Podcast

The Waterstones Podcast - Perfection

Posted on 30th August 2019 by Mark Skinner

Your chance to hear authors going beyond the book to talk about the themes and ideas that obsess us all.

Perfection

What do we mean by perfection and is the pursuit of it a pointless exercise? We hear from poet Charly Cox about why just the word alone is enough to induce anxiety, Sebastian Faulks considers where in the arts perfection might lie and why capturing it might mean a journey to perfection and then back again. Finally we hear from novelist Gabriel Tallent who shares the sheer blood, sweat and tears of writing his debut novel.

Featured in this week's podcast:

She Must Be Mad (Paperback)

Charly Cox

£9.99

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The powerful new collection of poetry and prose from Charly Cox, the woman described as social media's answer to Carol Ann Duffy. Charly captures the formative experiences of today's young women from the poignant to the prosaic in writing that is witty, wry and heartfelt. For every woman surviving and thriving in today's world; this is a call for communion, and a reminder that you are not alone.

Paris Echo (Paperback)

Sebastian Faulks

£9.99

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Getting to grips with the guilt and shame of some of Paris' recent history, Sebastian Faulks's luminous novel crafts a compelling tale of discovery and identity haunted by the ghosts of occupation and colonial war.

Love is Blind (Paperback)

William Boyd

£8.99

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At once an intimate portrait of one man's life and an expansive exploration of the beginning of the twentieth century, Love is Blind is a masterly new novel from one of Britain's best loved storytellers. A tale of dizzying passion and brutal revenge; of artistic endeavour and the illusions it creates; of all the possibilities that life can offer, and how cruelly they can be snatched away.

My Absolute Darling (Paperback)

Gabriel Tallent

£12.99

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Growing up in Mendocino, in the wilderness of the northern California coast, 14-year-old Turtle Alveston and her father live a life honed by survival, brutality and sadistic love. As Turtle’s reaches out to a life beyond, their fragile existence is blown apart. My Absolute Darling is is a tour-de-force debut that leaves echoes indelibly imprinted on the imagination.

Dept. of Speculation (Paperback)

Jenny Offill

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Modern marriage is placed unflinchingly under the microscope in a work of profound lyricism and emotional power. Tracing the path of a seemingly perfect relationship through the bumps and scrapes of time and reality, Offill presents a stunningly realised portrait of twenty-first century wedlock.

Ink (Paperback)

Alice Broadway

£7.99

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That the events and actions of your life are forever tattooed on your body is a fantasy concept to die for, and Alice Broadway makes full use of the connotations and consequences in this fine Young Adult debut. A novel of family secrets and standing up to authority, Ink is a triumph of bold, imaginative writing.

Carol (Paperback)

Patricia Highsmith

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Impossibly evocative and romantic, Highsmith’s pedigree as a thriller writer suffuses this bewitching tale of forbidden love in 1950s New York with a simmering intensity and wire-taut tension.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Paperback)

J. K. Rowling

£8.99

Paperback

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From Muggles to Quidditch, Hogwarts to Diagon Alley, the magical journey that launched a billion young readers feels just as fresh, fun and meticulously rendered today.