50 Shades and Me

Posted on March 7, 2015 by vanessa

50 shadesWith the release of the screen adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey, I’ve been thinking about our decision not to stock the trilogy despite its breath-taking sales back when The Husband and I owned The Edinburgh Bookshop and the various responses to our decision.

It had been around in electronic format for a while – eagerly devoured on phones and ereaders by those who could now savour the author’s deathless prose while maintaining a pretence that they were immersed in Dostoevsky or Murakami – and then came out in print in early 2012 to enormous press coverage. A whole new genre, the icky-sounding ‘mommy porn’ was created.

We didn’t like the book and following a lot of discussion we decided not to stock it. Besides, Tesco over the road were knocking it out for half-price and we probably wouldn’t sell more than a handful anyway so it was hardly going to have any impact on our bottom line. I can only recall one customer asking about it and that was more from idle curiosity than a desire to actually buy it. The first book in the trilogy became the biggest selling book ever in the UK and it’s easy to assume that declining to put it on the shelf must have been madness.

It wasn’t a book that would sell well for independent retailers though – it was tailor made for heavy discounting in supermarkets and anonymous purchasing online.  Independent booksellers I contacted while writing this said that sales were negligible – one said 17 copies in 2012 and none since; another said five. On a cover price of £7.99 we probably missed out on £30 or so of gross profit, always assuming that the customer interested in buying it didn’t buy something else instead. We weren’t daft – we understood our particular market and knew that we could afford to stick to our priniciples on this one.

Our objections, shared by all the team, one of whom bravely read all of the first book just to see how bad it really was (I just skimmed through but that was enough), fell into two categories.

Firstly, it was terrible. Really, really dreadful. This piece picks out some of the most excruciating passages  but for me the first on their list exemplifies the leaden prose: “His voice is warm and husky like dark melted chocolate fudge caramel… or something.” Or something? Go on, ELJ, you’re the writer – you tell us.  And has chocolate ever been ‘husky’? Sounds slightly mouldy to me and I’m pretty sure that wasn’t the intention.  And that was before we got to Anastasia’s dancing inner goddess. When we first opened the shop we said that we weren’t going to stock crap books. We might stock titles that we didn’t personally like or which we didn’t agree with but not actual drivel.  And it was generally agreed by all that 50 Shades definitely fell into that category.

The biggest objection though was that it depicts an abusive, controlling relationship and glamorises it, portraying it as something to be aspired to. It wasn’t the BDSM element that bothered me, although plenty of people have written about the books’ failure to acurately depict a true BDSM relationshop.  That type of sex doesn’t float my personal boat so I’m happy to take their word for it. And it wasn’t the supposed eroticism because we happily stocked Colette, Anais Nin et al – clearly our customers preferred their smut French and in translation.

Anastasia and Christian’s relationship is, without question, abusive. He isolates her from her family and friends; when having sex she asks him to stop and he doesn’t; he sets out all kinds of rules in their relationship from the frequency of her trips to the gym to what she eats; he stalks her… You get my drift. Is it because Christian is a billionaire that we’re supposed to see as desirable traits which wouldn’t be acceptable if he were a bin man or an accountant?

An abusive relationship isn’t necessarily violent as Polly Neate, Chief Exec of Women’s Aid explains in this piece.  Christian’s behaviour made us very uncomfortable. If Anastasia was our friend we’d be begging her to end this and to get a restraining order if he continued to stalk her.  Most women are all to aware where this sort of controlling behaviour can lead and it’s more likely to be a police station or an A&E department than a happy ever after.

Maybe we just thought too much about the negative aspects of this book and didn’t see them as just a bit of fun to read on the morning commute. Maybe you read it and thought it was just harmless entertainment. Maybe we had a romantic idea of book-selling. Maybe we needed to get off our high horse? Maybe.

But not selling drivel was a cornerstone for us and not promoting abusive relationships as aspirational was a principle we felt was important. To criticise it has laid us open to allegations of being intellectual snobs, overly romantic about the nature of bookselling, prudish and all sorts. But to embrace 50 Shades  as the very apogee of a fulfilling relationship? What does that make those people?

So much as the 50 Shades movie looks to be hysterically bad, I won’t be going to see it, not even in an ironic sense with my most feminist girlfriends. And I’m pleased that by not contributing to the economic weight of the franchise, whether in books, film or furry handcuff form, nor am I contributing to the normalisation of abuse.

*I should point out in case anyone goes in the bookshop and finds 50 Shades there, that we sold it a couple of years ago and that what the new owner stocks is of course completely up to her.

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Friday Favourites

Posted on February 20, 2015 by vanessa
Carturesti Carusel - probably the most beautiful bookshop in the world...

Carturesti Carusel – probably the most beautiful bookshop in the world…

This week’s selection of things that have interested me this week include the most beautiful bookshop I’ve ever seen; a fascinating lunch party in the 1920s, the intriguing life of a New York heiress and the sad tale of how Edinburgh’s architectural history is being gradually decimated…

With the opening of the Carturesti Carusel bookshop, Bucharest in Romania has now made it onto my list of places to visit.  This beautiful new bookshop has just opened with a stock of 10,000 books, 5,000 albums and DVDs, a cafe, a bistro, event space… The bookshop every bookseller would love to work in.  More pictures of the stunning interior and its very glamorous opening party here.

The Algonquin Round Table was a group of writers, publisher, actors, directors and journalists who met for lunch at New York’s Algonquin Hotel in the 1920s. Dorothy Parker, George S Kaufman, Harpo Marx, Jane Grant…. Those were lunches I’d love to have been at.

Staying in New York for the time being, this post on the always-fascinating Messy Nessy blog caught my attention.  Hugette Clark, an immensely wealthy American heiress died in 2010 at the age of 104, having spent the last 20 years of her life closeted away from her family in a private hospital.  She owned a number of stunning homes, including one in Connecticut that she didn’t visit from the time she bought it in 1951, and all were kept immaculately maintained despite her absence. When she died, her family fought over her will and there were court cases where the medical staff and lawyers who had benefitted from her largess in recent years were accused of manipulation and theft.  A book has been written by a journalist and one of the few relatives to have seen her in recent years and I think I’ll get hold of a copy. Such a sad life but intriguing.

Finally, this story in the Edinburgh Evening News flags up yet more of the demolition planned for the city centre. Given that a large chunk of the city is a UNESCO World Heritage site I’m always amazed by the council’s cavalier attitude to development, happy to see anything knocked down, regardless of its listing or historical significance, in order to build yet another cheap hotel or glass-fronted office block.  That UNESCO status must be under threat and the loss of that will surely dent the level of tourism and thus income currently enjoyed by the city.  Given that we can’t even add a dormer window to the listed building we own, it’s no wonder that council members are regularly accused of accepting fat brown envelopes from developers.

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Friday Favourites…

Posted on February 13, 2015 by vanessa
Some February sunshine. Spring is on its way - I can feel it hovering in the wings.

Some February sunshine. Spring is on its way – I can feel it hovering in the wings.

I enjoy putting together these Friday Favourites posts. It’s a random – sometimes very random – collection of things I’ve come across, the tabs I’ve had open all week, often sites or stories that I want to share with readers and also bookmark for myself for later.  I know that I’ll revisit some of them whether it’s deserted towns in New England (I mean, what a perfect setting for a crime novel) or the Advanced Style documentary at some point in the future.  Do add a comment with a link to the most interesting thing you’ve seen recently – it’s always good to see the flights of fancy that catch other people’s eyes.

Kate Saunders is a great author. I loved her novels such as Lily Josephine and Wild Young Bohemians in the late 90s and more recently she’s turned to writing for children. Her most recent book – winner of the Costa Children’s Book Award – is Five Children on the Western Front and is a follow-on of E Nesbit’s Five Children and It. I loved E Nesbit’s books as a child and Saunders’ book is marvellous – it moves the story on to the First World War and the children have grown up, variously at university and in the army and so on. Even The Lamb is now a far more grown-up 11. I’m not going to review the book as I’ve mentioned it earlier, but this interview in The Telegraph was fascinating and gave a great insight into both author and book, including the impact that her son’s suicide had on her. Her descriptions of the aftermath of Felix’s death is incredibly moving – as a mother I don’t even know how you go on after that – but it helped her to convey the impact of the war in a more personal way. Hundreds of thousands of young men died, but every one was someone’s son and every one had a more left to cope with that unimaginable loss.  Do read the book – it’s very definitely not just for children.

This post on Vanity Fair’s site by Robert McCrum was also interesting, discussing whether the every-growing number of literary festivals actually offer anything positive to authors. Some enjoy the opportunity to get out of their study and talk to their readers, some enjoy being treated like a minor celeb for a day while others like the opportunity to catch up with other writers. He also discussed the contentious issue of payment for authors – if a festival has a sold out event for 400 people who’ve all paid a tenner is it fair to pay the author with a jar of jam or a few bottles of Cava? After all, the organisers, promoters, booksellers, front of house staff etc aren’t usually working for nothing?

Also, this piece by Anthony Quinn about how although his new novel, Curtain Call, is more plot driven that most of his other books, and how that plot grew out of the characters rather than being the basis upon which the characters were built, is very interesting.  He says that the advice given by Hilary Mantel was foremost in his mind: “If you make your characters properly they will simply do what is within them, they’ll act out the nature you have given them, and there – you’ll find – you have your plot”. Curtain Call is on my tbr pile at present and I’m hoping to get to it soon.

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The books we give to others.

Posted on January 26, 2015 by vanessa

Bookshelves in our sitting room. From www.vanessarobertson.co.ukAn article in The Telegraph last week asked what are the books we find ourselves giving as gifts again and again and again.  It set me thinking; I give books as gifts frequently although it sometimes strikes me that some people are less than enthusiastic about receiving them. Maybe they think that it’s lazy because we work in the book trade and that I should put more effort into my present-buying, tramping the streets in the December rain and snow like everyone else?  Many of my friends and family love to receive books though and I have a two year niece who is particularly enthusiastic about books and it’s a joy to choose titles for her.

Thinking about it though, I realised that there are a few books that I give to people again and again. Not necessarily because they’re great literature but because they’re fun or comforting or beautifully written.

One is Hens Dancing by Raffaella Barker – I bought this in hardback in Borders on Oxford Street when I was pregnant just before I got on the train back to Edinburgh and had a lovely time curled up with it while we rattled through England and the Scottish borders. It’s the story of newly divorced Venetia, living in the Norfolk countryside with her three children and it’s warm and funny and elegantly written.  I re-read it surprisingly often – it’s the literary equivalent of a glass of chilled Sauvignon in the garden. To be honest, it’s perfect for reading in the garden with a glass of something cold and cheerful.  The hardback edition was gorgeous and until recently I would try to get hold of that to give to people but they’re getting harder to find though. I should probably try and stockpile a few.  Raffaella’s newest book – From A Distance – is great too.

For a long time my default book gift for teenage girls was Dodie Smith’s I Capture The Castle. It’s perfect from the opening line of ‘I write this sitting in the kitchen sink…’ and it has everything from eccentric family members, to a crumbling castle to falling in love for the first time. Really, it’s exquisite and if you haven’t read it you should.  The more recent addition to my book gift repertoire is How To Be A Woman by Caitlin Moran which is a great way to introduce girls to feminism – what it is and why it still matters.  It’s a polemic that romps through such issues as Brazilian waxing, abortion, the pay-gap and why we’ll know that women have actual power when Rhianna gets to wear a cardigan in her videos. It’s frank and funny and a regular gift for 16 year old girls to get them thinking about the place they want to occupy in the world.

Finally, my other frequently given book is The Diary of a Provincial Lady by E M Delafield.  I own this in about four different editions and my favourite is the battered old green-spined Virago which contains all four of the Provincial Lady. Now though Persephone have published in their gorgeous dove-grey standard format and I snatched one up last time I was in their shop in Bloomsbury. So many people will be receiving this from now on although there are so many Persephone titles I like to give – Miss Buncle’s Book by D E Stevenson for one.

What books are your standbys for gifts?

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Sunshine between the showers

Posted on January 17, 2015 by vanessa
Our current project in rural Fife

Our current project in rural Fife

Our current renovation project is a cottage in a converted stableyard in Fife (the picture on the left is deceptive – because of the layout of the courtyard it has only a little frontage but goes back into the corner and is really quite spacious) and yesterday I went over with The Husband, to see how it’s coming on. I also took my laptop and lit the wood burning stove so that I could work there for a while while The Husband carried on with whatever it is he’s doing to the kitchen electrics.  It was quite cosy despite the chaos.

 

Entrance to Inzievar courtyard - now converted to cottages

Entrance to the courtyard – everyone’s home should have battlements. Fact.

It was also one of those gloriously crisp, sunny January days and after lunch I went for a wander around the grounds. The estate belonged to the Smith-Sligo family and in the early 1980s, it was divided up by a local builder with the mansion house being converted into half a dozen apartments with the stableyard, gardeners cottages etc now comprising 12 cottages.  We all share 10 acres or so of grounds which is lovely – we all pay £40 per month to cover the cost of maintenance and a gardener. Beyond the grounds are woods, owned and thus protected by the Woodland Trust. It is truly idyllic. Although the house and courtyard and our grounds are private , the woodlands surrounding them are managed by Scottish Wood and can be walked in by anyone.

Most of these photos are of the main house and grounds as the sun had gone off the courtyard – the sun is so low at this time of year – but I’ll take some more soon.

Inzievar House. Turrets and battlements and an orangery - I covet one of the apartments in the mansion house.

Inzievar House. Turrets and battlements and an orangery – I covet one of the apartments in the mansion house.

As you can see, the baronial mansion house is quite something with its turrets and towers. The Smith-Sligos were an industrial family who owned various coal mines, iron works and so on. I have a feeling – not as yet backed up by any actual research but it’s something I’m going to look into when I have time – that Archibald Smith was new money, hyphenated the Sligo part onto his name and hired the emminent and very fashionable Edinburgh architect David Bryce in order to establish himself in a society that would have been quite snobbish towards the newly-minted.

Recess and stone bench - if it wasn't actually underneath one of my neighbour's windows, I'd love to curl up there with a book.

Recess and stone bench – if it wasn’t actually underneath one of my neighbour’s windows, I’d love to curl up there with a book.

I love the details of this style of architecture. Look at this little bench, set into a recess and looking out over the lawn and the fields towards the Firth of Forth. Isn’t it sweet? The buildings manage to be both impressive but there’s also an intimacy in the details. Can’t you just imagine a peaceful half hour here with a book, or imagine Victorian ladies sitting there to watch croquet or to shelter from a sudden shower?

Inzievar House, Fife. South elevation

The Smith-Sligo crest

And here’s the Smith-Sligo crest on a wall plaque. There are several of these – Mr Smith-Sligo was very keen to make sure everyone knew that he’d created this estate.  I really must do a little research into him – in my head he’s a bluff man who’s proud of his success and wants to make sure everyone knows it.  He also – in my head – speaks with a Yorkshire accent in the manner of a Victorian ‘where there’s muck, there’s brass’ industrialist from Leeds but I’m aware that that’s my own imaginings. I have a feeling that he was actually from Kirkcaldy, just along the Forth.

Looking south towards the Forth and Edinburgh

Looking south towards the Forth and Edinburgh

And this is the view looking south toward the Firth of Forth. So peaceful. And look at that sky – so blue with little scudding clouds. What you can’t see is that it was so cold my fingers were almost too numb to work the camera.

Possibly an old curling pond?

Possibly an old curling pond?

We’re not sure what this is. I have a feeling that it may have been a curling pond at some point.  It definitely wasn’t a tennis court because that’s elsewhere.  It was certainly something though as it’s obviously been deliberately constructed for some purpose. Hopefully when I have time to spend in the National Library or wherever I’ll be able to find out.  If it was a curling pond how much fun would it be to have an Inzievar Bonspiel next winter? I know a lot of people who would get very excited about that!

So that’s where our current project is. I’ll take some pictures of the interior of our cottage next time I’m over there.

We bought it as a straightforward refurb-and-sell but it’s such a great location that we’re tempted to keep it, either as a rental or a holiday let. What do you think? Would you want to go on holiday there?

 

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