Just another Manic Monday (and Tuesday) - 48 hours in the life of a bookshop

Monday saw the BBC Oxford Book Afternoon Bookclub with Kat Orman - discussing The Great Gatsby, Chris Bradford's 'Bodyguard: Hostage' and Simon Rae's 'Keras' (Kat liked this book so much that she bought my copy during the show - now that was a first!).

Click here to listen to the show and fast forward to 1 hour 10 minutes (the link stays on iPlayer until May 20 - enjoy!).

Next was a trip to the Bookseller Industry Awards in London Monday night - we were there as a guest of Barefoot Books (shortlisted for Children's Independent Bookseller of the Year).

It was an extremely glamorous evening, and huge congratulations to fellow indies Lingham Booksellers (who won indie of the year) and newbie Octavia's Bookshop in Cirencester for children's Indie of the Year.

Yesterday Karen, Ellie and Julia transformed the window to celebrate Usborne's 40th birthday. 

Look very closely, you might a spot a few interesting readers in the window...

...and finally, last night we celebrated the launch of a new children's history book of Abingdon: 'Sixty spooky, strange and suprising stories about Abingdon'. Written by Brother Cedric, a 14th century monk who haunts Abingdon library (albeit ghost-written by local author Judy Stubley) we felt very honoured to host the launch party.

Judy is joined by the extremely talented young illustrator Molly Padbury, who did the illustrations for the book (and who also read an extract on the night). A proper write-up of the event to follow - but for now see what the Abingdon blog has to say about the event...

3 4 Friday: Celebrate Abingdon this weekend - its gardens, its history and...its homework?

Mostly Books are delighted to be hosting the launch event of a fantastic new history of Abingdon, one written with both children and adults in mind.

‘Sixty Spooky, Strange and Surprising Stories about the History of Abingdon’ is a book ghost written by local author Judy Stubley on behalf of a mysterious 14th century monk named “Brother Cedric”. He approached Judy in Abingdon Library with his amazing tales of Abingdon’s history, and who could possibly turn down the opportunity of ghost-writing a book for an actual ghost?

The launch event will be at Mostly Books on Tuesday, 14 May at 7.30pm. The event is free, and there will be refreshments (more details here), but as space is limited, you will need to let us know you are coming on the night. And you can pop in and get a sneaky look at the book as we have early copies in the shop...

Improved weather goes hand-in-hand with the National Gardens Scheme (NGS), and the famous ‘Yellow Book’ of gardens available across the UK to visit during the Spring and Summer (available in all good bookshops!).

In Abingdon, internationally-renowned artist Janet Boulton not only opens up her garden on Spring Road, but has this year published a book all about how it was created: ‘Foreground, Background: About Making A Garden’. 

Janet Boulton specialises in watercolour and paper relief works and was artist in Residence at Edinburgh College of Art. Her garden – the location of her studio – has evolved into a symbiosis of plants and poetic objects. Come and look at the book in the shop – and be sure to visit the exhibition of her garden which will be on at Abingdon Museum from May 1st.

OK – if you have kids, particularly teenage kids, homework is something you look forward to with relish, yes? Mmm. Wouldn’t it be great if you could transform homework battles in a very short space of time and help your child grow in confidence?

Parenting guru Noël Janis-Norton – author of ‘Calmer, Easier, Happier Parenting’ – is coming to Larkmead School on May 22 to talk about her new book ‘Calmer, Easier, Happier Homework’. The book addresses all the typical problems associated with homework, and with Noël Janis-Norton's advice you will learn how to make your family life much easier. Tickets are £4, include a glass of wine, and a discount off the book on the evening. Find out more about the event here.

And don't forget the Abingdon Spring Cycling Festival this Sunday...