For the Love of Books | Currently Reading January 2019

I read a lot about books and bookshops this month …

Notes from a Public Typewriter edited by Michael Gustafson and Oliver Uberti: This is a gorgeous wee book! I whipped through it in an evening and now have it on my list of gift ideas. When Michael Gustafson and his wife Hilary opened Literati Bookstore in Ann Arbor, Michigan, they put out a typewriter for anyone to use. They had no idea what to expect. Would people ask metaphysical questions? Write mean things? Pour their souls onto the page? Yes, no, and did they ever.  I particularly liked page 25: Life, like this typewriter, has no backspace. Type strongly and don’t look back.

The Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell: Mr. Bythell owns and runs a bookshop in Wigtown, Scotland’s self-proclaimed book town and having finished his book, I did something I’ve never done before … I sent him a postcard …

Anne of Modern Mrs Darcy visited Wigtown recently and you can read about her visit and thoughts here.

The Librarian by Salley Vickers: In 1958, Sylvia Blackwell, fresh from one of the new post-war Library Schools, takes up a job as children’s librarian in a run down library in the market town of East Mole. Her mission is to fire the enthusiasm of the children of East Mole for reading. But her love affair with the local married GP, and her befriending of his precious daughter, her neighbour’s son and her landlady’s neglected grandchild, ignite the prejudices of the town, threatening her job and the very existence of the library with dramatic consequences for them all. To be honest, I didn’t enjoy this very much. I found the story line rather lightweight and I kept waiting for the plot to move up a gear.