Heron Books

On this day last year, I found myself ringing a phone number unsure of who would pick up. Perhaps, I thought, a man running such a good scam that he did not even have to cold call people; they rang him. Perhaps someone whose phone number had been left on a website some years ago and who would be annoyed at an unexpected interruption from an overenthusiastic booklover. Or perhaps it was someone with the literal key to something I had long wanted.

The Booker’s Dozen was announced this week and my tip for the winner is North Woods by Daniel Mason. Unfortunately, the judges don’t feel the same way; it’s not on the longlist. Fortunately, you can preorder it from us.

The non-fiction book group this month is reading Orwell’s Roses by Rebecca Solnit. It is a book I find myself carrying around with me: a talisman. I want to read it in every spare moment. But I do not want to finish it. I place myself wholly in Rebecca Solnit’s hands, with little idea of how every branch of the roses connects to a root yet firmly in the belief that it does.

Between Wimbledon, the Tour de France and the Ashes, finding time to read at the moment may prove difficult. Fortunately I always have a book ready for any break in play; I can at least get in a few pages while Djokovic dries some grass with his towel. As the roof creaks ominously over Centre Court, there is time for a Muriel Spark short story which one can then muse on over the course of a match. Unless, one is shouting at the television. Sorry, Andy.

We are coming to the end of Independent Bookshop Week. I haven’t completed the cryptic crossword yet. Several customers find themselves in the same position. None of us are talking to the crossword setter. Awkward when one is married to him. Especially on our wedding anniversary. Nonetheless it has been a fun week, celebrating independent bookshops, independent publishing houses and independent-supporting customers.

Happy Independent Bookshop Week! Welcome to the best week of the year.* It’s a week when you are strongly encouraged to visit your local independent bookshop. Or to travel around the country visiting ones you have not yet discovered. Or both. It’s a week when you might want to encourage others to support independent small businesses.

On the recommendation of a customer with excellent taste, I have been reading Killing Thatcher by Rory Carroll. It is extraordinary. Carroll examines the Brighton bombing in 1984 within the context of the Troubles, the assassination of Lord Mountbatten, the hunger strikes of republican prisoners, and the events that shaped the bomber, Patrick Magee. It is thrilling and fast-paced but without descending into the kind of voyeuristic delight of true crime, without losing sight of the human costs.

It periodically occurs to me that much of my time is spent shopping. I peruse publisher’s newsletters, comb through reviews, talk to all the bookish people I meet, read advanced proofs – all with an eye to whether I should buy a title for the shop. There are no impulse purchases here. OK, except for that copy of Clarissa, without which I believed the shop would be incomplete.

I have been re-reading Carson McCullers’ The Heart is a Lonely Hunter in preparation for this month’s fiction book group. The bereaved, the poor, the alcoholic and the oppressed come to John Singer to tell him their problems. And because John is deaf, they imagine that he offers understanding. His expression – wise, inscrutable – offers a safety they cannot find elsewhere; it allows them to experience a few moments where they are not alone. With little thought for his loneliness.

The banks may be taking various holidays over the course of May but we will be open and ready to help fill your days off with reading material. Whether you have taken the great decision not to mow your lawn and will instead use the time to read Why Women Grow or are spending time with your family and will inevitably have a healthy argument about capitalism or you’re coming to the end of a true crime podcast and need a book and a pet snail to keep you company, we have you covered.