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Archive
Behind-The-Books Blog
Articles by Lesley
Too cool for the simple garden gnome?
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010
I don’t often read the free London papers, just when I’m stuck without a book usually, but while crammed onto the Central Line the other day, I (really) couldn’t avoid reading over one girl’s shoulder. Apparently the average garden gnome is going to have his work cut out for him this coming year as a [...]
The Olympics – now coming to a city near you
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010
So the winter Olympics have come to a roaring, cow-bell-clanging end. I watched some heart-breaking moments involving heavy rain and a defective exit gate on the men’s parallel giant slalom on Saturday and was quite gobsmacked that it wasn’t considered necessary to restart the run between Detkov and Bozzetto – am I the only one? [...]
T-shirt joy at JOY!
Thursday, February 25th, 2010
Have you ever noticed how once you see one example of something they keep cropping up where ever you go? This week for me it has been t-shirts, ones with funny/naughty slogans, they have been here, there and everywhere, often leaving me staring after people in the street in a confused fashion. And when I [...]
What you said about Glass Houses (Morganville Book 1)
Friday, February 19th, 2010
Before Christmas, we ran a competition with our friends The Reading Agency and teen reading groups around the UK. We gave them the first installment in our Morganville Vampires series, Glass Houses, and asked for reviews - and in turn have now received some great and detailed responses.
Plenty of our reviewers mentioned how accurate the [...]
Valentine’s (hic!) Day
Monday, February 15th, 2010
For Valentine’s Day you could have found me and the other half squinting in rapt concentration, aiming for a swirl (but slopping more instead) and making some interesting noises through pursed lips under a London railway arch. Sounds romantic, no?
Guided through a systematic approach to wine-tasting in the Vinopolis caverns around London Bridge, we attempted [...]
Exactly what libraries need?
Friday, February 5th, 2010
You know, I might harp on a bit about this whole ebooks/digital thing, but away from the news-grabbing stories of iPad this and epub that, there are some pretty cool developments taking place which are a really positive thing for reading as a whole.
For instance, you may not be aware of Bloomsbury Library Online, I [...]
Love is in the air?
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010
How cool - this coming Valentines weekend I will be toasting some very good friends tying the knot ‘up north’. I’m usually terrible at remembering days like this and, unlike my other half, am much more likely to be the one picking up some tired looking ‘gift’ in the corner shop than he is. So, [...]
In the jungle…
Wednesday, January 20th, 2010
There must be something in the water - following hard on the heels of Chiara’s trip to see Chicago, I went to see The Lion King and came bounding out of the Lyceum theatre on Saturday with a whole raft of Disney’s best songs ricocheting around my head. And when I’m not fully-conscious of it, [...]
Feeling ebooky
Wednesday, January 6th, 2010
You may remember back a few months to when I was full of the joys of our hot-off-the-presses ebooks: five brave titles that went out into the digital world as ambassadors for the A&B list - see here.
Since then we’ve been working getting other titles converted, being picky in these untested waters, of course, but [...]
The angel/fairy debate
Wednesday, December 16th, 2009
It might be verging on the ludicrous, but my hubby and I were arguing the other night over whether the creature perching on the top of our Christmas tree was an angel or a fairy.
Don’t get me started, but I have been subsumed into the Crooks tradition that only an angel/fairy on top of the [...]
Favourite things at Xmas
Wednesday, December 9th, 2009
I’m a sucker for a number of things at this time of year as the urge to get all Christmassey descends upon me.
Firstly, beautiful stationery. Particularly gorgeous, thick pads and journals, cards and I was even drooling over be-a-utiful bookplates online the other day.
Secondly, cookery books (featuring James Martin if possible…ahem…) with plenty of pictures. [...]
Thierry Henry Hoover
Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009
Over the past few days my ears have been picking up bizarro news stories left, right and centre, but the one that has really stuck in my mind made me picture homes and work places across Ireland becoming neglected and bedraggled-looking soon.
Y’see, following a certain (dirty, stinking, cheating…) incident involving Thierry Henry, apparently scores of [...]
Top toys for Christmas
Wednesday, November 25th, 2009
After a mini-panic last week I have begun my Christmas shopping in earnest, seizing upon ideas with the same desperation that usually strikes this time of year.
I came across the usual ‘top 10 toys for Christmas’ list the other week, and it made me wish I was buying for more kids than grown-ups. So simple [...]
Authors talking about books (and not their own)
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009
Call me insular, but I love books about, well, books. Which is why I loved Nick Hornby’s The Complete Polysyllabic Spree - witty entries about the wonderfully diverse books he was reading - and why I’ll be adding Susan Hill’s Howards End is on the Landing - an epic journey through her plentifully stocked bookshelves [...]
iPhones (and Apps) - a justifiable extravagance?
Wednesday, November 11th, 2009
A reprise from Chiara’s post last week about Apple Macs Vs. PCs: I am currently on the horns of a dilemma. To buy iPhone, or not to buy iPhone?
Can I survive impending family Christmas with not only my brother but my sister-in-law-to-be showing off the latest apps that they have downloaded? Can I bear to [...]
The B in Allison & Busby
Friday, October 9th, 2009
Did you know that Allison & Busby’s first offices were leased at the premises of another publisher – though out of office hours only? Or that the characters behind the august company name first met at a party in the house JM Barrie wrote Peter Pan?
No, well neither did I, and it was tid-bits like [...]
Cutting out the middle man
Thursday, October 1st, 2009
In recent months we have been selling books direct - from our gleaming new website of course, but also over the phone. And it’s been wonderful speaking to readers! The women who actually were Land Girls during the Second World War and were after a copy of the fictional account of a group of girls [...]
Fancy making an audiobook?
Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009
I’ve come across an interesting site - Librivox.com. A site which aims to make all public domain books available as free audio books (that means books published before 1923…) and what’s more, you can release your own recordings.
So if you’ve ever fancied reading chapters for audio yourself, here’s your chance - become a volunteer and [...]
Anyone else planning to strike?
Wednesday, September 16th, 2009
Seriously - what is it with all the strikes at the moment? Royal Mail has been fizzling on and off like a reluctant light bulb and I’ve just had an email from National Express saying there’s likely to be another train strike for all of next week. Watch this space, I may have intrepid adventures [...]
The first of the A&B ebooks!
Monday, September 14th, 2009
Trumpets! Confetti! General jubilation! Congratulate us one and all for Allison & Busby has just put a toe in the digital book waters with the release of five titles as ebooks - all available from Waterstones.com and ebooks.WHSmith.co.uk. The five books are:
Glass Houses by Rachel Caine
Lord of Misrule by Rachel Caine
Mariana by Susanna Kearsley
The [...]
Currently we are...
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...reading
Not on the Label: What Really Goes into the Food on your Plate, by Felicity Lawrence Chiara: Shocking. I'm off chicken, now prawns...and even being put off bagged salad!
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