Books Books Books

Perhaps you’ve strolled by the bookshop lately and noticed our new window display. Why paper cranes ? Why a thousand paper cranes ? (français suit) Origami (the Japanese art of folding paper) cranes are a symbol of hope and peace in Japan. The story starts when seventh grader Sodako gets diagnosed with leukemia, after the fall of Hiroshima’s atomic bomb. Despite this, she stays hopeful for her rehabilitaion. A visiting friend of hers shares an inspiring legend : if she can fold 1’000 paper cranes, she will get better soon. Sodako folded paper cranes throughout her illness, and continued until she peacefully passed away surronded by her family. In honour of September being Childhood Cancer Awareness month, we’re doing a sponsored Bike Tour of the Lake of Geneva. All money donated to the Ride4Zoe will go to Zoe4Life, an association fighting childhood cancer. You can read more about Ride4Zoe here: https://ride4zoe.com/accueil/, and donate to the ride here: https://zoe4life.givingpage.org/donation-fr. Pourquoi des grues en papier? Et pourquoi mille? Les grues d’origami (l’art japonais du pliage de papier) sont un symbol d’espoir et de paix au Japon. Sodako, une élève de septième, reçoit un diagnostic de leucémie après la chute de la bombe atomique d’Hiroshima. Néanmoins, elle…

Come and join us on Tuesday 25 June at 7pm (doors open at 6:30) for the launch of The Road – A Guide to Crossing the Nepal Himalayas by Bike; a guidebook which aims to bust the myth that Nepal is only an extreme travel destination. The book provides a step by step guide to crossing the 1650km Middle Himalayan range (1000-3000m) by gravel or mountain bike. As well as a guidebook, the book also serves as a travelogue, with stories, anecdotes and stunning photos of daily life in this little visited part of the Himalayan mountains. We will be joined by the author, Richard Williams, and mountain biking legend Christoph Sauser (who wrote the foreword to the book), who will be in conversation with Matthew about this epic adventure. Light refreshments will be provided. All book profits will go to supporting projects in Nepal through the Swiss-based Driftwood Association that Rich established: driftwoodassociation.org.

Hello booklovers! The bookshop will exceptionally be closed this Thursday, May 23rd. We will be open as usual on Friday morning.

Calling all poetry lovers! Kathleen Jamie will be at UNIL on Tuesday, May 7th for Conversations Towards Nature. BLDG Geopolis, Room 227, at 17:15. Admission is free. Kathleen Jamie, poet and essayist, is one of the leading voices in environmental writing in the UK today. Her books meditate deeply and movingly on the relation between human communities and the natural world, and is currently Makar (Poet Laureate of Scotland). Her latest volume of poetry, Cairn, is published by Sort of Books (2024). The bookshop will have a stand there, so stop by and say hello!

Julianne DiNenna will be in the bookshop on Thursday, April 25th to read from her recently published book of poetry, Girl in Tulips and other Non-Communicable Family Diseases. Doors will open at 18:30, with the reading to commence at 19:00. Please sign up here if you plan to attend. Girl in Tulips is part lyric, part incantation and prayer, part memoir of love and longing. We travel into the underworld of wards with intimacy, wonder, provocation, observing the intricacies of family relationships while tottering on the edge of hope, as DiNenna’s poems take us through the zodiac and seasons of childhood illness, calling us to bear witness to the unseen, the unheard. These poems tell the story of one girl’s struggle for life, the sacredness of childhood and innocence, with tenderness, astonishment, and transformation.

Happy birthday Books Books Books! The bookshop turned 15 recently and, like all teenagers, it’s is hard to deal with sometimes, and a sublime pleasure at others. To mark the occasion, we’ve had some spiffy new bags printed and would like to invite you to tea on Saturday, 2nd December anytime for 2pm until close at 6pm. As well as serving the most delicious cake known to humanity we are also organising a treasure hunt. You will have to answer a number of book-related questions either through the sheer power of your literature knowledge, or by finding the appropriate book in the shop. All entries will be put in a draw for book tokens and other prizes. And if the promise of tea, cake and book-swag is not enough to tempt you, then all of our books will be offered with a 15% discount throughout the day! Signing up isn’t obligatory, but it would be useful if only to make sure we have enough of the chocolatey stuff. You can do so here: https://doodle.com/meeting/participate/id/e92P3Vza If you can’t make it – maybe you’re flying to Fiji that day, or it’s too late to cancel your daughter’s wedding – then Rachel and…

Anybody who has read the DSM entry on Autism Spectrum Disorder will know it lists deficits in areas of communication and interaction. But what it is really like to view life from behind the autistic lens? This was the question psychologist and psychotherapist Marie-Laure Del Vecchio asked when she, and co-writer and photographer Joe James, starting collecting stories from people on the autistic spectrum. The result is The Autistic Experience: Silenced Voices Finally Heard. Sometimes sad, sometimes funny, often shocking, these stories from people across the globe explore all aspects of autistic life – from the earliest childhood memories to the challenges facing the autistic parent or grandparent. From school days to office life, from teenagers to those in their seventies, across all genders, from people who are homeless to NASA scientists to Olympic medallists, A graduate of UNIL, Marie-Laure set up her own practice in Lausanne two and a half years ago. In her professional life, she seeks to value human diversity, particularly by working with neurodivergent people. She chose to move away from a pathologising view of autism and to focus instead on the distinctive features of this neurotype, and approaches autism as a way of functioning, a way…

Rebelling against the idea that ‘If you’re not online, you don’t exist,’ Jonathan created a pocket-sized review which collects together poetry, essays, fiction, illustration and fine art for those “wishing to maintain contemplative life in the digital age.’” Editions are only available in print and exclusively in bookshops. All correspondence with the publisher is conducted by post rather, and their single webpage simply lists two mailing addresses, one in Freibury Germany, the other in Austin, Texas.  Matthew will be chatting to Jonathan on Tuesday, 23rd May at the bookshop on the role and relevance of Printed Books in the Digital Age. Doors open at 18.00 and we’ll start the conversation at around 19.00.  If you would like to join us – and I hope you will! – please sign up via Doodle – or send us a letter. As always, there will be drinks and snacks and friendly people to chat to (plus a bookshop to explore).  Jonathan Simons is the founding editor of offline publishing house Analog Sea and its literary journal, The Analog Sea Review. As a poet and essayist, he has written for publications including The London Magazine, PN Review, El País, subTerrain Magazine, and The Analog Sea Review. His work has been covered by,…

For this newsletter, I’m recommending books by two of my favourite authors, who I’ve most definitely mentioned and recommended before, however these particular book recommendations are a more hopeful, cheerful sort of book The Monk & Robot Duology by Becky Chambers I know I’ve recommended A Psalm for the Wild-Built before, but this duology (the second book is A Prayer for the Crown-Shy) is one of the best things I’ve read in a while. I’ve purchased at least three or four copies – and it inspired one of my giftees to purchase Becky Chambers body of work in its entirety (which I whole-heartedly support!). It may be listed as science fiction, but I think it’s essential reading for everyone. This series gives hope for the future, and is written in the new, more hopeful solarpunk genre. The first book is dedicated to ‘anybody who could use a break’, while the second is for ‘anybody who doesn’t know where they’re going’, both of which are sentiments that seem more and more prevalent these days. These are novellas, clocking in at 160 pages each, and are refreshingly philosophical books (in beautiful hardcover editions), and I can’t recommend them highly enough. This series…