Dickens O’Clock!

If you hadn’t already noticed, 2012 is the year of Charles Dickens. This February, the world will be celebrating 200 years of his books. Claire Tomalin hopped on the bandwagon early with her biography published late last year. And Christmas and the New Year have seen some excellent new adaptations for the telly. In honour of this, we here at Nomad have decided to choose two of his great tales for our bookclubs. If you’ve never read a Dickens, or you fancy just revisiting an old favourite, make this the year.

So, on February the 23rd, kids aged nine and up are invited to come along to our Young Readers Bookclub were we will be discussing Oliver Twist, one of Mr Dickens best-loved books. Pop in to the shop to pick up a Puffin Classics edition of the book for £7.99.

In March, the Classic Bookclub gang will be getting together on Monday the 19th. Up for discussion will be Hard Times. Grab a copy and join us for a glass of wine and some informal chat, from 7.30pm onwards.

Hope to see you there!

 

Tags: bookclubs, charles dickens, claire tomalin

A little bit of book magic

 

from some wonderful people in Toronto, Canada.

Happy New Books!

Greetings all,

It’s been a bit quiet on here recently. Unsurprisingly, Christmas took up ALL of our time as well as organising some fab events. As winners of the Telegraph Bookclub Tour Competition, December kicked off with the third event which we were proud to host, featuring Ross Raisin. Previously shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award in 2008 for God’s Own Country, Ross read us the first chapter of his new novel, Waterline. This was followed by an interesting discussion, led by the Telegraph’s Genevieve Fox, about writing in Glaswegian dialect, tackling that second novel and the literature of Northern England. Great stuff.

We didn’t wait long for our next event; the following morning saw garden-guru and cookery writer Sarah Raven in the shop, signing copies of her gorgeous new book Wild Flowers. Sadly, I never got the chance to ask her why all my plants keep dying, but I suspect that would have been a rather long conversation and may have gotten in the way of all the book-signing.

Hello 2012!

Wishing all our customers a very Happy New Year, 

from Nomad Books

Let them eat cake!

Our Mary Berry event last month went down a storm! Loads of our customers came in to get a copy of one of her books signed; we even sold out of the  Mary Berry Baking Bible.

The Nomad staff were very pleased to find that lots of people had brought cakes along too! Emma’s millionaire shortbread was my personal favourite, but there was some staunch competition from the rest, especially these delicious little fairy cakes covered in pink and green glitter.

For two and a half hours, the shop was packed with cake-lovers, waiting for the chance to ask Mary to sign their well-loved collections of her recipes or gifts for loved ones. There was much mmmmh-ing and nommm-ing as people’s baking triumphs were passed around.

It was such an honour to have Mary in the shop and she flattered us by doing a little bit of Christmas shopping in-store too.

After such a success, we’re very excited about our next events. As winners of the Telegraph Book Club Event Tour, we’ll be hosting an evening with Ross Raisin, author of God’s Own Country. He’ll be here with the Telegraph’s Book Club Chair, Genevieve Fox, talking about his newest novel Waterline on Friday the 9th of December

The very next day, Sarah Raven will be in store to discuss her gorgeous new book, Wild Flowers. Join us at 11am, Saturday the 10th of December to hear her share some of her gardening and cookery secrets!

 

See more photos here.

SARAH RAVEN at Nomad Books!

We’ve got events galore this month: not only are we hosting the next Telegraph Bookclub Tour Event with Ross Raisin on Friday the 9th of December but Sarah Raven will also be in-store the day after, on Saturday the 10th. She’ll be here signing books and talking about her lovely new one, Wild Flowers, a perfect book for nature lovers and gardeners packed with stunning photographs.

Drop us an email at info@nomadbooks.co.uk,  ring us on 020 7736 4000 or pop in to the shop  if you’d like to come to either event and we’ll sign you up.

ROSS RAISIN – A Telegraph Book Club Tour Event at Nomad Books!

We are delighted to announce that Nomad Books will be holding the next Telegraph Book Club Tour event! Thanks to all of your wonderful comments and support,

The event will be held on

Friday 9th December from 7-9pm

The Telegraph author of the month Ross Raisin will be attending in person to discuss his latest offering Waterline and guests will be invited to ask questions and get a copy of the book signed.

Also in attendance will be Genevieve Fox, the Telegraph Book Club Chair, who will be on hand to mingle and answer any questions, and of course no event would be complete without the refreshments and nibbles!

We hope you can attend what promises be a great evening and thank you for your continued support of Nomad Books.

If you are interested in attending this event please pop into Nomad Books or send Kim an email to express your interest. Our email address is  info@nomadbooks.co.uk.

Look forward to seeing you there!

Mary Berry at Nomad Books!

 

A lovely slice of Nomad fun!

 

On Saturday 12th of November, from 11am, the wonderful Mary Berry will be joining us for a chat and some yummy cakes! 

 

Get your bake on!

Do you make the best carrot cake? Is yours the ultimate banana bread? If you fancy yourself a master baker and are up for a challenge, why not bring your own Mary Berry-inspired delights along? Just send us an email at info@nomadbooks.co.uk, give us a ring on 020 7736 4000 or pop in store to let us know what you might bring and which Mary Berry recipe you’ll be using. 

 

Riders of the Welsh Sage

There really is something to be said for the careful selection of travel reading. Obviously a light and breezy read suits a hot and sandy beach. I once took Ulysses on a beach holiday; needless to say, it did not get read. But during a recent holiday in Wales, it occurred to me that the combination of the surrounding rugged, heathery landscape and my choice of book, Zane Grey’s Riders of the Purple Sage couldn’t have been more perfect. I was so caught up in the romance of ranchers, rustlers and riders that I even decided to have a go myself: on a horse that is. My steed however, was  not  as fast as Wrangler; swift as the wind as soon as he smells the sage. He was in fact so lazy that he fell up some stairs. And my riding skills were somewhat rusty: even at a canter, a horse goes – and I use the technical term – bloody fast. My only hope was to hold on for dear life. But no matter,  for as soon as I was in the saddle I was transported to the wilds of Utah. Even though my hour-long hack took me through an unquestionably British wooded glade, in my head I was ascending Deception Pass, scouting for Oldring’s rustlers. Now back in London, my only choice for added atmosphere is listening to some Ry Cooder whilst reading. Not as visceral perhaps, although I’m undecided about whether of not I miss the smell of horse.

A Postcard from the Edinburgh Festival

Despite being a student in Edinburgh for four whole years, my experience of the festival was pretty much non-existent. Until now! In previous years, the sheer volume of things to see and do simply put me off. I would look at the Fringe guide and my head would spin. ‘What should I go see?’ I cried. ‘And who will go with me?’ But now I am a grown up and I do grown up things like going to the cinema by myself as well as arty-farty talks and lectures. So I returned to Edinburgh, and it’s festival, resolute that I would SEE STUFF. And see stuff I did.

One of my first ports of call was the Aisle 16 show, Aisle 16 R Kool! Being somewhat of a fan, I was already convinced that this group of poets was  cool, but I very much enjoyed being further swayed. The wonderful John Osborne, Tim Clare and Luke Wright battled it out to win the audience vote for coolness, although Clare actually attempted to disprove his cool credentials with his brilliant tirade against The Hipster. Wright’s story about a Supermodel (and one very evil spot) was equally vehement, but he made up for it with his quite touching poem ‘Weekday Dad.’

My personal favourite however, was John Osborne, a man whom The Scotsman quite accurately referred to as a bit of  ’a soft-boiled sweet heart.’ I enjoyed his warm and amusing poems about failed surprise parties and lottery losers so much and was lucky enough to get a ticket to his sold out solo-show, John Peel’s Shed. Part memoir, part cultural history, Osborne traced the story of his relationship to radio which revolved around John Peel and a collection of his records that Osborne won in a competition. Alternately moving and funny, the show inevitably made me want to read his book Radio Head: Up and Down the Dial of British Radio as well as switch back to FM and explore the radio waves for myself.