Yesterday’s stall bestsellers
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid
The Last Colony by Philippe Sands
Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout
The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
Booker Prize Shortlist (announced this week)
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Sheehan Karunatilaka
The Trees by Percival Everett
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
Treacle Walker by Alan Garner
Glory by NoViolet Bulawayo
Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout
The Booker Bundle: Buy all six shortlisted novels from Backstory for £65 (RRP £73.95)
Please forgive a short update this week. My mum is arriving any moment now and I really ought to run the hoover around the place. I’m not sure “I’d better just go and write my email” would go down well after the seven hour drive from Northumberland.
Not just my mum: excitingly also my mum’s partner, Xavier, who is very kindly going to paint the shop. Which means the shop is ready to be painted… Aziz and his crack team of contractors have been doing an amazing job. All the bookcases went in last week and (even more excitingly?) the bar units have arrived, too.
There are still a few weeks to go: there’s a fair bit more installation to be done, lots of cleaning and snagging then the small matter of putting 3,000 or so books onto shelves and tables. That to-do list isn’t done with me yet.
But, all being well, we should be ready to throw the doors open for a “soft launch” by the end of September. (I’ll save the launch party for a couple of weeks in, once we’ve figured out that things actually work! Invites to follow, for those of you who kindly chipped in to the crowdfunder.)
So, a question: what should we put in our first-ever window? And do you like bookshop windows that have a theme (autumn, say, or Halloween), a whole range of books or a really tight focus on one book that the shop wants to shout and shout about?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments - or just hit reply to this email.
I’ll write with a fuller update next week. In the meantime, I’ll be sending out copies of Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe, the book I’ve picked for our first-ever non-fiction book club meeting. Please sign up if you fancy joining us… I can’t wait to hear from Patrick himself on the night. It’s over Zoom, so it doesn’t matter where you’re based - and you get a month to read the book first.
Speak soon,
Tom
I think seasonal themes tend to be boring but topical themes might be nice.
Good luck with the final touches, so exciting...
Exciting times! I think it is best to have a mix of widow designs, sometimes a theme, sometimes a mix and sometimes a single work. Variety is the spice of life and the most important thing is to make an impact!