IBW Event: Katherine Rundell in Conversation with Lucy Mangan - 20th June

Award-winning author, Katherine Rundell, will be at Mostly Books on Thursday 20th June talking to Guardian journalist and author, Lucy Mangan, about why we should be reading more children's books. 

In 2016, Katherine Rundell - Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, and prize-winning author of five novels for children – found her understanding of the world she lived in upturned: by Brexit, Trump, a sweep across Europe towards nationalism and insularity, terrorist attacks.  Literary fiction did not help her understanding, so instead, she turned to old narratives, told for the benefit of children and adults and anyone who would listen.

This Independent Bookshop Week (IBW), join Katherine Rundell – author of The Good Thieves, Lucy Mangan, Journalist and author of Bookworm; a Memoir of Childhood Reading, for an inspiring conversation about how children’s books ignite, and can re-ignite, the imagination; how children's fiction, with its unabashed emotion and playfulness, can awaken old hungers and create new perspectives on the world.

Katherine Rundell is the bestselling author of five children's novels, for which she has won the Costa Children’s Book Award, the Blue Peter Book Award and the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize amongst many others. She spent her childhood in Africa and Europe before taking her degree at the University of Oxford and becoming a Fellow of All Souls College. As well as writing, she studies Renaissance literature; and is learning, as a direct result of writing her new stunning adventure story The Good Thieves (June 2019), to fly on the flying trapeze.

Doors open at 7pm for a 7.30pm start.  Tickets are £12.50 and include a drink and a copy of Katherine's essay written exclusively for IBW called Why You Should Read Children's Books, Even Though You Are So Old and Wise.  

Copies of The Good Thieves and some of Katherine's backlist plus Lucy's new book, Bookworm; a Memoir of Childhood Reading will be available to purchase on the night.

Tickets are available from Mostly Books and from EventBrite.

Meet the Team: Kain

In July & August 2017, members of the 'Mostly Books' team were quizzed about all things books.  They talked about what it's like to work in a bookshop, which books they enjoy and also provided a bit of background about themselves.

The Mostly Books team has a new addition - Kain Evans - who joined in May so we thought it would be a good idea to introduce him properly.  Read on for 'Meet the Team: Kain'.

What's your full name? Kain Evans

How long have you worked at Mostly Books? 

Just two weeks, although if you count the two times I’ve done work experience previously, around a month!

What's your favourite genre of books and why?  

I absolutely adore fantasy! I’ve been reading fantasy since I was very young, and am quite partial to fantasy in modern day stories. I also enjoy sci-fi, and have been know to read YA and comedy books every so often.

Name your favourite book

Without a doubt my favourite book is Beyond the Deepwoods, the first book of the Edge Chronicles series by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell. Whilst I can say it doesn’t hold up as well as it did when I was seven or eight, it holds a special place in my heart for being the first book I finished in one day! It also stands as the book I’ve re-read most, and I always come back to. Plus it has illustrations by Chris Riddell and is a rich, well-developed fantasy world. What more could you want?

What’s your favourite thing about working at Mostly Books? 

I enjoy the way the team can all get on really well whilst still working professionally and effectively. Also it gives me the excuse I needed to read more often, and of course, buy more books!

What upcoming book are you most excited about?  

Right now I’m really looking forward to Noah Could Never by Simon James Green. The first one was the only book that made me almost scream at the main character, but I read it all the day I bought it and have recommended it to everyone I’ve met. The second book looks very promising, and I can’t wait to read it. Hopefully I won’t scream this time.

What do you like to do in your free time?  

Other than reading books, I enjoy reading comic books such as The Walking Dead and The Sandman. I also have a rather extensive board game collection, as well as several thousand trading cards.

Tell us something that the Mostly Books Customers don’t know about you.  

I actually have three middle names; Akira, Christopher and Frederick. Akira after the animated film, Christopher after my uncle and Frederick after my great grandad.

Thanks Kain, it's been good to chat!

You will find Kain in Mostly Books every Wednesday from the first week of June and he will also be doing holiday cover as, and when, needed.

A visit to the House of Lords

On Thursday 29th March, Sarah joined a group of other booksellers at the inaugural meeting of the Independent Bookshop Alliance.  The Indie Alliance was the brainchild of Simon Key who co-owns the Big Green Bookshop in London's Wood Green and it is going from strength to strength.  

The idea behind the alliance began as a result of Waterstones getting an exclusive deal to sell 5,000 signed special editions of The Book of Dust when it was released in October last year.   Simon proposed setting up an independent bookshop alliance through which indies can work together to negotiate better discounts and exclusive offers with publishers.

The meeting on 29th March was hosted by Simon and Big Issue founder, Lord Bird.  The forum heard from a range of representatives including author Ben Aaronovitch, CEO of the Arts Council Alan Davey, Random House Group Chair Baroness Gail Rebuck, MD of Profile Books, Andrew Franklin and MD of the Booksellers Association, Meryl Halls.   A key theme that reappeared was the importance of bookshops and the impact that they have on the local community.

The floor opened for discussion with booksellers in attendance encouraged to offer views and opinions on how the Independent Bookshop Alliance could work and what would make sense as an initial area of focus.  The conversation flowed, and it became clear that there was certainly an appetite in the room for the independent sector to group together to become a more powerful force.

Key points included the idea of independent shops working together to secure indie only exclusive publications and pitching as a collective for events.  Discussions took place about partnerships being fostered between the Arts Council and independent bookshops and there were several points raised about Business Rates and the work that needs to be done to address the hikes that are crippling some businesses.

The meeting ended as the conversation was in full flow, so a group of booksellers and publisher representatives joined Lord Bird, Simon and Meryl for a drink to carry on the conversation.  The group had a lot of energy and the hope is that this alliance will really take off.

At the last update, 140 independent bookshops had expressed an interest in getting involved and the main areas that the Alliance is looking to tackle are:

• Getting exclusive (Indie only) editions of books 
• Coordination between indies on author tours
• Adding support to the work that's already been done on trying to reduce business rates of bookshops

London Book Fair will be taking place from 10th - 12th April, during which the publishers will be pitching their new books to booksellers.  After the publishing pitches are over, members of the Independent Alliance are being asked to vote on which titles they would like to see as Indie only exclusive editions.  Once we see the outcome of those votes, the alliance will start approaching publishers to see what deals can be done.

It's an exciting time in the world of indie bookselling and it's great to know that so many passionate and experienced booksellers are keen to get together to make some changes.

Keep your eyes peeled for updates and check out our Facebook album for more pictures from the meeting.

Bookshops Around the World: Sweden (Stockholm)

Before taking over Mostly Books, Sarah took time out from her regular routine to travel the world for a year.  During parts of 2014 & 2015, she travelled through 14 countries, primarily in South East Asia and South America, which gave her the opportunity to relax and prepare for her career change.

During her travels, Sarah spent a lot of time searching for inspiration by hunting down bookshops in the places that she visited.  These ranged from a beautiful, converted theatre in Buenos Aires to endless numbers of bookstalls covering the streets of Yangon in Myanmar.  Each and every one helped Sarah to shape her thoughts on what she wanted to create in her own bookshop and all have a special place in her heart.

Over the next few weeks, Sarah will be sharing her memories of these shops and photos that she took during her travels.  We hope that you enjoy them.  This week we are taking a short break from Sarah's 2014/15 travels, instead looking at the shops that she discovered in Stockholm last weekend.

Whilst in Stockholm for a long weekend, I decided that it was time for some bookshop tourism and headed to the achingly hip SoFo, Södermalm neighbourhood.  SoFo is crammed full of independent boutiques, cafes, restaurants and, best of all, bookshops - So many bookshops!!  We visited three shops in three streets and that didn't cover all of the ones in the area!!

First stop was the English Bookshop (http://www.bookshop.se/) which was a delightful space packed to the brim with English language books.  The shop had two rooms for adults and two children's rooms, each of them with their own character.  Tote bags hung from the ceiling and 'books of the month' were on display in the main room.  The children's room had a lovely area in which to sit and relax and the choice of books was just wonderful.  The man in the shop, who I believe (but cannot be sure) was called Christoph was extremely friendly and informative and, as soon as he found out that I owned Mostly Books, soon engaged in conversation comparing experiences of running a bookshop.

The English Bookshop runs a whole host of events, including a children's story time and really presents itself as a hub of the community.  I would highly recommend a visit and, if you do, be sure to mention that you read about it on the Mostly Books blog!

Second on the list was Bokbok (www.bokbok.se), a delightfully cosy children's bookshop stocking mainly Swedish language books and a small selection of texts in other languages.  When we arrived in the shop, we were greeted with a huge smile from the owner, Caroline Gezelius.  We soon engaged in conversation when it transpired that Caroline had, also, recently left behind her previous career and opened a bookshop.  So much about the shop was similar in style to the look that we have at Mostly Books and Caroline even had the exact shelves that we have been looking for!! 

The shop is a small but perfectly formed.  A single room with delightfully tall bookcases crammed full of books for children of all ages.  The window display, with the monkey and rabbit on a trapeze, immediately sparked interest as you walked past and the welcome received in the shop was second to none.  Although most of the books were in Swedish, I soon recognised quite a few familiar covers (Goodnight stories for rebel girls and Dinosaurium to name just a couple) and it was really lovely to see that such great books are as popular in Sweden as they are in the UK.

We had a great chat and exchanged contact details before we went on our way.  Although the majority of the books are in Swedish, be sure to pop into Bokbok if you ever find yourself in Stockholm.  Caroline is great and the shop is just beautiful.

The last stop on our morning of bookshop tourism was konst-ig (http://www.konstig.se/), an art & architect bookshop which was packed full of beautiful, coffee table books.  I had a good chat with the woman behind the counter (whose name I didn't catch) and was delighted to find a book called 'Mostly Books' which (clearly) I had to take a photo of. 

This shop was a bit more formal than the other two shops and had the feeling of a shop that you would find in an art gallery (completely apt since it was an art bookshop!!).  The books were laid out beautifully and the selection was extensive.  In addition to the books, the shop had some wonderful art on offer, one of which really caught my eye as it was all about books!  It was a very relaxing end to our bookshop tourism and a lovely end to our weekend away.

If you haven't been, I would highly recommend Stockholm for a weekend away.  The architecture is amazing, the people are lovely and it seems that bookshops are everywhere!!

More photos of these three bookshops can be found on our Facebook page here.  

Bookshops Around the World: Argentina (Buenos Aires)

Before taking over Mostly Books, Sarah took time out from her regular routine to travel the world for a year.  During parts of 2014 & 2015, she travelled through 14 countries, primarily in South East Asia and South America, which gave her the opportunity to relax and prepare for her career change.  

During her travels, Sarah spent a lot of time searching for inspiration by hunting down bookshops in the places that she visited.  These ranged from a beautiful, converted theatre in Buenos Aires to endless numbers of bookstalls covering the streets of Yangon in Myanmar.  Each and every one helped Sarah to shape her thoughts on what she wanted to create in her own bookshop and all have a special place in her heart.

Over the next few weeks, Sarah will be sharing her memories of these shops and photos that she took during her travels.  We hope that you enjoy them.

This week it's Buenos Aires in Argentina.

Argentina was the last country on my trip so, when I arrived in Buenos Aires, my mind was already full of thoughts about what life would be like back in the UK.  Although I still had the best part of a month before heading home, it was inevitable that my mind would move in that direction.

I found out about El Ateneo Grand Splendid from a girl staying at my hostel.  I mentioned that I was hunting down bookshops on my travels and she told me that she had been to El Ateneo earlier that day.   When I looked it up and realised that the shop was housed in an old theatre, I knew that I had to visit.  Unfortunately, I was out of time as I was heading to Patagonia the following day so I noted the details down and left it as a place to visit when I returned to Buenos Aires.  I knew that, when I returned, it would only be a matter of days before I flew back to the UK so it seemed a fitting to end my journey to see such an amazing bookshop.

Fast forward three weeks and I was back in the city and on a bookshop hunt!  When I arrived at the entrance to El Ateneo, I

was greeted with an impressive entrance flanked by two columns.  The first part of the shop was fairly standard, lots of shelving, normal height ceilings and plenty of floor displays but, as I moved into the shop, the former theatre opened in front of me to display a huge number of books in an atrium three stories high.

I was completely bowled over by the beautiful sweeping shelves holding thousands of books.  They were surrounded on three sides by ornate balconies which housed even more books.  Where the stage had previously been, now sat a coffee shop where I went and enjoyed a drink whilst taking the whole place in.

In its heyday, the theatre had welcomed some of the most famous tango dancers in the world and, in a nod to the previous owners' love of cinema, had shown silent films accompanied by amazing displays of tango.  Sitting there and taking it all in, I could just imagine the drama of such performances in this beautiful space.

I don't know how long I spent in Al Ateneo, but it was hours, rather than minutes.  I explored all the floors and balconies, seeing how everything was arranged and what tricks were used to display things well.  The whole place was awe inspiring and I would encourage anyone who finds themselves in Buenos Aires to drop in for a visit.

In a complete contrast, on my penultimate day of my travels, I went in search of a more low-key bookshop that I had heard good things about.  Libros Del Pasaje was situated in a residential neighbourhood and was clearly a working bookshop.  When I entered the shop, I was greeted with floor to ceiling dark wood shelves with (yay!) a ladder on wheels that gave access to the higher shelves (I would love one of those!).  

The display tables were on trolley wheels and were packed into the narrow shop making it feel busy but well organised.  The children's area had a gorgeous little table and some mini chairs for the little ones to enjoy their books (sound familiar?!) and the cafe was housed in a beautiful conservatory and served cold meats and cheese. 

The contrast of the two shops was significant but they were both amazing in their own ways.  I left Buenos Airies completely inspired and ready to start my book adventure back  in the UK.

If you are interested in seeing more about Sarah's experiences in Argentina, you can head to her blog posts on the country which start here.  There are more pictures of the Buenos Aires Bookshops on our Facebook page here and, as always, feel free to pop into the shop for a chat about all things travel.  Sarah is a huge fan of exploring all parts of the world and will happily chat about it with anyone.

Bookshops Around the World: Thailand (Pai)

Before taking over Mostly Books, Sarah took time out from her regular routine to travel the world for a year.  During parts of 2014 & 2015, she travelled through 14 countries, primarily in South East Asia and South America, which gave her the opportunity to relax and prepare for her career change.  

During her travels, Sarah spent a lot of time searching for inspiration by hunting down bookshops in the places that she visited.  These ranged from a beautiful, converted theatre in Buenos Aires to endless numbers of bookstalls covering the streets of Yangon in Myanmar.  Each and every one helped Sarah to shape her thoughts on what she wanted to create in her own bookshop and all have a special place in her heart.

Over the next few weeks, Sarah will be sharing her memories of these shops and photos that she took during her travels.  We hope that you enjoy them.

 

This week it's Pai in Thailand. 

 

Pai is a sleepy little town in Northern Thailand that I first visited Pai during a backpacking trip in 2001, when it was the starting point for my white-water rafting trip down the Pai river. When I’d visited back then, there was nothing to the town; basically a crossroad with a couple of guest houses and some places to eat and drink.

Fast forward 14 years and I was back again but this time I was there to take part in a Kung Fu retreat (true story) which was taking place just outside of the main town.  I was only at the retreat for a week but, during that time, I quickly fell back in love with the relaxed charm of Pai.  The town has grown in size, thanks to Thailand’s booming tourist trade, however it still manages to retain a relaxed, traveller, vibe.

When I wasn’t participating in Chi Kung or Kung Fu training, I would make my way into town to familiarise myself with what was on offer.  One day, as I meandered down the Main Street towards the river, I spotted what looked like a large pile of wooden books outside a small shop.  Given my obsession with all things books, I headed straight towards them hoping to find a bookshop (of sorts) nearby.  I wasn't disappointed. 

 

 

It turns out that I had found Siam Books, a second-hand bookshop which serves both the traveller community and locals.  The shop was bursting with a wide range of books, which were all well organised and easy to navigate.  The bargain bin at the front of the shop had books on sale for 100 THB (about £2.30) with an additional 20% off some of the titles.  This place was heaven for a traveller like me!!  Somewhere with a great selection of books at discount prices that I could browse for hours.  In addition to the books, Siam Books also stocked greeting cards, posters and post-cards so it was a great stop-off for all travellers.

When preparing these posts, I always try to look at the websites or social media sites of places that I have visited, to see how the business has changed (if at all) from when I was there.  It was great to see a brilliant selection of images taken in Siam Books on Instagram and some information on their Facebook page.

The atmosphere in Siam Books reflected the town of Pai; a relaxed, friendly and a place that you will want to spend some time.  If you ever find yourself in Pai, be sure to pop in for a visit. 

If you are interested in seeing more about Sarah's experiences in Thailand, you can head to her blog posts on the country which start here.  There are more pictures of Siam Books on our Facebook page here and, as always, feel free to pop into the shop for a chat about all things travel.  Sarah is a huge fan of exploring all parts of the world and will happily chat about it with anyone.

Bookshops Around the World: Myanmar

Before taking over Mostly Books, Sarah took time out from her regular routine to travel the world for a year.  During parts of 2014 & 2015, she travelled through 14 countries, primarily in South East Asia and South America, which gave her the opportunity to relax and prepare for her career change.  

During her travels, Sarah spent a lot of time searching for inspiration by hunting down bookshops in the places that she visited.  These ranged from a beautiful, converted theatre in Buenos Aires to endless numbers of bookstalls covering the streets of Yangon in Myanmar.  Each and every one helped Sarah to shape her thoughts on what she wanted to create in her own bookshop and all have a special place in her heart.

Over the next few weeks, Sarah will be sharing her memories of these shops and photos that she took during her travels.  We hope that you enjoy them.

This week it's Yangon in Myanmar (otherwise known as Burma). 

Yangon was the first stop on my travels where I knew that I was planning to move into the book trade upon my return to the UK.  I made it my mission to spend a few days in the slightly chaotic capital city, hunting down some of the bookshops frequented by locals.

It was very clear that books and reading are a huge part of everyday life in Myanmar.  There were a lot of bookshops in the capital and, more impressively, lots and lots of street vendors selling books.  I was fortunate that I had found a magazine in my hostel that contained an article on the book trade in the city which helped shape my plans for my bookshop-finding mission!

I prioritised which shops I wanted to see, pulled on a pair of comfortable shoes, braced myself for the heat and headed out into town.  Over the course of a couple of days, I found several shops and also meandered down multiple streets lined with completely chaotic bookstalls.

It amazed me how so many booksellers existed on the streets of Myanmar, with a lot of them seeming to sell similar products.  It was great to see how they all respected each other's space and managed to make a living from selling the books.  The approach to bookselling varied wildly from stall to stall, with some books simply thrown in a pile on a blanket by the side of the roads whilst others were carefully ordered and laid out to display the titles for people to peruse. 

 
Whilst the street book vendors all had a relatively small pitch on which to sell their wares, a couple of the bookshops I saw in the city were a good size and were simply rammed full of books.   It seemed that I had happened across the Nobel-Myanmar Literary festival and, whilst that may have explained the volume of books, it may simply be that that is just the way that they are always displayed.

In Innwa Bookstore, there was a large collection of texts in both Burmese and in English.  I was particularly tickled to find a Burmese edition of one of my favourite books 'The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared'.  I also came across a pile of Winnie The Pooh books, which reminded me of the ones I read as a child.

In the Myanmar Book Centre, books were laid out in a slightly more clinical manner and, whilst the signage was good, and the books were well organised, I found it less inspirational than the other shops.  

The Bagan Bookstore, whilst small, has a reputation for having one of the most extensive selections of English-language books on Myanmar and Southeast Asia.  The owner has a great reputation for knowing his stock and the shop is somewhat legendary amongst the locals.

One thing I took away from the shops in Myanmar was that less is possibly more.  When I walked into a building containing piles and piles of books, I found it overwhelming and was almost put off browsing by the sheer volume of what was on offer.  I have tried to keep that in mind at Mostly Books, even as the stock levels increased significantly prior to Christmas.  I believe that customers should enjoy the browsing experience and have a great range to look at, but it shouldn't become a chore to work through so many titles.  

If you are interested in seeing more about Sarah's experiences in Myanmar, you can head to her blog posts on the country which start here.  There are more pictures of the bookshops and bookstands in Myanmar on our Facebook page here and, as always, feel free to pop into the shop for a chat about all things travel.  Sarah is a huge fan of exploring all parts of the world and will happily chat about it with anyone.

An Evening of Summer Reading with Eve Chase and Abi Oliver

As part of the 2017 Independent Bookshop Week (IBW) celebrations, on Thursday 29^th June we were really excited about hosting two fabulous authors, Eve Chase & Abi Oliver, for our Summer Reading Event.

Unfortunately, the weather didn’t cooperate which meant that we were unable to host the event in the garden.  However, looking on the positive side of things, that meant that we could show off our newly refurbished shop which had had its grand opening the previous Saturday (see details here).

Our first guest speaker, Eve Chase, is an Oxford-based author who lives in the city centre with her husband and three children.  Eve has worked as a journalist in the past and her first novel, Black Rabbit Hall was published in 2015 to critical acclaim by the public and critics alike.  

Our second author, Abi Oliver, has spent much of her life in the Thames Valley and now lives in Purley on Thames.  Abi has four children and, prior to embarking into the world of publishing, she has had a varied career working for a charity, as a nurse and on Indian Railways(!). 

During the event we discussed Eve’s new book; ‘The Vanishing of Audrey Wilde’ which is a dual-time frame novel, split between present day and the hot summer of 1959.  It’s a story of how four teenage girls, on holiday in Oxfordshire, are slowly drawn into the disappearance of their Uncle and Aunt’s daughter, Audrey, five years before.

 

Abi was talking about her new book: ‘A New Map of Love’ which is about an antiques dealer who, with his loyal dog, Monty, by his side, spends a summer getting far more embroiled with village life than he ever intended. 

The event started off with both authors introducing their books and reading an extract for the audience to enjoy.  Conversation then ensued around a variety of aspects of writing and publishing, ranging from decisions around where to locate the novel to whether characters were based on anyone that the authors knew and how they structured their days to create their best work.

Both books touch on the fact that a single event can have a significant impact on a person’s life and, when discussing whether that was important to the book (and, indeed, to life in general), Abi talked about the importance of having a particular event to focus on as part of the writing process.  Her novel had been started whilst she was studying towards a Master’s Degree and, as part of her studies, the importance of having that central point of focus had been emphasised.

The books are both based relatively close to Abingdon, with the events of ‘The Vanishing of Audrey Wilde’ taking place in the Cotswolds and Abi basing ‘A New Map of Love’ around the Wallingford area.  When discussing the importance of choosing the right location for a book, Eve shared her experiences of researching locations, telling us about her trips to different parts of the country to source inspiration.

Having not one, but two authors, chatting to us and taking questions created a brilliant atmosphere and led to a really enjoyable evening.  Many thanks to Eve Chase and Abi Oliver for such wonderful insights into their books and the writing process, and thanks to everyone who not only came along, but who support Mostly Books by choosing and buying their books from us. Huge thanks to Macmillan and Penguin Random House for making the whole thing happen.

Independent Booksellers Week is a time to celebrate bookshops and it also gives us a great opportunity to thank all our customers for their on-going support.  We hope that you have enjoyed the celebrations this week and look forward to more of the same in future.