Ah, free books!

Over at Random House, get yourself a PDF of Beautiful Children, but only until midnight tonight.

Book bits and bobs

Lots of nifty bookish things over at Kimbooktu. I especially like those flexible shelves (hint, hint).

Bookshelf are featuring a "Library Bath" today. How am I possibly going to exist without one of those now that I know they exist?

And finally, a great picure of stairs.

Lovely things #2

In the weekend we took a day trip to Bath. Priorities were clearly laid out before the trip:
1. Mr B's
2. Breakfast
3. Roman Baths

I must have heard about Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delights not long after they opened, but it's taken me almost a year to actually get over to Bath to have a snoop around. I'd scoped out the website, written down the address, and memorised the name of their wee pooch, so Thunderbirds were go.

I had a lovely couple of hours browsing, completely oblivious to anything else. The Lovely Hubby hunkered down in the comfy chair, and let me run riot.

Needless to say, it was a successful visit, and I was delighted to find the Saramago, which I've been looking for for ages. On the train back to London I could be found half asleep hugging my Mr B's bag. I love well-stocked Independents. Oh, and we got to meet Vlashka too.

Lovely things #1

I'm sure I've mentioned before that I love LibraryThing. One aspect that I've always been a bit jealous of was the Early Reviewer books, which only ever seemed to be available to those in the USA and Canada.

So, delight number 1 was having The Friday Project put up some books for those of us in the UK. Delight number 2 was successfully getting an early reviewer book (at 1 in 20 odds) - woo hoo! The lovely hubby can verify that I actually did a little dance when I found out I was getting a copy of Attention. Deficit. Disorder by Brad Listi. Yay for the good people at TFP!

Now, if we can just get Early Reviewers extended out into New Zealand by the time I make it back there...

Interesting...

... since I used to work for these guys. Reed Elsevier to shed more than 1,000 jobs.

Booker of Bookers Redux

This time, the public get to vote.

London Word Festival

The London Word Festival starts on Friday, and I've booked myself in to see the panel on "Book Futures".

Additions to the canon

The canon of abbreviations that is. Welcome: Mick Lit, Sick Lit and Schtick Lit.

Red Room

Thanks to The Elegant Variation for some interesting bits and bobs today. New to me is Red Room, "Where the Writers are". Look up bios on your favourite authors, read their blogs (and comment), and there are articles and interviews.

The List, in progress

I think this will always be a work in progress. Even when the trip is over, I'll still be thinking of things I should have read. As it stands, here are my best intentions (blue being those books I have already:

UK: Down and Out in Paris and London (it's a bridging book)
France: The Needle in the Blood, Bonjour Tristesse, The Misanthrope, Candide.
Spain: Don Quixote (too ambitious/large perhaps? We own it, that's the main attraction.)
Portugal: The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis
Italy: The Leopard, Invisible Cities, Accidental Death of an Anarchist
Croatia/Bosnia: The Bridge on the Drina
Slovenia: (Less than 48 hours here, but we'll see what I can come up with)
Austria: Goalies Anxiety at the Penalty Kick
Liechtenstein: (Just passing through, again we'll see)
Switzerland: On Travel (it's a bit of a cheat, but I read The Magic Mountain last year and it was enough on Switzerland for a lifetime).
Germany: Summer in Baden-Baden (wangled a trip here on the basis of this book), Goodbye to Berlin, Vertigo
Czech Republic: The Trial
Luxembourg: (Here a few days, so I'll have to come up with something.)

Then it's on to Africa:
Zimbabwe: Maybe... Nervous Condition, Butterfly Burning or The House of Hunger?
Botswana: The Good Husband of Zebra Drive
Namibia: Born of the Sun?
South Africa: Chaka or Cry the Beloved Country?

As you can see, it's a list in progress. The Africa addition to the trip is relatively new, so I've not had much time to think on it. I'd just bought a new McCall Smith, so it will be called into active service.

Some countries have too many books, others too few. Some countries we'll be in for less than 48 hours. I've not limited myself to fiction either, there are a few plays in there, and one possibility is to download a bit of poetry from each place as well just to round things out. Thank goodness we're driving Europe in a campervan.

A Good Start

This is the beginning of my "Europe Trip" book pile that I keep banging on about. I've just realised that I've left in Dostoyevsky and it's not looking likely that we'll get to Russia, but oh well. He's small and I may just take him along anyway.

It's not a very big pile at the moment (though my other half would have me believe that it's already too big by half), and I've been slowly letting the collection evolve as I:
a. Find books secondhand, or
b. Break down and buy something that looks really good.

I started out with a set of general rules, which I've almost managed to stick to.

1. They have to be relatively small (less than 300 pages)
   
2. If possible they should be both about, and by an author from, the country in question.
   
3. They should hold the possibility of enjoyment. I am on holiday after all.
   

There are a few notable exceptions, The Needle in the Blood being one, but I'm making a point of going to Bayeux and I couldn't resist a dovegrey reader recommendation. The Cloudspotter's Guide is another exception, but I do intend to spend at least some time going slow enough to assess the weather.

I've just realised that this description of collection makes it all seem much easier that it has been, as I pore over 1001 Books to Read Before You Die and Book Lust, spending hours in Stamfords and Daunt licking the end of my pencil and scribbling titles in notebooks. I have a colour-coded spreadsheet no less, and the final list has been the source of some hand-wringing I can tell you.

Festival, Festival!

The New Zealand International Arts Festival starts on Friday, and I'm totally impressed at the big guns we've got coming. I've looked at festival programmes in the UK where I've not known a single author (though this could just be a comment on me), but NZ manages to hook Ian McEwan, James Meek, Joseph Stiglitz et al. Now I just wish I was going to be there...

Hic! Lit

Uh oh. It must be a slewsday. Reformed alcoholics now have a catchy up-beat marketing phrase for their "genre". Hic Lit. We have The Independent to blame for this one.

Five Best

A list of the five best satires of academic life over at the Wall St Journal. I harbour a strange weakness for the academic novel, having read both Small World and Lucky Jim from the list, and I just picked up a copy of Pnin last week. I wonder what this says about me?

Reading Europe

The Three Percent blog reminds us about Reading the World 2008. This is perfect for me, because:

1. I didn't know about Reading the World, and
   
2. As previously mentioned, I'm going to simultaneously read and travel Europe this year, and it's great to find some additional inspiration.
   

It's a great idea, a great resource, and I'm quietly pleased to find I've actually read a few of their 2007 titles.

Commonwealth Writers' Prize

The shortlist is now out. I'm a little disappointed to see no New Zealand authors this year, after the success of Mr Pip.

Tasks for Wednesday

To do list:

1. Support a local bookseller, or he may have to sell the shirt off his back.
2. Keep a photodiary of all the bookshops you've ever been to.
3. Get to the bottom of this. I don't see any denials going on at TFP though.
   

Things Librarianish

First up, March of the Librarians.



Why is it that ALA conferences always have those two elevators?

And secondly, Library Wedding Invitations.

Literary tourism

48 hours in literary London - It's on my "To Do" list.

Been there, got the badge.

I think Simon and Tim of the Big Green Bookshop may have missed their (second) calling. These guys are masters of marketing - no shop yet, but it hasn't stopped them getting onto ebay. Excuse me while I go off to bid...