My favourite little indie bookshop, Mostly Books in Abingdon, is twenty years old this weekend! I’ve been going there since it opened, made many, many purchases and attending author events. It’s a compact shop, but the selection of books, and some gifts and stationery, is great and the staff lovely.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Joining current owner Sarah and her team on Saturday, were founders Mark and Nicki Thornton. I’d not seen them for some time, so it was lovely to be able to catch up with them both. Mark now works for Bookshop.org where he’s graduated from running 1 bookshop, to looking after 600 who are signed up with them. Also helping the celebrations were authors Matson Taylor and SJ Poyton, and there was fizz, cake, and 10% off purchases – naturally I made the most of the latter!
New in to the bookshop were these lovelies – from Foundry Editions. A new publisher of books in translation, concentrating on countries around the Mediterranean. I love the covers, with patterns designed to reflect the ‘visual heritage of the Mediterranean’. There are currently fifteen to choose from, I picked two by Spanish author Esther Garcia Llouet, one from French author Cecile Tlili, and one from Greek author Makis Malafekas. I like the look of these so much, I’ve signed up to a subscription!
I’ll add the Garcia Llouets to my pile for WIT Month in August, and the Tlili – a novel about a Parisian dinner party is just perfect for Paris in July.
