The Joy in You by Cat Deeley | Book Reviews.

Posted on March 24, 2021 by Catherine Balavage

I really loved this book. It has beautiful illustrations which are matched with lovely, inspiring words to let children know that it is okay to be themselves, and also go after their dreams. A great book from TV presenter Cat Deeley. My children loved it. Inspiring and positively affirming.

Encourage kids to live out loud and be their truest selves with this picture book from media personality, national treasure and mum, Cat Deeley.

Dream big, as big as the night sky full of stars.
When you discover the things you love, you’ll find true joy.

Journey through a magical world, filled with a colourful cast of animals, where readers have endless opportunities to be themselves and find freedom in expression. They will delight in the silly humour and undeniable spirit of this rhythmic and beautifully illustrated picture book-and take to heart the message that they are enough exactly as they are!

Cat Deeley’s debut is an ideal bedtime book that you can read to your little one over and over again and is the perfect gift for birthdays and baby showers.

The Joy in You is available here.

A Wedding in the Country By Katie Fforde Review

Posted on March 12, 2021 by Catherine Balavage

Katie Fforde is a writer who needs no introduction, such is the weight of her talent and accomplishments. She is a national institution. Each one of her books is eagerly awaited and I cannot pretend I was not excited to receive this one. A Wedding in the Country is the perfect novel for these times. It is set in the 1960s which is a decade I have always loved (despite being born a few decades later). It is the perfect book to get lost in. The book has so much depth and I felt like I had been transported to another time. I loved the character of Lizzie and I could not wait to follow her journey. Get your hands on a copy of this dazzling book now. It is like a hot bath at the end of a tough day, perfect up-lifting escapism.

This book is the most autobiographical for Katie Fforde. The book follows Lizzie who has arrived in London to do a cooking course, which Katie herself did, and Lizzie meets two other girls who become her best friends and moves into a run-down house in Belgravia. Her mother is determined she should have a nice wedding in the country to a Suitable Man chosen by her. But Lizzie wants to have some fun first.

‘Thank goodness for Katie Fforde. The perfect author to bring comfort in difficult times. She really is the queen of uplifting, feel good romance.’ A.J. Pearce

Katie Fforde lives in the beautiful Cotswold countryside with her family, and is a true country girl at heart. Each of her books explores a different profession or background and her research has helped her bring these to life. She’s been a porter in an auction house, tried her hand at pottery, refurbished furniture, delved behind the scenes of a dating website, and she’s even been on a Ray Mears survival course. She particularly enjoys writing love stories. She believes falling in love is the best thing in the world, and she wants all her characters to experience it, and her readers to share their stories.

A Wedding in the Country is available here.

Bookshop.org Generates £1 Million for Independent Bookshops in Just Four Months

Posted on March 1, 2021 by Catherine Balavage

Chener Books (London)

200,000 customers flock to ethical ecommerce platform, as book buyers vote with their wallets to support the high street while shopping online

Independent booksellers report that Bookshop.org has helped them avoid putting staff on furlough, attract new customers, build an online presence, feel connected to their customer community and even open new stores

Bookshop, the book buying site that empowers socially conscious shoppers to financially support independent bookshops when shopping online, has generated over £1million in profit for indie booksellers in just over four months of trading, with over 200k customers embracing the new platform to date.

The East Gate Bookshop (Totnes);

At a time when the majority of the UK’s bookshops have been forced to close their physical stores due to lockdown restrictions, by choosing Bookshop.org book-buyers have generated over £1million in profit for the 410 independent bookshops using the platform.

As of 4 February 2021, 82 per cent of sales on Bookshop were generated by titles selling four or less copies each, and 54 per cent from titles selling a single copy, demonstrating how the platform helps draw attention to books beyond bestseller lists and celebrates diversity within the publishing ecosystem.

Booksellers using the platform have reported the many ways in which Bookshop.org has been a financial lifeline in a particularly challenging time, with the additional income allowing many to avoid furloughing staff, pay out Christmas bonuses, strengthen their online presence to better compete online, and even open new stores.

Miranda Peake from Chener Books, London, who likewise hasn’t previously had the resource for online bookselling, reported new customers discovering her shop online: “I had no expectations when we joined Bookshop.org in November, but it was very successful for us right from the word go. I haven’t had the time or resources to set up an online shop, so having a well-managed, efficient and lovely looking website to direct customers to has been absolutely brilliant. It’s been so gratifying to see so many of our regular customers using the website, as well as lots of new customers, friends and contacts from further afield who are not able to visit the bookshop but want to support us. We are enormously grateful to be part of this initiative.”

Nigel and Claire Jones were able to open The East Gate Bookshop in Totnes in December. The co-founders said: “The positive impact of customers being able to buy from our shop has been immense. And it’s not just the revenue that Bookshop.org creates – which of course is essential. Having an online presence confirms to our customers that we are a ‘proper’ professional retailer; it’s what’s expected, but we’d never have the skills, time or the deep pockets to operate online at all without Bookshop.org. Bookshop.org arrived in the nick of time for us, I honestly don’t think we could have managed financially and emotionally without it.”

Bookshop.org offers an ethical online marketplace that ensures independent bookshops receive 30 per cent of the cover price from each sale they generate on the platform. Moreover, 10 per cent from any sale not attributed to a specific bookshop goes into the shared profit pool. In addition, a number of publishers – including Canongate, Atlantic, Murdoch, Profile, Serpent’s Tail, Faber, Pushkin Press, Scribe, Nosy Crow, Simon & Schuster, Pan Macmillan, PRH, Hachette, Usborne and Europa Editions – have chosen to forego their 10 per cent affiliate commission and opted for it to go into the shared profit pool, to be split equally by independent bookshops using the site.

A recent survey conducted by the Booksellers Association found that 80 per cent of booksellers had a “good” or “very good” experience of using Bookshop.org to date.

Meryl Halls, MD at the Booksellers Association, commented: “The £1m milestone for Bookshop.org is a remarkable moment for indie bookselling, and in the fight against Amazon’s dominance in the book market over the last 10 months. For those booksellers using the platform, Bookshop.org has provided a lifeline, often, and an additional sales channel, to indie booksellers forced to close and otherwise struggling to provide an ecommerce offer to their loyal customers. The team at Bookshop.org deserve huge credit for the speed of the launch, the empathy and openness they’ve shown to booksellers and the supportive community they’ve created for their users. In our newly hybrid world, the need for online bookselling is not going to abate, and we are delighted that indies are now able to join the other high street booksellers, Waterstones, WHS, Foyles and Blackwells, in reaching book-buyers online – and we urge publishers and authors to link to specialist high street booksellers online, rather than lazily linking to Amazon, who certainly don’t need the money.”

With over 6,000 affiliates – spanning publishers, authors, book bloggers and beyond – using the site to support bookshops, the early success of Bookshop.org has been welcomed by many publishers:

Stephen Page, Chief Executive at Faber, said: “A clear truth that has been emphasised this past year is that independent booksellers play a key role for readers in their discovery of a wide range of interesting books. The arrival of Bookshop.org ensures that independents now have a great partner whose service allows them to offer both a brilliant online and physical service to their customers.”

Bookshop was founded with the belief that independent bookshops are vital to our culture. As consumers are increasingly realising that where they spend their money matters, Bookshop.org offers an entirely new approach to online shopping, giving customers the power to support the local high street when they buy books online.

Highlighting recommendations from real booksellers, authors, publishers and beyond, Bookshop.org takes a human approach to book curation that avoids relying on algorithms, reflecting the unique browsing experience of a physical bookshop. Authors who have supported the platform by curating reading lists have often increased sales of the books featured, including: Elena Ferrante, Malorie Blackman, Marian Keyes, Nikesh Shukla, Julia Quinn, Edmund de Waal, and more.

Marian Keyes Shares Her Ultimate Comfort Reads for Hard Times.

Posted on February 4, 2021 by Catherine Balavage

International best-selling novelist Marian Keyes (Watermelon, Rachel’s Holiday and The Break) has today revealed her Ultimate Comfort Reads for challenging times, with a curated list shared on Bookshop in support of indie bookshops, and to mark the paperback publication of her globally acclaimed Sunday Times No.1 novel, Grown Ups (Penguin Michael Joseph, £8.99).

Confessing she’s “personally … desperate for a holiday from reality and from my head”, Marian’s recommended reads will offer readers some much-needed solace and escapism into a world of bookish pleasure during lockdown, and beyond.

From Booker-nominated debut novels to fiercely funny memoirs, and from heart-warming stories turned into much-loved TV series to feminist retellings of traditional fairy tales, Marian’s curated list aims to inspire, engage and entertain, as an antidote to the difficult times we’re living in.

Marian’s list includes: Stella Gibbons’s Cold Comfort Farm, a classic comedy novel named one of BBC ‘100 Novels That Shaped Our World’; The Surface Breaks by Louise O’Neill, a feminist reimagining of The Little Mermaid; My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite, the sensational debut novel nominated for the Booker Prize in 2019; Love, Nina by Nina Stibbe, a laugh-out-lout memoir adapted into a popular BBC series by Nick Hornby; Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld, a Pride and Prejudice catapulted into our modern world; Dear Mrs Bird by AJ Pearce, the Sunday Times best-seller chosen as a Richard & Judy Book Club Pick; the WWII romance The Morning Gift by Eva Ibbotson, based on the author’s own experience as a refugee.

The list has been released by Bookshop.org – the alternative to Amazon for shoppers wanting to support independent bookshops when they shop online. Celebrated by critics, readers and booksellers, Marian is known for her untiring support of independent bookshops. She was one of the first authors to take part in “At Home with Four Indies”, the virtual series of events launched in lockdown by independent booksellers from Linghams (Heswall), Booka (Oswestery), Book-ish (Crickhowell) and Forum Books (Corbridge).

Marian Keyes, author of Grown Ups, said: “Life is very challenging at the moment and personally, I’m desperate for a holiday from reality and from my head. Reading has always been a huge pleasure for me but because so much fear is circulating, there are lots of subjects I’m currently not able for. I’ve put together a collection of titles that I’ve found engaging, uplifting, distracting and entertaining. I hope that some of them give you enjoyment and respite. I am thrilled to share this list on a platform that supports the vital work of independent bookshops.”

One of the most successful novelists of all time, Keyes’ books have sold over 30 million copies in 33 languages, and her writing has received several accolades, including the British Book Awards, the Irish Book Awards and the inaugural Melissa Nathan Prize for Comedy Romance. In the last year, Marian has been chair of judges for the Comedy Women in Print prize, and the second series of her instant hit, Between Ourselves, will air on BBC Radio 4 on 18 February 2021.

Marian joins a growing number of authors to share a curated reading list on Bookshop.org, such as: Elena Ferrante, Malorie Blackman, Nikesh Shukla, Emma Gannon and more. Author reading lists on Bookshop.org have proven to have a tangible impact on sales figures for the books they feature, shining a light on many lesser known works beyond bestseller lists.

Marian Keyes’ Ultimate Comfort Reads:

The Secret Countess by Eva Ibbotson (Pan MacMillan)
Oh My God, What A Complete Aisling by Emer McLysaght and Sarah Breen (PRH)

I Never Said I Loved You by Rhik Samadder (Hachette)
Gravity is the Thing by Jacqueline Moriarty (Atlantic)
Standard Deviation by Katherine Heiny (Harper Collins)
Love, Nina by Nina Stibbe (PRH)
Professor Chandra Follows His Bliss by Ranjeev Balasubramanyam (PRH)
Writers and Lovers by Lily King (Pan MacMillan)
The Surface Breaks by Louise O’Neill (Scholastic)
The Loveliest Chocolate Shop in Paris by Jenny Colgan (Little, Brown)
Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons (PRH)
Filter This by Sophie White (Hachette)
The Diary of a Provincial Lady by E.M. Delafield (PRH)
My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite (Atlantic)
The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abi Waxman (Hachette)
If I Never Met You by Mhairi McFarlane (Harper Collins)
Odd One Out by Lissa Evans (Simon & Schuster)
Such A Fun Age by Kiley Reid (Bloomsbury)
The Switch by Beth O’Leary (Hachette)
The Cazalet Chronicles by Elizabeth Jane Howard (Pan MacMillan)
Dear Mrs Bird by AJ Pearce (Pan MacMillan)
Brother of The More Famous Jack by Barbara Trapido (Bloomsbury)
The Morning Gift by Eva Ibbotson (PanMacMillan)
Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld (Harper Collins)

What would you add?

www.Bookshop.org

Books For Christmas.

Posted on December 15, 2020 by Catherine Balavage

Endless Skies from Jane Cable is such a brilliant novel. I have read every single one of Jane’s books and she never disappoints.

The perfect Christmas novel from veteran saga writer Annie Clarke. Annie is in the top league of historical fiction writers.

A brilliant and humorous book.

A great puzzle book for medical professionals and the rest of us. Will spark both fun and debate.

A brilliant book that I will be using to improve my drawing. Really good and it works.

This is a great gift for cat people. Lots of fun.

Perfect for the literary person in your life. Which would be me, except I already have a copy. Beautifully illustrated and full of wanderlust.

Perfect for anyone expecting a baby. This follows baby for the first three years of life. It is full of prompts and ideas that you would never think of otherwise. A truly wonderful gift.
This book is a great idea. Perfect for geeks (like me) and nature lovers. Humorous and fun. There is a fair amount of wit in this superb book. Perfect for budding artists. This book has fantastic illustrations and gives excellent step-by-step instruction on how to draw (almost) everything. Highly recommended.

I am obsessed with the Flexible Family Cookbook from Jo Pratt. It has so many delicious recipes (75 to be exact), along with 200 variations for allergies, intolerances and dietary choices. My copy already has a few dog-eared pages. Just brilliant.

Books are available from waterstones.com, amazon.co.uk, https://dauntbooks.co.uk and independent book stores.

Free Virtual ‘weaning workshop’ how to stop your baby becoming a fussy eater

Posted on December 1, 2020 by Catherine Balavage

Charlotte Stirling-Reed (the nutritionist on Joe Wicks’ weaning book), a leading expert in Infant and toddler nutrition will be running a free webinar on ‘Getting Started with Solids/Veg Led Weaning’ on December 8th at 8pm.

Stokke are going virtual with the iconic Tripp Trapp® for an exclusive talk on how to get started with solids and vegetable led weaning, with STOKKE TRIPP TRAPP TOUR @ HOME. The session will cover the basics when it comes to introducing your little one to solid food and will start with some of the science around feeding infants – what does the research say about the very first foods – and then go on to talk about introducing your baby to allergens (something lots of parents are anxious about), as well as how to move on to “family foods” and more composite meals. When: Stokke Zoom 8th December at 8pm.

Few things are more important than nutrition when it comes to raising your children so I will definitely be tuning in.

Tripp Trapp® chair Baby Set Soft Mint, Beech Wood, with Classic Cushion Honeycomb Happy

The iconic Tripp Trapp® highchair was launched in 1972 and has since sold more than 12 million worldwide. It is Mumsnet approved and super stylish.

Five Books That Changed Me By Yousra Imran, author of Hijab and Red Lipstick

Posted on November 18, 2020 by Jane Cable

Roxy van der Post for Myosotis Film & Photography

Headscarves and Hymens by Mona El Tahawy

“The most subversive thing a woman can do is talk about her life as if it really matters.” This was the line in Headscarves and Hymens that gave me the affirmation I needed to use my passion for writing to talk about the subjects that mattered most to me and not to feel a sense of “shame” for writing openly about life experiences. This was the first time I read a book which spoke so closely to my own thoughts as a Muslim Arab feminist, and I was nodding along every page of the way. Headscarves and Hymens is feminist journalist Mona El Tahawy’s first non-fiction book, and an in-depth look at the multi-faceted injustices women face across the Middle East.

It’s Not About the Burqa by Mariam Khan

It’s Not About the Burqa is an anthology of essays written by a long list of female British Muslim writers including BBC journalist Saima Mir, Jeremy Vine on 5 co-presenter Salma-El Wardany and award-winning author Sufiya Ahmed. They write unabashedly about their own experiences and on a range of topics people think Muslim women aren’t interested in – sexuality, feminism, politics, the law and queerness to name a few. This is a life-changing read because it proves that Muslim women are not a monolithic and there is no “one type” of Muslim woman. It also proves that we are extremely successful and have made incredible contributions in British society. Everyone needs to read this book.

Two Women in One by Nawaal El Saadawi

As well as being a famous Egyptian feminist, Nawaal El Saadawi writes novels and her husband has translated most of them into English. She writes about everyday Egyptian women, including working class women and women in rural areas. My favourite novel of hers is Two Women in One, probably because I can resonate with the protagonist Bahiah. Bahiah is a medical student in Cairo who is trying her hardest to reconcile the two women she is: the quiet, studious, obedient Bahiah at home, and the shameless, strong Bahiah who wears trousers, stands with one leg up on her stool in the lab and experiences intimacy outside of wedlock. The book is set in the early ‘80s, yet little has changed for women in Egypt today.

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

I read Little Women for the first time when Mum bought it for me as a gift when I was 11 years old, and until this day the part where Beth dies makes me blubber like a baby. Reading it again as an adult I can see that Alcott was a feminist – it wasn’t something that I digested as a young girl. If I was to do a postgraduate degree in feminist literature I would probably choose Little Women for my thesis, as there are just so many references to gender injustice. Marmi is a feminist and so is Jo March. I had thought Jo March was based on Alcott but I recently read Alcott had based Jo’s youngest sister Amy on herself.

The Mill on the Floss by George Elliot

The Mill on the Floss was the 19^th century novel I studied for my English Literature A-Level. It was a complete eye-opener, particularly as a teenager living in the Arab Gulf. I remember underlining so many passages in the book and telling my teacher that Victorian society was just like Qatari society; it was mad that the customs were so similar despite the 150-year gap! I could also see myself in the protagonist Maggie – the internal struggle between wanting to be pious and modest, but also be passionate and love and be loved. As an adult I now know I can be both – I don’t have to choose one or the other.

About the Author

Yousra S Imran is an English-Egyptian hybrid who works and lives in West Yorkshire. She has been writing from the moment she learned how to hold a pen and works full time in marketing and events in the education sector.

Yousra grew up between the UK and the Middle East and has a BA Hons in International Relations. She is passionate about women’s rights and gender justice. Yousra lives with her husband in Bradford, Yorkshire.

5 Books That Changed Me by Michael Rowan

Posted on November 11, 2020 by Catherine Balavage

1 Coral Island by R.M.Ballantyne

The first ‘proper’ book that I read as child. I could read the standard text that we were taught at school, but there was little plot, no discernible theme or character development. Coral Island was loaded with all three, this little book captivated me, as this was the first time that I could see the pictures they conjured up of the three shipwrecked boys having adventures in a lagoon. I would pretend that I was one of the two older characters every time I swam in any municipal swimming pool and even today at 64, I can’t resist imagining myself back there, as I duck beneath the surface in our local Lido though these days it is more Moby Dick than Coral Island.

2) Merchant of Venice – Willian Shakespeare

As a 10 year old at St Wilfrid’s, I looked forward to our weekly reading sessions. One week there was a change of format, as our teacher explained that he was going to read us a story from a few hundred years ago. He didn’t read it as a play, but as a story, in parts over several weeks. He told us of a man who was in love (Yuck) and who needed money to impress the girl’s father. There was a riddle which I recall was a cliff hanger and then there was the cutting of a pound of flesh, ‘nearest to the heart’ which enthralled this 10 year old bloodthirsty boy. It was the beginning of a love affair with Shakespeare that continues to this day.

3) Lady Chatterley’s Lover- D H Lawrence

As a pupil at an all boy’s grammar school around 1971, I had been identified as a keen reader. Whilst most of my fellow pupils trudged through one book a term, I returned each week for a new book. This interest delighted a series of English teachers, until in the fourth year, Mr W gave me a special ticket to use the sixth form library. The keys to the sanctum of knowledge. As I perused the shelf containing the works of D H Lawrence, I discovered Lady Chatterley’s Lover, which was soon hidden beneath my blazer as I marched back to my class, about to become the hero of the fourth year. The look on Mr W’s face as he confiscated the book, my special library card and delivered his ‘you have let me down and yourself down speech’ will never leave me, but I did go on to read all of the works of D H Lawrence, albeit after I had left that particular school.

4) The Return of the Native – Thomas Hardy

In the summer of 1975, I found myself on an 18 30 holiday, now famed for high jinks and alcohol but then a travel company in its second or third year and virtually unknown. As a keen reader I ensured that along with my sun- tan lotion and coolest threads, I packed an ample supply of books. Evenings were spent in Spanish discotheques, whilst the afternoons were for laying on the beach recovering from a hangover. I however, was to be found reading about Eustacia Vye in The Return of the Native. How I was mocked by the other lads on the holiday, that is until a young and very pretty English Teacher lent over and asked me what I was reading. It was the beginning of my love of Thomas Hardy, and the start of my first holiday romance.

5 Contented Dementia – Oliver James.

I was in my 50s when both of my parents developed dementia, a cruel illness of which, at the time there was limited information written.

The demands of the illness kept growing, but there was little advice and I clearly recall thinking, if only there was the equivalent to a car manual, a book that explained in simple easy to understand language, what to do. A chance review brought this book to my attention, crammed with excellent advice, with its three golden rules, never ask direct questions, never contradict, and learn from the person with dementia. This book became my bible throughout my parents’ final years, and I went on to become an advocate for Contented Dementia. No one, no matter who or where, could have a conversation that used the word dementia, without me elbowing my way in and recommending the book. Over the years 100s of people have looked on me as some eccentric but quite a few of those have thanked me afterwards.

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