I love a good thriller and it’s no secret that it has to be the ‘gritty’ kind. The kind that keeps me turning pages long after I should have gone to bed. The kind that makes me say, "Just one more chapter," before realising it's midnight. What I don't enjoy is being so terrified that I have to put the book down to give myself some breathing space, or to actually start breathing again as I’ve realised I’ve held my breath for the past half hour while reading! The good news is that not all thrillers are created equal. If...
Finding the perfect book for a friend can feel a little like matchmaking. Get it right and they'll be talking about it for years. Get it wrong and your carefully chosen gift may end up gathering dust on a bedside table. The trick is separating what they enjoy from what you enjoy. You might love gritty crime novels, but that doesn't mean your friend wants to spend their weekend following a serial killer through the dark corners of a small rural town. One of the easiest ways to choose well is to think about the stories they already love. What...
If you’ve ever worked in retail, you’ll know this scene well. A customer walks up to the counter and asks where a particular stock item is, only for it to be sitting quite literally in front of their nose. We have an upstairs area devoted entirely to children’s books, games and activities. There are little footprints on the carpet leading to the stairs, a sign directly above the door and, if all else fails, our staff happily point in the correct direction. Yet somehow people can still stand at the entrance and ask how to get upstairs. It’s one of...
For many people, getting back into reading as we get older can feel almost impossible. Sitting still with a book and a cup of coffee for an hour sounds lovely in theory, but real life has other plans. There’s dinner to cook, washing to fold, emails to answer and children to referee before someone loses their mind over who looked at who the wrong way. But thankfully, stories have evolved with us. Enter audiobooks - the multitasker’s dream. You can escape into another world while walking the dog, driving to work, cleaning the house or pretending to listen during work...
Ever had that strange moment in a shop where the room feels slightly off balance? Not quite seasick, not quite faint - just a bit wobbly. You’re not imagining it. I had a customer come in recently and thank me for the layout of the store. She suffers from severe vertigo and walking into a space that has rows of vertical shelving, such as a book shop, is a major trigger and generally she avoids them like the plague. I had no idea that bookshops can actually trigger dizziness or mild vertigo for some people. And so as I have...
Most of us spend our lives moving between two places: home and work. Home is where the washing piles up, the dog needs feeding, and there always seems to be something that needs doing. Work is where the deadlines live, emails multiply and to-do lists mysteriously grow overnight. But there is a another place that often gets overlooked. They are called "third places" – spaces where people gather simply because they want to be there. Cafés, libraries, community halls, sports clubs, parks and, thankfully, bookshops all fit the bill. These places quietly stitch communities together. They are where friendships begin,...
