Each new year begins for many of us book lovers with the same promise - I will read more books this year. Then real life, dull, irritating, real life gets in the way, and we put the books aside for housework and homework, and end up not quite keeping the promise.
Nonetheless, we try our very best, and hope each year that this will be the one in which we achieve the goal. We write up reading lists, we venture into new genres, we google book clubs and bookshops and bookmark those '100 books to read before you die' lists.
2020, we're sure, will be THE year. We'll reach our target on Good Reads and we'll devour every bestseller, every beloved classic, every obscure title we can find.
The Diary of a Bookseller, Shaun Blythell
Our shop team leader is reading this witty and interesting title, and enjoying the similarities between The Book Shop, Wigtown, and Bookbarn.
The Deathless Girls, Kiran Millwood Hargrave
The beautiful design of this book cover is enough to tempt anyone, let alone the mystical, magical story on its pages.
Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
After the recent movie, we're all a bit in love with Amy March (thanks, Florence Pugh), so we had to reread this classic.
Murder in Mesopotamia, Agatha Christie
One of our shop team is diving into this Poirot story, being a big lover of Agatha Christie.
Heredity, Jenny Davidson
Customer Care team member Lauren picked up an uncorrected proof of this title, purely on the ridiculousness of the character name Gideon Streetcar. She assures us that it is truly, completely terrible.
His Dark Materials, Phillip Pullman
Another excellent adaptation that hit our screens recently was the brilliant His Dark Materials TV show. Fantastic and true to the story, and again encouraged some of our team to pick up the books and dive back into the story.
Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
Another classic to add to the list. Miss Havisham would likely get a spot at our dream dinner party, just for entertainment's sake.
Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
Apparently a hard slog, but not hard enough to give up on - one of our booksellers has been working on this for a while.
The Others, James Herbert
Shop team member Mary-Jane insists that James Herbert is "the best horror writer ever", and that's why she's enjoying The Others this month.
That's it for our reads, please do share with us what you're enjoying (or not enjoying) this month, and what's on your 2020 reading list. Let's keep this resolution together.
