3 4 Friday - from tiny islands to outer space, in the past - and far into the future

If you haven't had a chance to take a look at our Mostly Books Father's Day Collection yet - Father's Day is this Sunday. But there's still time to 'buy Dad a real book' - so for today's 3 4 Friday #FridayReads we've another three titles that may just be right up Dad's street...

Anyone who has been watching Prof Ian Mortimer take viewers on a tour around the squalor, danger and unexpected inspiration that is Elizabethan England, then 'The Time-Traveller's Guide to Elizabethan England' might just be the perfect gift. As Mortimer says "The past is a foreign country: this is your guidebook". It's a time when your life expectancy was in the early 30s, and the world was changing rapidly, due - as Francis Bacon put it - to "Printing, Gunpowder and the Compass". Everything you think you know about Elizabethan England is wrong...

There's plenty to see in modern-day Britain of course, and what better guide around the British Isles than 'Tiny Campsite' author and journalist Dixe Wills. In 'Tiny Islands' he travels and provides guides to 60 little self-contained 'worlds' just off our remarkable coast - or in lakes, rivers and lochs. Part travelogue, part memoir - this is travel writing at its inspirational best from an author passionate about getting us to appreciate our own country before jetting off to foreign climes.

The ultimate get-away of course might be outer space, and - as you are probably aware - one of the most exciting, groundbreaking, history-changing searches is currently underway to find the first Earth-like planet surrounding a nearby star. Such a discovery would have profound implications for how we see ourselves in the universe - but that discovery may have already been made.

In 'Mirror Earth', Michael Lemonick tells the story of Kepler, the space mission hunting for Earth-like worlds, and the story of the people who made it happen.

More Father's Day recommends here...and find out what happened when we talked books on BBC Radio Oxford on Monday...

Tiny Campsites with Dixe Wills

Last Saturday we welcomed Dixie Wills to the Courtyard Garden to discuss camping and talk about his book Tiny Campsites. And it just so happened that this was the book reviewed by a guest reviewer on today's BBC Oxford Afternoon Bookclub.

(As always, you can listen to the show here until next Wednesday, 2nd June - you'll need to fast forward to about 1 hour 8 minutes into the show. A list of the books reviewed this month can be found here).

Dixie had cycled to Abingdon on a blistering hot Saturday afternoon - first getting the train to Didcot, then cycling the rest of the way. However, when (by 2pm) he hadn't arrived, I was starting to get nervous, but Dixe soon turned up, having been assisted by a well-meaning but ultimately misguided fellow cyclist who had pointed him in the direction of Wallingford. So, slightly moist after his longer-than-expected bike ride, he then camped out (literally) in the courtyard garden and chatted to people about the joys of camping - specifically the benefits of camping off the beaten track - and the joy of tiny campsites.

As tiny campsites go, the courtyard garden (at about 4m x 4m) definitely fits the bill; Dixe Wills' book defines a tiny campsite as less than an acre, and there are 75 listed in the book - all ones he's personally visited. As he himself says, "I spend more time in a sleeping bag under canvas than nature intended".

With orange squash laid on for thirsty visitors (himself included) a very chilled atmosphere pervaded the garden on a very sultry afternoon. Dixie had a steady stream of visitors, and it was a great complement to our camping and UK holidays book display that has been going very well over the past few weeks. And Dixie gamely posed with said sleeping bag for the obligatory bookshop owner pic...

Hopefully Dixie has fully recovered after his dehydrating cycle sprint up the A415. We really appreciated his presence in the garden, for what was a a great event...

BBC Oxford Afternoon Bookclub

A busy few days, selling books at the Kennington Literary Festival on Saturday, and then at an event with historian and author Michal Giedroyc yesterday. But today was the BBC Oxford Afternoon Bookclub - five books, which, on reflection, could loosely be linked together by themes of community, equality...and taking time to smell the roses (perhaps). The five books discussed today can be found here and the link to the show is at the end of the post. It all started very seriously with a book recommended to tie into the election campaign, The Spirit Level by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett. A more quietly pursuasive, powerfully compelling argument for a more equal society you will not find. Distined to become a classic, this is one of our bestselling books in the shop at the moment, and word-of-mouth recommendation from customer brought it to my attention. A must-read if your political antenna need tuning amidst the current media din. We then moved on to the delightful Norris, The Bear Who Shared by the peerless Catherine Rayner. On one level a simple, yet rich sensory tale of a bear waiting for a delicious treat, it touches on 'How To Win Friends and Influence People' for pre-schoolers, and the benefits that accrue from trust and friendship is something Wilkinson and Pickett would wholeheartedly agree with. Barbara Trapido's first novel for seven years - Sex & Stravinsky - is my favourite book so far this year, even though I'm terribly biased as we are doing an event with her on May 12th. It's classic Trapido, a cast of characters that you know as friends by the end of the novel, richly recalled South African and Oxford settings, and themes as diverse as dance, fate, colonislism, Shakespearean comedy and the overbearing expectations of parents and its consequences. A reason to rejoice for lovers of good writing. The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E Pearson is totally different - a true teen novel (as opposed to a 'young adult' novel hoping for adult cross-over success) this - on the face of it - deals with typical teen angst, dysfunctional parents, a move to a new home and school, new friends and body issues. Except...the book is set in the near future where advances in medical technology bring into question what it means to be human. You see, Jenna Fox has had a terrible accident, has been in a coma for a year...and knows nothing about who she is, except the home movies she watches. As she pieces together her past, and present, the clues start sliding into place about what really happened to her. And finally...Tiny Campsites. You don't get more zeitgeisty than a no-fly holiday eco-journalist, and Dixe Wills (pronounced 'Dixie') has produced a quirky, passionate guide to 75 of teh best tiny (under 1 acre) campsites the length and breadth of the UK. He has visited them all - and others beside - and on May 22nd Dixe is cycling to Mostly Books, pitching his tent, and taling about the joys of gathering the family and getting the tent out. You can listen to the show here until next Wednesday (May 5th). Fast forward to 1hr 10mins - and let me know what you think...