Welcome, pull up a chair grab yourself a soothing cuppa (or beverage of choice). As the weather hereabouts gets a little cooler, there’s nothing quite like a nice lemon tea with ginger and a splash of maple syrup to provide a very pleasing, comforting sip.
After the last couple of newsletters veering off on various tangents, I thought we could talk a bit about books for this catch up and a natter. Keep it simple.
Simple-ish, anyway.
I’ve only read a small selection of books recently – meandering slowly through one or two that deserve a reasonable commitment to attention, interspersed with quicker, fun reads.
I also found myself creating a list of best loved book shops – which all started with a post from Australian Traveller on the Ten Cutest Bookshops. Of course, everyone has a different idea about this, so I started collating suggestions from the comments and adding a few I know (or know about – thanks to HerCanberra) around here.
I did have the ulterior motive of doing this for my own benefit in the hopes of a bit of travel, peppered with some book crawls, but a couple of people have asked for the list, so you’ll find it a bit further down. Or, at least, Take One. The Original List.
I fully hope that you can add to my list and I will eventually publish Take Two, The Extended List.
In my ever-expanding dreams, I might see if I can collate an international list at some stage, too – or I might not, but I do have a first gorgeous little book shop to add, just down the road from my cousin’s place in Manchester, Simply Books, that I fell in love with last time I was visiting (too long ago!). So, perhaps, Take Three, The Roaming List?
Ooh, and, scrolling through facebook, I just found this picture from one of the places I used to live when I was a child…
photo credit to Welsh Bridge Books and Collectables, Frankwell, on the outskirts of Shrewsbury in Shropshire, England
Anyway, books? bookshops? What’s not to love? 😊
And on that note, here’s a quick run down of what I’ve been reading lately.
Shift by Irma Gold – a beautifully written book (for adult readers) full of nuance, where relationships are complex and the characterisations make you feel like you are walking amongst real people as you read your way into their world. A book that is about art and passion, and about families and the complicated nature of love and belonging. A book full of hope and about focusing on what you have, instead of what you don’t have. About how you look at things. Highly recommended. Irma Gold has written a masterpiece in this story.
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Klimmerer – I’m taking a long time to read this book, savouring every word, every image, every question that it raises. A gentle book, nudging the reader towards thoughtful interaction with her words and with the natural world. One to mull over and return to, I feel. I’m about half way through and it is giving me so much to think about. This book is filled with love, understanding, and a yearning to reach others with the message it shares through its unique blend of science, mythology, and philosophy. I love this book. Well worth reading.
Ash and Splinter by Marieke Nijkamp – a totally fun middle grade fantasy adventure that challenges limiting concepts through its diverse characters and questioning entrenched tropes of gender and disability.
Two Ariana Treasure stories:
The Missing Book, and
The Secret Ingredient
written by Jacqueline de Rose-Ahern and illustrated by Karen Erasmus – two lovely, easy to read short books (junior fiction) that will appeal to young readers just starting to feel confident engaging with texts independently. Both stories are gentle, with problems solved through kindness and working together, and are supported by lots of charming illustrations. Nothing too challenging. Gorgeous little books!
Devotions: selected poems by Mary Oliver – one to dip in and out of when in search of inspiration. This is the sort of book where you quietly let a page fall open randomly, then read through the first poem that you see, drawing wisdom and consolation from her words.
Not sure what’s next. I still have The New Rule Book by Chris Cheers, which I’m hoping to settle into fairly soon but I want to finish Braiding Sweetgrass first. I’m still on the lookout for some more middle grade fantasy — hopefully something a little dark and mysterious with magic and mayhem, perhaps a little gothic?
Hmm. Might just have to visit my favourite bookshop… poor me!
Which segues nicely onto my next section…
…Best Loved Bookshops: A List
The development of this list began with an article in The Australian Traveller which found its way onto my facebook feed and I shared for fun.
There were many comments attached to the original post, lauding other people’s favourite book stores, so I thought that it would be good to make a longer list, just in case I’m ever in a position to go bookshop crawling as part of my (one day) travels. On the whole, I’ve not included major chains with multiple book stores, not that I don’t love visiting them just as much!
I have added bookshops from Canberra (and one in Brisbane) that I’m familiar with (with which I am familiar!) + some listed in an article in HerCanberra, and included websites (or facebook pages) that I’ve been able to find.
I’d love to hear about any of your favourite book stores not already listed. Please pop them in the comments (with the book shop name, a website address, if possible, and where we can find them, so I can add them to my list easily).
For extra brownie points, you can let me know what it is you like about them, too!
Of course, as you may have guessed if you have been following me on any of my social media platforms, my current fave is The Book Cow in Kingston, where not only do they have a fabulous selection of books, very friendly and helpful staff, and loads of great initiatives like book clubs and *workshops, but proprietor, Peter Arnaudo, is soooo supportive of local authors and schools, and very approachable — and who couldn’t love a shop called The Book Cow!
*of course, I’m not at all biased, just because I got to deliver one of three workshops for a group of fabulous young writers over the school holidays!
There are so many things that can make or break a book shop, from having (or not having) a convenient location, or the layout and decor of the store (and, yes, I do love the feel of Harry Hartogin Woden, which I have a soft spot for (for which I have a soft spot), given I won a book prize at its opening and launched my first few books there), but I think it is the sense of being welcome that has the most effect (or, okay, a door to Narnia* would always be favourite)
*I believe Paper Bird in Fremantle offers this — must get there one day**!
Narnia! photo credit Paper Bird, Fremantle
**What a great excuse to head over to the other side of our vast country!
What is it that you like in a book shop?
While we are on the topic of writing (well, we were a moment ago, weren’t we?) I thought I’d mention, very briefly, that I’m still not getting much in the way of writing done — I had a great idea on the morning I was setting out to do the workshop at the book shop, but by the time I got home I’d realised the story had already been written (several times, by several different people) and wasn’t really worth writing again.
Instead, I am tossing up between two pieces I’ve got in the works that might benefit from being resurrected with a bit of thoughtful editing.
And I do have my YA Romantasy that stalled at the starting post, but I still like the idea of.
Going back to the workshop, I loved — no, I LOVED — working with the young writers at The Book Cow holiday workshop. I had forgotten how exciting it is to work with sparky kids who are just keen to create.
I had made up a graphic organiser with plans to work through it step-by-step, but, frankly, all I really needed to do was point them at the theme and stand back and let them go.
Of course, there was lots of support and advice asked for and given, but, really, these kids had it all under control!
We ended up with everything from a carefully thought out haiku to a fully illustrated graphic novelette with loads of onomatopoeia, with all sorts of creatures from our favourite best friend to fantastical mythical beasts, and wonderful make believe stories to creative non-fiction. It was inspiring!
But — with time to think in the car on the way home (fuelled by some sugary gluten free lollies — er, for me, not the car. It runs on ordinary, everyday petrol) — I did work out my great idea, wasn’t.
C’est la vie — there are a million stories still out there, waiting to be told!
The sad news is An Unremarkable Day, my dimension-crossing middle-grade fantasy-adventure received a (not totally unexpected*) no, thank you from Scholastic this week.
*Scholastic aren’t big on full-on fantasy. On the upside, my editor gave me a tiny bit of helpful feedback, so…
Another c’est la vie — time to start pitching it (and Raven Child) elsewhere.
Next up for me, though is to finish prepping my presentation on pitching for some college students who’ve been working on writing children’s literature and had the chance to take a look at Starberries and Kee as a case study.
I’m looking forward to chatting with them in a just a couple of weeks.
Where is time going?!
Oh, well, I’d better let you go. Thanks for joining me.
So many bookstores I would love to visit!!! I’d like to add Constant Reader in Crows Nest, NSW because they are incredibly support of local authors and put on lots of fab events (I am completely biased since I’ll be doing an event with them next week)! https://constantreader.com.au/
So many great sounding bookshops, a lot I don't know! A favourite of mine (even though not small and boutiquey!) is Kinokuniya in Sydney for its huge art/design section, Japanese stationary and even a cafe. And sometimes they have art/illustration exhibitions in a small gallery space.
So many bookstores I would love to visit!!! I’d like to add Constant Reader in Crows Nest, NSW because they are incredibly support of local authors and put on lots of fab events (I am completely biased since I’ll be doing an event with them next week)! https://constantreader.com.au/
So many great sounding bookshops, a lot I don't know! A favourite of mine (even though not small and boutiquey!) is Kinokuniya in Sydney for its huge art/design section, Japanese stationary and even a cafe. And sometimes they have art/illustration exhibitions in a small gallery space.