Today a few bloggers will be meeting up in Oxford, which should be great fun – not as many as we’d originally hoped, but we shall no doubt have a good, bookish time nonetheless, and will report back in due course. I do hope these Meet-Ups can be semi-regular (maybe every six months) and that as many people as possible can come to future ones! Part of the day includes a little trip around various bookshops and sights in Oxford, so it will strongly test Project 24…
But for now let’s have a quick Weekend Miscellany!
1.) The link – is to a really interesting cardboard book project, mentioned on the blog of an equally interesting magazine. The magazine is called Oh Comely, and was set up by a friend of mine (amongst others) aiming to be a woman’s magazine without the gossip. That’s how she sold it to me, anyway! Click on the link above to see what happens when Jenna Forster had short stories made into individual recycled cardboard books (and I’ve ‘recycled’ the photo from them…)
2.) The blog post – is Hannah Stoneham’s guest post at The Dabbler, with a review of Barbara Comyns’ novel Our Spoons Came From Woolworths. That would be worth reading on its own merits, but it’s part of a series at The Dabbler which is a fantastic idea – 1p book reviews. That is, they have a series of reviews of books which are available for a penny at 
Amazon.co.uk. I love that idea, and might well borrow it from them in a future post…
3.) The book – I’m not sure how old the book is, but I only heard about it today (and a review copy is winging its way to me.) It’s no secret that I love Frank Baker’s novel Miss Hargreaves, and now Paul Newman has written a biography of Baker called Frank Baker: The Man Who Unleashed The Birds. Copies are available here, and hopefully I’ll be writing about it before too long.
Ooo, the book does look interesting. I didn't realize until today (reading Simon S's blog) that du Maurier had written The Birds. As for Miss Hargreaves, I recently recommended it to a young friend of mine who contacted me looking for a new idea for a comic competitive speech event (a duo, I think). I leant (should that be loaned?) him my copy of the book and will keep you posted if he uses it.
As for the book browsing get together, the mother in me would say, "Let someone else hold your wallet while you browse." Nothing helps self-control like a lack of funds readily available. ;)
Have a wonderful weekend!
Hello Simon … and what a gorgeous idea: a group of book bloggers getting together. I wish you many many gripping discussions (in the sunshine, perhaps, today).
And I apologise for dire lack of following your blog, but when I'm writing my head is so buried in what I'm doing that that's all I can do.
Back up for air, soon, for a short time before I begin the next novel … .
Just to say that I may have doubted your ability to stick to project 24 in the past, but after today you will get only praise from me. (Although I should add, as a caveat, that getting people to buy books you would have bought is possibly cheating …..) ;-)