Oscar and Friends Booksellers - Bookshop Double Bay Sydney

Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life by Bryan Lee O'Malley
(selected by Toby)

Scott Pilgrim is 23 years old, living in the big city with his gay roommate, just trying to get by in this crazy world. He's in a band. He's lazy. He likes video games.

Scott Pilgrim likes the new girl in town, Ramona Flowers, but to win her heart, he has to defeat her seven evil ex-boyfriends. Seven! Evil! Ex! Boyfriends! Lucas has muscles! Todd plays bass with his psychic powers! The Twins are twins! Matthew Patel is an Indian guy! AND MORE!

Scott Pilgrim is a critically acclaimed, award-winning series of graphic novels by Canadian cartoonist Bryan Lee O'Malley. Boys and girls! Young and old! Come one, come all! Read Scott Pilgrim! Five volumes in stores now! One to go! 2010!

The Secret Speech by Tom Robb Smith
(selected by Ben)

Soviet Union, 1956: Stalin is dead. With his passing, a violent regime is beginning to fracture - leaving behind a society where the police are the criminals, and the criminals are innocent. The catalyst comes when a secret manifesto composed by Stalin's successor Khrushchev is distributed to the entire nation. Its message: Stalin was a tyrant and a murderer. Its promise: The Soviet Union will transform. But there are forces at work that are unable to forgive or forget Stalin's tyranny so easily, that demand revenge of the most appalling nature.
Meanwhile, former MGB officer Leo Demidov is facing his own turmoil. The two young girls he and his wife Raisa adopted have yet to forgive him for his involvement in the murder of their parents. They are not alone. Now that the truth is out, Leo, Raisa and their family are in grave danger from someone with a grudge against Leo. Someone transformed beyond recognition into the perfect model of vengeance.

Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey
(selected by Barbara)

Late on a hot summer night in the tail end of 1965, Charlie Bucktin, a precocious and bookish boy of thirteen, is startled by an urgent knock on the window of his sleep-out. His visitor is Jasper Jones, an outcast in the regional mining town of Corrigan. Rebellious, mixed-race and solitary, Jasper is a distant figure of danger and intrigue for Charlie. So when Jasper begs for his help, Charlie eagerly steals into the night by his side, terribly afraid but desperate to impress.
Jasper takes him through town and to his secret glade in the bush, and it's here that Charlie bears witness to Jasper's horrible discovery. With his secret like a brick in his belly, Charlie is pushed and pulled by a town closing in on itself in fear and suspicion as he locks horns with his tempestuous mother; falls nervously in love and battles to keep a lid on his zealous best friend, Jeffrey Lu.
And in vainly attempting to restore the parts that have been shaken loose, Charlie learns to discern the truth from the myth, and why white lies creep like a curse. In the simmering summer where everything changes, Charlie learns why the truth of things is so hard to know, and even harder to hold in his heart.

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
(selected by Flora)

Are you a gifted child looking for special opportunities? When a peculiar advertisement appears in the newspaper for children to take part in a secret mission, children everywhere sit a series of mysterious tests. In the end, just four children succeed: Reynie, Kate, Sticky and Constance. They have three things in common: they are all honest, all remarkably talented and all orphans. They must go undercover at the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened where the only rule is that there are no rules. There they must work as a team to save not only themselves, but also the world outside the walls.

One Day by David Nicholls
(selected by Charlotte)

'I can imagine you at forty,' she said, with malice in her voice. 'I can picture it right now.' He smiled without opening his eyes. 'Go on then.' 15th July 1988. Emma and Dexter meet for the first time on the night of their graduation. Tomorrow they must go their separate ways. So where will they be on this one day next year? And the year after that? And every year that follows? Twenty years, two people, ONE DAY.

Lovesong by Alex Miller
(selected by Natalie)

Strangers did not, as a rule, find their way to Chez Dom, a small, rundown Tunisian cafe on Paris' distant fringes. Run by the widow Houria and her young niece, Sabiha, the cafe offers a home away from home for the North African immigrant workers working at the great abattoirs of Vaugiraud, who, like them, had grown used to the smell of blood in the air. But when one day a lost Australian tourist, John Patterner, seeks shelter in the cafe from a sudden Parisian rainstorm, the quiet simplicities of their lives are changed forever.
John is like no-one Sabiha has met before - his calm grey eyes promise her a future she was not yet even aware she wanted. Theirs becomes a contented but unlikely marriage - a marriage of two cultures lived in a third - and yet because they are essentially foreigners to each other, their love story sets in train an irrevocable course of tragic events.

You can see everyone's full list in the Staff Picks section.

We hope everyone had a nice break over the holidays!
Oscar & Friends will be resuming regular trading hours on Monday the 4th of January. We're in the middle of compiling a list of our favourite reads from 2009 so check back soon.

We had a very special visit from Mr Bradly Trevor Greive who is in town to promote his newest book 'Why Dogs are Better than Cats'. Besides being an absolute delight he signed a few copies of his newest book, so better rush in to snap up a copy before they're all gone!

Teaming up on their first collaborative effort, Greive and Hale explain once and for all 'Why Dogs Are Better Than Cats'. Now, before all you cat lovers find your fur standing on end, Greive is quick to stress that he is simply "pro-dog" not anti-cat.

We had a fantastic time at the Vivi Finds Bean book launch! Hope you enjoyed yourself too! Here are a few pics from the event.

A new staff picks reviewer has been added to the team. Flora, age 9, will be reviewing her favourite kids reads. You can read her recent reviews by clicking on Staff Picks at the top or clicking here.

Set in England in the 1520s, Henry VIII is on the throne, but has no heir. Cardinal Wolsey is his chief advisor, charged with securing the divorce the pope refuses to grant. Into this atmosphere of distrust and need comes Thomas Cromwell, first as Wolsey’s clerk, and later his successor.Cromwell is a wholly original man: the son of a brutal blacksmith, a political genius, a briber, a charmer, a bully, a man with a delicate and deadly expertise in manipulating people and events. Ruthless in pursuit of his own interests, he is as ambitious in his wider politics as he is for himself. His reforming agenda is carried out in the grip of a self-interested parliament and a king who fluctuates between romantic passions and murderous rages.

From one of our finest living writers, Wolf Hall is that very rare thing: a truly great English novel, one that explores the intersection of individual psychology and wider politics. With a vast array of characters, and richly overflowing with incident, it peels back history to show us Tudor England as a half-made society, moulding itself with great passion and suffering and courage.

Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey is the overall winner of the second annual Indie Book of the Year.
The Indie Award, organised by the Leading Edge Books buying group, is for an Australian work chosen and voted for by independent booksellers around Australia.

‘Australia's independent bookshops have fallen in love with Craig Silvey and the colourful cast of characters from his breakout novel,' said Leading Edge Books general manager Jayne Wasmuth. ‘There was absolutely no doubt, this book was the clear winner among indies as the Book of the Year for 2009.'

'We had very strong contenders in Chloe Hooper's The Tall Man(Non Fiction), Sonia Orchard's The Virtuoso (Debut Fiction) and Sally Murphy and Heather Potter's Pearl Vesus the World (Children's Book). But it was our Fiction category winner--Jasper Jones--that quickly took the lead as the votes came in,' said Wasmuth.

The Children's Book by A S Byatt
Summertime by J M Coetzee
The Quickening Maze by Adam Foulds
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
The Glass Room by Simon Mawer
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

Chair James Naughtie, comments:

"We're thrilled to be able to announce such a strong shortlist, so enticing that it will certainly give us a headache when we come to select the winner. The choice will be a difficult one. There is thundering narrative, great inventiveness, poetry and sharp human insight in abundance.

"These are six writers on the top of their form. They've given us great enjoyment already, and it's a measure of our confidence in their books that all of us are looking forward to reading them yet again before we decide on the prizewinner. What more could we ask?"

 Having previously won in 1999 with Disgrace and 1983 with Life & Times of Michael K, South African writer J.M. Coetzee would be the first author to win the Man Booker Prize three times if successful this year.  A.S. Byatt is in the running for a second win - her novel Possession won the Booker Prize in 1990.  Hilary Mantel's Beyond Black was longlisted in 2005 and both Mantel and Byatt have been judges of the prize.  Sarah Waters has been shortlisted twice for Fingersmith (2002) and The Night Watch (2006).  The youngest on the list, at 34, is Adam Foulds and Simon Mawer is shortlisted for his eighth novel, The Glass Room. 

The winner of the 2009 Man Booker Prize for Fiction will be revealed on Tuesday 6 October 2009 at a dinner at London's Guildhall and will be broadcast on BBC News across television, radio and online.  The winning author will receive £50,000 and can look forward to greatly increased sales and worldwide recognition.  Each of the six shortlisted authors, including the winner, receives £2,500 and a designer bound edition of their own book.

  FOUR GREAT BOOKS. ONLY ONE WINNER. WHO WILL IT BE?

The category winners, shortlisted for The Indie Book of the Year Award 2009, are:
• Fiction – Jasper Jones, by Craig Silvey
• Debut Fiction – The Virtuoso by Sonia Orchard
• Non-Fiction – The Tall Man by Chloe Hooper
• Children’s Book – Pearl Verses the World by Sally Murphy, illustrated by Heather Potter

  Now in its second year, The Indie Book Award is all about Australian independent booksellers showing the strength of their support for Australian authors and celebrating the very best of Australian writing.

Panels of expert judges (all avid readers and indie booksellers) choose winners in the four categories. These four category winners form the shortlist and independent booksellers from across the country then vote to select the best of the best – the top-polling book will be announced as The Indie Book of the Year for 2009. The author of the winning book will receive prize money of $15,000.

The Indie Book of the Year winner will be announced on Monday 28 September 2009.

The Children's Book - A S Byatt
Summertime - J M Coetzee
The Quickening Maze - Adam Foulds
How to Paint a Dead Man - Sarah Hall
The Wilderness - Samantha Harvey
Me Cheeta - James Lever
Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel
The Glass Room - Simon Mawer
Not Untrue & Not Unkind - Ed O'Laughlin
Heliopolis - James Scudamore
Brooklyn - Colm Toibin
Love and Summer - William Trevor
The Little Stranger - Sarah Waters