Good Housekeeping Children's Cook Book - Happy World Baking Day

I've been drafting this post for a while and not been able to upload the photographs because of a mysterious technical glitch that just stalled at 90% of uploading each one. I thought I'd have another go to celebrate World Baking Day today. I may even try some baking of my own later, though I'd be quite happy if I could manage light and fluffy scones. Do the simple things first - the ones people enjoy eating. Which is why I've perfected banana bread that people are coming back for a second slice before it's even cooled down.

One occasional advantage of republishing vintage books is that you're given other vintage books as people think you'll appreciate them. I normally do and find them an interesting read. While I wait for the strawberries to grow, though I don't have enough of a gardenful to consider opening my own tearoom, I'll think of trainee cooks like Candy Nevill. She was lucky enough to create her own recipe notebook because she had cookery lessons at school. For those who didn't, the Good Housekeeping Institute could help then and still does today. This Good Housekeeping guide dates from the late 1950s, so around the time in which Candy would have been learning to cook. It's a clashing mixture of black and white and saturated technicolour photography. It would have been the perfect present for the young cook as it covers everything he or she would need to learn. I've omitted the cover picture as it's a frankly scary shade of orange with small boy gnawing on a toffee apple, one neat girl in an apron dipping an apple in the hot toffee and a taller boy looking over their shoulders while doing the drying-up. It's useful in that it's not simply a book of sweets and biscuits - you're taught how to make simple suppers, breakfast and the sort of recipes you might manage if your mother (it's only mother) is unwell.  

We start with a birthday cake. Home-made, be-ribboned and slightly squint candles.

Even the contents page is interesting. Before you're introduced to a circus of iced biscuits, you also learn how to prepare yourself (hand-washing, find an apron) and the kitchen. There are even illustrated instructions on how to light the gas stove. It's generally useful to get your ingredients ready before you start. 

Finally, this red, orange and blue runs over a two-page spread. It shows exactly how colour photography can enhance cookbooks and you see every layer in that jelly. 

It's a world away from layer cakes, cutting-edge patisserie and cupcakes with icing that's taller than the cake that you see in many shop windows now. Enjoy the vintage world of cooking for the family.

Print *and* digital - just read the book

Whatever marketing strategy is planned, the content underpinning it has to be appealing. Much as I like 'books are my bag' as a concept, there have to be books ready to fill said bags. London Book Fair excitement is ebbing away and all sorts of signed deals are being publicised. That's exciting to read as both reader and publisher and it's all very well for the new, but can it compliment the backlist? That critical part of publishing that builds up authors or publishers as brands? It has to be there or else you lose a good deal of your credibility, your past work and an opportunity for readers to see what you've done.

It's all about the story, isn't it? It's the author's job to present a story that transports you and your imagination and it's the publisher's job to present it in an appealing format.

As a reader, you can take the story wherever you like. Now, I've rejected handbags before as being too small for the necessary 'book I'm reading now' and 'second book in case I finish the first'. Now I have to consider the possible addition of an eReader too?! It's the story that appeals to the reader whether they feel in the mood to download, flick across a screen, turn a page or turn on an audiobook.

Veronica Henry and Iain M. Banks

It's a public holiday in England today, so I'd fully expected driving rain. Instead, I've been out in the sunshine watching the world go by. Don't worry, I did the business emails first and walked to the post box with the weekend orders. I took one of Veronica Henry's Honeycote novels as she's does exactly the sort of book for summer weather. Her latest - something to do with the Orient Express (I don't want spoilers) - comes out next month. Returning to Honeycote means that you return to old friends, drink sparkling wine and never worry about hangovers or work the next day.

I'm also working my way through The Crow Road. My copy is an old hardback, so not exactly transportable. It was my introduction to Iain M. Banks and remains a favourite. I can only hope that his treatment makes him more comfortable. I've been told that booksellers often recommend The Crow Road to reluctant readers as the story can draw them in so well. If so, that's the best compliment to an author that I've heard as there's nothing like finding a book that you enjoy, that stays with you and that you return to as an old friend. 

The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls (Anton DiSclafani)

I was sent a preview copy at the beginning of this week and was in that wonderful and awful situation of wanting to read on to find out what happened and not wanting this book to end. I didn't quite miss my bus stop and need to walk back, but it was very close.

It's a fantastic story taking in the bubble that America's rich found themselves in even in the Depression. The slow decline in standards of living isn't affecting the many rich Southern families that have sent their daughters to Yonalossee for generations. The author has put together a coming-of-age story in the 'new girl at boarding school' tradition. Given that Thea seems scarcely to have spoken to anyone not a member of her immediate family, the culture shock is incredible. Thea's family lives in Florida and the isolated family estate and orange groves are for hunting wildlife and riding. She, her twin brother Sam and cousin George have a close relationship that's fractured by adolescence and rigid family observances of the proprieties. Finally, a scandal causes Thea to be sent away to school in North Carolina's Blue Mountains. Thea's only consolation is that she'll still be able to ride every day. She encounters a new set of values at school beyond the ladylike behaviour modelled by her mother: family, money and the ability to ride contribute to your ranking. Thea finds herself struggling to make friends, dress and cope with lessons and noise. How she copes with her exile, the changes to her own body and a new set of rules results in a complex sexual awakening that's handled deftly and with incredible realism.

This novel is one to buy and enjoy over a weekend - you'll be irritated at anyone who interrupts you or be reading through the night. Thanks to Headline Publicity for the proof. It's published on 6 June 2013 in hardback and e-Book and I really recommend reading it.

Browsing in Foyles

Bookseller updating on the second day of sunshine and a clear Alice-blue sky that promises spring, flowers and even Londoners are smiling on public transport. Actually, it's the weekend of the London Marathon: lots of happy tourists in London.

Have you seen the hoardings outside the former College of Art next to Foyles? It promises a new, expanded and improved Foyles for the next century. I'm delighted that Foyles has bounced back to become the bookshop of first choice for so many in London. It's a spectacular turnaround from 15 years ago when it wasn't quite such a pleasure to browse and buy in - sent from one desk with a chit to another to pay in a dark and dusty labyrinth. The books you wanted would probably be there. It was just a case of finding out where, precisely, they'd been shelved.

Whether or not it's a London bubble with good salaries and tourists still plentiful, Foyles has developed well in the last few years and has an enviable number of repeat customers. I know that it's also expanded to Bristol, not that I know the city or the branch. The St Pancras branch is small, well-stocked with books for the traveller in need of something interesting to read on the train. Most people don't have the Wildean scandal of a diary, so a paperback comes in handy.

I admire their selections in both small and large branches. There are a good number of new bestsellers and other, quirkier items that you might not have heard of and a blurb that'll draw you in. You can also rely on the bookseller knowing the author you're seeking when you just can't remember that Paul Torday wrote Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, though you could remember the 'T' and were hoping not to need to go through the entire section moving your head to one side and the other reading the spines. The shop sparkles from the care that everyone has put into it and the sheer number of red bags in the local area shows trade is going well.

What can other businesses learn from all this? Mostly, it's doing the basics well.

1. Don't leave unshelved stock on the floor. Unless, of course, you really want it to get damaged.

2. Keep replenishing the stock. Empty shelves don't look good or make the shop look cared-for.

3. Train your staff - have an environment where they're supported, happy to be there and ready to answer questions. Even if they are required to fend off 'Is this a bookshop?' politely.

4. Label areas clearly. Floor-plans are brilliant, as are signs to lifts and stairs.

The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls

This is a title that won't be published in the UK until a bit later in 2013 (Amazon says 7 November for the paperback which comes up first in the results, though a hardback comes out at the beginning of June), but it's one that I'll certainly be buying. The sound of the title drew me in - it's a wonderful sound - and the short blurb captivated me as I do like a good costume drama and I hope that doesn't sound unflattering as it's intended as a compliment.

I don't know the author, nor have I seen a review copy. This is simply excitement at finding a story that's shot to the top of my wish-list. It has all sorts of promising elements: 1930s America, high society, riding, a boarding-school story in a new setting. I'm looking forward to finding out more about the scandal that caused Thea to be sent away to boarding school (or is it finishing school?) as it seems to be for debutantes.

One to look out for from new-to-me author Anton DiSclafani. 

Jane Beaton - Rules and Class

I keep hoping that we'll see another instalment of Jane Beaton's Class series, but think that too much time has passed since the first two for that to happen. It may be that there aren't any more or that she's moved publisher. I simply don't know. Having re-read both earlier in the week I do know that Class and Rules are a fun pair to read and promised for an entertaining series. I thought that six were planned.

Jane Beaton's a great fan of vintage and modern school stories and this is clearly reflected in her character names: Prosser (Kingscote scholarship, Antonia Forest), Trebizon-Woods (Anne Digby), Simone (Chalet School, Brent-Dyer) and setting her books in a Cornish school complete with hockey fields and castle-looks (Enid Blyton).

Maggie Adair applies for the job of English mistress at Downey House on a whim and is astonished to find she is offered the job. Her long-term unambitious boyfriend is even more surprised that she accepts. She's from the state sector in Glasgow and Cornwall's private sector is as much of a shock as a pleasure. There's a quick mention of 'lesson-planning' where Maggie realises that she can teach for the full period and doesn't need to set time aside for breaking up fights. She's very much the inspirational teacher and one getting to grips with responsibilities: to her pupils, her colleagues and herself.

Both books do a very good job of showing how isolating teaching can be, how rewarding and how draining. Daft pranks have their place as well as some skillful work at showing the unkindness of a single-sex environment from the pupils' perspective. Perhaps it's exaggerating to say 'bullying', though there's plenty of low-level nastiness from the villain.

(Apologies for any odd spelling above that I may have missed. One English dictionary on one piece of software is fighting the American dictionary on another).