Women worldwide can, at least, raise a celebratory glass of chardonnay to news that Bridget Jones is making a comeback. Author Helen Fielding is part way through the third instalment of the Bridget Jones’s Diary series despite some speculation as to whether readers will still connect with her character today. The first books were international hits thanks to the endearing Jones – an accident-prone thirty-something, who, by trying not to be, somehow made it ok to be single.

The Independent says the novel – to be published by Jonathan Cape in autumn 2013 – will see a more mature Jones still looking for love with help from today’s catalysts for neuroticism such as internet dating and social media. The book looks bound for international success if its predecessors are anything to go by. Word from Jonathan Cape is that the first two novels were published in 40 countries and sold more than 15 million copies worldwide. The film is already scheduled for shooting in 2013.

There’s also good news for fantasy fans this week. Terry Pratchett is happily embracing 21^st century technology with an iPad app for his book series Discworld, according to The Guardian. The news comes soon after an appside.com report that HarperCollins has released five interactive e-books based on Tokien’s The Hobbit. The release, as The Guardian suggests, has been perfectly timed to take advantage of the hype surrounding the films.

See larger image Into The Silence: The Great War, Mallory and the Conquest of Everest (Paperback) By (author) Wade Davis List Price: 12.99 GBP New From: 6.41 In Stock Used from: 5.42 In Stock

In literary awards, Wade Davis has picked up the highly respected Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction for Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory and the Conquest of Everest – an account of George Mallory’s ill-fated expedition. The BBC says Davis is a National Geographic Society explorer in residence, making him impeccably placed to articulate Mallory’s experience in meticulous detail.

Finally, even on a week where the media gleefully highlights the less successful books on the Amazon best-seller list, one hopes that there’s still something out there for everyone. But World Book Night reminds us that some people need a little more inspiration. According to The Guardian, the event on April 23 will see 50,000 free books handed out in the UK to help encourage reading. There’s still time to sign up to be a book giver and choose from 20 titles to hand out, including Philippa Gregory’s The White Queen and Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.

UK Author of the Year

• Bring Up The Bodies, by Hilary Mantel, 4th Estate
• Capital, by John Lanchester, Faber and Faber
• Swimming Home, by Deborah Levy, Faber and Faber
• NW, by Zadie Smith, Hamish Hamilton
• The Casual Vacancy, by J. K. Rowling, Little, Brown
• Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal, by Jeanette Winterson, Vintage

Popular Fiction Book of the Year

• Fifty Shades of Grey, by E. L. James, Arrow
• Me Before You, by JoJo Moyes, Michael Joseph
• The Thread, by Victoria Hislop, Headline Review
• 1356, by Bernard Cornwell, HarperCollins
• Citadel, by Kate Mosse, Orion
• The Rose Petal Beach, by Dorothy Koomson, Quercus Books

Crime & Thriller of the Year

• The House of Silk, byAnthony Horowitz, Orion Fiction
• Perfect People, by Peter James, Pan
• A Wanted Man, by Lee Child, Bantam Press
• Gods and Beasts, by Denise Mina, Orion
• Kind of Cruel, by Sophie Hannah, Hodder & Stoughton
• A Question of Identity, by Susan Hill, Chatto and Windus

International Author of the Year

• The Snow Child, by Eowyn Ivey, Headline Review
• The Sisters Brothers, byPatrick deWitt, Granta
• HHhH, byLaurent Binet, Harvill Secker
• Thinking, Fast and Slow, byDaniel Kahneman, Allen Lane
• Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, by Ben Fountain, Canongate Books
• The Dinner Herman, by Koch, Atlantic

Biography/Autobiography of the Year

• My Animals and Other Family, by Clare Balding, Viking Adult
• Joseph Anton, by Salman Rushdie, Jonathan Cape
• Patrick Leigh Fermor, by Artemis Cooper, John Murray
• Camp David, by David Walliams, Michael Joseph
• Who I Am, by Pete Townshend, HarperCollins
• Back Story, by David Mitchell, HarperCollins

Children’s Book of the Year

• The Pirates Next Door, by Jonny Duddle, Templar Publishing
• Pirates Love Underpants, by Claire Freedman and Ben Cort, Simon and Schuster
• Ratburger, by David Walliams, HarperCollins Children’s
• The Wolf Princess, by Cathryn Constable, Chicken House
• Tom Gates: Genius Ideas (mostly), by Liz Pichon, Scholastic Children’s Books
• Itch, by Simon Mayo, Doubleday Children’s

Audiobook of the Year

• Casino Royale, by Ian Fleming, AudioGO
• Bring Up The Bodies, by Hilary Mantel, Whole Story Audiobooks
• Sweet Tooth, by Ian McEwan, Random House Audiobooks
• Is It Just Me?, by Miranda Hart, Hodder and Stoughton
• The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year, by Sue Townsend, Whole Story Audiobooks
• The Killing, by David Hewson, Macmillan Digital Audio

Food & Drink Book of the Year

• The Great British Bake Off: How to Turn Everyday Bakes into Showstoppers, by Linda Collister, BBC Books
• Mary Berry’s Complete Cookbook, by Mary Berry, DK
• Hugh’s Three Good Things, by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Bloomsbury
• Lorraine Pascale’s Fast, Fresh and Easy Food, by Lorraine Pascale, HarperCollins
• The Hairy Dieters, by Si King & Dave Myers, Weidenfeld & Nicholson
• Gok Cooks Chinese, by Gok Wan, Michael Joseph

New Writer of the Year

• The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, by Rachel Joyce, Doubleday
• The Lighthouse, by Alison Moore, Salt Publishing
• The Land of Decoration, by Grace McLeen, Chatto and Windus
• Care Of Wooden Floors, by Will Wiles, HarperPress
• The Somnambulist, by Essie Fox, Orion
• The Heart-Shaped Bruise, by Tanya Byrne, Headline

Popular Non-Fiction Book of the Year

• Brazil, by Michael Palin, Weidenfeld
• Is It Just Me, by Miranda Hart, Hodder & Stoughton
• A Street Cat Named Bob, by James Bowen, Hodder & Stoughton
• Bad Pharma, by Ben Goldacre, 4th Estate
• Moranthology, by Caitlin Moran, Ebury Press
• The Psychopath Test, by Jon Ronson, Picador

Watch for extracts from all of these titles across our websites in the forthcoming weeks.

So why has erotica suddenly made a comeback? One might be inclined to believe that today, those partial to a bit of romance can hide behind their e-readers, confident in the knowledge that the person sitting opposite them on the train isn’t sniggering into their morning paper. Apparently, according to the Mail, even Mills & Boon is taking advantage of the revival by launching a new e-book series. Yet Sylvia Day readers are more than happy with the printed novel. In fact, The Guardian says, Reflected in You sold more than 80,000 copies in the first six days – Penguin’s biggest ever paperback sale.

Some true children’s classics are also seeing a revival. Enid Blyton’s Famous Five books are to be newly adapted for TV. The Telegraph says that the series will feature a ‘modern twist’ in the form of time travel – not really a modern concept but certainly more appealing than any realistic alternative. Meanwhile, a CGI version of Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Peter Rabbit is set to screen on CBeebies at Christmas.

See larger image The Teenage Years (Dark Lord) (Paperback) By (author) Jamie Thomson List Price: 5.99 GBP New From: 1.69 In Stock Used from: 0.19 In Stock

Writers of more recent children’s literature were honoured this week with a Roald Dahl Funny Prize. Dark Lord: Teenage Years by Jamie Thomson won the funniest book for seven to fourteen year olds, beating David Walliams’ Gangsta Granny. My Big Shouting Day by Rebecca Patterson won the six and under category. Most parents of small children will undoubtedly relate to this tale of a little girl whose day is fraught with frustration.

Rarely far from the spotlight, Amazon is back in the news this week. The Guardian reported that some furious authors are claiming the online retailer has removed their reviews from its site. It says that Amazon has published new guidelines – thought to be a response to the recent sock puppet scandal – that prevent writers from critiquing their own work or that of competitors.

Finally, say goodbye to one of the few remaining big tomes. Ours may be the last generation to experience its reassuring presence on the bookshelf as the Macmillan English Dictionary will soon appear online only. In The Guardian, the dictionary’s publisher explained that the online medium is far more practical for content that needs constant review. The story says, in time, we can also expect the Oxford English Dictionary to follow.

Check out National Books Token’s amazing archive of artwork and product design on their Facebook Timeline.

However, critics of the merger are concerned that it will exacerbate an existing problem for small, independent publishers who struggle to stand up to online retailers which demand price discounts. Meanwhile, The Telegraph raises questions about the effect the merger will have on authors, saying that a publisher of this scale will drive down advances. The report says the organisation could also push out any competition, placing it in a position to fuel price rises.

It wouldn’t be a big business story without Rupert Murdoch wading in. Murdoch’s News Corporation – which owns HarperCollins – approached Penguin’s owner Pearson with a cash offer to buy the publisher outright. This proposal would be equally worrying for authors, says The Telegraph. Further related stories reported a recent decline in Penguin’s revenues. The Guardian says that this is partly due to the success of EL James’s Fifty Shades of Grey – published by Random House. The Fifty Shades phenomenon, according to the BBC, has helped make Random House the biggest publisher in the UK. It doesn’t take a genius to see why Penguin has made its decision.

In other news, a story in The Guardian says Amazon sells 114 e-books for every 100 printed books. With this in mind, it’s no surprise that the technology giants have been working overtime on products to rival the Kindle. This week saw the UK launch of the Nook e-reader from Barnes & Noble and some new tablets including the Apple iPad mini, which no doubt will work nicely with these new interactive Shakespeare apps. Not to be left behind, Microsoft has released its Surface tablet into an often skeptical market, while Google has unveiled the Nexus 10 tablet. All come with their own claims about resolution and value for money and usefulness but hopefully someone who’s short of things to do in the lead up to Christmas will tell us which one works best as an e-reader.

See larger image Uggie, the Artist: My Story (Hardcover) By (author) Uggie List Price: 9.99 GBP New From: 4.72 In Stock Used from: 0.01 In Stock

Finally, in honour of Halloween (RIP) , it seems appropriate to mention a couple of frighteningly weird canine-based news stories, not least the release of the world’s first bedtime story for dogs, and the autobiography of Uggie the Jack Russell terrier. But if these don’t scare you enough, why not brave the city and attend the Halloween Storytelling Experience on the London Eye, or come face-to-face with your most feared literary characters at the Passage of Terror London?

Tonight, the Bush Theatre will host the opening event of London’s inaugural South Asian Literature Festival, and the next ten days of talks, readings and film screenings in venues across the capital such as the British Library, The Commonwealth Club and Waterstones Piccadilly will hold many surprises for those of us whose reading struggles to escape the Western hemisphere. Personally, I may have wolfed down Jhumpa Lahiri’s searingly beautiful short stories, recommended Arundhati Roy’s God of Small Things to everyone I know, and adored Rohinton Mistry’s classic A Fine Balance, but I rarely know where to venture beyond the award winners and bestsellers reviewed in the broadsheets. And, with some outstanding new authors emerging from South Asia such as Pakistani Jamil Ahmad and Banglandeshi Tahmima Anam, it’s time that changed.

“I loved the idea of having a proper excuse to learn more about India and a region of the world I knew very little about,” explains festival director Jon Slack. An Aussie now living in London with a decade’s worth of publishing experience at Taschen, Transworld, Aurum Press and Borders Adelaide, Slack exemplifies the eclecticism and passion of both the festival and London’s wider literary scene. “The kind of new writing in English which is coming out of places like Bangladesh is fantastic – we’re helping to launch a new anthology of woman’s writing this weekend. Literature and publishing in South Asia is booming and there’s some excellent work now coming to light. We’re still in the early days of a truly flowing publishing subcontinent, but it is exciting to see these changes happening now.”

Highlights of the festival include The Blind Man’s Garden, an exclusive preview of Nadeem Aslam’s novel set in post-9/11 Afghanistan; Mughal Nights, a late extravaganza at the British Library inspired by a party at a Mughal Palace, with music from DJ Ritu, art from British Library artist-in–resident Christopher Green and mehndi artists from Ash Kumar, and dancers from Nutkut; and Shakespeare’s South Asian Stage, where RSC director Iqbal Khan, Globe-to-Globe artistic director Tom Bird and the legendary Tim Supple will investigate the art of adapting Shakespeare in South Asian settings.

Although funding for the festival in tough economic times has been a predictable struggle and its viability has depended on scores of dedicated volunteers, London was always destined to be the festival’s home. “It is the world’s great melting pot,” Slack declares. “There are South Asian communities in many corners across the city. Then there’s the British Empire, with its tremendous historical ties to the region through the East India Company, and the generations of immigrants who’ve since made homes on our shores. Not to mention all the Londoners who’ve made a life in India! What better place to celebrate the coming together of cultures, and to connect with people who are open to new ideas and influences?”

His aim for the festival is to make unexpected connections – “we want a real mix of people coming together, realising they have more in common than they know” – and Slack hopes that it will be the start of a much bigger and more fluid interchange. “We’d love to see a regular community continue to grow around this kind of writing, and to see what other ways of telling stories can be explored. I love the idea that stories are not just words on paper but can be movement or film or sounds – any number of things. Hopefully we’re pushing the boundaries between storytelling and ideas.”

It’s a rallying call which is hard to resist. And with a selection of events that ranges from Madhur Jaffrey launching her new cookery book Curry Nation to Brown Kids Can’t Jump, an exploration of why there were so few British Asians in the Olympics from an ex-footballer, a Labour MP and a BBC sports reporter, there should be session to inspire everyone.

One of the most fascinating aspects of hearing someone who is more well-known for her comedic and broadcasting career is the passion with which she approaches everything in her life, this period piece included. The novel is set during the Boer War and follows a young woman who disguises herself as a man in order to go to war. The premise is an interesting one, but the highlight of the presentation was Sandi discussing her approach to writing (and indeed life). The plot apparently came about after the author’s ‘chain of curiosity’ took her from a book about Golf rules during the Second World War, to volunteer bicycle regiments during the Boer War, and eventually to the changing place of women and how her character could be drawn into this conflict.

The way in which Sandi presented this quasi-logical progression was utterly entertaining, and one highlight was amongst the Golf rules themselves (probably a phrase not used enough). It referred to Rule 7 – Should a player’s shot be disturbed by a shell burst, bomb explosion or a burst of gunfire, the player may take another shot from the same location.

It was this well delivered comedy that exemplified why Sandi is so well-respected a broadcaster, and her describing her own writing process was equally interesting. Investigating her characters fully and deeply with the help of her partner, digging into the psychology of why a person might undertake a certain act and in so doing discovering the motivations and attitude of the fictional figures before they are even committed to the page. This shows how carefully constructed the characters are, and speaks volumes about Sandi’s commitment to the art.

Her statement of their being a “fine line between writing and mental illness” also drew laughter from the crowd. But what was most compelling for someone only loosely familiar with her work beyond broadcasting was her fantastic attitude to life. How one should learn lines of Shakespeare so “you always have something to read on the train” and that life should never be about avoiding failure and that is most definitely okay to make mistakes.

The enduring memory of the hour was of Sandi’s superb attitude and positivity. Well, that and her parting comment when asked if she could stay for another hour.

“No, I must go and drink gin.”

Image: Wikipedia

See larger image Bad Science (Paperback) By (author) Ben Goldacre List Price: 8.99 GBP New From: 3.53 In Stock Used from: 2.18 In Stock

For some years, Dr Ben Goldacre has helped us to take some of what we read about health scares with a pinch of salt. His column in The Guardian and his book, Bad Science, have revealed many truths behind statistics and the way scientific research is often misrepresented in the press and by nutritionists. His latest book, Bad Pharma, gets even more serious. As The Telegraph explains, the book claims pharmaceutical companies put profit making before patient welfare. It accuses these organisations of holding back negative information about drugs and exposes their techniques for manipulating drug testing processes to achieve a desired result.

These are serious allegations and, as expected, drug companies are not too happy. This week, Goldacre showed his Twitter followers a reaction from the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry which was published on the New Statesman website. The site also printed Goldacre’s letter of response. There’s little doubt Goldacre has done his research but if anyone needs any more convincing, this recorded interview on The Guardian website is worth a listen.

See larger image The Rage (Paperback) By (author) Gene Kerrigan List Price: 7.99 GBP New From: 2.78 In Stock Used from: 0.01 In Stock

Elsewhere, there is legitimate cause to celebrate tales of frightening, sinister and underhanded goings on. Gene Kerrigan won the Crime Novel of the Year award for his book The Rage, a violent thriller set in the backstreets of Dublin. In The Guardian, The Rage is described by judges as having great style and pace. Kerrigan, who’s also a columnist for the Irish Independent newspaper, picked up his Gold Dagger at the Specsavers Crime Thriller Awards 2012 late last week.

Meanwhile, students and scholars of Edinburgh University are attempting to whittle down all winners of the James Tait Black Prize – described in the press as Britain’s oldest literary award – to find an ultimate winner. The Independent says that the ‘Best of the Best’ award celebrates 250 years of English literature study at the university. The six shortlisted books include The Road by Cormac McCarthy, Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter, and A Disaffection by James Kelman. The winner will be announced in December.

See larger image The Informationist: A Vanessa Michael Munroe Novel (Vanessa Michael Munroe Novels) (Paperback) By (author) Taylor Stevens List Price: 9.99 GBP New From: 3.29 In Stock Used from: 0.16 In Stock

Finally, Taylor Stevens’ novel The Informationist must have made quite an impression on James Cameron. The director will take on the big screen adaptation of the book despite his recent claims – according to The Guardian – that he has little interest in making anything other than Avatar films. We’ll have to wait a while to find out how he interprets the story of action heroine Vanessa Munroe as he has two Avatar sequels to complete first. But luckily for Stevens, a new James Cameron film is usually worth the wait.

Indeed his introduction described him as the “only Mandarin-speaking trained killer ever to be voted into British politics”. And whilst Ashdown’s life would undoubtedly have been suitably entertaining for the audience at Cheltenham Town Hall, the subject of his talk was his latest book A Brilliant Little Operation: The Cockleshell Heroes and the Most Courageous Raid of World War 2. Though this was not before voicing his new policy that voting rights should be directly linked to the attendance of literary festivals. A concept that unsurprisingly drew the support of the crowd, given we were all at that very moment already at a literary festival.

This first ice-breaker complete, Ashdown led the presentation with his meeting of the leader of the raid, ‘Blondie’ Hasler in less than auspicious circumstances – that of being somewhat rude to this legend of the SBS during a train journey, having had no idea who the man was. This drew chuckles from the crowd, to whom Ashdown presented with flair and enthusiasm.

See larger image A Brilliant Little Operation: The Cockleshell Heroes and the Most Courageous Raid of World War 2 (Hardcover) By (author) Paddy Ashdown List Price: 25.00 GBP New From: 13.48 In Stock Used from: 9.24 In Stock Release date September 17, 2012.

The hour was taken up with readings directly from the book itself, expanded on by a slide show. The slides showed photographs of the young men who had embarked on the raid, to which the author added background and fleshed the black-and-white stills into the living breathing heroes that they had been.

The sheer passion of the presentation, the encyclopaedic knowledge of the raid (there were many instances of “by the way” as he recalled something else of interest to drop into the flow) and the use of both photographs and maps made for a very enthralling event. From the snatches read aloud and the additional details given of the raid, there can be little doubt that it would be easily consumed by any fan of military history.

Ashdown’s two-and-a-half years of research and writing led him to the scene of the attack, to meet the family of the men involved, and those who had witnessed first-hand the results of that bleak winter raid. Indeed there were photographs in the presentation that he had extracted from the German archives, details doubtless never seen before in relation to the heroic action. He has demonstrated in the past with his previous World War 2 books his commitment to the subject, and this pays dividends with the level of detail he has uncovered in his latest work.

This was evident when he referred to a conversation with his wife – “now the book is in production I can get you back from planet blondie.” This kind of enthusiasm is catching. Ashdown could have been presenting about almost anything and with his varied tone and obvious sense of humour a crowd would have enjoyed the experience. And judging by the applause at the end of the hour, in this instance they most certainly did.

Picture credit: Marco Secchi

See larger image Orwell's Cough: Diagnosing the Medical Maladies and Last Gasps of the Great Writers (Hardcover) By (author) John Ross List Price: 12.99 GBP New From: 4.98 In Stock Used from: 4.98 In Stock

Did Shakespeare’s doctors addle his brain with mercury vapour, leading to his premature retirement? Was Jane Eyre inspired by the plagued school that eventually claimed the entire Brontë clan? Did writing 1984 kill George Orwell?

Many of our most beloved scribes struggled to conquer not just writer’s block but a bevy of maladies, which shaped the characters and stories they crafted. John Ross opens his surgery to consult with the likes of Milton, Swift, Melville, and Joyce, to debunk myths and probe muses, both literary and medical. Ross peppers his tales with vivid vignettes of medical practice through the centuries, from Shakespeare’s cloaked visits to Southwark to cure his unsavoury rashes to the arsenic-and-horse-serum jabs given for Yeats’s fevers. With novelistic flair and deep expertise, Ross reveals a wholly new angle on the writer’s life.

Read about the gestation of Orwell’s Cough here.

To be in with a chance of winning, simply answer the following question.

•  Which disease set author John Ross on the path to writing Orwell’s Cough?

Competition closed, no more entries, sorry.

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1. Closing date for entries: Midnight Tuesday 8th November 2012.
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