RICK GEKOSKI

This book tells the stories behind the disappearances of some of our most famous works of art - and some that never existed at all. Like Sherlock Holmes' dog in the night time, sometimes the true significance of things lies in their absence. Rick Gekoski tells the very human stories that lie behind some of the greatest losses to artistic culture - and addresses the questions such disappearances raise. Some of the items are stolen (the Mona Lisa ), some destroyed (like Philip Larkin's diaries, shredded, then burnt, on his dying request) and some were lost before they even existed, like the career of the brilliant art deco architect, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, which foundered amid a lack of cash - but behind all of them lies an often surprising story which reveals a lot about what art means to us. Gekoski explores in depth the greater questions these tremendous losses raise - such as the rights artists and authors have over their own work, the importance of the search for perfection in creativity, and what motivated people to queue to see the empty space where the Mona Lisa once hung in the Louvre.

The final instalment in the Darke trilogy

The final installment in the Darke trilogy

Based on the popular BBC Radio 4 series Rare Books, Rare People, "Tolkien''s Gown" and Other Stories of Great Authors and Rare Books is a veritable feast of the tales behind some of the most iconic titles to have graced British publishing, and fascinating anecdotes about the authors who wrote them. It starts with the story of how Graham Green arranged a meeting in his hotel room to sell a signed copy of "Lolita" for 4,000 to the author of this book, Rick Gekoski, over a glass or ten of vodka. He resold the book for 9,000 in his hungover state the next day to Elton John''s lyricist Bernie Taupin and in later years, it went on to fetch $264,000 at auction in Christies. With all the other behind-the-scenes stories, this becomes a gem of a book, tales about Tolkien, Potter, Orwell, Larkin, Hemingway and more, representing a treasure trove of trivia for book fans.

Dans la lignée de Brooklyn de Colm Tóibín et de La Fenêtre panoramique de Richard Yates, la chronique subtile et nostalgique dun couple en pleine crise, sur fond de persécution maccarthyste. Rick Gek

The Times Best Literary Non-fiction Books 2021 - a super yarnRick Gekoskis encyclopaedic knowledge of rare books is matched only by the enthusiasm and brio with which he writes about them Ian Rankin Rick Gekoski has been traversing the rocky terrain of the rare book trade for over fifty years. The treasure he seeks is scarce, carefully buried and often jealously guarded, knowledge of its hiding place shared through word of mouth like the myths of old. In Guarded by Dragons, Gekoski invites readers into this enchanted world as he reflects on the gems he has unearthed throughout his career. He takes us back to where his love of collecting began - perusing D.H. Lawrence first editions in a slightly suspect Birmingham carpark. What follows are dizzying encounters with literary giants as Gekoski publishes William Golding, plays ping-pong with Salman Rushdie and lunches with Graham Greene. A brilliant stroke of luck sees Sylvia Plaths personal copy of The Great Gatsby fall into Gekoskis lap, only for him to discover the perils of upsetting a Poet Laureate when Ted Hughes demands its return. Hunting for literary treasure is not without its battles and Gekoski boldly breaks the cardinal rule never to engage in a lawsuit with someone much richer than yourself, while also guarding his bookshop from the most unlikely of thieves. The result is an unparalleled insight into an almost mythical world where priceless first editions of Ulysses can vanish, and billionaires will spend as much gold as it takes to own the manuscript of J.K. Rowlings Tales of Beedle the Bard. Engaging, funny and shrewd, Guarded by Dragons is a fascinating discussion on value and worth. At the same time, Gekoski artfully reveals how a manuscript can tell a thousand stories.

Released from prison after serving his sentence for the assisted death of his wife, his health failing and his chronic impatience exacerbated, Dr James Darke self-isolates. But on his return he understands that he is now a displaced person, lost in a new world for which his education and inclinations have not prepared him. Irascible, misanthropic, intensely bookish, fastidious in his tastes and rich enough to indulge them, Darke is a happy shut-in, busily writing oppositional pamphlets and composing a literary hoax. But his daughter and the Bulgarian housekeeper she hired to look after him have other ideas.After Darke is a moving, witty reflection on grief, ageing and love in all its forms, and James Darke is one of the most memorable, exasperating yet loveable characters of contemporary fiction.

Its snarky hero is a joy, a Times and Sunday Times Novel of the Year, 2020 Clever, witty and perceptive . . . Gekoski writes movingly about love, loss and grief, while handling the difficult issue of assisted dying with considerable balance and finesse. Beautifully written, engrossing and heartbreakingly funnyMail on SundayStylish, funny and daring . . . the clarity and energy of Darke Matter fill you with lightThe Times (best summer books)Harrowing, funny, tender and nearly always beautifully writtenSunday TimesJames Darke is dreading the first family Christmas without his wife Suzy. Engulfed by grief, his grudging preparations are interrupted by a persistent knock at the door. Questions about the circumstances of his wifes death force him to confront the outside world and what really happened to her.Isolated, angry and diminished, James soon faces a crisis both legal and psychological. It will test his resolve and threaten his freedom. Darke Matter is a brilliant, mordant examination of the nature and obligations of love. Both immensely sad and extremely funny, the story wrestles with one of the great moral issues of our time.The surprising sequel to Darke . . . Praise for Darke:An original and bleakly funny portrait of griefEconomistSurprising . . . with a warmth that is genuinely and unexpectedly movingGuardianA wondrous book with two fathers, Kingsley Amis and Dante Sebastian BarryMakes for dark, thrilling reading . . . In James Darke, Gekoski has created a powerful, raging voiceSpectatorI was beguiled and charmed by the vivid personality being revealed. By that, and by the fact that I couldnt stop reading. Gekoski puts words together with a sure touch and deep craftsmanship Philip PullmanRick Gekoskis impressive debut novel . . . Darke is both a tender and hard-hitting examination of grief and the slow, singular healing process . . . A brilliantly vivid creation . . . life-affirming and life-shatteringThe HeraldStaggeringly accomplished. Heartbreakingly true. A shockingly monumental first novel John NivenStuffed with more wisdom, bile, wit and tenderness than many writers create in a lifetime. In James Darke we have a hero as troubled and eternal as King Lear . . . And in Rick Gekoski we have a late-flowering genius of a novelist who proves its never too late to start a glittering career in fictionThe TimesAn immensely enjoyable elegy . . . done with precision and patienceThe ScotsmanDebut delight . . . Just how this gleefully conjured misanthrope came to wall himself off from the world is the mystery at the heart of a singular first novel that evolves into a moving meditation on loss and redemptionMail on Sunday

Outside of a dog, a book is mans best friend. Inside of a dog, its too dark to read. Groucho MarxOutside of a Dog is the captivating account of twenty-five books drawn from the fields of literature, psychology and philosophy, and a memoir of a reading self.Tracing the formative role books have played in his life, Rick Gekoski trains the same ironic and analytic eye on these books and their authors as he does on himself. The result is unique: a sustained, witty book dedicated to the proposition that we are what we read. Outside of A Dog might be described as an intellectual bibliomemoir, except that the author regards the noun intellectual as a term of abuse.Gekoskis twenty-five include: Dr. Seuss, Horton Hatches the Egg; Magnus Hirschfeld Sexual Anomalies and Perversions; Allen Ginsberg, Howl; J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye; T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land; Descartes, Meditations; David Hume, An Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding; W.B. Yeats, The Collected Poems; F.R. Leavis, The Common Pursuit; Matthew Arnold, Culture and Anarchy; Tom Wolfe, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test; Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations; R.D. Laing, The Divided Self; Germaine Greer, The Female Eunuch; D.H. Lawrence, Women in Love; A.S. Neill, Summerhill; Roald Dahl, Matilda; Alice Miller, Pictures of a Childhood; A.J. Ayer, Language, Truth, and Logic; Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams; Carl Hiaasen, Double Whammy; Peter Wright, Spycatcher; and Rick Gekoski, Staying Up.