For the love of books: The Folio Society Summer Collection

SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — Five or six times a year I receive an email announcing the latest additions to The Folio Society’s collection of illustrated books. It’s always a mix of titles I love and new discoveries that I have yet to be introduced to. They’re simply the most beautiful books on the bookshelf.

Here are the ten titles announced this week. It’s a mix of Americana, horror, history, fantasy, Nordic noir and whatever might fall in between. Ian Fleming devotees will want to secure their copy of the limited edition of “Casino Royale.” I’m still trying to forgive myself for not bankrupting myself on the limited Philip K. Dick: The Complete Short Stories. It just might be the most beautiful thing that I’ll never own.

"Pet Sematary"by Stephen King
Which of Stephen King’s books is the scariest? It is a question that has been fiercely debated for years, but few could disagree that "Pet Sematary" is one of the strongest contenders. King himself hid the book away when it was finished, finding it "so startling, and so gruesome" that he was half afraid of it himself. Like Churchill the cat however, "Pet Sematary" was to get a second chance at life when King’s wife Tabitha convinced him it was too good not to find its way into the hands of readers.

"Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri
An immensely talented multilingual wordsmith, writing in Bengali, English and Italian, Jhumpa Lahiri’s debut short story collection blazed across the literary world upon publication, winning the Pulitzer Prize, the Pen award and the New Yorker Prize for Best First Book. Folio illustrates her multifaceted collection for the first time. Over nine stories, Lahiri deftly explores the tension between tradition and modernity, old and new worlds. The title story, "Interpreter of Maladies" hints at the maladies and misunderstandings that can arise from those tensions. Lahiri’s vividly drawn characters span generations and distances across the Bengali diaspora. We view partition from a distanced child’s perspective in "When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine." In "The Blessed House," we meet Tanima or ’Twinkle‘, who delights in collecting kitsch Christian figurines, embarrassing her husband. This new edition, illustrated by Shreya Gupta in bold, vibrant colours and patterns, includes the 2019 preface by Italian journalist and writer Domenico Starnone.

"I Capture the Castle" by Dodie Smith
Folio presents a beautiful new edition of "I Capture the Castle," the captivating tale of Cassandra and Rose Mortmain and the romantic complications that ensue with the arrival of a pair of rich American brothers. For this special edition of Dodie Smith’s celebrated classic, artist Sarah Dyer has created six new colour images as well as a charming binding design that references the opening line, one of the best known in all of literature. The endpapers, embellished with gold stars against a blue background, are inspired by Cassandra Mortmain’s two guinea notebook, and the title page illustration grants a gorgeous introduction to ramshackle Godsend Castle itself. Whether "I Capture the Castle" is an old favourite or a new discovery, this beautiful edition is sure to be one that’s returned to again and again.

"The Innocents Abroad"by Mark Twain
Largely remembered for his novels, Mark Twain achieved his greatest literary success within his lifetime with "The Innocents Abroad." When the fledgling journalist boarded the steamship Quaker City in 1867, it was the dawn of the age of tourism, and his acutely observed and humorous account of the five-month grand tour of Europe, Egypt and the Holy Land captivated readers as it still does today. From Tangier to Versailles, Odessa, the Dead Sea and the Pyramids of Egypt, Twain’s acerbic reporting leaves no person or place off-limits. There are attempts to speak French to the French; fear at the hands of demon barbers; overzealous tour guides; and large doses of religious fervour. But above all, there are Twain’s mesmerising descriptions of both the overarching beauty of the Old World and its pockets of desperate poverty.

"Tehanu"by Ursula K. Le Guin
Celebrated across the world for its adventure, its wisdom and its unforgettable characters, the Earthsea series has inspired readers and writers since the release of "A Wizard of Earthsea" in 1968. The fourth volume, "Tehanu," sees legendary writer Ursula K. Le Guin introduce new heroes and new threats, while Ged faces perhaps the hardest challenge of his life. Series artist David Lupton worked with Le Guin at the outset of the series to create a Ged and an Earthsea that stayed true to the author’s vision. This beautiful collector’s edition features seven spellbinding colour images and a perceptive afterword by Le Guin herself, revealing her own thoughts on this remarkable chapter in the Earthsea series. The endpapers are printed with maps and the exquisite binding features a stirring illustration of Tenar and the dragon Kalessin, the eerie vapour of Kalessin’s flames blocked in shimmering silver foil.

"Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar"by Simon Sebag Montefiore
Written by the best-selling and prize-winning historian Simon Sebag Montefiore, "Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar," is a thrilling, intimate portrait of a dictator who "believed the solution to every human problem was death," and the henchmen who presided over an era of mass murder in his name. Drawing on ground-breaking original research, Sebag Montefiore lays out in terrifying detail the intrigue, debauchery, paranoia and treachery inside the cloistered world of the Soviet Union’s ruling circle. With its fresh perspective on the way Stalin and his associates exercised power, both within and outside the Kremlin, this has become the definitive biography. The selection of photography is unique to this handsome two-volume Folio edition, portraying the figures within Stalin’s court and the enormity of war and oppression in the territories he ruled. It includes pictures from the David King Archive, one of the world’s leading collections of Soviet photography – some published for the first time. At a time when statues are once again being raised to Stalin in Russia, The Court of the Red Tsar is a chilling and timely read.

"Faceless Killers" by Henning Mankell
A gruesome murder in a remote farmhouse; a detective with a long list of personal demons; and the bleak backdrop of a harsh Swedish winter: add Henning Mankell’s explosive prose and you have the novel that brought Nordic noir to the attention of crime-fiction fans worldwide. The first book in Mankell’s best-selling "Wallander" series, Faceless Killers is a page-turning thriller of the highest order, as well as a frank snapshot of Sweden’s political and social landscape in the 1990s. Patti Smith’s original introduction is reproduced in English for the first time in this edition, to accompany Steven T. Murray’s translation, while award-winning illustrator Morgan Schweitzer elevates the tension with a series of atmospheric illustrations that culminates in the stark binding design, encased in an eye-catching die-cut slipcase.

"The Order of Time"by Carlo Rovelli
Why can we alter the future but not the past, and is there any such thing as the present? We think of time as universal – moving forward, measured by clocks – but look more closely, and it reveals itself to be profoundly strange. In this thrilling dive into the nature of our universe, theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli sweeps away all our easy assumptions. He shows that time flows faster or more slowly in different places, and vanishes altogether through the lens of quantum gravity theory. A number-one bestseller and one of Time’s ten best nonfiction books of the decade, "The Order of Time" is presented in a Folio edition unlike any other, thanks to award-winning designer Daniel Streat’s superb minimalist graphics. An exclusive new introduction by Philip Pullman, one of the book’s many literary fans, celebrates Rovelli’s rare gift for illuminating ‘ideas and concepts about the nature of the universe that are some of the strangest and deepest ever discovered’.

"A Clockwork Orange"by Anthony Burgess
"Goodness is something chosen. When a man cannot choose he ceases to be a man." So says the prison chaplain, perhaps the only voice of reason, in Anthony Burgess’s most celebrated work. Both a horrific satire of youth culture and an ingenious examination of social justice and government control, "A Clockwork Orange" has left an indelible, boot-shaped mark on the popular and literary culture of the late 20th century. Stanley Kubrick’s notorious 1971 film — with its iconic imagery and enduring controversies — has overshadowed a work whose philosophical paradoxes and astonishing linguistic invention are some of literature’s most inspired.

"Casino Royale" (Limited Edition) by Ian Fleming
"Casino Royale" was first published 70 years ago, on 13 April 1953. To celebrate this important anniversary, the Folio Society is releasing the ultimate collector’s edition – bound in blocked leather and limited to just 750 copies, each numbered by hand and signed by the artist Fay Dalton. Award-winning novelist Kim Sherwood, chosen by Ian Fleming Publications to expand the world of James Bond with three new novels, has contributed a fascinating introduction exclusive to this Folio limited edition.