Independent Bookshop Week -Ian

What have you missed most about the shop? All those lovely books calling to me from the shelves to be browsed and read.

Have you read any great books during lockdown? My reading has been a bit sporadic, but I’ve really enjoyed dipping into A.C Grayling’s The Meaning of Things.  A collection of essays, each a finely crafted reflection on topics such as varied Tolerance, Death, Prophecy and Sin.  I’ll let you know if it’s a great book when I’ve finished…And of course, Adam Kucharski’s The Rules of Contagion, which is essential reading if you want to understand the meaning of ‘R’ and what drives the spread of diseases, memes and tweets – anything really.

If you were to live where the last book you read took place, where would you be? Unfortunately I would be living in the huge ‘invisible city’ of tunnelled streets, hubs, chambers, catacombs and connecting chambers that lay under Paris; the voids created by over 600 years of quarrying.  This is one of the fascinating Underlands explored by Robert Macfarlane in his finely researched and beautifully written book. 

Which fictional character would you most like to be? Difficult.  Probably Dirk Gently, the holistic detective.  Or maybe Scott Tracey or Marvin the Paranoid Android.  Then again perhaps Hari Seldon or Doc (from Cannery Row, not Doc Martin).  Hmmm.

Which book would you most like to see made into a film? The Last Grain race by Eric Newby.  The true story of how in 1938 the young Eric Newby signed on as an apprentice aboard the four-masted ship Moshulu, the largest of the 13 remaining sailing ships still transporting grain to Australia.  Like As I walked out one midsummer morning but more exciting.

Who is your favourite author? John Steinbeck

What was the last book that made you cry? Can’t remember!