History in the Court evening in Central London
15 September, 2012
Enjoy a glass of wine and mingle with writers of historical fiction and non-fiction as they flock to Goldsboro Books off Charing Cross Road this Thursday 20 September.
The next books on the To Be Read list…
10 September, 2012
Currently I find myself in the rare situation of having nothing to read. I usually have a stack of unread books at home which I gradually deplete until the next stack arrives with my birthday, Christmas, or an unfortunate spending splurge in a bookshop. My most recent buys were Anna Karenina and On Chesil Beach, […]
Wednesday Cover Story: An Agatha Christie Moment
5 September, 2012
Stylist has alerted us to the fact that it is Agatha Christie week in Devon from the 9-16th September and has featured a nice article about her iconic cover art. Cover art being a daily discussion in the A&B office (depending on how it’s going the discussion can either end in much despair or a […]
Should books be given age restrictions?
3 September, 2012
A recent article on the BBC website made me consider something I’d never really thought about before: should books have age certificates? The Fifty-Shades phenomenon means that shops are now filled to the brim with adult-content books – in fact, they’re all being made as visible as possible: in pride of place on display tables, […]
Food inspired by books…
28 August, 2012
This week in my hunt for interesting book-related tidbits, I came across Fictitious Dishes, an art project by Dinah Fried which consists of five photos of meals from famous literature (below, her Moby Dick inspired meal – click on image to view more as featured in Bon Appetit). A very strange but also very original […]
Catrin Collier book signing in Newport
28 August, 2012
Saturday 15 September, 1.00pm – 2.00pm WATERSTONES, NEWPORT Come and meet acclaimed author Catrin Collier who will be chatting to customers and signing copies of her new paperback set in Pontypridd, Bobby’s Girl, at Waterstones, 159 Commercial Street, Newport, NP20 1JQ . For more information contact the store on 0843 290 8507.
The Seven Year Itch
24 August, 2012
We are moving offices soon so there’s a great deal of ruthless clearing out and decluttering going on at A&B. We have been at Charlotte Mews for almost seven years now and we love this area (Susie, for its proximity to The Groucho; Chiara for the amazing foodie spots in the area, Christina for the […]
Books coming soon to a cinema near you…
20 August, 2012
At the moment I’m reading Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, and have just realised that the new film adaptation is out on 7th September. Being only halfway through the (massive) book, I need to get a move on! I’m determined to finish before watching the film, which looks promising – with a cast of Keira Knightley, Aaron […]
Does your book match your bikini…?
17 August, 2012
For me, now travelling avec enfant, there are other considerations that affect my search too. Trendy hotspots Mykonos, Ibiza and Puerto Banus are now off the list. There’ll be no more hobnobbing with celebs, dancing till dawn and… matching my bikini to my reading list as the Huffington Post recommends here: Book Bikini Matching. But […]
Female Literary Legends…
13 August, 2012
Over the past two Olympic weeks we’ve seen Team GB collect a hoard of gold medals, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that many were won by women – according to The Guardian, 36% of all medals (at the time of writing) were collected by female athletes. Still not the 50% we’re striving for, […]
Olympic Art
10 August, 2012
‘Write about what you know’ they always say. Pfft. Look at me, I’m going to write about art about which I know next to nothing. Our author Ruth Dudley Edwards knows quite a bit about it though, and in her upcoming book Killing the Emperors (available in November) she courts controversy with a very unforgiving […]
Anna Dean book signing in Carlisle
8 August, 2012
Come and meet Anna Dean, author of the acclaimed Dido Kent mystery series, who will be signing copies of her books, including her new hardback A Place of Confinement at Waterstones in Carlisle on Saturday 8th September, 11am – 1pm.
Catrin Collier book signing in Pontypridd
8 August, 2012
Come and meet acclaimed author Catrin Collier who will be signing copies of her new paperback Bobby’s Girl (set in Pontypridd) at WHSmith in Pontypridd on Saturday 25 August, 12noon – 1.30pm
Alanna Knight, Alex Gray & Aline Templeton at Stirling’s Bloody Scotland Festival
8 August, 2012
PART OF BLOODY SCOTLAND – Scotland’s International Crime Writing Festival, 14 – 16 September STIRLING HIGHLAND HOTEL Saturday 15 September, 10.30 – 11.30am Alex Gray has always wanted to weave in the life of a female pathologist ever since her first visit to Glasgow City Mortuary. Her initial experience of a post mortem examination and […]
Not watching the Olympics this weekend? Then try this…
2 August, 2012
Now that the Olympics have really begun, I find I’m feeling less pessimistic about it all. I was certain that, despite Danny Boyle, the opening ceremonies would be a let down, but actually I was impressed. They paired James Bond and the Queen as a skydiving duo, and there was a giant Voldemort – I […]
The Olympig Games…
30 July, 2012
Last week Michael Bond was in the office. Best known for his Paddington Bear creation, he also writes our fabulously funny Monsieur Pamplemousse series starring sniffer dog extraodinaire, Pommes Frites. Lesser known are his Tales of Olga da Polga, any mention of which makes our publicity manager’s eyes glaze over with childhood nostalgia. Olga in […]
Getting into the Olympic spirit…
27 July, 2012
The Booed… Anyone else a bit confused about the Olympic Games starting a few days before the opening ceremony? Not half as confused as the North Korean women’s football team whose faces were shown on a screen next to the South Korean flag, just before kick-off. As the two countries are technically still at war […]
Literary places I’d love to visit…
23 July, 2012
I recently read an article in The Guardian on the top ten homes in literature, and immediately I began to think of the literary places I’d love to visit. The columnist’s choices included Miss Havisham’s decaying home, Thrushcross Grange in Wuthering Heights, and Dr Jekyll’s residence – intriguing, yes, but there are others I’d prefer… […]
Alanna Knight at Reader’s Day in Irvine
20 July, 2012
Saturday 27th October, 9.30am-3.30pm WELLWOOD, IRVINE A chance for readers to meet and share their love of reading. Four talented authors, Alanna Knight (author of the acclaimed Inspector Faro and Rose McQuinn series), Maggie Craig, James Robertson and Sara Sheridan will be leading various book group sessions at a Reader’s Day in Wellwood, 28 Eglinton […]
The (Unintentional) Book Thief
20 July, 2012
It’s a long-running joke in our house that we’re destined to be penniless due to my inability to return library books on time. Personally, I like to think of the overdue fines as small (but regular) contributions towards keeping libraries afloat, but for some reason this justification is no longer washing with my other half. […]
D E Meredith at Wilderness Festival in Oxfordshire
17 July, 2012
D E Meredith (author of the Victorian crime novel, ‘Devoured’), will be giving a talk with fellow authors Essie Fox and Lynn Sheperd entitled ‘MAYHEM, MYSTERY AND MURDER: The Victorian World Re-imagined’, at this summer’s Wilderness Festival.