The conundrum of working alone on Sundays is that it is either very quiet or very busy. I have come prepared for a quiet day, bringing a book highly recommended to me by our Allen & Unwin representative. It is called 'The Book of Strange New Things' by Michel Faber and it is entirely absorbing. Currently the book is languishing on the shelf behind me unread, as the day, so far, has been too steady to pick it up. Perhaps later this afternoon an opportunity will arise to sneak paragraphs of it between customers.

{Peter}

Yellow is the new black

There's a book for everything

Sarah was having trouble with her scarf, fortunately we had just the right book 'How to tie a scarf' which she was able to consult to get the look just right.

And the winner is...

The New Zealand Post Book of the Year has been announced. It is 'Peter McLeavey The Life and Times of a New Zealand Art Dealer' by Jill Trevelyan.

 Thomas diligently putting the winners stickers on the winning book (and eventually getting them the right way up).

In Albania it's a wise proverb that has no meaning. In the bookshop it's a wise customer who asks us for the unusual.

Another addition today to our list of unusual requests:

"Do you have The Bumper Book of Albanian Proverbs?"

We didn't happen to have a copy of this obscure book on our shelves.  But we were able to offer "A dictionary of Anglo-American and Albanian Proverbs".

Bzzzz .... not quite the bees' knees!

Sometimes even the best independent bookshop in New Zealand can't deliver.  Here's an excerpt from a message to a disappointed customer:

".... We have contacted the distributors who confirm they have dispatched your book and it should have been with us today.  We then contacted the courier company, and it turns out they have had a bee infestation and are currently in the process of cleaning pollen off all of their courier parcels.  Consequently there is a day's delay in delivery."

Mad Magazine Monday

Today has been a bumper day of magazines.  It was after 4pm when Peter finally got to the last of the 37 bundles.  Our magazine guru, Cherie, has been very ill and while we've convinced her that she really must take the time she needs to recover, we are certainly missing her lovely presence and her in-depth knowledge of our 400 odd magazine titles.

Joyful Sunday

Marie Kondo, the wise author of a The Life Changing Magic of Tidying book wrote: "We should only keep things that make us feel joyful when we hold them'. We think Sarah's new diary, that coincidentally matches her new handbag, made her feel joyful today.

 2015 diaries and calendars (e.g.French Country Diary 2015  Hundertwasser 2015) are now arriving into the bookshop, and going out the door again quickly.  

Port O'Poets

We hope you all enjoyed National Poetry Day yesterday - here's some pics from our Port O'Poets event in the shop.

Best in show

A dog in a backpack in a bookshop!

Anticipation...

Displays are done, anticipation mounting...Who will win the title of New Zealand Book of the Year? There are many stars among this year's finalists for the New Zealand Post Book Awards. The stellar cast includes the Man Booker winner The Luminaries, Ron Sang's gorgeous book about Greer Twiss, local publisher CPP's Promoting Prosperity and Jill Trevelyan's terrific biography of Peter McLeavey.
Winners will be announced next Wednesday!

Folding Task #216

National Poetry Day is nearly here. Today our folding tasks included the delightful 

Poem in Your Pocket giveaway. 

You can pop by the shop to grab one for your pocket or download 

and F.Y.O (fold-your-own).

National Poetry Day is Friday 22nd August 

We will be having an event in the shop from 4pm.

Detective instinct

Exhibit A: The paper bag. It is a nice paper bag, but where did it come from?

The Book Grocer is a group of cut-price bookshops in Melbourne.

 

That's all very well, but the question remains: How did this bag come to be under the sofa in our house?

The investigation draws a blank.

 

Elizabeth Knox in conversation with Stella Chrysostomou

Award winning New Zealand author Elizabeth Knox ( Wake  The Vintners Luck Dreamhunter Dreamquake) in conversation with 'our Stella'  at Nelson's Elma Turner Library.

)

Perfect

What was Sarah doing climbing in an out of the window?
Perfecting the display for Haruki Murakami's amazing and beautiful new book Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage.

Richard Nunns - the book / Richard Nunns - the film / Richard Nunns - in person

Richard Nunns will need no introduction to most of you. Today saw the Nelson premiere of Voices of the Land: Ngā Reo o te Whenua, a film about Richard's journey to rescue endangered knowledge of traditional Maori instruments, and to resuscitate the sounds they made. It showed how the landscape and the natural world can be responded to in music (as well as giving a tantalising glimpse of Richard's collections of Beckett and Joyce). Richard spoke and responded to questions afterwards. The film will screen again on Monday at 3:30pm as part of the International Film Festival at the Suter theatre.

 

 

This week also saw the publication of Richard's long-awaited*, deeply informative and beautifully produced** book, Te Ara Puoro: A journey into the world of Maori music. Both magisterial and personal, this is one of the publishing highlights of the year.
Copies will be available again from our shopette at Monday's screening, and also from the shop and from our website.

* 17 years.

**Thanks to CPP (it's been a big week for our local publisher!).

Pressure Cooker - Time's up!

Our 2014 Poetry Competition has now closed. We received a very healthy and varied 34 entries. The judge (Bridget Auchmuty (last year's winner)) might be considering your poem right now!
The winner and runners up will be announced during our 'Port o' Poets' Poetry Day event at the shop on 22nd August at 4pm.

Dirty Politics

Arrived first thing this morning and flying out the door!