Our Books
We stock a range of over 6,500 titles, with our largest sections devoted to children’s books, fiction, cookery and biography. Rosamund de la Hey was formerly children’s marketing director at Bloomsbury Publishing so there is an understandable bias towards this area of publishing. She likes nothing better than being asked for advice on what to buy for children, or better still discussing this with the children themselves. Not to be outdone, Bill de la Hey is always on the lookout for new and exciting cookbooks, although it will take some doing to beat his favourite, the Women’s Institute SOUPS, the source for many of the in-house soups of the day.
If we don’t have the book you are looking for in-store, we would be happy to order it for you. If our wholesaler has it in stock they supply on a next day delivery service to collect in-store (which works out quicker than amazon). Our website will soon be launching a shopping basket facility, but in the meantime, do just email us on info@mainstreetbooks.co.uk if you’d like to order a book.
BOOK GROUP:
Next meeting: Wednesday 1st September, 10-11am
To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee and The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
We are launching an Evening Book Group on Tuesday 14th September - reading Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada, all welcome
The group found our most recent read, Poking Seaweed with a Stick and Running Away from the Smell by Alison Whitelock interesting, if not entirely enjoyable...
Anne: I loved the title, read the first chapter and was hooked. The humour is typical of the west coast of Scotland, I found it fascinating. I can’t say I enjoyed it, but I thought it was an amazing depiction of a violent father.
A full transcript of our discussion will be published in The Southern Reporter.
INTERESTED IN JOINING OUR BOOK GROUP?
If you are interested in joining the group please email info@mainstreetbooks.co.uk to join our mailing list. Meetings for the daytime group are normally monthly on a Tuesday or Wednesday at 10am, but information will be emailed in advance. We will are launching an evening group in September.
Summer Reading Suggestions:
NON-FICTION:
• The Music Room by William Finnes (£8.99pbk) - This memoir begins by assiduously chronicling material wealth in cavernous country rooms. But it grows movingly towards an understated understanding of inner wealth, in the form of abundant love and patience.
• Murder in Samarkand – A British Ambassador’s Controversial Defiance of Tyranny in the War on Terror by Craig Murray (£7.99pbk) – A true story that reads like a thriller – funny, shocking and compulsively readable.
• The Boy with the Top Knot – A Memoir of Love, Secrets and Lies in Wolverhampton by Sathnam Sanghera (£9.99pbk) - 'I absolutely loved it. Heartbreaking and wonderful. He writes beautifully' Maggie O'Farrell
• Poking seaweed with a stick and running away from the Smell by Alison Whitelock (£8.99 pbk) – A bittersweet account of growing up in Scotland in the strange and brutal kingdom we call home.
FICTION:
• This Thing of Darkness by Harry Thompson (£8.99pbk) – This is not just a novel of ideas, but also one of action in which the narrative is driven forward by the extraordinary events experienced by the crew of the HMS Beagle.
• The Ghost by Robert Harris (£7.99pbk) – An intelligent thriller, perfect holiday reading.
• The Help by Katherine Stockett (£7.99pbk) - The lot of a black maid in 1960s Jackson, Mississippi, told through the eyes of three women. Touching and heartbreaking, with much acid observation of white society’s social mores of the time.
• The Guernsey Literary Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Schaffer and Annie Barrows (£7.88pbk) Told in epistolary form and set post-war Guernsey this book is comparable to 84 Charing Cross Road but also has a charm all of its own.
CHILDREN'S:
Teen:
• The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness (£6.99pbk) - An unflinching novel about the impossible choices of growing up, by an award-winning writer.
• I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith (£6.99pbk) – a delicious classic – any reader of this will go onto love An Enchanted April!
8-12yrs:
• The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge (£4.99pbk) – another classic favourite of the group
• Running Wild by Michael Morpurgo (£6.99pbk) – An epic and heart-rending jungle adventure story – also available in audio (highly recommended).
• How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell (£5.99pbk) – read the books before you see the film, better still, listen to the hilarious audio version, read by David Tennant.
• The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (£6.99pbk) – winner of the prestigious Carnegie Medal, this is a dark fairytale of a story. Imagine The Jungle Book where the animals are replaced by ghosts and ghouls – it’s funny, touching and exciting.
5-7yrs:
• Akimbo and the Lions by Alexander McCall Smith (£4.99pbk) – he started off as a children’s writer and this series of Akimbo’s adventures is great for new readers to read together, parents will enjoy it as well
• Madam Pamplemouse and her Incredible Edibles by Rupert Kingfisher (£4.99pbk) – Amalie meets Roald Dahl, an enchanting story of cookery, friendship and honesty.
0-5yrs
• Harry and Hooper by Margaret Wild, illustrated by Freya Blackwood (£5.99pbk) – Winner of this year’s Kate Greenaway Medal for illustration. It is the story of coming to terms with the loss of a beloved pet. A sensitive issue for young children is beautifully handled, with Harry's emotions and memories of Hopper expressed visually to great effect.
• Monkey and Me by Emily Gravett (board book £5.99) A mischievous little girl and her toy monkey swing irresistibly through the pages of this playful book.
Other recent books we have read....
An Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim - the group loved this to a person, it was considered a tonic to everyday life and one of those books everyone would like to re-read when in need.
Stone's Fall by Iain Pears - After much dicussion this was voted our winner for the Walter Scott Historical Fiction Prize. As Pam said, "It is a darn good story - what more can you ask for in a novel? To characterize it as "historical fiction" is totally irrelevant! It is more detective story set in the past, with so many twists and turns it keeps you interested even if you do not like the discussion of capitalism."
Lustrum by Robert Harris - This was generally popular as a good read. Thomas felt it suffered from the fact that Harris is sticking to true events, while Vivian though it was fantastic as popular fiction and plans to pass it to her son (once her husband has had a chance to read it).
Hodd by Adam Thorpe - The general feeling seemed to be that the plot was obstructed by the many footnotes. Keith enjoyed the reading of it and Rhona found she needed to read on, but overall, it seemed that the style got in the way of the story.
The Quickening Maze by Adam Foulds - Interestingly this also seemed to suffer from an untidy plot - too many characters none of which seemed to have enough 'air-time' to capture our interest. The writing was very elegant and poetic - this was popular with some, but others felt he should stick to poetry proper as the style somehow held up the story.
Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant - This made for a very interesting group discussion, with most loving it, but some very much the opposite! Here's Greta with her reaction, "I romped through it, it’s a great story, but there is also a huge amount about life in a convent at that period, on history and the position of women in that period, within this confined structure they had some power, a whiff of the political."
The Glass Room by Simon Mawer- This is a big favourite in the group, perhaps our front runner along with Wolf Hall. Here's Karin, "It’s a fascinating story, particularly the early days, before the exile. I loved the way the house took on a personality of its own."
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel - almost everybody enjoyed this very much, although there was some discussion about her stylistic quirk of using 'he' rather than the character's name. According to the author, this was intended to keep the reader in the moment, and try to force them to forget pre-knowledge of the history of the period. After all, at this stage Henry didn't know he was going to marry six times. Our full discussion appeared in The Southern Reporter on 20th May.
Lady's Maid by Margaret Forster - Everyone enjoyed this, and there was much discussion about the lot of a maid in service, leading us to the position of women in society today. The use of 'real' people within the story, and thoughts on the difference between fact and fiction led us to our choice for the next month, Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel.
A Scattering by Christopher Reid – Many of the group are not regular readers of poetry, hence one of the reasons for choosing this collection. There was a universally enthusiastic response to this very heartfelt work - he manages to avoid any hint of self pity or depression, if anything, it reads as a long love letter.
BOOK LISTS:
Whether a teacher or a parent, if you would like advice on book lists for children, please feel free to book a time with Rosamund, she would be delighted to help.