Augury – 7 February 2025

I have read over 5000 books this week. Hang on. I mean: I have read the spines of over 5000 books this week. Most of them, as a result, are in their right place in the new shop. Some of them may take longer to find theirs. I think that I have found mine.

We open tomorrow at 9.30 after a week of hard labour alongside family and friends. It is thanks to their support and a lot of pastry from The Mall Deli that we look forward to opening the freshly painted door and showing off Heron Books, Volume II. Yet some have had a cheeky look while we have been setting up and the early reviews are in. Below, a selection:
‘Gosh, it’s a lot bigger isn’t it? No wonder you look so tired.’
‘How lucky it’s the same colour as the old shop.’
‘Have you thought about rearranging it so that…’
‘I know you aren’t open but I need the next Elizabeth Strout.’
‘Can you tell me how to get to The Albion?’

In a week in which the chaos unfolding rivalled that of the Julius Zebra books, being able to see into the future may have helped. I’ve been reading Delphi by Clare Pollard in which the narrator is a classicist researching prophecy in ancient history. Her partner is called Jason. Does this make her Medea? But her son is Xander and Jason’s father is with a woman named Helen and there’s a Tiresias-esque character. So, an amalgam of classical references, intelligently woven and unpicked, like Penelope’s tapestry. And that’s before mentioning that the story is set during the covid pandemic with the constant delivery of packages from Hermes and (the) Amazon(s)…

Delphi, like its narrator, is clever and original and a little sardonic, just enough to amuse and unsettle. Each chapter is named for a different type of divination as the present suggests new reflections on the past while the reader becomes increasingly nervous about the future.

But A Liveable Future is Possible according to Noam Chomsky. In this collection of interviews he continues to exhibit optimism when discussing class, politics, the climate crisis and nuclear holocaust. I suggest interspersing interviews with snacks from The Mall Deli and nibbles of Julius Zebra in order to maintain one’s own positivity.   

Talking of optimism and the future, is it tempting fate to recommend a book called Precarious Lease a few hours before the opening of a newly rented shop? Perhaps it is worth the risk for Jacqueline Feldman’s history of squats in Paris and reporting of her own experiences living in Le Bloc (the bâtiment libre, occupé citoyennement) among artists and activists. It is fun to read of and romanticise the bohemian lifestyle… while in rather different and warmer surroundings.  

Breaking the mould also is Gina Kaminski in Craig Barr-Green and Francis Martin’s picture book. Little Red Riding Hood is all wrong. Gina knows it. She is off to Granny’s house to save the wolf. I love her.

Do tear yourself away from a book for long enough to join us tomorrow. We will have treats from East Village for as long as they last (the wolf and Grandma both enjoy a vegan muffin). We will have poetry and bubbles – come along from 4.45 for a 5pm start. We will have herons, books and merriment all day. Then, hopefully, we will count zebras and have some sleep.

May your weekend be reviewed favourably and may your books find the right place,
Lizzie