Heron Books

My uncle took a big risk on Christmas Day – as perilous as pouring a glass of wine for a sommelier or offering advice to a scaffolder – and presented a bookseller with a book. As it is, he nailed it. He gave me a book I wanted to read, had put on various lists and had not yet bought for myself: Look Closer by Robert Douglas-Fairhurst. This is a book about the joy of reading – really reading, with that kind of committed focus that you see particularly in children who tune out every noise and distraction, even the burning of Brussels sprouts or the calls that it really…

There is no newsletter this week. Or is this it? One recommendation. All bases covered. The Count of Monte Cristo. I’m reading it now. Why did you let me live this long without doing so? I blame the parents. If you enjoy a crime novel, I recommend The Count of Monte Cristo. If you enjoy historical fiction, I recommend The Count of Monte Cristo. If you enjoy romance, I recommend The Count of Monte Cristo. If you long for adventure, how about The Count of Monte Cristo? If you love Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, The Shawshank Redemption, The Iliad, The Leopard (book or film – a rare concession to both),…

At this time of year I have noticed that, rather than legs, people place chocolate, oranges and chocolate shaped like oranges in their stockings. Assuming that your legs are sufficiently warm, may I recommend some little books with which to fill your stockings. Or other people’s, assuming that they are OK with that. For those who start Christmas as boldly as they mean to go on, with pancakes, smoked salmon and platters of fried things, Last Night at the Lobster by Stewart O’Nan is a beautiful novel about the last day of a restaurant set to close on 20th December (so, yes, now is the perfect time to read it,…

We resisted for as long as possible. There remain plenty of days and nights of 2025 on which books will be read. Nevertheless, here they are: The Book of the Year (up to 11 December) Lists. Yes, there are many books we have read this year which aren’t on there and should be. Yes, we might give a different answer on a different day. Yes, I considered making my whole list Barbara Pym novels. No, I do not know why we limited ourselves to fifteen books each. There is nothing scientific about this process. We all have to pretend that it makes sense to put a picture book about a…

Recently I have been asked for recommendations for a book to read whilst on the treadmill (who is doing this?), a book for someone who doesn’t like to think (should my suggestion perpetuate or change this?) and something for someone who is ‘really into poison’ (there is a wealth of literature out there but perhaps we should address ‘really into’ first, Agatha Christie notwithstanding). To the person wanting a suggestion for their partner, when I asked what they were like, I meant ‘what are they interested in?’ but it was lovely to hear about their striking cheekbones. I hope that we rise to each occasion and give apt recommendations. But,…

I am writing this shortly before the Heron Books annual party. All being well I shall press send shortly after the Heron Books annual party. Chances that I am still dressed as a character from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland? High. Chances that all labels ordering, ‘Drink me’ were obeyed? I’d risk a monkey on it. Chances that the Queen of Hearts got carried away, shouted ‘Off with their heads’ at anyone not suitably dressed up, tried to start a game of croquet (with herons rather than flamingos), lost the caucus race and fell through the looking-glass into another Lansdown in which the party comprised a sensible and sober all night…

Last week letters, this week diaries. Will our curiosity ever be satisfied? I hope not. Reading Helen Garner’s diaries, How to End a Story is utterly addictive. ‘Oh, just one more,’ I think, abandoning my bookmark. ‘Another won’t hurt,’ I say to the clock warning that it’s time to open the shop. ‘Actually, it makes sense to finish this section,’ I reassure myself, ‘then I’ll stop; I can stop at any time.’ My attitude is very similar to that when faced with a box of chocolate truffles. Garner’s diaries span twenty years, beginning in 1978 when her daughter is nine, her first novel Monkey Grip has recently been published and…

This week’s newsletter is not intended as a paean to the postman on whom I definitely do not have a crush. That blush you observe as a bookseller sees him making his majestic way down Regent Street is a quite normal reaction to the excitement of receiving letters, publishers’ catalogues and advance copies of books. Having said that, I have been reading The Postal Paths by Alan Cleaver in which the author sets out to research and walk the paths created by rural postal workers when they used to deliver on foot to the most remote places. The book is sweet and kind and full of admirable characters who were…

Perhaps I ought to be careful recommending a book about a morose, cynical bookseller whose rage at customers conducting lengthy (and dull) phone conversations in his vicinity and asking for books of which he does not approve threatens to boil over into such a frenzy that he may actually throw The Power of Now at the next nose-picker interrupting his thoughts to ask for it. Any similarity between the character working at the fictional Mute Books, who spends his leisure time reading Barbara Pym in the bath, and real persons is purely coincidental. Though he has inspired me to add a Presbyterian, his bathing drink of choice, to my cocktail…

On Tuesday Jay Griffiths and Gareth Howell-Jones are coming to the shop to talk about how animals, hedgehogs included, heal us. Since I was once rescued from a difficult situation by a hedgehog, a hedgehog which had itself been saved by my mother and named Lord Emsworth by my father, I fully endorse this message. Jay Grifiths’ latest book, How Animals Heal Us, is lovely. So much more than a paean to relaxing with a purring cat (which does have pain-relieving powers, releasing oxytocin) or the benefits of caring for animals in combating loneliness, the author’s deep research looks at how animals can heal individuals, both physically and mentally, but…