Find a hill, no matter how small, and look down on a soft cloud-like blanket hugging the ground.
You’ve got to go a little further west from here, out into the Cotswolds, to get the rolling pastoral landscapes. Here, at the western edge of the Vale of Aylesbury, the landscape rises and falls much more gently – the Chilterns further south, separating us from the metropolis of the capital, the smaller hills at Quainton, Brill, Waddesdon and right next to town, Graven, being the closest we get to the Alps in these parts. But at this time of year, it doesn’t take much of a hill to enjoy one of nature’s beautiful sights. You need to be up reasonably early to see the mists which have risen up out of the fields – find a hill, no matter how small, and look down on a soft cloud-like blanket hugging the ground, treetops and pylons, and the occasional church tower, rising up out of the vapours like vessels navigating the end of summer seas as they steam towards autumn.
To Autumn by John Keats
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.
Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap’d furrow sound asleep,
Drows’d with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.
Where are the songs of spring? Ay, Where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,—
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.
This time of year in the shop is so exciting; in a flurry, books arrive like presents dropped from the sleigh. One of these is perfect if you like to get ahead of the festive rush – The Gruffalo and Friends Advent Calendar is full of miniatures of the best Julia Donaldson books, complete with activities and rhymes to keep that countdown lively. Nadiya’s Simple Spices brings bold flavour to kitchens nationwide with naans, fish, and dinner-party-ready dishes to overwhelm the taste buds. Both books are available with a Coles Special Price.
There is such an abundance of fantastic fiction out this week that it’s hard to choose just a handful. The Golden Spoon is like Great British Bake Off meets Cluedo, as contestants of a baking show commit sabotage to the highest degree. Lucy By The Sea by Elizabeth Strout is now out in paperback, a lockdown novel that gives meaning to the quiet days. For those of you that enjoyed our Book Club with Ben Tufnell’s The North Shore, get your fix of unusual monsters washed ashore in Once a Monster, and in fantasy, In These Hallowed Halls is the cosy read you need for the crisp evenings; with exclusive dark academia stories from Olivie Blake, M.L. Rio, and more, this is back to school like you’ve never seen before!
Recently, I have had the sheer magical joy of seeing plenty of shooting stars, so I was delighted to see the Night Sky Almanac 2024 sitting at the front of the shop; this book can slip into a bag or (large) pocket and gives all the tips and tricks of spotting the wonders above us. If you’d like, discover the fascinations down on the ground, from Stonehenge to Alderley Edge, where a wizard liked to rest his head, with Britain’s Landmarks and Legends. Enter into the cheekiest art lesson with Museum Bums; join the kitchen table of a working farm with Helen Rebanks’ The Farmer’s Wife; and get behind the scenes of a football team that has revelled in success and Hollywood royalty in Tinseltown by Ian Herbert.
Finally, Chris Riddell illustrates the young adult poetry book Poems to Save the World With, an inspiring collection to evoke hope and rebellion in these uncertain times.
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.
From Sophie
Click on any of the book covers below for more info.
The full newsletter with links to books – including this week’s Signed Editions – can be found HERE
