This is the blog of Sanquhar Books
An everyday tale of life in an unusual bookshop - a place where browsers are positively encouraged and pampered - a sanctuary - a source of all things positive - a place that passionately believes in the nurturing power of words ...
Monday, December 11, 2006
Happy Anniversary UNICEF
"Children are the world's most valuable resource and its best hope for the future"
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917-1963), US President
Monday, December 04, 2006
Bridging Frontiers
Monday, November 27, 2006
Sanquhar Christmas Fair
Local woodturner and poet Bob McVeigh, and artist Barbara Maddox
Cover Stories
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Recent Buys
Horse titles - training, riding and caring for horses
Vintage Agatha Christie and other crime novels
Vintage and Modern Poetry
Friday, November 24, 2006
Which book will be the bestselling stocking-filler for this Christmas?
They talk of grammar, eccentric measurements and the odd etiquette of yesteryear — and to the surprise of their authors, they have generated millions of pounds and fans by becoming the must-reads of Christmas.
The astonishing success of nostalgic books specialising in bizarre and offbeat subjects has spawned a pocket industry expected to dominate bookshops in coming weeks.
This week a book on Latin has emerged as the latest challenger to the crown claimed by Eats, Shoots and Leaves, Lynne Truss’s surprise literary hit about grammatic pedantry, and Ben Schott’s multi-million selling series of Miscellanies. Despite its niche appeal, Amo, Amas, Amat and All That is already moving towards the upper end of the booksales register by selling upwards of 1,000 copies a week.
Meanwhile other stocking fillers from pamphlets on how a woman should behave in wartime and how gents can push the boundaries of derring-do to the bumper annuals of long-gone comics such as Jackie are lining up as challengers.
Thursday, November 23, 2006
A new Russian national book prize that claims to offer the second largest cash award, after the Nobel, was presented for the first time on Wednesday night to Dmitry Bykov, a prolific journalist, novelist and essayist, for his biography, "Boris Pasternak." The prize — sponsored by the Russian government and backed by Russian oligarchs who made their fortunes in oil, commodities and banking — is known as Bolshaya Kniga, or Big Book, and came with 3 million rubles (£60,000)The Nobel Prize for Literature is worth a whopping £746,000
Bookstart Founder Honoured
Wendy Cooling has been awarded the Eleanor Farjeon award for a life spent promoting children's literature. She ran the Children's Book Foundation and National Chidren's Book Week, and founded Bookstart, a national programme which gives free books to every child in the UK. The Eleanor Farjeon award is given in recognition of an individual's contribution to the world of children's books; recent winners have included the children's laureate Jacqueline Wilson, writers Philip Pullman and Malorie Blackman, and Julia Eccleshare, the Guardian's children's books editor. Yesterday I mentioned Bookstart is to host Gordon Brown's annual Christmas party at 11 Downing Street - recognition of the importance of literature for children
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Book News
Pope Benedict has finished the first volume of a book on the life of Jesus Christ and has decided to publish what he has written so far because he doesn't know "how much time and strength" he has left.
The first book to be published by the 79-year-old Benedict since he became Pope in April 2005 will be distributed by Italian publisher Rizzoli, a unit of RCS Mediagroup, in cooperation with the Vatican's own publishing house.
Following the summer's children's book party extravaganza at Buckingham Palace, the Treasury is now getting in on the act. Gordon Brown has asked the book charity Booktrust to host his annual children's Christmas party at number 11 Downing Street
Friday, November 17, 2006
Win a £10 Book Token - How Does This Work?
Try the puzzle - if you can work out how it's done, click the comment link below and leave your answer. There's a £10 Book Token on offer for the first person to work it out
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Down Memory Lane with William Dalgleish
This week he published a collection of these articles in a book called Down Memory Lane. There are 130 articles by Bill, including his well loved fireside chats - this is a book to be enjoyed and would make a nice stocking filler for all readers of the Wee Paper near and far
Down Memory Lane, 189pp, £6.99
SIGNED COPIES AVAILABLE FROM SANQUHAR BOOKS
If you want to reserve a signed copy, email janette@sanquharbooks.com
Free Ink - Free Paper!
Monday, November 13, 2006
Back to blotters
The fountain pen, complete with leaky nibs, bursting cartridges and indelibly stained shirts, is making a compulsory comeback in a last-ditch attempt to save the nation's handwriting.
The spread of vowel-free text messages among the young and the rise of grammarless e-mails across all age ranges is leaving children, university students and even teachers unable to write legibly by hand.
But now a leading independent school in Edinburgh has ordered pupils aged nine and over to write only with fountain pens.
I remember my first fountain pen, it was a chunky black
bakelite Osmiroid pen and I was eight.
It came in a little cardboard box and had one nib and no ink. I think ink colour in those days was limited to blue or black - what did puzzle me was the choice of washable blue or permanent blue. They seemed the same to me - they certainly behaved the same! Filling my first pen was awkward - there was a skinny rubber tube you had to squeeze while you dipped the nib into the ink bottle. Cleaning the residue wasn't any easier ... the school toilet paper was useless, (it was the shiny scratchy stuff) - I used to blot my nib on a corner of a jotter and by the end of term there was hardly a free space to dry your nib!
At the age of 10 I graduated in penmanship and moved onto cartridge pens - do kids still use them? Do you remember your first pen?
Saturday, November 11, 2006
On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month we observe a 2 minute silence. It's a ritual I never forget. I give thanks to all service personnel, past and present, who have served our country in times of conflict and peace. Without their bravery, loyalty and sense of duty, this world would be a vastly different place. It's easy to take for granted the freedoms we have today. It's easy to live for today and brush aside yesterday. I will not forget I am part of a forces family.10 year old Athena Nicholas will never forget either. Her father, Flight Lieutenant Gareth Nicholas died in Afghanistan when his Nimrod plane, from RAF Kinloss, crashed near Kandahar earlier this year. Here is her poem to her dad
My dad
By Athena Nicholas
He was a great Father for every good Reason, I wish he was still alive. He would still be with me if it hadn't gone wrong,I wish he had survived.
I feel like it was all a dream.But it's not what it seems. That he's still with me in my heart.
And in my sad sad dreams.
I'm crying at this moment.But I can't stop now. I wish he was still with me.
And he's whispering in the clouds.
I will visit you in your dreams.And we shall roam free. Playing in the grassy fields.
Definitely You and Me.
Most Viewed Unknown Artist
Friday, November 10, 2006
Book Ghosts
BOOK NEWS ON THIS DAY
DH Lawrence's sexually explicit novel was published in Italy in 1928 and in Paris the following year. It has been banned in the UK - until now.
Last month, after a dramatic and much-publicised trial, Penguin won the right to publish the book in its entirety.
For those who can manage to find a copy, it is available in paperback for 3s 6d.
Saturday, November 04, 2006
Elizabeth Gill
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Sylvia Plath - Ennui
Read Ennui here
Sanquhar and Russian Mail Order Brides An Odd Link!
Trawling the web recently you may be surprised to see a link between local councillor Jim Dempster and Russian Mail Order Brides
It's obviously a mistake - the site in question has signed up for too many news feeds, but it did tickle my funny bone and fire my imagination!
Is this a new Sanquhar sideline?
Do they really arrive by mail order?
Visions of boxed Russian women taking up space in the Post Office had me in stitches ...
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Ragweed Chariots
ot one Nithsdale witch was seen in a ragweed chariot - just this red eyed cackler on my friends door! I was out in a small village last night in the company of a bumble bee, a witch, an arabian princess and a couple of mummies.All was quiet at Crawick Mill - n
Trick or treating is still strong in this part of Scotland - lots of houses decked out in spooky trimmings and offering dookin for apples and mouth watering tablet in exchange for a party piece
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Working Lunch
Monday, October 30, 2006
Monday Morning Kisses
Sunday, October 29, 2006
What have you done with your extra hour?
British Summer Time is officially over and we Brits gained an extra hour today when the clocks went back
What have you done with the extra hour? Me - I used it to catch up on what's happening in the world and visit the blogs I missed during the week ...
Saturday, October 28, 2006
Small World Big Love
Met a sweet family from Holland - from Haarlem - that took me back a few years - I went on a few hockey tour to the Terriers Club in Haarlem ... when I think of Haarlem I'm reminded of Louise and Sarah and the drunken hockey tours we went on - oh and the bruises too. I remember Louise trying to take my photo one night - she had her camera in her hand and was walking backwards to get a better shot - she fell over and her head cracked on the pavement - I ran up to her and as I bent over her, the camera flashed - she had no idea she landed on her head. That was the same night Sarah fell out of the minibus. The sliding door wasn't closed tight and when the bus went round a corner, the door slid open and Sarah was gone. We went back for her - she was fine - a bit stunned but fine!
Special mention to Joyce and Beverley
Isn't it cool when special people walk into your life? I love it. Today I met Joyce from East Peckham, Kent and her daughter in law Beverley. They are both special women. Joyce is 82, an artist and has a story inside her just bursting to get out. I think we'll stay in touch - hope so - she wants to get her story out and I'd like to help her achieve that ... just think of all the memories she could preserve - have a feeling it'll be a touching story ...
Sanquhar Business Forum Quiz
National Theatre of Scotland
Caught the last performance of Mancub on Wednesday evening - it was fast, funny, passionate, moving and tender. Three actors playing a string of different characters, switching characters fluidly with the most amazing skill. Mancub was aimed at over 12's and captured the moods and torment of a teenage boy dealing with adolescence - full of angst and with lashings of humour, it was a real treat - well done NTS!