Friday, May 20, 2011

Waterstone's sold, Daunt in, Myers out

The Bookseller -20.05.11 | Lisa Campbell, Philip Jones and Graeme Neill

Waterstone's has been sold to Alexander Mamut's A&NN Group for £53m.

In a surprise move, James Daunt will run the bookseller as its managing director when the deal completes, with current m.d. Dominic Myers to take a new role within its former parent HMV Group. The new owner has promised "an undiluted commitment to books and bookselling".

HMV Group made the announcement to the City this morning. Upon completion of the deal, £40m will be paid with another £13m paid on 31st October. Daunt Books itself will remain independently run, as now, by its existing shop management. There is no mention of any involvement from the chain's founder Tim Waterstone, who it had been widely reported was working on the deal with Mamut.

The new owner said Daunt intended to oversee a comprehensive review of the business and operations of the bookseller. Daunt told The Bookseller: “The main observation I would make is that I am on the outside still and I don’t come in until 2nd July. I’m not the money guy, I am coming in to run it . . . This is an important investment from A&NN which will secure a dynamic future for the UK’s largest bookshop chain. I look forward to working with Alexander and with the Waterstone’s team, and in particular to the challenge of restoring a faith in excellent bookselling to the heart of the business."

In an email to staff, Myers said he had “enjoyed” his time at Waterstone’s and thanked staff for their skill and support. He said: “Everything that has been done in the last year has been achieved through the skill, motivation and sheer hard work of the fantastic team at Waterstone's—I thank them for their massive support and am delighted that this process will now allow them to really flourish. I'm sure the entire industry will join me in also wishing my successor well.”

HMV’s c.e.o Simon Fox hailed Myers’ “inspirational” leadership and said he had “re-energised” the store and “the bookselling skills for which our stores are renowned have been successfully revived”. He added: “Dominic and his highly skilled team have also resolved many of the operational challenges faced by the company, including the hub. As a result, the profitability of Waterstone's has improved significantly compared to the prior year, and Dominic's leadership of the business in a challenging time for the industry has earned the recognition of our book trade partners.”

The detail of the business plan and forward strategy would be "refined subsequently". Mamut said his investment had been inspired and motivated by the opportunity to refocus the core business of bookselling towards a renewed customer responsiveness. He said: "The opportunity ahead to reposition Waterstone’s as a regional and local community-orientated bookseller is an exciting one. The business enjoys a great loyalty from its customers and I believe that there is considerable integrity and value in the brand." Of Daunt, he said: "I am equally delighted that we will have in James Daunt an m.d. who shares my belief that Waterstone’s future success lies in an undiluted commitment to books and bookselling."

The deal, which HMV Group expects to go through by the end of June, is subject to shareholder approval, as well as the banks that have lent HMV Group cash. The retailer said banks were supportive of the disposal and were considering it in the light of the renegotiation of terms of money leant to HMV Group. However, it warned if it cannot renegotiate its debt, the sale will not go ahead.

HMV Group also revealed this morning Waterstone's had a like-for-like sales decline of 3.8% for the 12 months to the end of April with total sales down 4%. For the 17 weeks ending 30th April, like-for-like sales were down 8.4% and total sales down 11.3%. HMV Group blamed a "weak" book market and loss of share for the decline.
Nielsen BookScan figures show Waterstone's was performing worse than the wider book market. TCM sales were down 2.3% (£39m) year on year to £1.68bn, for the 52 weeks to 30th April. This year's TCM sales for the 17 weeks to 30th April were down 3.4% (£15.7m) year on year to £447m.
Mamut added: "We are extremely pleased to have reached an agreement to acquire Waterstone's and its great heritage. I believe that our investment and strategy will secure a dynamic future for the UK's largest selling bookshop chain and I look forward to working with its booksellers in building on the principle of excellent bookselling which is at the very heart of the business."

Verdict senior retail analyst Matt Piner said Mamut's purchase constituted a "gamble". He said: "Physical book stores have more of a lure than music stores, but this has not stopped them losing share to Amazon, supermarkets and latterly, e-readers and kindles. Mamut has shown real belief in the value of being the last man standing. In order for his investment to be successful he will have to continue restoring the specialist appeal of Waterstone's, as well as finding ways of ensuring it remains relevant as the digital market in particular continues to grow.”

Edward’s Legacy: The Elworthys of South Canterbury

Former publishers and owners of Shoal Bay Press, David Elworthy and Ros Henry, continue to publish the occasional book under their imprint Henry Elworthy Ltd. Their latest publication, the result of many years research, is Edward’s Legacy: The Elworthys of South Canterbury, written by Ros and David and first launched last weekend at a family property, Craigmore. The book will have its Christchurch launch on 25 May at UBS in Christchurch.

A highly-illustrated hardback of 416 pages, published in a limited edition of 600 numbered copies, the book tells the story of David’s great grandparents Edward and Sarah,whose families were woollen mill-owners in Somerset and cotton mill owners in Lancashire respectively. In 1864 Edward sailed to New Zealand where he established a large estate in the rolling limestone hills to the south-west of Timaru, where Elworthys still farm the land he carved out of the scrub 147 years ago. Other family members have since established themselves in a wide variety of professions up and down the country while some, such as Lord Elworthy of Timaru, have carved out successful careers back in the land of their forefathers.

SYDNEY WRITERS FESTIVAL - MEDIUM RAW

The full house sign was up for Anthony Bourdain's session and the audience response to him when he walked on stage could only be described as rapturous. Chairing this panel was another famous foodie, Jill Dupleix, and I have to confess that for me she was the main attraction of the afternoon! Freelance food writer, based in London and Sydney, she has some 14 cookbooks to her credit, and I have been a huge fan for many years.

In a nice play on words she warned Bourdain in her introduction that he was in for a grilling and although his new book is called Medium Raw he would probably feel well done by the end of the hour.
Her chairing of the session was perfect, she skilfully led the guest of honour with searching, thoughtful questions through his life of food, food writing and food television and his performance in turn was dazzling.

His new book, which I bought at the Festival bookstore (Glee Books) before going in to the theatre, is some thing of a sequel to his first book Kitchen Confidential, the book that made him a household name some 11 years ago. He confessed that when he wrote his first book he was frightened, angry and pretty desperate but today he is a happy man with the best job in the world and he is a very proud Dad of a little girl with whom he is clearly besotted.

In the wide ranging and always entertaining hour, during which for the most part he was serious and thoughtful, he talked about customers from hell, chefs from hell,restaurant critics, his "previous" life,his daughter (again), Marcus Piere White, E Bulli, Hunter Thompson, the expanding Asian influence on world cuisine, (which he welcomes), he recommended a number of countries with exciting cuisines - Turkey, Singapore, Brazil & Columbia, his marriage into a Sardinian family where he has learned much about the marriage of food and wine and their emphasis on good company, music and being laid regularly (!), the shame that Australian cheese makers are not allowed to make cheeses from unpasteurised milk, and right near the end he had a real swipe at the practice he observed at the Sydney fish market of oysters being rinsed after they were shucked. He said it was a sin and a malpractice.

This was a truly wonderful hour with two great foodies on the stage. I loved it.

Books set to live on in triumph of the quill

Malcolm Knox, Sydney Morning Herald, May 21, 2011

Bullish on the book's future ... author James Gleick is the closing speaker at the Sydney Writers' Festival tomorrow. Photo: Nick Moir

JAMES Gleick is aware of the oddity: coming to a readers' and writers' festival to deliver a speech titled ''Perish the Thought: the death (and/or resurrection) of the book''. Aptly, he has been given the Sydney Writers' Festival's closing-night slot.
But Gleick, the New York author of international bestsellers such as Chaos and his latest, The Information, forecasts continuing relevance for the printed word, albeit with ''a certain amount of insecure hopefulness''.
Technology has taken the book through various formats but Gleick says that for readers a book exists independently of the technological form that carries it. ''The book, for many of us, has nothing to do with the physical object. It's the thing that came out of the writer's head.''

Gleick's new book traces a history of increased global connectivity. Yet he does not fear that multiple distractions will destroy humans' capacity to read messages longer than 140 characters.
''I have to admit I spend some time on Twitter myself, but the whole history of the last century has been one distraction after another - the phonograph, radio, television - and reading has survived them all,'' he said.
''The bottom line is that some people are always going to have the ability and the desire to focus on one thing at a time and they will find things in books that they can't get in any other way.''

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/books-set-to-live-on-in-triumph-of-the-quill-20110520-1ewlh.html#ixzz1MxsCSVkG

Picture of innocence

Click for bigger.

Mail van has a mind of its own

LiveLeak link.

Family return $45,000 they found in attic of newly purchased home

A Utah man made an amazing discovery in the ceiling of the home he had just bought.

The Ferrin family had just moved into their new home when they found $45,000 stuffed in the ceiling.

They contacted relatives of the previous owner and returned the money. The family said they never even considered keeping the cash.

Full story with large photo gallery here.

News video here.

Teacher urinated into bin while teaching class

A substitute teacher at Riverdale Elementary, Georgia, spent the night at the Clayton County Jail after being arrested on Wednesday after, police said, he exposed himself and urinated into a trash can in front of a fourth grade class.

Coleman Eaton, 60, faces two counts of aggravated child molestation. After a hearing on Thursday, bond was set at $50,000 - $25,000 on each count of child molestation.

Investigators said Eaton was in the class with about 30 students. Students told police that Eaton told the class to turn around and not look, but a couple of students said they did.

Police said Eaton denied the accusations. But investigators said they do have evidence - the trash can.

With news video.

Confronted burglary suspect undressed and jumped into bath

A woman was arrested in a bath tub after being confronted by a homeowner.

Police were called to a burglary in progress at a home in Sacramento on Wednesday morning.

When the homeowner found the woman inside the home, the woman, Chara Lara, told the homeowner she lived there. When that lie didn’t work, Lara undressed and jumped into the tub for a bath.

Police struggled with Lara as she dressed and was handcuffed. She was not alone, however, police believe Lara had an accomplice who was able to take some of the victim’s power tools while Lara distracted the homeowner.

Stoner arrested for second time on drug charges

Police arrested a Florida man on drug charges for the second time in less than four years.

Glenn H. Stoner, 56, of Clearwater was charged with cultivation of marijuana and operating a drug house, both felonies, and a misdemeanor charge of possession of paraphernalia. In 2006 was arrested on charges of possession and manufacture of marijuana.

Clearwater police executing a search warrant found 19 marijuana plants and various indoor growing equipment, including irrigation systems and fertilizers, in Stoner's bedroom.

Stoner said he smokes all of the marijuana himself and said none belongs to his roommate. He was taken to the Pinellas County Jail with bond set at $10,150.

Minister with 'dead possum' haircut mocks baldheaded opponents

A New Zealand minister has hit out at critics of his "dead possum" haircut, chastising baldheaded foes who have mocked his manicured mane.

In a light-hearted video blog, Peter Dunne, the New Zealand revenue minister, said too much attention was paid to his bouffant hairstyle. "What's this thing about my hair? I'm getting a bit fed up with being described as having a dead possum on top, all sorts of other things like that," he said.

YouTube link.

"Some people who think it's untidy, it's too grey, it's too coiffured. The only thing that ever goes on this is a comb and a hairbrush," he added, waving a comb at the camera. "And I think it's really baldheaded men (behind the criticism)."

Dunne, the leader of the United Future Party, a minority partner in the conservative coalition government, said appearing on one high-profile current affairs show was awkward because the interviewer constantly stared at his hair.

Thieves steal 12 tonnes of snails

Polish police have arrested two suspects who stole 12 tonnes of snails gathered in the remote forests of northern Poland and destined for dinner plates in France as garlic-buttered escargot, local police said on Thursday.

"The two suspects broke into a depot belonging to a local wholesaler. Using their truck they made several trips back and forth stealing a large number of crates filled with snails," Karolina Gastol-Zawicka, a spokeswoman for police in Sztum, northern Poland said.

"It was 12 tonnes of snails. According to estimates, it was about 350,000 individual molluscs," she added.

Police caught the thieves a day after they made away with the escargots while they were trying to sell them to a different wholesaler in the region. The two men could spend up to 10 years behind bars.

Smuggled bees cause airport chaos

A swarm of bees, possibly escapees from a passenger's cage, disrupted domestic operations at Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 2, in the Philippines, on Thursday when they buzzed around the control panels of the moveable walkways used by passengers to board planes.

Personnel could not get near the control booth or attach the movable walkways, or aerobridges, to airplanes. Passengers were made to take the service stairs down the ramp, and were ferried to the baggage claim area by airport buses.

Giant vacuum cleaners and smoke were then used to shoo the bees away, a process which took 30 minutes. Airport general manager Jose Angel Honrado ordered an investigation of the bees’ origin and how they got to the airport.

Some airport personnel believed the bees could have escaped from a cage brought into Manila by a domestic passenger. Honrado ordered the Terminal Manager to coordinate with the Bureau of Animal Quarantine to determine the type of bees that swarmed the bridges.

Rare lion tamarin monkey born in UK

One of the world's most endangered primates has been born at the headquarters of the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust. The male baby black lion tamarin monkey is the first born outside of Brazil for eight years. The species of monkey is critically endangered in the wild, with fewer than 1,000 black lion tamarins remaining. Named Francisco, the baby's arrival will help efforts to reintroduce the species to its native habitat.

Black lion tamarins (Leontopithecus chrysopygus) are small agile monkeys, which have silky long black hair and a mane around their heads. Adults are 25-33cm long with a slightly longer tail, and weigh 550-700g. The species only survives in 11 localities in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil. This rarity led the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, an internal charity based in Jersey that works to save species from extinction, to begin a captive breeding programme of the species.

Francisco was born on 22 March this year by Caesarean section. Durrell delayed announcing his birth until keepers were confident he had made it past his potentially risky early few weeks of life. "This birth is great news; monitoring and successfully delivering the baby has been a very tricky event to manage," says Mark Brayshaw, head of Durrell's animal collection. He is the first healthy baby born to his mother, named Roxanne, who has previously lost two babies and suffered several miscarriages.

YouTube link.

The infant is being hand-reared and syringe-fed every two hours throughout the day and night and over the next few weeks they will slowly teach him to lap milk from a dish. When he is able to do this successfully he will be returned to his family. "The importance of this is that it is the first live birth of a black lion tamarin in captivity outside of Brazil for eight years and thus incredibly important to the European Endangered Species Programme," added Mr Brayshaw. "There is still a very long way to go to ensure that the captive population's viability is assured but this is most definitely a step in the right direction."

Water main burst causes 100ft fountain towering over Burnley

A 100ft water jet shot into the sky above Burnley on Thursday morning after a digger ruptured a main water pipe.

Workmen looked on in amazement as the fountain of water gushed out of the ground on the Towneley Gardens building site.

Neighbours came out of their homes to watch the spectacular leak which could be seen for miles.

A spokesman for United Utilities said: “The main was damaged by workmen on a building site. Our engineers are on site working out the best way to isolate the burst.”

With video featuring lady who lives by Jeremy Kyle time.

Man's address listed as living on park bench

A homeless sex offender who failed to supply an address to police is now to be listed as living on a park bench. Matei Haidu, 39, appeared in Belfast Magistrates Court charged with failing to notify police with his home address within a reasonable period of time.

The court heard he moved to Northern Ireland last year and became subject to the registration requirements in February. No details were disclosed of the offence which led to Haidu being put on the sex offenders' register. A Public Prosecution Service representative said he was later arrested because he had not provided police with an address.

She said that while it has been classed as a misunderstanding, it was still a breach. A defence solicitor told the court his client had been allowed to register as having no fixed abode. He added that a park bench can be given as a suitable address.

Suspending a two month jail sentence for 12 months, the judge agreed that the circumstances involved a clear misunderstanding. He said: "He (Haidu) must now register an acceptable address with police. It appears (there is) the possibility of an address that is acceptable, albeit unusual."

Oven Fried Chicken

This is a great recipe for it, particularly when you substitute Gullah Fried Chicken Seasoning* for half the paprika. Having said that, the flour mixture is too large by a factor of two for 8 thighs. If you use the recipe, you can safely cut the flour mixture in half. Also, I use lard instead of margarine. It works.

* - The restaurant's website is down. I wonder if they're still in business. Lovely owner, nice place to eat. I bought her seasoning and use it on fried chicken.

CRIME WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION DAGGER AWARDS SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED

The Crime Writers’ Association tonight (Friday 20) announced the shortlists for a number of this year’s Daggers - the prestigious awards that celebrate the very best in crime and thriller writing.

The CWA Dagger Awards are the longest established literary awards in the UK and are internationally recognised as a mark of excellence and achievement.

The shortlists were announced tonight at CrimeFest in Bristol. The winners will be announced at an event staged alongside the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, Harrogate, on Friday July 22.

CWA Chair Peter James said: “Our shortlists this year reflect the high quality of modern crime writing. The range and invention shown in the shortlisted works is impressive and augers well for the health of the great tradition of ours.”

The shortlists announced tonight, are as follows:

THE CWA INTERNATIONAL DAGGER

For crime, thriller, suspense or spy fiction novels which have been translated into English from their original language, for UK publication between June 1 2010 and May 31 2011. Prize money £1000 for the author and £500 for the translator.

Shortlist

The Wings of the Sphinx by Andrea Camilleri, Tr. Stephen Sartarelli, (Mantle)

Camilleri rings the changes on his familiar cast of characters, while developing his anger at the corruption of a fictional Italian president through Montalbano’s discovery of local worthies involved in international trafficking in women.

Needle in a Haystack by Ernesto Mallo, Tr. Jethro Soutar (Bitter Lemon Press)

Classic Noir set in Argentina during the brutal reign of the junta. In a familiar sub-genre, this well written book offers an unfamiliar exercise in the maverick cop’s passionate and obsessive refusal to give up the chase, even at the risk of his own life.

The Saint-Florentin Murders by Jean-François Parot, Tr. Howard Curtis (Gallic)

Nicola Le Floch, a Paris police commissioner under the young Louis XVI, investigates a murder which appears to implicate one of the king’s ministers, revealing local vice and foreign spies. Parot’s superb invocations of life in eighteenth-century Paris never overwhelm a complex intrigue involving all levels of French society.

Three Seconds by Anders Roslund & Börge Hellström, Tr. Kari Dickson (Quercus)

The Swedish duo’s usual maverick cop takes a back seat to a riveting exploration of a deniable operation involving an undercover agent deep inside a criminal organisation. Their new character, doomed to betrayal by political manoeuvring, fights for his life with great intelligence and courage.

River of Shadows by Valerio Varesi, Tr. Joseph Farrell (Maclehose)

Unlike most police procedurals, the detective Soneri plays second fiddle to an evocation of the hard lives lived on and near the Po, from the history of dangers survived during the bitter internal battles of the Second World War to contemporary criminal people-smuggling, with the river’s own threat of flood and destruction.

An Uncertain Place by Fred Vargas, Tr. Siân Reynolds (Harvill Secker)

As usual in Vargas’s weird and wonderful world, disparate crimes in hundred-year-old London, contemporary Paris and the Serbia of legend. In the eccentric and intuitive Adamsberg’s seventh outing, maverick cop and his maverick team plunge into adventures which follow from unusual events.

Death on a Galician Shore by Domingo Villar, Tr. Sonia Soto (Abacus)

What looks like a banal suicide leads to an investigation into the complex past of a village of fishermen, whose lives have been changed by fished-out waters, property development and the ambitions and prejudices of a once-conservative society.

THE CWA GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION

Any non-fiction work on a real-life crime theme or a closely-related subject by an author of any nationality, as long as the book was first published in the UK in English between between 1^st June, 2010 and 31^st May, 2011. Prize money £1000.

Judith Flanders: The Invention of Murder (HarperCollins)

A comprehensive account of how journalists, playwrights and other writers brought the attention of the 19^th century public to the entertainment value of stories of violent murder, and how they established the style and techniques of contemporary crime writing.

Colin Evans: Slaughter on a Snowy Morn (Icon Books)

Not a well-known American crime, but a detailed and very readable account, and significant in crime history for two reasons. Firstly, the dedicated fight by a woman attorney to save the accused from the electric chair at Sing Sing. Secondly, the pioneering work in ballistics by Waite and Goddard.

Douglas Starr: The Killer of Little Shepherds (Simon & Schuster)

A notorious French case of a serial killer, undetected for a very long time, as he travelled about the country. Many details of the investigation include the developments in forensic science by Lacassagne (who was principal witness at the eventual trial), Lombroso, Gross, Locard and Bertillon.

Wilbert Rideau: In the Place of Justice (Profile)

The heart-warming autobiography of Wilbert Rideau, a teenage killer who spent the longest-ever imprisonment in the USA, mostly in Angola prison. He was for many years editor of the prison newsletter, the Angolite, winning many awards for journalism, and after a long struggle was eventually declared rehabilitated in 2005.

Michael Capuzzo: The Murder Room (Michael Joseph)

The story of the Vidocq Society, founded by former FBI expert William Fleisher, forensic sculptor Frank Bender, and the eccentric profiler Richard Walter – known as ‘the living Sherlock Holmes’. They meet regularly to investigate, and hopefully solve, the ever-increasing number of murder cold cases in the USA.

Kate Colquhoun: Mr Briggs’ Hat (Little, Brown)

‘Britain’s first railway murder’. Thomas Briggs, a City banker, was fatally attacked on a Hackney-bound train on 9 July 1844. In a blood-spattered compartment , all that was found was his walking-stick, his empty bag – and a hat that was not his. There was no sign of Briggs. The author evokes the atmosphere of Victorian rail travel, and details the hunt for the killer.

CWA SHORT STORY DAGGER

Any crime short story first published in the UK in English in a publication that pays for contributions, or broadcast in the UK in return for payment, between 1^st June, 2010 and 31^st May, 2011. Prize money £500.

Shortlist

East of Suez, West of Charing Cross Road by John Lawton - Agents of Treachery - Ed Otto Penzler (Atlantic Books)

Wednesday’s Child by Ken Bruen - First Thrills - Ed. Lee Child (Atlantic Books)

The Princess of Felony Flats - by Bill Cameron - First Thrills - Ed. Lee Child - (Atlantic Books)

The Dead Club - by Michael Palmer & Daniel Palmer - First Thrills - Ed. Lee Child (Atlantic Books)

Homework by Phil Lovesey - The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime Vol 8 - Ed Maxim Jakubowski (Constable and Robinson)

CWA DAGGER IN THE LIBRARY

Excitement and relief over Waterstone's future

The Bookseller - 20.05.11 | Benedicte Page and Charlotte Williams

Publishers, writers, agents and trade bodies have responded with relief to today’s news of the acquisition of Waterstone’s by Alexander Mamut’s A&NN Group, welcoming the surprise arrival of James Daunt as the retail chain’s new m.d. though also expressing regret at the departure of Dominic Myers.

Tim Godfray, chief executive of the Bookseller Association, called Daunt “a book man who has integrity, passion, vision, and an enviable track record”. He said: “He has shown he has the right formula to bring people into his shops in an extremely competitive market . . . Alexander Mamut not only has the resources to support Waterstone’s future development; he also has demonstrated his passion for bookshops. We hope that this proposed sale will ensure that Waterstone’s will continue to play a pivotal role in UK high street and online bookselling. The whole book trade needs a strong Waterstone’s.”

Philip Gwyn Jones, publisher at Portobello and Granta Books, said he was "excited and delighted" by the news, calling it “the best possible outcome” for the chain. “People are saying 'How can James Daunt make the leap from running six shops in posh areas to running the Waterstone's chain?’ but he has gumption and hard-nosed business instincts,” he said. “He has been a tremendous supporter of individual booksellers, paying them more and empowering them to back what they like—handselling in the best possible way.” Gwyn Jones added: “The best thing about this is that there will be a Waterstone's, a books-only retailer on the high street—which was by no means certain.”

Writer Tom Holland, president of the Society of Authors, said the buy was "fabulous" news for authors. "Waterstone's is absolutely vital for authors and the survival of literary culture in this country,” he said. “If the book vanishes from the high street into cyberspace, if it is exclusively the preserve of independent bookshops which cannot get space in shopping malls or airports, that is very threatening for the future of publishing in this country. The ability to go into shops and browse fosters the habit of reading and makes a statement about the centrality of publishing and books to the culture and the retail economy of this country.”
Holland added: “There is something deeply sensory about Daunt's bookshops. They are the literary equivalent of walking into a delicious bakery. That's something he can bring to Waterstone's which can't be replicated online."

James Heneage, who sold his Ottakars chain to Waterstone's in 2006, said: "This is extremely good news for Waterstone's, and I could not be more delighted that the large number of people employed in Waterstone's who were once at Ottakar's look to have a more secure future than they did a month ago."

Random House chair and c.e.o. Gail Rebuck said the announcement was good news for the publishing industry and booklovers alike. “Waterstone’s has a crucially important role as the quality range bookseller on the high street and the message that the new owners are committed to ensuring it has a dynamic future, focussed on the core business of books and bookselling couldn’t be more welcome,” she said.
Tim Hely Hutchinson, chief executive of Hachette UK, also welcomed the news, saying: “We enjoy a successful joint venture with Alexander Mamut [the Russian publishing group Atticus] and we have the highest regard for James Daunt.”

Faber m.d. Stephen Page said: “James is a superb bookseller and it's very good news. He has done such singularly successful work and has such a grasp of a range of disciplines, such talent and passion. He's a very, very good businessman and a talented human being.” Page added: “We will work very hard to support their offering to the consumer, for whom Waterstones is really, really important. We need that infrastructure on the high street and it’s really important to readers."

Jonny Geller of Curtis Brown said authors would be very relieved at the “tremendous” news. “Thank goodness there was not a long drawn-out process as there was with Borders which would have been devastating,” he said. “The staff there will be revitalised and re-energised.” But he added Waterstone's would have to change. “It's going to have to embrace the online selling market but it has to do it in its own way, to show an alternative to Amazon,” he said. As for the implications of having the chain owned by Russian oligarch Alexander Mamut, Geller commented: “We might get some Russian translated authors in the UK market finally, so that's a good thing."

But there was regret at the departure of Dominic Myers from the Waterstone’s chain. Godfray said: “Dominic Myers has been a fantastic supporter of the BA. We will miss him and wish him every success at his new role within HMV.” Page added: “I am sad to see Dominic Myers go—he is a talented leader.”

Food Writer’s Diary’s returning to the mother ship

May 20

Food Writer’s Diary has a new home at NRN.com. Please visit it, so that your page views can be added to those of Nation’s Restaurant News’ other readers, helping us to impress our bosses with our awesomeness.

If you like RSS feeds, you can get Food Writer’s Diary’s here.

I’ll keep cross-posting here for awhile, and of course my 18 gajillion previous blog entries will stay here. But I think you’ll like this blog’s new home. And while you’re there, you might want to click around and see what else is on offer at NRN.com. I think you’ll particularly like the Food and Beverage section, which has all sorts of information on the latest trends and a whole lot of stories written by yours truly.

While I’m doing this shameless self-promotion, I might as well also point you to our Cool Plates feature, which showcases menu items that catch my eye and that I hope will inspire chefs’ creativity.

Yikes

Portugal, Ireland and Greece are all sad stories, but, because of its size, the real atomic bomb in Europe is Spain. This is bad news indeed for the Continent.

MADRID—Weekend elections that threaten to drive Spain's ruling Socialist party from power in several regions and cities also promise a potentially nasty surprise: the revelation of piles of undisclosed debt in local governments that could undercut the country's drive to avoid an international bailout.

Five months ago, a government change in Spain's Catalonia region revealed a budget deficit more than twice as big as previously reported. Now, a growing chorus of economists, local politicians and business leaders say that new governments are likely to discover, as Catalonia did, piles of "hidden debt" owed to health clinics and other suppliers.

Elsewhere, it was reported that Spanish bond yields have jumped. Having a lot of debt makes you fragile. Increases in the interest rate you pay on your debt have larger and larger effects as your debt level grows.

Bad medicine, this.

Lingerie bag

lingerie bag, a photo by good mood factory on Flickr.

Friday with an illustration.
A ilustração da semana.

Al Brown blogs about his 'terrifying' exerience interviewing A.A.Gill

Interviewing A.A Gill at the Auckland Writers and Readers Festival

Terrified….

I can still recall the wave of nerves and churning stomach when phoned three months ago to gauge my interest in interviewing AA Gill. I had read many of his columns and restaurant reviews over the years, and was a huge fan, in a skim through sort of way of the the well-worn magazines such as Vanity Fair, GQ and Australian Gourmet Traveller, trying to relax before the inevitable: ‘come through Mr. Brown’ at a dentist or doctor appointment.

I have always found his columns totally engaging. I love his wit, his intellect and brilliant turn of phrase. I have to admit there has also always been this selfish indulgence and slightly ugly side of me that has found pleasure, in a safe waiting room on the other side of the world, in reading his brutally honest reviews where he can simply dismantle, crucify and rip every shred of a restaurant’s efforts into confetti.

Now I do not by any stretch particularly enjoy public speaking. However whether I enjoy it or not, it is part and parcel of what I do. It’s sort of a love hate scenario. I hate the thought of it all, but love the feeling of taming or overcoming my nerves. If I have a chopping board, knife and a fish in front of me and I’m there to talk food and demonstrate a recipe, I can natter on happily and I’m relatively comfortable in my environment. In fact surrounded by the props of my trade and head full of stories and anecdotes I actually quite enjoy entertaining an audience.

However interviewing Mr. AA Gill in front of a very large crowd at the Auckland Aotea Centre for an hour and a half was a completely different kettle of fish. I said yes to the request for a number of reasons. Firstly it’s great to be asked, secondly meeting Adrian in person is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and then lastly if I had said no I would have beaten myself up time and time again for not having the courage or guts to overcome my fears.

Read the full, wonderful story on Al Brown's Blog.

Unbound: ‘Books are now in your hands’

Launching at Hay Festival, Sunday 29 May 2011

Brilliant, it's just what publishing needs.

Terry Jones

This is an idea whose time has come.

Phillip Pullman

Important... the significance could be quite substantial.

Noam Chomsky

Right up my street.

Mark Thomas

A bloody brilliant idea.

Bernard Cornwell

What’s happening inside the writer’s shed?

At this year’s Hay Festival a revolutionary approach to publishing will be revealed in the Unbound Shed at 10.30am on Sunday 29 May.

The brainchild of three writers (QI’s John Mitchinson and Justin Pollard and Crap Towns author and former Deputy Editor of The Idler, Dan Kieran), Unbound will completely re-draw the boundaries between authors and their readers. The project has the support of a major publisher as well as a number of high profile authors looking to set their books free.

At 8.30pm in the Sky Arts Studio, the Unbound trio will be joined by Terry Jones, Monty Python writer and performer, cloud-guru Gavin Pretor-Pinney, Booker-shortlisted novelist Tibor Fischer and The Horse Boy author Rupert Isaacson, who will be opening up their own Unbound ideas to fans. Tickets to Unbound at Hay cost £6 from www.hayfestival.com

More Unbound writers will be revealed throughout the week at Hay, where readers can visit the Unbound Shed to meet authors and to find out more.

Visit www.unbound.co.uk for more information.

On Regulations

Here's a video from the 70s which is way out of date in terms of the size of the Federal Register, but is right on the money in terms of the growth of regulations. I apologize in advance for the shouting at the beginning. It seems to be the trademark of the fellow who posted the video.

Where I work, our regulations, processes, forms and restrictions have grown substantially over the last 5 years. The result is not, as the regulators might expect, control actually being ceded to the higher authorities who impose these regulations. Instead, there's a widespread cheating on our rules and regulations and general, unspoken lying about what's going on.

Increased regulation requires an increase in regulators to manage them. A regulation is only as good as its enforcement. If you don't increase the regulators, then all that happens is people lie and fudge and wink at the forms and processes and try to do what they were going to do anyway. Greece has discovered this as their black market economy has bloomed in concert with their preposterous regulatory regime.

I would argue that the more regulations you have, the less any one particular regulation is followed. It seems to be true where I work, but I wonder if it's really true across the world. If true, this would asymptotically approach anarchy as more regulations would lessen the power of all other regulations to the point where no one followed any rule at all.

How to Make Khakra Recipe

Ingredients:

2 Cups flour
1 Cup kasoori methi
2 tbsp Red chilli powder
4 tbsp Ajawin
2 tsp Salt
6 tbsp Ghee

How to make Khakra:

Mix flour, kasoori fenugreek and ajwain.
Salt, add butter and red pepper.
Add water to make dough.
The 2 for1 / Keep an hour.
Roll out the dough patties
Place the tortilla maker and close lid.
Keep it until it turns crisp.
Serve it with green chutney.

How to Make Khakra Recipe

Ingredients:

2 Cups flour
1 Cup kasoori methi
2 tbsp Red chilli powder
4 tbsp Ajawin
2 tsp Salt
6 tbsp Ghee

Photo Friday

We have been getting so much rain here the last couple of months. So one morning this week I took this picture. It had rained most of the night and there was also mist on the ground. I actually forgot these irises were in my flower beds! haha

Gujarati Doodhi Muthia Recipe

Ingredients:

For the muthias

2 cups White Pumpkin (lauki), grated
1 Onion, grated (optional)
1 cup Whole Wheat Flour (gehun ka atta)
¾ cup Semolina (rawa)
½ cup Bengal Gram Flour (besan)
2 tbsp Green Chili-Ginger Paste
½ tsp Turmeric Powder (haldi)
½ tsp Garam Masala
½ tsp Cumin Seeds (jeera)
½ tsp Fennel Seeds (saunf)
Juice of 1 ½ Lemons
2 tbsp Sugar
2 tbsp Coriander, chopped
4 tbsp Oil
½ tsp Soda-bi-carbonate
½ tsp Asafetida (hing)
Salt to taste
For the tempering
2 tsp Mustard Seeds
1 tbsp Sesame Seeds (til)
½ tsp Asafetida (hing)
4 tbsp Oil

For garnishing

2 tbsp Coriander, chopped
2 tbsp Coconut, grated

How to make Doodhi Muthia:

Pumpkin and onion to remove excess water stress. Liquid to separate the dough to use for kneading.
Combine the pumpkin, onion, whole wheat flour, semolina, Bengal gram flour, green chillies, ginger paste, turmeric powder, garam masala, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, lemon juice, sugar, coriander, oil, soda - bi-carbonate asafoetida, and In a large bowl, mix salt and knead to form soft dough.
Add strained vegetable liquid to the dough if necessary.
Oil your hands and divide dough into 3 parts.
About 8 inches long, roll out each part into a cylindrical shape.
25 to 30 minutes or until they are muthias steam. Muthias inserted in the center and if a toothpick comes out clean, they are.
Cool and slice them into ¾ inch long pieces and keep aside.
Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds. When they start crackling, add sesame seeds and asafoetida.
About 5 to 10 minutes for the oil and fry chopped Add muthias. Remove them when they turn light brown in color.
They garnish with coriander and coconut.
Serve hot with green chutney.

Gujarati Doodhi Muthia Recipe

Ingredients:

For the muthias

2 cups White Pumpkin (lauki), grated
1 Onion, grated (optional)
1 cup Whole Wheat Flour (gehun ka atta)
¾ cup Semolina (rawa)
½ cup Bengal Gram Flour (besan)
2 tbsp Green Chili-Ginger Paste
½ tsp Turmeric Powder (haldi)
½ tsp Garam Masala
½ tsp Cumin Seeds (jeera)
½ tsp Fennel Seeds (saunf)
Juice of 1 ½ Lemons
2 tbsp Sugar
2 tbsp Coriander, chopped
4 tbsp Oil
½ tsp Soda-bi-carbonate
½ tsp Asafetida (hing)
Salt to taste
For the tempering
2 tsp Mustard Seeds
1 tbsp Sesame Seeds (til)
½ tsp Asafetida (hing)
4 tbsp Oil

For garnishing

2 tbsp Coriander, chopped
2 tbsp Coconut, grated

How to Make Dahi Vada Recipe

Ingredients:

For Wada:

1 Cup Urad daal
Salt to taste
Oil to fry

For Dahi :

1 kg Dahi (yogurt)
1/2 tsp grated Ginger
Finely chopped coriander leaves
1-2 green chilies chopped
Salt to taste
2 tsp Roasted cumin(jeera)powder
Red chili powder to taste

Method:

For Bada
Clean, wash and soak lentils overnight.
Peace in the smooth paste.
Add salt to taste.
Heat oil in a pan and fry until golden brown batter and drop a spoon.
Take the hot vadas and put in cold water for 2-3 minutes.
Now they take out the water squeezing the water and keep aside.
For yogurt - Blend yogurt (curd) and some water until it is smooth.
Place in the refrigerator for an hour to get cold.
Salt, add red chili powder and cumin powder.
Service - in a deep dish arrange wada and pour yogurt on them.
Now imli (tamarind) sauce and add the green sauce.
Garnish with coriander.
Serve chilled curd vadas.

How to Make Dahi Vada Recipe

Ingredients:

For Wada:

1 Cup Urad daal
Salt to taste
Oil to fry

For Dahi :

1 kg Dahi (yogurt)
1/2 tsp grated Ginger
Finely chopped coriander leaves
1-2 green chilies chopped
Salt to taste
2 tsp Roasted cumin(jeera)powder
Red chili powder to taste

Error 404: Democracy not Found.

Sorry for being a bad blogger these past few days, but if you don't know, something's happening on my country. So I think that everything is secondary until we solve this, and my blog (about me, about fashion, about lifestyle...) is a part of what I think is less important.

Until that moment, PLEASE, support the SPANISH REVOLUTION. I leave you here some links about all of this.

Spanish Revolution at Facebook
Acampadabcn at Facebook
Acampadabcn Twitter
Twitter tags: #spanishrevolution #yeswecamp
Acampadabcn (and other spanish city) atTumblr