Jonathan Franzen's Glasses

No, this isn't the name of a semi professional pub band from Macclesfield, this is a story which is sending shockwaves through the myopic world of publishing.
Last night, at his book launch, Jonathan Franzen, the hugely talented and critically acclaimed author of Freedom had his glasses stolen from off his face. The thieves left a ransom note demanding $100,000 and a hotmail address and fled.
Twitter broke the news and as I sat at home drinking a rather acceptable Kronenburg 1664 I thought a number of things.

• I don't beleive it.
• This is a publicity stunt by the publishers.
  
• I have had too many Kronenburgs
• Why are JF's glasses so special. Couldn't he just get another pair
• Has he not got a spare pair.
• What a bunch of meanies those theives must be to pick on speccy.

and then after i'd thought about all those things, I thought, well if it's any one of these things I could have a bit of fun here.

So I asked my girlfriend if I could photograph her glasses and I added this listing on ebay. It was magnificently amateurish (and childish) and I thought it might get a few laughs. So I tweeted 'Jonathan Franzen's stolen glasses found on ebay' and added a link to the listing.

I'm delighted to say that some people took it seriously and soon this news about Mr Franzen's glasses travelled through the world wide web and caused a few twitchy journalists to actually make this part of the news story. There have yet to be any bids...

Ah, the power of twitter.

Booker Boo

I need to stress a couple of things before we get to the main body of this blog.

1) I am in favour of the ManBooker prize.

2) We will be hosting our Booker Book Club for the second year. More details on our website.

That's all.

Right. I am not denying the ManBooker judges their right to be ManBooker judges. Oh no. Let's get that straight. They have all individually earned their places. Oh yes.

I just have a couple of observations about the whole Booker thing.

1) There are no fiction authors on the panel.

In case you are interested the panel is chaired by Andrew Motion, former Poet Laureate, and the judges are Rosie Blau, Literary Editor of the Financial Times; Deborah Bull, formerly a dancer, now Creative Director of the Royal Opera House as well as a writer and broadcaster; Tom Sutcliffe, journalist, broadcaster and author and Frances Wilson, biographer and critic.

The Big Booker prize – as I understand it – is a celebration of literary fiction, isn’t it? Surely, then at least one of the judges should be a fiction author. Maybe it should be mandatory for the previous year’s winner to sit in judgement.

Let us examine the judges a little closer

Andrew Motion. No doubt he’s earned his place. Not a fiction author (according to one of my customers “Poetry is Truth” and therefore not fiction). Check out his ‘Selected Poems’ published by Faber and Faber.

Rosie Blau. No doubt she’s earned her place. Not a fiction author, but definitely an expert in the field of literary fiction.

Deborah Bull. No doubt she’s earned her place. Not a fiction author. She has written the ‘Faber Pocket Guide to Ballet’ published by Faber and Faber.

Tom Sutcliffe. No doubt he’s earned his place. Not a fiction author. He has written the ‘Faber Book of Opera’ and ‘Believing in Opera’ both published by Faber and er… Faber.

Frances Wilson. No doubt she’s earned her place. Not a fiction author. She has written ‘The Courtesan's Revenge: The Life of Harriette Wilson, the Woman Who Blackmailed the King’ and ‘The Ballad of Dorothy Wordsworth’ both of which are published by…. Well this is a little embarrassing… Faber and Faber.

Am I missing something?... Oh and....

2) The Faberulous Peter Carey looks favourite to win.

Cynical, me? Wouldn't it be terrible if somebody in the ManBooker organisation read this and took it personally. I'd better not post it.... Oh no I've gone and pressed the button now

Coffee, books, Wednesdays... The Perfect Combination.

On the first Wednesday of every month at about 11:00 one of our book groups gathers in Caffe Latino to do two things: drink coffee and discuss their book choice for that month. This is a picture of us, recently discussing The Seven Fires of Mademoiselle by Esther Vilar...

I say 'us' but obviously I'm not in the photo because I was taking it, and anyway you should all know what I look like by now. In case you've forgotten here I am without my glasses on:

Anyway, back to the book: Seven Fires is a delightfully romantic tale set in America in the sixties, featuring a diplomat's daughter and her arsonist nanny. We all agreed it was highly enjoyable, though perhaps becoming a fire starter is more likely to lead to a criminal record than a lasting relationship. In the past we have read; Brooklyn by Colm Toibin (excellent,) The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery (also very good,) and Day by A.L. Kennedy (well I liked it, but everyone else... err... not so much.)

These are just a few of the books we have discussed over the past year or so, and there are many more to come: On Wednesday 1st September we will be discussing Jeff in Venice, Death in

Varanasi, and on Wednesday 6th October it'll be The Canal by Lee Rourke. If you would like to join us to discuss any of these books, you are welcome to come along, and the books are all on sale at the shop.

Finally I'd like to say thank you to Harriet and the staff at Caffe Latino on Wood Green High Road who have helped make the group such a success. They make great coffee and snacks too.

Scary Teddys.....Oh Yes

Imagine being stared at by a teddy-bear with buttons for eyes. Got it?

Now imagine that it's an evil teddy. Really, really evil......

What happens next?

That's what pupils at North Harringay School had to do for a competition to win Big Green Bookshop Vouchers. And here are the two winners.

I have with-held their names to protect you. These are two twisted kids.

Here's the first one...

The Mysterious buttons surrounded me. What are they doing to me? I tried to escape but there were creatures everywhere.

And buttons......

The Light shone up like a miracle had happened. The light dimmed again. The eyes were coming to hunt me....

I ducked down as the eyes tried to catch me. I dodged again and again.

“What do you want from me? I’m innocent. Please don’t hurt me.”

The stinky creatures came up from their graveyard and all the dead

people (such as Henry VIII)

The light shone again and time went back to how it was. Moving and moving. Ticking and tocking until a minute later.

Then time stopped again and everybody stood still, and everybody stared. Hard.

Who was everybody staring at? No. Eyes (or should I say the buttons?)

“Give us time back, before I make you!!” I shouted angrily. “Give us it now.”

And so he did, and life went back to peace again.

But not for long....

Ooooooooooh, Scary stuff! (This is actually a picture of me in the morning)

This is the second teddy based suspense story....

My head was spinning. I could see nothing but darkness. I felt so sick like I had just been on a whirling fast rollercoaster. Help! Where was I?

“Hello,” I whispered. “Hello,” I called, slightly louder.

“Hello.” The dark place echoed.

I could tell that I was inside, but I definitely saw stars. (It’s not a figment of my imagination) It must be an open roof. I (very cautiously) got up.

“Halt,” said a strange, low pitched voice. This was bare freaky, no actually, it was beyond freaky. I shrieked at the top of my voice. “Buttons!”

More of them. “Get him,” they said. Breaking the silence.

I started to run, but (even more strange) I didn’t go anywhere....

I couldn’t believe my eyes, not until I opened them. “Oh,” I said. I was so surprised that it was just a dream. That spoke out loud.

“Darling,” said Mum. I have sewed some more buttons on your school uniform. I hope you don’t mind.....”

This is the scariest teddy bear I could find.

More about my beard later

First Among Equals

Means best, really. Doesn’t it?

We issued our first loyalty cards a couple of weeks ago. And it was brilliant.....

But someone has to be first, don’t they. Really, really first. In front of everyone else. Seb Coe when we still liked him. Front of the queue. Numero Uno. A number one. Top of the heap. King of the hill. Etc, etc.

Anyway.

This lovely lady was our first ever customer back in March 2008.

And this lovely lady is our first Loyalty Card holder.

Wait a minute.... Isn’t that?... Yes. It’s the same person. And I’m wearing the same watch.

This is Aysha, and – apart from being our first ever customer – she has been a loyal supporter of the shop ever since. In the last couple of years she has had a number of other firsts. She got married to Jonny and changed her name (not to Jonny, I hasten to add) she let us use her kitchen to mull wine for our first Christmas party, and she had baby Lily (the last two are not connected).

The loyalty card is really taking off, and we have already signed up over two hundred people. We have decided to have some kind of loyalty card celebration/offer/event when we hit Five Hundred.

More about my watch, grey hair and beard later.

'And it's Shakespeare to take the final Penalty...'

Since the start of the World Cup a couple of weeks ago it’s been hard to walk down any street without seeing a flag or two flying. A bit like this one here:

And they haven’t just been England flags either, but that’s beside the point: Football is a stimulator of national pride. If England had lost today, pub and armchair commentators would have had much to say, but still every fan would have been there to watch and cheer when England played again. Of course, England have now made it to the next stage of this World Cup, so phew! and Hurrah! etc, but what else can we be proud of as a nation? Here I turn over to the inspiration for this entry, P.D. James who celebrates her 90^th Birthday this year:

In a recent speech, in her role as President of the Society of Authors, P.D. James said: “Literature is the art for which we have always been most famous. Produced the greatest paintings or the greatest music, but we have produced the greatest poet who ever lived – Shakespeare.”

I have no idea if P.D. James is a football fan and there’s no disrespect intended here but Shakespeare is only the start. Now let’s see who else can we send out on to the pitch to represent the best of English Literature. First choice is obvious Shakespeare (Team Captain,) E.M. Forster, (Goal) Charles Dickens (Left Wing or Striker) Jane Austen (I don’t know any more positions,) Samuel Johnson, T.S. Eliot, Charlotte Bronte, Jonathan Coe, Sarah Waters, Ted Hughes, and finally D.H. Lawrence.

These are my choices and now I turn it over to you our loyal readers – anyone you think I’ve missed out or should be relegated to the subs bench? Do let us know. Speaking of Loyalty, don’t forget that our new Loyalty Card launches this Saturday – do read Tim’s entry below for more information.

Loyal, Faithful, Devoted, True

So true, funny how it seems. Always in time, but never in line for dreams. Head over..... Ahem, sorry got distracted there.

We have been gone from the blogging world for a while. Simon & Mark have been tweeting or twittering, or hooting like deranged owls or something. But now we are back with a Loyalty Card. (loyalty cards are so much nicer than vengeance)

Since we opened the Big Green Bookshop, we've been overwhelmed by the support and help that's been offered by people who understood the importance of having a decent bookshop in Wood Green. Many of our customers we now consider friends and we'd like to say thanks for your continued support.

Which is why, on Saturday June 26th we're having a day of unmitigated fun and we're introducing The Big Green Bookshop Loyalty Card.

The Card works on a points system, so for every £5 you spend in the bookshop you'll get a point. These points will give you money off books you buy in the future. It's all quite simple, and the card is available to everyone.

We want to make it a special event, so on Saturday 26th we're having the big launch. The first 50 customers to pick up the Card will be entitled to double points on their first purchase and also they'll get at least one chocolate hobnob.

Cardholders will also be able to take advantage of special offers that we'll be offering throughout the year, so it's well worth picking one up.

So please come along on Saturday, it'll be lovely to see you.

Saturday the 26^th is also my birthday, and I am going to my cousins’ wedding. So unfortunately I won’t be there. But if anyone wants to bring me some cake I am sure that Simon and Mark will save it for my return. Oh yes.

Goody Gumdrops

We're doing something rather exciting.
There's a lovely toy and gift shop in Crouch End, called Goody Gumdrops.
This is what it looks like
From Saturday April 24th, there's going to be a mini Big Green Bookshop in it! Yes, we're going to have a dedicated Childrens book section in the shop and we're all pretty flippin' excited about it.
So much so that Debbie (for it is she who owns Goody Gumdrops) and us are going to have a rather massive party to celebrate. Here's a poster...
EMMA CHICHESTER CLARK!!! she's responsible for these wonderful books among others;

And it wouldn't be a Big Green Bookshop celebration without Maisy would it?
There'll be goody bags for the first fifty book purchasers and also we've got fairy cakes.
The fun starts at midday and lasts until the end of time.

Month Off

Hello, it's been a while hasn't it.
I decided to take a month off from the blog, as it was beginning to feel more like a chore than the fun fun fun it set out to be. With Ollie being born, this has taken up a lot of my time (in the nicest possibble way), and it seemed like the best time to take a break.
Anyway, i'm back now, so you'll just have to put up with this nonsense again.

So, what's going on in the shop? Well quite a lot actually.

• You know all about the Bloggers Book of the Month. Well that's going from strength to strength and the Bloggers are choosing some really interesting titles. One or two of the choices haven't sold, but all in all it's been a really popular display.
• We're going to hold a Literary Festival in July in Wood Green. We're at a VERY early stage of organising this, but the idea is to make this a real community based event. We've had a very positive response to this so far and we're going to be pulling the strands together next week. If anyone feels the urge to offer their services, follow that urge and get in touch.
• We've organised some beastly thing called The Hackney Horror Show. We've hired out a theatre in Stoke Newington (that's in Hackney) and we've persuaded 3 top kids horror writers to put on a show for what will hopefully be 250 excitable teenagers. The horror writers in question are William Hussey , Sam Enthoven and Steve Feasey. This will be held on Friday April 23rd at 7.00pm and it's going to be awesome. It'll be a free event and everyone is welcome. There'll be more details next week on the website, so look out for that.
• We had a lovely time selling books at the Middlesex University Literary Festival. Highlights for me were Laura Dockrill, Simon Price and the magnificent Ramsey Campbell. I wish more people knew about it because it's a really good festival in a lovely venue.

there's other stuff too, but i'll save that for next week.

We had a 10% off everything day for people who follow us on Facebook and people who check out the website and also we've given away a few books on twitter, so if you want to get the full Big Green Experience then..
Twitter =@biggreenbooks
Facebook = A Decent Bookshop in Wood Green (revisited)
Website = Biggreenbookshop.com

Not my best blogpost, but it takes a bit of time to warm up....stick with me.

Please Allow Me to Indulge myself

Hello,
may I introduce you to Ollie. He's now 2 days old and Katie and I are rather fond of him.

He was a bit of a whopper, weighing in at 9lbs 10oz, and Katie being somewhat petite, this was quite a surprise.

It was all a bit scary at one point, but it all turned out perfectly and we we're all home in time for tea on Tuesday.

He's now two days old and he can recite pi to ten decimal points and has been picked as a wildcard for Wimbledon this year.
Freya seems to like him too.

Please don't feel shy about sending free books or wine to the shop. Unlike Perks from the Railway children, we love it when people buy us things....

More later, but I thought you'd like to know.