Gold as an infant’s humming dream,
Stamped with its timeless, tropic blush,
The steady sun stands in the air
This, of all the days, is the one we wanted to be sunny and warm and full of promise. Tonight the hands will be eager to move forwards one hour, those sixty minutes transforming the months of Spring and Summer. These were the days when our childhoods become supercharged with energy. The clock may have only moved on one hour, but liberated from the shackles of Winter, our days became endless. Memories of racing home from school, beans on toast for tea and off out to play football with mates in the park, the final whistle being sounded as the sun slowly extinguished, perhaps just enough light to squeeze five minutes more of extra-time, and then a dawdle back in the gloam, trying to make the day last forever, squeezing out every last drop of joy and laughter.
Our Book Club at the shop this week was another enjoyable dawdle through the thoughts and inspirations of our guest author Nick Newman for his novel ‘The Garden’. The books we choose and authors we invite are a reflection of the broad reach of Coles – books and reading add joy and variety of thought to our lives – we hope our book club brings a little of that to our town.
For our younger readers’ curious minds, Dr. Lucía Pérez-Díaz will be joining us at the bookshop on Saturday 10th May for an exploration of ‘How The Earth Works’ – this is free to attend and is perfect for budding scientists from the age of 7 – full details at the bottom of this newsletter.
Long Summer by Laurie Lee, from ‘Collected Poems’ published by Penguin Classics
Gold as an infant’s humming dream,
Stamped with its timeless, tropic blush,
The steady sun stands in the air
And burns like Moses’ holy bush.
And burns while nothing it consumes;
The smoking branch but greener grows,
The crackling briar, from budded lips,
A floating stream of blossom blows.
A daze of hours, a blaze of noons,
Licks my cold shadow from the ground;
A flaming trident rears each dawn
To stir the blood of earth around.
Unsinged beneath the furnace sky
The frenzied beetle runs reborn,
The ant his antic mountain moves,
The rampant ram rewinds his horn.
I see the crazy bees drop fat
From tulips ten times gorged and dry;
I see the sated swallow plunge
To drink the dazzled waterfly.
A halo flares around my head,
A sunflower flares across the sun,
While down the summer’s seamless haze
Such feasts of milk and honey run
That lying with my orchid love,
Whose kiss no frost of age can sever,
I cannot doubt the cold is dead,
The gold earth turned to good—forever.
Ghost stories, historical affairs, and politically-charged romances make up the fiction shelves this week, which are blooming with colour as we step into Spring. There are literary delights in non-fiction too, from beautifully curated floral displays to the wandering routes of David Bowie. One tome I’m particularly excited to see is Quentin Blake’s Not For Art’s Sake, an extraordinary book of the beloved illustrator’s work across public-facing sites. If, like me, you have a bundle of his illustrated books, mended with tape and lovingly inherited, you will be enamoured with these intentional drawings. For younger readers, Andy Griffiths’ imaginative, playful style bursts from the page in his latest book for 5-8 year olds, and Spot the Dog visits the farm in a joyous lift-the-flap board book.
As always, if there’s anything you need, just pop by or reply to this email!
From Sophie
Feeling curious? Click on the book covers below to explore the book
The full newsletter with links to books – including this week’s Signed Editions – can be found HERE
