Blog
Foreign tastes: the changing book title…
25 November, 2011
A chance discovery on Amazon.com (thanks to Christina) led me to searching out the foreign language editions of Jamie Ford’s Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. It’s an elaborate title (and a beautiful book, don’t miss it!) but it rolls off the tongue and conveys a sense of the story. We’ve stuck with […]
The protesters’ libraries
24 November, 2011
I learnt from the Guardian this week something quite inspiring: Occupy campaigners across the world have begun to set up informal libraries in their tent cities. Yes – in London there is a little library satirically named ‘StarBooks’ (anti-capitalist jokes, what fun!), and the Vancouver protesters even have a whole section on ‘The American Empire’. […]
Wednesday Cover Story: Third time’s a charm…
23 November, 2011
Every day, for the past few weeks I’ve been admiring the cover for A Discovery of Witches, by Deborah Harkness (there’s a poster advertising the paperback as I head to the Northern Line at Waterloo station on my morning commute). It’s a beautiful juxtaposition – the silky, light strands of red contrasting with the stark, […]
Let’s talk about Sherlock
22 November, 2011
A while ago people needed to talk about Kevin, and now they are talking about Sherlock Holmes. The release of the new official Holmes novel, The House of Silk, by Anthony Horowitz, has sparked this new hype, but Holmes has always been a source of interest and inspiration. A great deal of writers have been […]
The SYP Conference, publicity and our paper fetish
21 November, 2011
On Saturday I had the pleasure of speaking at the annual Society of Young Publisher’s Conference 2011 – giving three seminars, together with Alison Baverstock, on publicity. When our lovely SYP host, Katie Lewis, told us our seminar was the most heavily subscribed to, admittedly my first thought was: ‘Uh oh, pressure is on!’ , […]
Ronnie Biggs versus his kidnapper, Patrick King
18 November, 2011
Today’s news is that The Great Train Robber, Ronnie Biggs, has just launched his official autobiography, Odd Man Out: The Last Straw. Unable to speak and looking extremely frail in this footage from SKY NEWS from the press conference, Ronnie has apparently been working on the book since he was released from jail on compassionate […]
Hummus or humus inspired musings…
17 November, 2011
I had hummus for lunch today. And this simple fact led me to ponder that I never really know what the correct spelling is for the word. A quick Google informed me that it can in fact be spelt in many different way including houmous, hommos, hommus, hummos, hummous, hamos (not to be confused with […]
Wednesday Cover Story: First peek at The War of the Dragon Lady
16 November, 2011
We’re very excited to be welcoming author John Wilcox to the A&B list, and we will soon be releasing The War of the Dragon Lady (out January 2012) – his new book in the highly acclaimed Simon Fonthill series. And now we have finalised the cover which I think is fab! And here’s an insiders […]
A trip down memory lane with Matilda: The Musical
15 November, 2011
I was brought back to my childhood in a flurry of bright scrabble-shaped letters, music, singing and dancing this weekend when I saw Matilda: The Musical at the Cambridge Theatre. Ronald Dahl has been one of my favourite authors since I could read, or perhaps even before that when my mother read to me. James […]
Rescued prints
14 November, 2011
Thanks to a friend with some tickets to the Country Life Christmas Fair, I’m now well and truly enjoying the festive spirit. Hurry – only forty-odd more days to go! (I’m only half joking.) Anyway, while wondering around the surprisingly cavernous Business Design Centre in Angel (how apt) I found stalls of all shapes and […]
Reading about and remembering the Great War
11 November, 2011
Today we celebrate Remembrance Day: the anniversary of the official end to World War One, and this year I seem to have been thinking about it more. One reason is that my other half is currently reading Somme Mud, a first-hand account of Australian infantryman Private Lynch’s experience in the front-line trenches of the Great […]
Let other keyboards dwell on poor Austen imitations
10 November, 2011
You don’t know how hard I’m restraining my fingers from tapping out a line on autopilot that the world, his wife and her indolent Pug dog know all to well. So putting aside any truths, universally acknowledged or not, I’m determined to quietly welcome an addition to the Austen continuation shelf from no less an […]
Wednesday Cover Story: Mo’ Moustaches Please (there’s a prize in it!)
9 November, 2011
We would love to join in the spirit of Movember, but neither I, nor my colleagues in the A&B office will be sporting a moustache this month. As an all-women office, we’re more inclined to go to great lengths to hide any hint of facial hair, let alone show it off. So, who could we […]
A week’s worth of good telly
8 November, 2011
I rarely look through the TV listings in the Sunday papers a) because I think I should limit my time in front of the TV and b) because frankly I find there’s usually very little worth watching. But this week, my negligence in browing the TV listings has meant I’ve missed out on the first […]
Another Mo-nday in Movember…
7 November, 2011
It’s the second week in November, which means the moustaches of men throughout the UK must be coming along nicely. Let me explain, in case you haven’t heard of the fundraising fad that is ‘Movember’. During the eleventh month of each year, men register at www.movember.com and commence their attempts to grow the finest moustache. […]
An Animated Bookshelf
4 November, 2011
I assume anyone following this blog will agree that bookshops can be pretty amazing places. And in the best of them, you could easily believe that something magical happens when the lights are switched off and the daytime human occupants leave. DIrector Spike Jonze (of Being John Malcovich and Jackass: The Movie fame) has taken […]
When does Christmas start for you?
3 November, 2011
On the first of November I left early to fight my way through Oxford Street to see the Christmas Lighting Celebration. It was packed inside the fenced in street, with a crowd stretched from Marks & Spencer to Marble Arch, and it did, indeed, begin to feel like Christmas. Together the crowd sang out ‘Santa […]
Wednesday Cover Story: Not so elementary a font, my dear Watson
2 November, 2011
The release of the new official Sherlock Holmes novel, The House of Silk, by Antony Horowitz has many people questioning if it will measure up to the great Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. But, seeing as I already get my fill of Holmesian escapades with Laurie R King‘s fabulous Mary Russell & Sherlock Holmes series, the […]
Can you write a novel in 30 days?
1 November, 2011
I recently discovered that November is National Novel Writing Month, the idea being to write an entire novel in 30 days. The internet project (at NaNoWriMo.org) allows fellow writers to sign up to the challenge, mark their progress, track how many words others have written and, if they’re competitive, try to churn out more words […]
Name a book set around Halloween and win a treat!
31 October, 2011
Happy Halloween everyone! Amongst the things I’ve thought about today are: Why is treak or treating just for kids?; shall I make a pumkin soup or pumpkin risotto for dinner tonight?; and what good books have been set on or around Halloween? The only one I could think of was one by the great Tony […]
Friday Fun: How you comin’ on with that novel?
28 October, 2011
Time for some end of week laughs. I’m a fan of the irreverently brilliant series Family Guy, a fan of Stewie’s character (the baby) in particular, and my all-time favourite bits have to be Stewie’s monologues about Brian’s novel (that’s Brian the dog). And so I bring you these aforementioned clips from the show… Here’s […]
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