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Hello you lovely Bookbaggers. It's been a sad and angry month since we last spoke, what with terror attacks and general elections. We hope all is well with all of you and you are all coping as best you can. But we are going to try to distract you from it all just for a minute or two by pointing you in the direction of some great books to read. When all else fails, books can comfort, right? So let's have some positivity, if only on the subject of books and reading.
So here's some exciting news! We have a title, a character and an [http://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/may/26/before-his-dark-materials-how-lyras-story-began-exclusive-extract extract ] for the first volume in Philip Pullman's new trilogy, out in October. ''La Belle Sauvage'' is the canoe owned by Malcolm Polstead. His daemon is Asta. And you can read an interview about it with Philip Pullman [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rE45VHtSzw here]. As you can imagine, we at Bookbag Towers are beyond excited. Roll on October! And while we're on the topic of young readers, here's some more good news. [http://www.tes.com/news/school-news/breaking-news/record-number-teenagers-say-they-enjoy-reading Record numbers] of children say they enjoy reading. A survey by the Literacy Trust has found that more than half of children and young people say that they read for pleasure. Isn't that great?
And here's a nice piece of news.''Clockwork Orange'' author Anthony Burgess's lost dictionary of slang has [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jun/03/anthony-burgesss-lost-slang-dictionary-discovered been found] among his archives. Burgess only managed three letters and several hundred entries but there are some gems in there and it reminds of how much he - and we - treasure language. We particularly liked this bit - ''arse: I need not define''. Ha!
What else? Oh, yes! Are you watching the adaptation of [[The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood|The Handmaid's Tale]] on Channel 4? Ok, perhaps it's not the cheeriest of books for this positive newsletter but it's a fantastic adaptation, beautifully shot and acted. We can be happy about a wonderful piece of work even if it is about serious things with very worrying current ramifications, right? As we always say, literature - and adaptations of it - is a are vital tool tools of resistance.
'''Golden Hour'''
And on to to the new...
.
In fiction, we think you should consider [[The Bureau of Second Chances by Sheena Kalayil]]. Recently widowed, with a grown-up daughter forging her own life abroad, London-based optometrist Thomas Imbalil takes early retirement and returns to his native India and agrees to commute to the city for a few months to look after Chacko's Optical Store to help out an old friend. Thomas soon discovers that the eager young assistant Rani is running another business on the side, but he agrees to turn a blind eye and leave it to his friend to deal with on his return. However, it stirs up thoughts and doubts within Thomas and before long he's involved whether he wants to be or not. This surprisingly tense novel set in southern India has a thread of romance but also a serious side, exploring the displacement of an expat returning after thirty years and reassessing his life and aims.
'''Reviewers'''
We're always on the look out lookout for people to join our panel of reviewers at Bookbag. We need people who understand that the reader wants to know what the reviewer thinks about the book and not just what's written on the back cover. If you think that you're one of these special people that we're looking for, we want to hear from you. You can find details of how to apply [[Reviewer Vacancies|here]] on the site. Don't be shy!
'''Competitions'''
'''''All at Bookbag Towers'''''
 
See what we were reading [[June 2016 Newsletter|last year]].
(PS – if you don't want to receive further copies of our newsletter please [mailto:unsubscribe@thebookbag.co.uk email us] and we'll see that you're deleted from the mailing list.)
[[Category:Newsletters|* 2017 06]]

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