Can I confess to loving this time of year? The crisp air, the colours of the leaves, and the cosy evenings…
Category: Book
September Wrap Up: What We’ve Been Reading
Well, this September has been packed with glorious new books, and we saw a Super Thursday like no other, with over 600 books published on the same day following lockdown publication delays across the industry. Just like that, it seems as though we’re on the run up to Christmas. Well, as a bookseller Super Thursday has always meant the start of Christmas for me!
A Bookshop Tour of West Cork
I began my Bookshop Day in the pretty town of Kinsale in Cork, at the very start of the Wild Atlantic Way.
A Taste of Holidays
The sky is bright and cloudless, the sun already making its presence known. Fresh coffee calls to sleepy people and glasses of fruit juice drip condensation onto the counter top. Strawberries, blueberries and raspberries piled high in a bowl next to bread, fresh from the bakery, and locally sourced butter. Breakfast Al Fresco beckons, and as I open the French doors onto the flower-scented patio, stretching and smiling at the prospect of another glorious day… at home!
August Wrap Up: What We’ve been Reading
What a month August has been. We’ve seen scorching days and storms, localised lockdowns and slight returns to ‘normality’. The crocosmia is in full flower in the hedgerows as a herald of the end of summer, and the evenings are beginning to get chilly.
Staycation Reads! Recommendations from Subscribers
In our July newsletter we asked you to suggest a good read for a staycation. Thanks so much to everyone who got in touch! We loved hearing about books you’ve enjoyed.
Read on to hear about a selection of these…
My Year of Dickens, an interview with Victoria Keating
One of the few nice consequences of the pandemic was a chance to properly get to know my neighbour, singer songwriter Victoria Keating, without the stiff formalities of nodding hello on the morning commute. As she moved in just prior to lockdown I had the privilege of getting to know her in a strange isolation: we were meeting no family or friends and jumped at the chance to chat across the garden fence.
As the country began to emerge from lockdown, I sat down to chat with Victoria about her inspirations and her creative process, and how a year spent immersed in the works of Dickens inspired both a new song, and the title for her lockdown project: Little Rooms, Big Music.
July Wrap Up: What We’ve Been Reading
I can’t believe we are at the beginning of August and already writing about what we read in July, it seems both a blink of an eye ago and another lifetime ago that the lockdown began and 2020 became Very Odd Indeed.
Slender Delights: Why I love Novellas
While I was browsing my shelves for reading inspiration or an old favourite to return to, I was struck by how many very short books I have collected over the years.
June Wrap Up: What We’ve Been Reading
How has your month of reading been? Are you fully immersed in chunky books, or are you still struggling to concentrate and feeling a little scattered following the stress of the last few months?
Wherever you are at with your reading, we can all celebrate the re-opening of independent book shops again. What a delight to finally browse again, despite the distancing and masks…