Blog
Review of World War Z (the film, not the book)
25 June, 2013
Over the weekend I went to see World War Z, the new zombie blockbuster starring Brad Pitt, loosely based on the 2006 novel by Max Brooks. ‘Loosely based’ being something of an understatement, as apparently, apart from sharing the same title, the film bears little resemblance to the book. Read more about the differences here… […]
A day at the Charing Cross Road Fest
24 June, 2013
I saw last minute that the second edition of the Charing Cross Road Fest was taking place at the weekend, so on Saturday, intrigued, I decided to step into the belly of the London tourist beast. At Trafalgar Square, there was something I hadn’t even realised was happening, West End Live. This turned out to […]
Fly on the wall at Emily Winslow’s Book Launch
21 June, 2013
On Tuesday this week, Susie and I headed to Cambridge to celebrate the launch of The Whole World and The Start of Everything by Emily Winslow at Heffers Bookshop. It was a lovely family affair with kids invited along and whisked happily away to the children’s section where fellow author Helen Moss enraptured them talking […]
The Lost Pictures of Childhood
20 June, 2013
I discovered on Twitter that it was Judith Kerr‘s ninetieth birthday last week. Writer and illustrator of such children’s classics as The Tiger Who Came to Tea and the Mog series, Kerr’s words and pictures will doubtless both endure for a long time yet, given how familiar people of many generations are with her books. […]
Wednesday Cover Story: The Not-So-Brilliant Cover…
19 June, 2013
The same day the advance copies of the upcoming Kate Forsyth novel The Wild Girl came into the office last week (and everyone collectively swooned at its cover – have a look), I got home to find a delivery of a book I’d ordered for a university class next year; The Man Who Loved Children […]
The End of a Popular Era
18 June, 2013
I recently read in The Bookseller that Penguin will be dropping their Popular Classics list and couldn’t help but feel a little sad. As a child my parents house was littered with them; I remember my mother’s beloved copy of Pride and Prejudice and taking the popular classics edition of Macbeth to school for English […]
Colourful Reading…
17 June, 2013
The skies may have stubbornly been deaf to my requests to change from a very dull grey to a more mediterranean blue, so I will try to inject a little colour into everyone’s day by sharing this interesting piece I found via twitter last week. Jaz Parkinson is a graphic designer who has begun a […]
Rediscovering a neglected literary art form…
14 June, 2013
Once the literature of the masses (back when the novel was considered a lightweight, ‘feminine’ art form) but now often ignored, I’ve found myself unintentionally rediscovering poetry recently. And as I’m living and breathing novels at A&B, it’s interesting to look at something a bit different… Like most of us, I can’t say I’ve sat […]
A crime-filled holiday
13 June, 2013
I’ve just returned from sunny Mykonos where I indulged in questionable amounts of feta cheese and devoured several wonderful books. While lounging on the beach I was kept entertained by Germans and their bumbags, people’s faces when they ventured into the unexpectedly cold sea and two great authors, master of the art Gillian Flynn and […]
Wednesday Cover Story: The Wonders of 3D
12 June, 2013
It was only about a week ago that I saw my first movie in 3D. Yes, finger on the pulse, that’s me. It was Star Trek: Into Darkness, Benedict Cumberbatch was in fine form and it was an enjoyable couple of hours. The 3D effect took a little bit of getting used I must say, […]
The simple beauty of a bird’s nest
11 June, 2013
Sometimes there are things of such utter beauty that they must be shared. This is one of them. Look at the care and effort this bird has taken to build her nest. I must clarify that this is not a stylised magazine photo – […]
Envelope Exhibition, anyone?
10 June, 2013
Recently, while browsing on Twitter, I discovered upcoming book release Letters to Klaus. The book is a collection of illustrated envelopes which have been sent to Klaus Flugge, founder of Andersen Press, by the various children’s book illustrators he’s worked with over the years. Not only does it sound like a lovely little coffee table […]
Famous Last Words…
7 June, 2013
I received some promotional postcards today from Plainpicture.com, and one of them looks like this: It has got me thinking about that last page in a novel: how an author must feel reaching the end of their 100,000 word manuscript; how long they may have spent thinking about those last words on the page; how […]
Why I Despise…
6 June, 2013
After reading this article from New York Magazine recently, ‘Why I Despise The Great Gatsby‘, I started thinking about the topic of ‘great literary classics you secretly can’t stand’ and our reluctance to admit to them. It seems to be something of a literary taboo – confessing which novels, whether from centuries ago or those […]
Wednesday Cover Story: Mary Nichols’ Hungarian look…
5 June, 2013
Mary Nichols’ books, The Summer House andThe Girl on the Beach have interestingly been very popular in Hungary. And now we’ve just recently sold rights to The Kirilov Star. The cover design to a foreign edition can look extremely different to the UK version, and more often than not wouldn’t appeal to a UK market […]
A smörgåsbord of your favourite writers
4 June, 2013
The past few years have seen an explosion in the ‘scandi-crime’ phenomenon, as the rest of the world discovered some top-notch crime novels and television drama coming out of the frozen north. Hands up anyone who’s lost a weekend in front of a box-set of The Killing, Bergen or The Bridge? Or have followed the […]
Twitter Favourites: Very British Problems
3 June, 2013
It’s the first Monday morning in June, and lo and behold the sun is finally out! And what’s more, we all have the opportunity to be extremely British by talking too much about the weather. Will it last? Is summer finally here? Or is the sunshine merely plotting to lull us into a false sense […]
A Different Kind of Trip
31 May, 2013
On Monday evening I was having a nice run around Tooting Bec common; the sun was shining, the weather was warm-ish, and people were basking in the lush green surroundings. All was going well until I tripped up. Not a little scuffle, but a full blown arms splayed and landing spread-eagled on the ground kind […]
You know you’ve made it when…
30 May, 2013
It’s not all that often that a new book will permeate the general culture so much that the characters’ names become common parlance or the newspapers will borrow plot twists to illustrate their point. I know when a book has hit the big time when my dearly beloved, but not-precisely-a-bookworm other half knows anything about […]
Wednesday Cover Story: Sneak peek of new Lake District mystery
29 May, 2013
The new Lake District mystery by Martin Edwards, The Frozen Shroud, will be out in June and advance copies came in the other day. We originally started printing this series with matte covers but gave the last book, The Hanging Wood a glossy finish instead to make the yellow tone more vibrant and eye-catching. It […]
London Lines
28 May, 2013
If you’re a book lover who lives in or near London, you may already know that the London Literature Festival is currently underway. Taking place on the South Bank, this annual celebration of all things literary offers a huge array of events to keep bookworms busy. One that’s particularly caught my eye is London Lines, […]
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