Blog
Happy Families
16 June, 2014
The Father’s Day celebration over the weekend got me thinking about the parent-child relationships in some of our favourite A&B titles. See below my pick of the most functional and dysfunctional of Allison and Busby’s fictional families: Tom Perrota: Little Children This comical bestseller is a classic that proves that mums and dads come in […]
“We’re all going on a literary holiday…”
13 June, 2014
Are you eagerly anticipating a summer holiday soon? If you’re like me, your idea of heaven is doing a lot of not very much on a beach somewhere with a very good supply of reading material and cocktails. But, while they sound far more active than my usual getaway, I admit to being tempted by […]
Literary Nooks & Crannies
11 June, 2014
Book lovers are always on the look-out for all things book related. Everything from literary mugs to bookish wallpaper is of interest to me. And imagine my delight when I found The Fable bar. It’s a bar/restaurant in Holborn, London inspired by the fantasy world of fairy tales where every detail tells a story. To be […]
Poetry in Motion
9 June, 2014
Did any one else read Sophie’s blog post last week and agree that poetry tends to fall off the average reader’s radar (and that we should probably make more effort to head to the poetry section next time we’re searching out books)? Since then, it seems that the wonderful world of the interweb has been […]
In defence of fairy tales – FRIDAY GIVEAWAY
6 June, 2014
Yesterday there was a bit of a furore over comments Richard Dawkins allegedly made at the Cheltenham Science Festival about the ‘pernicious’ effect of fairy tales on children. Dawkins now says he was misquoted and that fairy tales are probably, on balance (10/10 for the eloquent, equivocating science-speak), ‘beneficial’, see Bookseller article. Just as well, […]
Back from the Dead
4 June, 2014
I am currently reading Look Who’s Back by Timur Vermes – a hilarious political satire where Hitler wakes up alive and well in Berlin, 2011. People think he’s a flawless impersonator and it’s not long before he gets his own TV show. It’s a such a simple and brilliant idea for a book. And it […]
Everything in its Rightful Place
2 June, 2014
I was happy to see last week that another independent bookshop is showing its determination and canny, in order to save itself from closing down. I was especially pleased to see that it was October Books, based in Southampton, very close to where I grew up. After 37 years in the business, the cooperative-run bookshop […]
Staying Alive with poetry
30 May, 2014
Sometimes it’s nice to branch out of your ordinary reading habits. I recently did so myself after finding a poetry anthology in Waterstones Wandsworth. I was heading to the check out when I noticed a stand of books to one side: Staying Alive, Being Alive and Being Human. They are three anthologies, each consisting of […]
‘It’s a sin to kill a mockingbird…’
28 May, 2014
I studied To Kill a Mockingbird many years ago for GCSE English. I recall that I applied what was my standard then of close studying, of labouring maybe the themes of the novel with long passages picked out in the relevant luminous highlighter pen. Quotable sections were flagged up with a torrent of post-it notes […]
The Power of Fandom (and a free eBook!)
26 May, 2014
In someways an article I read recently about the emerging power of fandom states the obvious. When you consider that the fans are those not only consuming content, buying and reading the books or tuning into the shows, but also engaging with the content in a way that brings in further fans, it seems obvious […]
Why choose just one? #ThisBook
23 May, 2014
The #ThisBook campaign launched by Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction is a great idea. But quite a difficult one. I struggled for about half an hour before finally being able to decide that Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was the book that the most impact one me. I struggled, not for mere lack of choice, but for […]
Wednesday Cover Story: A smorgasbord of covers
21 May, 2014
The other week we received copies of Mary Nichols’ new German edition of The Girl on the Beach. The cover that might have been consciously designed with fans of Downton Abbey in mind. After all, she says adopting a Through the Keyhole drawl, who would live in a stately pile like this? The arrival of […]
Late Night Learning
19 May, 2014
Museums in this country do a fantastic job. It’s rare, nowadays, that one will be found sitting still and lifeless in the middle of the city, a dusty house for archaic relics and prim museum assistants. Luckily, we’re encouraged to make the most of the excellent museums and galleries all around the country, and they have […]
Get Sleuthing
16 May, 2014
Murder mystery is most definitely having a ‘moment’. With all the Sherlock mania lately, the nation is fascinated with cracking cases. And now everyone can have a go at sleuthing with UCL’s Museum Murder Mystery night tonight, as part of the Museums at Night programme of events. A murder has taken place in one of […]
Criminal Activities
14 May, 2014
It seems May is a month for misbehaving and crime is all around us! But fear not, it’s organised (in the least Mafioso sense of the word) and under control. No laws will be broken during this month of criminal activities. First up, a trip to Bristol between the 15th -18th May will place you […]
Storytelling and great apes
12 May, 2014
After watching an episode of Monkey Planet recently in which a Bonobos built a fire and toasted marshmallows (the fire was started with a match, granted, but that’s about my level of Bear Grylls skill), you might wonder like what exactly does separate us from our ape cousins. After some thought, I’d argue that storytelling […]
Mr & Mrs Smith’s Social Book Salon
9 May, 2014
A social book salon with cocktails and canapes? That sounds like a great evening. And that’s just what The Reading Agency are doing. On Sunday 11th May, they are hosting an evening at The Zetter Townhouse with showgirl and author Immodesty Blaize, Richard Kilgarriff, and agent Laetitia Rutherford and more with drinks, canapes and ‘sparkling conversation’. Tickets are […]
Books for the Beach
8 May, 2014
I’m very excited to be off on holiday for the next week, and am pleased to have a growing pile of books to take with me for the train, plane and hopefully some lazy afternoons on the beach. Some of the A&B eye-catching titles we’ve had into the office recently are definitely worthy of being […]
Wednesday Cover Story: Angela Thirkell
7 May, 2014
There’s nothing quite like running into an old friend you haven’t seen for donkey’s years and re-discovering how much you like and admire them. And for fans of Angela Thirkell, Virago have run even more of her backlist through their Gok Wan-style reissue process and sent them back out into the world to see old […]
Internship musings…
6 May, 2014
Working with the team at A&B these past three weeks has been a great experience. For such a small team they really do amazing things! Yet even in this short amount of time I’ve noticed a few recurring side effects of gaining an editorial publishing placement, and feel that it’s only my duty to make […]
Spring cleaning at Foyles
2 May, 2014
Spring traditionally prompts us to fling wide the windows and scour the dust and previous season from our homes’ nooks and crannies. Foyles, however, is going one better this year with a brand new, shiny, cathedral-like store at 107 Charing Cross Road. Those last two adjectives are speculative I admit, but I’m confident that those […]
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