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Behind-The-Books Blog
Articles by Lesley
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
The sights, sounds and smell of Christmas…
Monday, December 19th, 2011
So the wind is howling, the office has collective sniffles and the economy has moved beyond the toilet bowl to somewhere around the u-bend, but still, there are still some nice Christmassy sights, sounds and even smells to enjoy. Here’s my recent tally.
1. Twinkly Lights. It doesn’t have to be Oxford Street’s, my own modest [...]
Authors are for life, not just for Christmas.
Tuesday, December 13th, 2011
Ah, the joys of Christmas shopping. Whether it’s the cut and thrust of elbows on Oxford Street or the anxiety over curiously delayed internet purchases, nothing quite raises the blood-pressure like it. And in an effort to distract me from my far-from-complete list, I’ve compiled something of a Christmas shopping list for aspiring writers out [...]
Can you crack it?
Thursday, December 8th, 2011
Over the past few months I’ve been pleasantly surprised to see a resurgence of interest in the story of Bletchley Park, 2011 having been the 70th anniversary of the capture of the Enigma machine and codebooks. Back during my A-Levels I read Robert Harris’ Enigma in one breathless weekend, and the subject makes rich pickings [...]
A certain je ne sais quoi in a bookshop
Tuesday, November 29th, 2011
Last Thursday I was lucky enough to be invited to a celebration of the opening of Belgravia Books, the chic new retail arm of fellow indie publisher Gallic Books. Considering that on my journey across London I’d been reading about Sir Philip Green’s plans to close 260 stores, it was particularly pleasant to be part [...]
Rescued prints
Monday, November 14th, 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 sizes [...]
An Animated Bookshelf
Friday, November 4th, 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 [...]
The Culture of Words
Monday, October 17th, 2011
There’s that much used cliché that there are dozens of Icelandic words for the subtleties of snow, and from personal experience I can vouch that there is a similar thing in Ireland with rain. My favourite, and one that I remember my Granddad in particular using, is ‘teaming’. And, after my other half walked home [...]
The Power of Making at the V&A
Tuesday, October 11th, 2011
Craftsmanship and innovative design can be something we neglect at a time of mass-produced, one-size- fits-all products. So it is especially nice, and occasionally awe-inspiring, when you come across an item that has clearly had lots of time and energy lavished upon it by an individual. Like a life-size crocheted bear, for instance.
Said bear was [...]
Let’s hear it for the Bard
Thursday, October 6th, 2011
Check out this scribbled page which has gone viral for a dose of visual and literature juice! Cool and somewhat beautiful, n’est pas?
What you’re looking at is a variety of expressions that we owe to Shakespeare. And, as you can tell by the fact that they are jammed cheek by jowl onto one moleskin page [...]
‘Reader, I saw the film…’
Friday, September 23rd, 2011
In the next few weeks I will be making a point of visiting my local cinema to see the latest adaptation of Jane Eyre starring Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender. What I’ve heard of it so far, particularly how it has been structured, with much of the early portion of the story told in flashbacks, [...]
B & B & B (bed and breakfast and books)
Tuesday, September 20th, 2011
What would you say was the mark of a good hotel? Excellent food? Impeccable service? A choice selection of reading material? I’m just back from a week off which included a few nights at the very comfortable Lake Country House Hotel, north of the Brecon Beacons. Tucked away in the countryside and replete with not [...]
Sorry, we’re closed…
Thursday, September 15th, 2011
My recent blog post about literary maps must have reawakened some very, very latent geographical interest, for as this week has progressed other maps have been coming to my attention.
Firstly, Amazon released details of their reading hotspots around the UK, with Cambridge one town ranking very highly for them. I found that interesting when there [...]
Insert laughter/terror here [delete where applicable]…
Monday, September 5th, 2011
Soundtracks in ebooks. Yes you heard me right, a soundtrack as you read.
You may (rightly) infer from that abrupt tone that I’m not convinced by this new concept that I’ve come across in the past week and I’m a pretty strong advocate of digital editions generally. This ‘immersive’ experience, so the blurb goes, will hook [...]
The reading maze mapped
Friday, September 2nd, 2011
I’m coming to an end of my latest reads – I was switching between Agatha Christie’s autobiography and slightly weepy chick lit The Knitting Circle, by Ann Hood, an eclectic mix to be sure – and the cupboard is bare of books. Literally, my bedside cupboard, where I store up purchases and library picks, has [...]
Cookies! (The perfect reading companion)
Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011
It is a sad fact but these days I don’t seem to read at home at all, commuting has become the only time of the day or week that I really get into any books. The idea of spending a Saturday morning doing nothing but lying on the sofa working my way through a really [...]
A hook me hearties…
Tuesday, August 16th, 2011
I’m currently wearing my sales hat. It is a very fetching tricorn affair which comes with some not-so fetching dredlocks and a bumper pack of black eyeliner, but enough about that. I’m wearing the sales hat to help me ponder over an email from one of the wholesalers about their forthcoming promotions.
Some are very straight-forward: [...]
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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