I'm in the British Library!

Well, speaking personally, not just at the moment, but The Whicharts has finally been catalogued by the British Library. I'm very proud: it's an achievement of my own and nobody can say it's because of my [lovely] grandfathers.

Next try - get The Whicharts into a high street bookshop. Indie bookshops have been so generous with their help, support and time, but my dream [intention?] is to manage the next step.

Back to business

Busy with business emails and packing tonight. I'm relieved and delighted about that. I'll put in Tania's picture again, just because I like it. Well, she's actually called 'Eyes of Youth', but I always saw something similar (Ruth Gervis like?) in my mind's eye for both Petrova Fossil and Tania Whichart.

Right, to business. I must email the person who would like The Whicharts for their book group. Then it's a case of packing up orders and I'll reward myself with my new Persephone title and a mug of tea just as soon as that's done.

British Library / Richmal Crompton

A British Library card is one of my most treasured possessions and I use it as often as I can. First readings of real treasures were taken there. Rare books like Triffeny, Dorita Fairlie Bruce's appealing tale of an ambitious young girl working in the family pottery. Also, Richmal Crompton. Now, I'm not a fan of William Brown, but I have enjoyed the adult fiction I've been able to read. Much of it is scarce and expensive, pity. Persephone reprinted Family Roundabout, though I preferred The Ridleys. I'm fascinated by books like these, not for the quality of the writing, but for the social history. English small town life at its most insular and curious. It's a fantastic contradiction that makes for very interesting fiction, though living in a pretty petty-minded goldfish bowl must have been stifling. All terribly period 1950s with a distrust of newcomers and closely-guarded secrets.

Today must be a day to return to marketing my book and chasing up the rights to the new titles I'd like to republish. I'm also doing all I can to get The Whicharts into high street bookshops and must contact more independent bookshops as a fair few have been terribly helpful and agreed to stock it. I've already updated my website to show that I have two shops (Amazon and the Margin Notes Books one) and can take orders via either. I'm also still arguing with the display as my website is written to display in Garamond (like layout of The Whicharts), but the site prefers to choose its own fonts at different times. Never mind, new content is there and I can hope that new buyers also find their way.

I've been out and about bookhunting with a friend today. We tried the charity shops and one secondhand bookshop of a new town, but the many books on offer weren't quite the ones we wanted. My own local market town did once have a secondhand bookshop, but it closed down, just as I had my first job and was earning enough to be able to buy books; I still miss it. Run by a kind lady with masses of stock, well-priced and a shop full of character complete with a family of squirrels scuttling about in the roof. Today's secondhand bookshop is further away and hidden in a quiet backstreet at the end of the high street. It's a a proper secondhand bookshop where the stock is double-shelved, more stock is in tottering heaps on the floor and boxes of cheaper books are ranged neatly outside. I only wish I'd been able to find something I wanted. Hunting through my shelves, I don't seem to have:

1. Robin - FHB

2. The Secret Garden - FHB (a hardback reprint with nice illustrations please)

3. More Alexandre Dumas, preferably in hardback with some good illustrations

4. Fill in the gaps in my Arthur Ransome collection

I'm now off outside to enjoy the last of the warmth and reread The Valley of Secrets. I splurged on a signed copy earlier this month and am reading the older copy. One of those wonderful escapist titles that treats conservation seriously and kindly.

Looking forward to bookshops

What season are we in now? Is it mid-spring, late spring, thinking about summer (though it isn't here yet) or what? It's all a bit 'not quite anything' as far as the weather is concerned. With books, however, we're moving into summer escape books. It's almost, almost better than the release of a publisher's Christmas list. Two are certain 'buy it nows' just as soon as they come in to the local bookshop. Katie Fforde (someone I think would be nice to have coffee with) will publish A Perfect Proposal early next month and Veronica Henry has gone back to the coast with The Beach Hut. Until then, I'll reread Wedding Season.

Considering and changing my mind

(still getting to grips with blogger and images - sorry)

For most friends and fellow readers, it isn't always the act of reading that makes you content, it's the very act of opening the book and browsing in any local bookshop glancing up and down spines and through blurbs.

I'm keen for next payday to arrive as there are some lovely summer books on the market at the moment. I can't quite afford to wander into Hatchards or Waterstones just yet as those shelves are stuffed with too many temptations. My shortlist is growing at an alarming rate, but I'm considering buying The Postmistress (opening chapter here) and such a gorgeous cover.

Any recommendations or advice to avoid? I'm in a popular fiction frame of mind....

Persephone grey and cherry blossom

What a wretched, rainy day. Now, I like the look of deep pink cherry blossom against a slate-gray sky, I just don't like walking about in driving rain. Obviously jeans, light jumper and a mac were inadequate clothing for today. Should it even be this cold in May? I really could have done with warm hat and gloves, so came home early from a local (unsuccessful) book hunt and wrapped my hands round my huge Cath Kidston mug of tea. Small design flaw with that in that it keeps my hands toasty warm, though the tea cools down before I finish.

Anyway, I've been happily packing up more book orders so more wonderful customers will have their copies of The Whicharts early next week. It's the most fantastically uplifting feeling when orders come in. I just hope that a few more bookshops will stock it, some have been so helpful and keen and I treasure them.

Now I can re-read Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day with a clear conscience. A number of people whose blogs I quietly follow are reading Persephone books this month. I plan to go in and buy In Bed with Grand Music and Doreen. Then again, when I actually do go in to Persephone's shop, admire the china, the spaniel (usually snoring) and the beautiful, beautiful books, I end up choosing something else entirely. The Far Cry was one of those books that I just bought on sight, even though it wasn't on my shortlist, and the story grips me on every reread. Ruth's such a competent teenager and it's a good treatment of the 'coming of age' novel in Anglo-India.