Alan Hollinghurst in the Guardian (28/11/09): ‘I’ve been intrigued by what seems a new development in that slightly dreaded form, “the long poem” – three really vital books that wed the momentum of prose fiction to the imagistic concision of poetry. After Adam Foulds's gripping re-creation of the Mau Mau rising, The Broken Word (Cape), have come two books from the excellent new CB Editions: JO Morgan’s Natural Mechanical, the 70-page biography of an adventurous boy from Skye whose feats of improvisation are related in easy but apt free verse, and Christopher Reid’s riveting The Song of Lunch, a tiny narrative disproportionately rich in exact observation, sorry comedy and controlled pathos. After reading Reid you start to wonder why fiction-writers bother with all the padding and padding about of prose.’
Wendy Cope in the Observer (22/11/09): ‘[Christopher Reid’s] The Song of Lunch (CB Editions) is a witty narrative about a publisher meeting an old flame in an Italian restaurant. The story is sad, as well as funny, and very enjoyable.’
Buy Natural Mechanical and The Song of Lunch from the website – or, why not, any two titles – and Jack Robinson’s Recessional will be added free.
2 comments:
I hope this offer applies to two-book orders placed last week . . . .
Oh James, but your books were sent off days ago . . . And if you're the James I think you are, you're in the US. (Brief postage note: because the idea of incorporating different postage rates on the website for home/abroad tires my brain, I kept it one-size-fits-all, and am happy to take the occasional hit from Kuala Lumpur. But then last week, for example: one web order from the UK, others from Ireland, Australia and the US.) Order one more book and I'll slip in the Jack Robinson.
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