Last Saturday I popped into Blackwells in Oxford – a lovely bookshop with loads of character and wonderful staff. Books Are My Bag is an annual event that aims to raise the profile of local bookshops and show people just what treasure troves they really are. My friends Susie Day, Sally Nicholls and Julia Golding were there to do a panel event in the children’s department and to work on the tills:
Of course, I couldn’t exactly leave the shop without buying a book or two, could I? (I can’t do this ANYWAY in a bookshop.) So I searched out two brand-new books by author pals that I’ve been dying to read: HAS ANYONE SEEN JESSICA JENKINS? by Liz Kessler, and EDEN by Joanna Nadin. Can’t wait to read them, though my ‘to read’ pile (which contains CLARIEL by Garth Nix and the second LOCKWOOD & CO by Jonathan Stroud among other delights) is now very big!
Maybe next year I’ll get myself organised enough to be involved in working in the shop or doing something authory, but this year I was just pleased to be going along as a customer. And the best thing? Seeing how PACKED the shop was – customers EVERYWHERE. Wonderful, and just how a bookshop should be 🙂
Jo Cotterill 