RIP Prospero
I learned recently of the demise of Prospero’s Books, my local independent bookshop in Crouch End. It made me very sad – it was a great bookshop, with knowledgeable staff who were always very supportive of me and of other…
Roelof Bakker, ‘Still’, Hornsey Town Hall
Just wanted to give a belated mention to a really good photography exhibition in Crouch End recently. It was a series of photographs of Hornsey Town Hall, an Art Deco listed building that has been minimally used for a long…
Rumours of the death of bookshops
I got depressed about bookshops recently. A great little London literary magazine, Smoke, has just published its last issue. The editor/founder Matt Haynes explained: Of the hundred-odd shops that stocked our early issues, well over half have now closed. And…
Mention in Time Out
My book got a small spot in this week’s Time Out, in the “Battle of the Books” feature…
My book is a bestseller*
* in Crouch End. Hey, it may not be the New York Times bestseller list, but it made me proud when I walked past my local bookshop, Prospero’s Books, and saw my book at #4 on the Bestsellers Chart. I…
Sheer egoism
Yes, I went around bookshops looking for my book on the shelves. And I started taking photos of it... OK, so it's not very cool. It's not something I could picture Salman Rushdie or Iam McEwan doing. But I enjoyed…
RIP Pick More Daisies
My favourite cafe in Crouch End, the cafe where I wrote most of my novel On the Holloway Road, has just put up a notice saying it has fallen victim to the credit crunch and closed down. It was a…
Library cuts
I love libraries. Always have. I could spend all day in a library, working my way through the stock. I even love the weird library smell (what is that? It’s not the smell of books, because bookshops don’t smell like…