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Behind-The-Books Blog
Pop-ups? Pop to your local library any time…
Friday, February 3rd, 2012
As we near the end of a week celebrating libraries around the country, culminating tomorrow with special events to mark National Libraries Day (see yesterday’s blog), it seems fitting to highlight the new pop-up library at Selfridges in London (found in the UltraLounge on the Lower Ground floor of the department store). Recently opened as [...]
Get ready for National Libraries Day
Thursday, February 2nd, 2012
Library goers up and down the UK are preparing to mark National Libraries Day on 4 February 2012. It will be the finale to a week of events that will celebrate libraries and librarians, and highlight the importance of reading. For example, in London at Canning Town Library, library users will be able to hear [...]
Wednesday Cover Story: Picador’s 40th Anniversary editions
Wednesday, February 1st, 2012
Tomorrow, Picador will be celebrating their 40th Anniversary with the reissue of 12 fiction titles with specially designed covers - all black and white. Those who follow this blog know that I love looking at these ’sets’…to be honest, it doesn’t mean I will buy them, but I enjoy the aesthetics of looking at all [...]
What upcoming film adaptations are you looking forward to?
Tuesday, January 31st, 2012
Last week’s issue of Stylist included a list of book adaptations due to hit the big screen this year, and as a frequent cinema-goer, I’m looking forward to quite a few of them. First, on the 10th February, comes eerie horror, The Woman in Black. I haven’t read the book, but I’m quite interested to [...]
A healthy (reading) diet
Monday, January 30th, 2012
If you read the title of this blog quickly, don’t worry, I’m not going to enumerate the many and varied ways I’m attempting to get back into something resembling shape this January, though that has unfortunately been a preoccupation of mine these past few, dark weeks. No, what I realized today was that it was [...]
Would you like fries or a book with that?
Friday, January 27th, 2012
I was interested to see some of the different responses online, whether praise or furore, to the news that McDonald’s were giving away Michael Morpurgo’s Mudpuddle Farm books with Happy Meals this month. Read the news here and here. and Perhaps it’s the visualization of a book in the place where you more often find [...]
Bring back The Letter!
Thursday, January 26th, 2012
Last week the blog Letters of Note, posted a letter written by author John Steinbeck to his then teenage and love-struck son, Thomas, back in 1958. Although it has been in the public domain since the 1980s, this recent spotlight has shot the letter to sudden fame. It has since been reproduced in last weekend’s [...]
Wednesday Cover Story: Hardback v Paperback
Wednesday, January 25th, 2012
There are some covers which are lovely pieces of design in themselves, but don’t actually “sell” the book to the reader. One example I came across recently was the hardback cover to The Art of Fielding, by Chad Harbach. I had seen the book on a table in my local bookstore but it would never [...]
Happy Year of the Dragon!
Tuesday, January 24th, 2012
Yesterday, as I recently discovered, was the Chinese New Year. The literal translation of its Chinese name is ‘Spring Festival’, and so it marks the end of winter and the beginning of spring. I wish it was feeling like spring already, but I’m afraid it’s a bit early for it here in the UK!
Nevertheless, I [...]
5 things you should know when moving flat
Monday, January 23rd, 2012
You will have noticed that I did not post a blog on Friday. This is because, instead of blogging, I was completing a feat comparable to an Iron Man.
Yes, that’s right, I had to move flat.
And before you scoff at my hyperbolic analogy, I will explain that this feat involved getting everything done (obtaining keys [...]
What the Dickens? Part One
Thursday, January 19th, 2012
Talk about poor timing. During 2012, the 200th anniversary of Charles Dickens’ birth, the Charles Dickens museum in Camden will shut between Easter and Christmas (read more here…) That seems like a very long time to me and a shame considering the attention the man is due to get this year.
But then again, we do [...]
The fascination with the Crusades
Wednesday, January 18th, 2012
I’m a bit of a sucker for documentaries on the Beeb and honestly think no-one does them better, so I’m getting super-excited about the 3-parter that starts on BBC 2 tonight at 9.30pm. And to make my life complete, it’s all about the Crusades. A truly mesmerising period in history that has spawned a gazillion [...]
It’s literary hashtag time again!
Tuesday, January 17th, 2012
Literary-themed hashtags sweep Twitter on a seemingly regular basis at the moment. For example, @Foyles runs an almost weekly literary hashtag competition and participation is high. Last week’s chosen theme was #bookrailway and the entry, Now We Are Six Minutes Late, won for its ‘realistic sense of exasperation’!
Whether it is driven by procrastination or to [...]
The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged) reviewed…
Monday, January 16th, 2012
As I’ve mentioned before, one of my New Year’s resolutions is to make the most of London by exploring some of the city’s interesting places and events. So when I received an e-mail advertising discounted tickets for Shakespeare’s Complete Works (abridged), I thought: Perfect! I will be exploring London’s theatre scene, and also nurturing my [...]
A very Scandinavian week
Friday, January 13th, 2012
This week has seen some cosmic element pulling all manner of Nordic things into my life.
I discovered COS (Collection of Style) on Regent Street, the new sister store of Swedish chain H&M (full of sleek, classic but modern styles that don’t break the budget); every interior of a house I’ve seen (and loved) in the [...]
Quote great literature while you cook
Thursday, January 12th, 2012
As A&B’s resident foodie, it’s perhaps not surprising that I’ve discovered a lovely new blog The Gossip Bowl which celebrates vintage recipes (with a dose of the literary…) As they proudly highlight themselves on their site, Virginia Woolf wrote: ‘One cannot think well, love well, sleep well if one has not dined well.’ Too true.
I [...]
Wednesday Cover Story: A cover that mirrors the content
Wednesday, January 11th, 2012
I am in the process of culling the number of books in my house as a cathartic (and sensible) clearout before moving flat. And amongst my sagging bookshelves I found a copy of Little Bird, by Camilla Way - which I remember picking up many years ago when HarperCollins was having their own clearout of [...]
Have you seen Wally?
Tuesday, January 10th, 2012
As I picked up the most recent issue of The Bookseller I was greeted on the front cover by this charming, spectacled fellow.
As I fondly remember squinting over various editions of Wally’s adventures, I was delighted to see that Wally has been popping up here, there and everywhere in unusual and crowded settings for 25 [...]
Spending January at the cinema
Monday, January 9th, 2012
For me, January is the month of cinema trips, as a) there’s nothing much else to do, b) it’s cold and I want to sit in a warm darkened room for a couple of hours, and c) it’s Oscar season, so all the good films are out! Last year I remember seeing some of the [...]
Pick a font, any font
Friday, January 6th, 2012
As Chiara mentioned in the first blog post of 2012, I have some very wordy/worthy books on my current reading list. I haven’t finished Just My Type yet, though it’s so eminently dip-in-able that I could probably get two books going in tandem.
If you haven’t come across this book yet and have any kind of [...]
Currently we are...
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...Reading
West End Front, by Matthew Sweet. Lesley: A look at what was going on behind the dazzling exteriors of the grand London hotels like the Ritz and the Savoy during WW2. Chock-full of interesting details.
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