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| Anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss dies at 100 Claude Levi-Strauss, widely considered the father of modern anthropology for work that included theories about commonalities between tribal and industrial societies, has died. cbc.ca |
Two Good Thieves by Daniel Finn This fast-paced thriller has a compassionate heart, says Josh LaceyThere is an obvious pun in the title of Daniel Finn's new novel. (He has written other books as Will Gatti, but this is his first to be published under this name.) His two heroes, a boy and a girl nicknamed Demi and Baz, are good thieves in one sense: they're very skilled at the art of theft. But are they good people too? That's the central question at the heart of this exciting, involving story, which pits two feisty children against a brutal environment which doesn't have any concern for their welfare.Baz and Demi live in the Barrio, the poorest district of a large Latin American city, and work as a team, stealing whatever they can find. They are pickpockets who scour the city's wealthier districts for open bags and unguarded wallets, then dart back to the slums, dodging their pursuers, to deliver their booty to the "mother of thieves" who runs their gang. In a polite nod to Dickens, she is called Fay.One day, Baz and Demi notice a smart woman emerging from an expensive jewellery shop and grab the valuable ring that she has just bought. Unfortunately for them, it turns out that the owner is the wife of the police chief and he will do anything to retrieve her ring. Even worse, the police chief and his wife have a son, Eduardo, whom they originally adopted from Fay. Eduardo is an enjoyably creepy villain, a ruthless psychopath who is determined to ruin all three of his parents and forge his own future as a gangland boss. How can Demi and Baz outwit him and escape from the city?Two Good Thieves is set in a fictional Spanish-speaking city which could have been modelled on Caracas or São Paulo. Mal Peet has done the same thing in his three Paul Faustino novels, inventing a country which mingles aspects of Brazil and Argentina but where Peet's books are full of concrete detail, Finn's city feels rather vague and generalised.The story takes a long time to gather energy and I could imagine impatient readers giving up. That would be a pity, because the neatly constructed plot builds to a dramatic climax. Finn writes curt sentences, perfectly suited to action sequences, and the book really comes alive in its fights and chases, following its characters through the backstreets of the slums.Baz and Demi are vivid and appealing characters, a boyish girl who can't help telling the truth and a swaggering, self-confident boy who is ready to take on anyone. As the forces ranged against them grow larger and more violent, and the two children have to fight harder to stay alive, they reveal themselves to be intelligent, resourceful, loyal, compassionate – and perhaps even good.Josh Lacey's The One That Got Away is published by Marion Lloyd.Children and teenagersJosh LaceyMal Peetguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds feeds.guardian.co.uk |
The Atlantic Will Sell Short Stories on Kindle On Monday, Amazon will begin selling stories, for $3.99 each, that were selected and edited by the staff at The Atlantic and are only available for the Kindle. feeds.nytimes.com |
Dreamy Sales of Jung Book Stir Analysis “The Red Book” by Carl Jung has surprised booksellers and its publisher with strong sales — despite its $195 price tag. feeds.nytimes.com |
Waterstone's chief pays the price for poor Christmas sales HMV results come on a busy morning for Xmas trading updates:• PC World owner DSG celebrates record sales• Argos sales flat, Homebase up 4%The boss of Waterstone's has left with immediate effect after the book chain suffered a plunge in sales over the Christmas period.Parent company HMV reportedthis morning that like-for-like sales at Waterstone's tumbled by 8.5% in the five weeks to 2 January. The poor results took the shine off a record performance at HMV's entertainment stores. Waterstone's managing director, Gerry Johnson, has paid the price for the poor sales. He left with immediate effect today, to be replaced by HMV group development director Dominic Myers.Chief executive Simon Fox described Waterstone's recent performance as "unsatisfactory", saying that delays in setting up a distribution hub took focus away from what customers wanted in the chain's high street stores."Gerry Johnson and I agreed it was time for a change," he added.Fox insisted Waterstone's was an "excellent business and brand" and that there was a place on the high street for a specialist bookseller, despite pressures from online retailers such as Amazon, the rise of downloadable ebooks and cut-price bestsellers at supermarkets.The priorities for the new chief would be "improving the customer proposition", tailoring stores to their local market, managing promotions more effectively, accelerating online and digital book growth and getting further cost synergies from Waterstone's position as part of a larger group, Fox said.Shares in HMV tumbled by 8% today, losing 7.45p to 84.5p.It is understood that Johnson will receive his contractual entitlement to a year's salary, which was £312,000 in the last financial year. This is paid in quarterly instalments which would end if Johnson found a new job within the year.Today's HMV results came on a busy morning for the City, in which electricals chain DSG, owner of PC World, and Primark-owner Associated British Foods emerged as Christmas winners.HMV's own stores also enjoyed a strong Christmas, with like-for-like sales up by 2.2% in the five-week period. It sold more than 27m CDs, DVDs and games in the run-up to Christmas, with sales of technology products 50% higher.Fox said this was the chain's third consecutive record-breaking Christmas. The stores it acquired from Zavvi, which collapsed a year ago, performed particularly well. But the group's overall like-for-like sales fell by 1.2% because of the slump at Waterstone's. Freddie George, analyst at Seymour Pierce, cut his profit forecast from £78m to £76m because of the performance at Waterstone's.The bookseller's sales have been falling steadily for some time, partly because of the rise of web retailers such as Amazon. The collapse of rival Borders in December was also a mixed blessing – as Borders slashed prices heavily in an effort to clear its stock.Johnson defended Waterstone's last November, following a Guardian feature which suggested the chain had helped to "kill" bookselling in the UK. Johnson insisted that Waterstone's was still committed to literature and promoting new authors, despite the rapid changes in the industry.Electricals fly off the shelvesAfter a rocky couple of years, DSG was celebrating today after posting an 8% rise in the past 10 weeks. It said it had enjoyed record-breaking sales of TVs, PCs and white goods in the UK.DSG said its PC World chain had benefited from the launch of Windows 7, Microsoft's new operating system, but cautioned that sales to businesses were still weak because of the recession."Looking forward, we expect 2010 to be tough across Europe and notably in the UK given the economic environment," said chief executive John Browett. "However, we expect to continue to benefit from the self help of our renewal and transformation plan and continue to build solid foundations for future growth."DSG has also started consulting about closing its defined benefit pension scheme.Home Retail also cheered the City today, announcing that its profits for the current year will probably be £20m higher than analysts had expected. This comes from tighter cost management rather than a surge in sales. Like-for-like sales at Argos were up just 0.1%. While toys, televisions, personal computers and white goods all sold well, there was a sharp decline in demand for video games. Sales of jewellery, furniture and homewares were all lower.Home Retail's Homebase chain saw a 4% rise in like-for-like sales. This was led by big-ticket items such as new kitchens.In the clothing sector, total sales at Primark were up by 19% in the last quarter. Associated British Foods, which owns the chain, said this was ahead of its expectations.HMVWaterstone'sHome RetailDSGRetail industryGraeme WeardenKatie Allenguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds feeds.guardian.co.uk |