The Bedside Crow

(Almost) late opening the shop.

Because I was listening to Steve Reid on Midweek talking about this.

I love the idea that as a kid he lived next door to Thelonius Monk, who used to go out into the street and direct the traffic.

and on top of everything else, Justine's been doing the ordering again.

File under: Indecent Haste.

 

Just four and a half months from hardback publication to paperback. It's come a bit quick, so to speak.

And I don't like Marmite.

Better Be Starting Something - dear Faber and Faber I give you this one for free.

 

Apparently retailers have been left disappointed by lack of Jackson books.

I am available for consultancy. Usual rates apply.

 

Tender is the Night: Dated, Racist, Sexist and lots of other ists besides. Discuss.

  

This morning I was walking the shelves with a lady, making some suggestions for her book club. A couple of my suggestions, Elizabeth Strout and Elinor Lipman were swiftly rejected on the grounds of their shite covers.

    So what have you read recently? I asked.

    The last book was awful, she said. Really awful, I think we all hated it.

    What was that? I asked.

    A book by Scott Fitzgerald, she said. She mentioned the title and then told me it was dated, sexist, racist etc and etc.

I put my fist in my mouth and chewed and distracted myself by looking at the little person sitting on the wall that somebody had left as a friend for Dorothy Parker. There was absolutely nothing I could say.

    

There Are Cats In This Book - The Movie.

Really, really great.

And also, we have signed copies, too.

Yesterday we really did use our special bank.

Yesterday afternoon I bunked off early to go and listen to 3 hours of drum and bass interspersed with some choice R&B in a club in Peckham while Fred collected a cup for playing football. At the end of the day I wasn't around to do what we normally do with the takings and so we used our brilliant secret bank as designed for us by Jaffne instead.

It is a work of absolute genius, and when placed in a stack of books, the very safest place to keep our money. It is enough to taunt any burglar into submission; Do you feel lucky punk? Do you? Do you? It is a stark choice - a 1 in 5 chance of a few quid, a button and a bone, or a 4 in 5 chance of being put off women for life.

 

I've said it before and I'll say it again: We like a book with a bird on the cover.

 

And this one has birds on the inside, too.

Lovely.

There were some very cool cats in our shop today.

Now that was a lot of fun! What a really great bunch of people! Here are some of them drawing and winding down at the end of a packed day of events at The Crystal Palace Children's Book Festival. Look out in particular towards the end of the film for Viviane Schwarz drawing some lovely cats.

More films later.

Personally, I think that the one copy of Revolutionary Road is quite sufficient for any household.

 

Unless, of course, you wanted to give the half-price one as a housewarming present to that nice young couple who have just moved in next door.