedge - Child of the Morning

I had always understood that  the Pharaoh Hatshepshut was the only woman ruler of Ancient Egypt, but apparently that may not actually be the case. Nevertheless, she was one of the more remarkable characters to be encountered in the annals of ancient history.

This historical novel based on her life was published by the Chicago Review Press.

5014 Marta Cardona - Spanish Rose, Yorkshire Thorns (signed copy).

Set in Leeds and Huddersfield in the 1950s and 1960s, this novel tells of central character Maria and the struggles in life which lead her to find a strength and independence she would never have thought possible.

5012 Nina Warner Hooke - The Starveling

Nina Warner Hooke was (is ?) a prolific writer of children`s books, many of which feature the adventures of an animal. In this case, obviously, the story centres around the life of a cat. If you have a fondness for our four-footed feline friends this attractive novel may well be for you.

4962 and 5013 - Keith Reedman and others - A Corner of Derbyshire Volume II

This collection of old photographs was compiled by local historian Keith Reedman and others and was published by the Friends of the Erewash Museum. An essential item for anyone interested in the history of Derbyshire.

5019 - Catherine Darby - A Dream of Fair Serpents. What possessed budding writer Maureen Peters to adopt the pen-name Catherine Darby we may never know, but obviously it worked as I notice she has received the ultimate accolade accorded to any writer of imaginative fiction - her own page on the Fantastic Fiction web site ! As you can see, this novel, noted for it`s mix of fantasy/science fiction with historical fiction, also features a striking dust jacket design by legendary illustrator Biro.

That`s all for now. Any questions, just ask.