What I’m reading #84

An interview with the violinist Alina Ibragimova, with a clip of her performing Biber – current composer of the week on Concert FM – and another of the entire Mendelssohn concerto, with Philippe Herreweghe conducting the Concertgebouw. It is fantastic. I recommend full-screen mode.

Penguin is suing some of its authors. It’s a wonder this sort of thing doesn’t happen more often.

Chad Taylor on high and low technology, and the barbarism of European hotels. 

Stats Chat fillets a Stuff story about the benefits of ginger. The verdict: “not completely misrepresented”. Quote unquote:

So, we have one passing grade on nausea, and a partial pass on aiding digestion.  Two of the links provided absolutely no support for the claims, and the rest were mostly test-tube or rat research that might in the future lead to human research that might support the claims.

Nicholas Reid at Reid’s Reader reviews a new debut novel from VUP – no wait, come back! It is The Invisible Rider by Kirsten McDougall. Nicholas is not a raver, but this is a rave.  

Book sales in New Zealand are respectable by world standards, says Lincoln Gould of Booksellers NZ. That is, they are declining less than elsewhere. Quote unquote:

The Nielsen figures also showed some interesting breakdowns across different genres.  Fiction sales in New Zealand had increased by 11 percent with Australia, the only other country across the positive side of the line, with 3 percent growth. […]

However, it would seem New Zealand loses out to Australia in terms of purchase of erotica as indicated by sales of the Fifty Shades trilogy.  In New Zealand 182,000 copies have been sold or one for every 23 people while in Australia the ratio is one book for each 8.5 persons.

Finally, Ian Rankin. He’s back – and so is Rebus. Ian will talk about his new novel Standing in Another Man’s Grave with Craig Sisterson at the Spencer on Byron, 12 November, 7pm. If you get the chance, don’t miss it – he’s great value. I did one of these events with him about 10 years ago for Whitcoulls: just me interviewing him for a bit, Ian reading from the new novel and then we went out for dinner with about a dozen book-trade babes – booksellers, publishers, PR operatives, the lot. He really is a rock star in this world. We had a great time – he’s terrific company, funny and smart and interested in everything – until I had to go home to my wife and three-month-old. Ian disappeared into the night with the book-trade babes, heading for a bar.