Blog
A Murder of Magpies
22 September, 2014
With the upcoming paperback release of Judith Flanders’ hilarious caper crime, A Murder of Magpies (originally called Writers’ Block), we’re on the lookout for the best animal collectives. See the American edition cover, below. This weekend in the Guardian we spotted an article on ten of the best collective nouns. It missed out a ‘worship of writers’, which […]
The House that Blake Built
19 September, 2014
Plans to create a museum within the house that poet William Blake lived in from 1800 – 1803 are being backed by a crowdfund campaign, launching next week. To celebrate, we are running a special offer on the hardback edition of Beryl Kingston’s Gates of Paradise, a charming love story, set against the historical events of Blake’s stay […]
The Monster’s Wife
17 September, 2014
We all have one or two books that we read and that stay with us forever – for me one of those titles is Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The creature”s ability to be at once terrifying and vulnerable captured my imagination. I even wrote my dissertation on it. So I was extremely excited to learn that Kate […]
Suzette A Hill’s Short Story Challenge
15 September, 2014
It was quite a challenge the Royal Over-Seas League Magazine put to our author, Suzette A Hill; to write a short story in just 50 words is no mean feat! But the author readily accepted the commission and it was challenge accomplished. We love the heartwarming photo, don’t you?! England – August 1940 Suzette A Hill That […]
A library with no books
12 September, 2014
There’ll be no dusty shelves chaotically crammed with books to aimlessly wander along for these students. Instead, Florida Polytechnic University’s spacious library is entirely digital and provides students access to around 135,000 ebooks. It will certainly mean lighter school bags! Lydia Riddle, Editor
Unbinding the Book
10 September, 2014
Well this is something you don’t see everyday: As part of London Art Book Fair, artist Camille Leproust has created a book that turns black as it is read. The book is printed on thermal paper which heats and slowly blackens so the reader has around four hours to read it before the text fades completely […]
A Novel Way to Order an Espresso
8 September, 2014
Some of my favourite bookshops have coffee shops on site (try the London Review Bookshop (pictured below) next time your in the capital). There’s nothing better than treating yourself to a browse through the shelves, before scouting out the comfiest seat in the cafe (usually a plush, velvet sofa scattered with a few biscuit crumbs from ghosts […]
Holiday Reads
5 September, 2014
As I woke up this morning to a very grey and dreary London, I am especially pleased to be going on holiday tomorrow to sunny Spain. For me one of the best things about preparing for holiday is choosing what books to take. But I made the silly mistake of buying them over a month […]
A serious point on the serial comma
3 September, 2014
As a recent article in TED succinctly states: the serial comma (a.k.a. the Oxford comma) is perhaps the most hotly contested grammatical point of all time. Where do you stand on the issue of the Oxford comma? This picture should help you see why it makes sense to use it . . . Check out […]
Surprise Sequels
1 September, 2014
I found out today that Audrey Niffenegger is currently writing a sequel to her bestselling novel, The Time Traveller’s Wife. As a great fan of the first book, I can only wait expectantly, and somewhat anxiously, for the next one. There’s something a little nerve-wracking about the prospect of a sequel to a beloved book. What if I don’t […]
Exclusive Lawrence Scott La Foce poem
29 August, 2014
A&B author Lawrence Scott, author of the wonderful Aelred’s Sin (out in Ebook this month) recently visited La Foce, to learn about the intriguing Iris Origo. Whilst there, Lawrence penned poems about his surroundings and we’re delighted to share one with you, below. Isn’t it beautiful? We’re dreaming of La Dolce Vita… The time was […]
Wednesday Cover Story: Jewels of India
27 August, 2014
We’ve got our hands on the Indian edition of three June Thomson, Sherlock Holmes books – don’t they look great? A very different take than the A&B covers, but dark alleyways and shadowy figures… exactly what we like in a good detective book. My favourite’s The Secret Journals cover (far left). It looks like it has […]
Sand on the Shelves
26 August, 2014
With the arrival of the Kindle, we thought that we’d finally solved the problem of bulky bags full of holiday reads, costing an arm and a leg to check in. But isn’t it true that some of us miss the sand between the pages experience of holding an actual book? Fear not traditionalists, because there’s […]
Fancy a Pong match?
22 August, 2014
Do you remember Pong, the world’s first arcade video game from the 70s? Try playing it now that we’re used to much more sophisticated software. It’s hard! Don’t believe me? Head down to The Digital Revolution exhibition at the Barbican and have a go on the clunky dials yourself. From Pong to Apple’s huge range […]
Bye, Bye, Blackbird
18 August, 2014
Chuck Wendig’s Blackbirds is a quite horrible book; that said I loved it. Not for the faint hearted this novel is a graphically detailed tale of gore, carved out with a scalpel-like precision and acerbic wit. The protagonist Miriam Black is reminiscent of Stieg Larsson’s Lisbeth Salander, damaged but definitely able to take care of […]
Should we be following French law against heavy discounting to help indie booksellers in the UK?
15 August, 2014
‘As booksellers around the world continue to feel the pinch of trying to do business in an online retail climate, the French Parliament has taken action that at least intends to protect bookshops in some small way. The government has now made it illegal to offer free shipping on books in the country.’ Could UK […]
Wednesday Cover Story
13 August, 2014
We’re very excited to be publishing L C Tyler at A&B next month and could not wait to show you this fab new Crooked Herring cover – hot off the press! I’m a great fan of this one – it reminds me of weekend trips in the countryside in my Dads’ Volvo. Those rolling, grey […]
Childhood Heroes
12 August, 2014
I was sad to learn this morning that Robin Williams was found dead in his Californian home from what appears to be suicide. I grew up watching him and loved everything from Good Will Hunting to his stand-up shows. Not just a great comic, he was an immeasurable acting talent. Nearly every year or so, my […]
Casting the Net for a Female Lead
11 August, 2014
It seems that Marvel are continuing their love for all things girl power, and have announced that they may be expanding Spider-Man’s filmic universe. A new film would feature a female protagonist, either Spider-Woman, Spider-Girl, Silver Sable, Black Cat, Stunner or Firestar. It will reportedly also have a female screenwriter. This follows Marvel’s announcement that […]
Bookish Architecture
8 August, 2014
The internet is a place where you can find just about anything. And today I found an igloo made of books. Yes, that’s right. The sculpture installation, called Home, is by Colombian artist Miler Lagos. He used carefully stacked books to create a compact dome that is entirely self-supporting. Now how cool would that look in your living […]
A shelf of a very familiar taste in books
6 August, 2014
It doesn’t take much to guess which part of the world I was lucky enough to spend a few days in last week . . . Yes, Jo Nesbo and Jorn Lier Horst dominate the bestseller shelves in their homeland Norway with a shelf to spare for Danish author Jussi Alder-Olsen too. Locally-based crime fiction […]
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