| Dear Readers,
We are now squarely into the period where people are doing their reading from deck chairs, hammocks, beaches (don’t fall asleep or some clever so-and-so will bury you up to your neck in sand, you know what they’re like), pavement cafes, pub gardens etc.
It is somehow always surprising just how much the rhythm here changes over the school summer holidays. We generally avoid scheduling events during this period for this very reason, but when the author is based abroad we don’t always have the flexibility around dates we might otherwise have. This is the case with Michael Winkler, who is based in Australia but is in the UK for a brief period in August. Thus far we’ve not had many takers for our talk scheduled on Tuesday 8th August. We knew it would be a risk to go ahead with so many people out of the city, but this is a brilliant opportunity to hear a really fascinating author discuss his work, and it would be a real shame to let this one go, so we thought it would be worth putting the word out one more time.
Grimmish really is an extraordinary book. Winkler borrows from real life for his protagonist, in the form of Joe Grim (1881-1939) variously known in his time as ‘The Iron Man’ and ‘The Human Punching Bag’. He was an incredible figure in his own right (have a look at the Wikipedia page for him here). He’s the driving force behind the narrative in Grimmish, travelling America and then all the way to Australia in a bizarre odyssey to seek out the most destructive fighters of his time, and prove none of them can dish out more than he can take. This is a book about human motivations, both extreme and banal. It is rich with invention, brilliantly written, and genuinely one of a kind. I loved it, and I’m confident the conversation with Winkler will be absolutely intriguing.
Tickets are priced £5 and are available here or in store.
Happy summer reading everyone,
Tom, Leah & Joe |
