The ‘small stuff’ doesn’t really matter – does it?
It’s far too easy to overlook the tiny details, after all, the ‘small stuff’ doesn’t really matter – does it? The big landscape, the wide expanse of thought and imagination, vast oceans of opportunity – these are the places where it’s at – surely? Big supermarkets doing away with served checkouts, places of chatter and kindness dispensed with in favour of a self-served alternative – the profit imperative is as imaginative as it gets. And yet it’s often the little things which make the biggest difference – hand delivering a box of books to a loyal customer who finds it less easy to get into town these days; making sure we use as little plastic as we can in our packaging (we’ve started trialling new mailing bags made from sugar beet); four small angled cuts to the inner wrap of our boxes resulting in a significant saving in packing time (and reduced waste cardboard); we have an old laundry mangle for popping the bubble wrap which some publishers still use (throwing away plastic is bad enough, but throwing away air is completely nuts!); a comfy chair in the shop in which to ponder some pages; a smile and a cheery hello – all these small things when added together make the whole much greater than the sum of the parts. And in a way that’s how all independent organisations thrive – look after the small stuff and the big stuff looks after itself.
Elsewhere in Europe today it’s quite warm and sunny, in Bicester today less so!
A Drop Fell on the Apple Tree (Summer Shower) by Emily Dickinson
A drop fell on the apple tree
Another on the roof;
A half a dozen kissed the eaves,
And made the gables laugh.
A few went out to help the brook,
That went to help the sea.
Myself conjectured, Were they pearls,
What necklaces could be!
The dust replaced in hoisted roads
The birds jocoser sung;
The sunshine threw his hat away,
The orchards spangles hung.
The breezes brought dejected lutes,
And bathed them in the glee;
The East put out a single flag,
And signed the fete away.
This week has been pretty dreadful when it comes to weather, but fantastic when it comes to new releases! Earlier this week we received some super-classified, top-secret infomation that Billy Connolly is releasing another book in October entitled Rambling Man, all about his wanderlust, free-spirit, and longing for exploration. We’re offering this title at a special price of £18.
Another top pick of the week includes Lisa See’s saga Lady Tan’s Circle of Women. A book about the inseverable bonds we create with those important people in our lives – this novel is bound to stick with you for decades.
In fiction, Catherine Chidgey, previously longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, is back with her new thriller ‘Pet’ – set in New Zealand in the 1980s and probing themes of racism, misogyny and the oppressive reaches of Catholicism, Pet is bound to make its mark on modern literature. If you fell in love with The Dictionary of Lost Words, then you’re in luck, because Pip Williams has released the second in the series, entitled The Bookbinder of Jericho. For Horror fans, Boys in the Valley sees occult evil being unleashed upon a small town. Likewise, for Fantasy fans Emma Torzs’ Ink Blood Sister Scribe oozes magic from every page, as the protagonists go on the hunt for a magic, but deadly, book.
In non-fiction, Ferdinand Mount shows how dictatorship is not dead, but truimphing more than ever, in Big Caesars and Little Caesars. Whilst in Am I Normal? Sarah Chaney takes us on aneye-opening and surprising journey into the history of science, revisiting the studies, landmark experiments and tests that proliferated from the early 19th century to find answers to the question: what’s normal?
For young adults, Overemotional by David Fenne is a heartwarming queer fantasy, about a boy struggling to control his emotions that manifest themselves as magical powers. Whilst Seriously Good Student Cookbook is the perfect gift for any person braving university halls for the first time this autumn, and needing a little inspiration in the kitchen.
For children, we have a reissue of Alan Garner’s Collected Folk Tales, as his writing sees a resurgence in popularity due to his recently released Booker nominated title Treacle Walker. And everyone’s favourite team, Greg James and Chris Smith, have just released Super-Ghost – part science-fiction, part mission impossible, part mystery, and a whole lot of comedy.
As always, if there’s a book you can’t find, call us and we will try our best to source a copy for you.
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