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Day 31: a ghost story for All Hallows' Eve

Bright and early today, haha! That's because I am sharing a story that has already been written. If you are still reading, thank you! If you are new to the blog, hello! This is the last day of Blogtober, and I will try to write blog posts regularly, but unlikely to be every day...they call it a challenge, and it is quite hard - to remember to do it, for starters!

Anyway, here is a ghost story I wrote. I have had it in my mind for weeks - I mentioned earlier in the blog that I sit in the cemetery most days, and a particular tree inspired this story. I thought I would write it then hone it in time for my radio show yesterday...of course I dashed it off on Tuesday night and did a bit of basic editing, but it's in need of a lot of work! Was fun to do though, and the bare bones are there, so I am sharing it, with a photo of the tree that inspired it. Might try to get a better photo today. What follows is currently called The Cemetery Tree...may work on the title too!

If you are in Kenilworth cemetery at midnight on Halloween, be conscious that you might meet the spirit of Jack Whitaker. Or so I have been told. I often sit in the cemetery, it is a peaceful, beautiful place. I like to think about the lives of the people whose names are on the gravestones.

One autumn morning, a man sat next to me and asked if I believed the story of Jack Whitaker. I told him I didn’t know it. He looked at me, a little taken aback, then proceeded to relate the following tale.

Jack Whitaker was a lad about town, a young man always ready to defy rules and question what anyone told him. So when he heard tell that in the cemetery at midnight on Halloween, the spirits of the dead rise, he laughed it off. The dead have no spirits, people are just afraid of the dark, and open to suggestion.

These days the gates are locked well before midnight, so it is difficult to walk there any night, but it hasn’t always been the case, and when Jack was a lad you could walk in at any time.

So he decided to show people how pathetic their fears were. At midnight on Halloween, he was in the cemetery, walking among the graves.

It was dark, but the moon shone and gave enough light to see the paths and highlight some of the graves.  Jack was full of confidence as he wandered.

A mist started to form – nothing unusual in that on a cold, damp autumn night, moon or not. But then the fallen leaves started rustle even though there was no wind.

Jack walked more slowly as the mist started to thicken around him. Overhead the sky was patchy with cloud while the mist was at ground level. He looked at the moon, still shining clearly…he talked to the moon, telling it that he was not afraid…he was not afraid…he was not afraid.

Then he heard someone walking through the leaves, and he turned; the mist made everything indistinct, but the silvery moonlight made things still visible, and he could see no one.

‘I know you’re there, I know you’re trying to frighten me.’

Silence.

Jack walked more tentatively, and there was the rustling again.

He spun round, sure that if he moved fast enough he would see his companion. But nothing, only silence.

The mist started to swirl slightly, and leaves started to swirl up too, forming a shape in the mist. The swirling column of mist and leaves moved towards him.

Jack started to breathe more quickly, and turned away from the column of leaves and tried to hurry but the leaves and mist swirled around him, and the air became icy.

Jack threw his arms around a chestnut sapling standing at a corner of the path and buried his head in the cleft of its branches. The rustling of leaves grew louder but now he refused to look.

He flung his arms wide and tried to run, but the tree somehow had hold of him. The leaves and the mist continued to envelop him.

Next morning, a man walking his dog came across the chestnut sapling with its two lower branches reaching out, its trunk slightly twisted as if trying to turn, the cleft of the branches a dark hollow in which he could almost see a face.

Jack Whitaker was never seen again, but it’s said that if you walk in the cemetery at midnight on Halloween, the chestnut sapling – now a full-grown tree – will sometimes moan and the dark hollow in the cleft of its branches will seem to be looking at you. Don’t meet its gaze.

Victoria Mier, 31 October 2024

Day 30

The Tree House Bookshop. It's a phenomenon really, in that it has somehow forged a life and identity of its own that seems separate from me.

When I started, I was motivated simply by the idea that I wanted to own a secondhand bookshop. The idea to make it some sort of community hub came from a friend, who saw it as a way of helping to ensure its success - and he was right. Events were part of it right from the opening day.

We started off taking donations of books with the view that once the shop was established we would have cashflow and be able to buy books. But as time went on, the model of donated stock just seemed natural and part of the ethos of the place. We give what we can to charity, we see ourselves as a method of recycling, and of keeping back catalogue books in circulation on the high street - the latter part seemed very important - and that was the basis on which we decided to base what we were doing. 

It was 'we' in the beginning as a friend helped me get it started. Then for a long time it was just me. The shop was fairly quiet and we just about survived, until we had to move out of our initial cheap premises. I took on much more expensive premises, and it all became harder. But I had volunteer help by then, and lots of people wanting it to work, and I have had massive support from family, friends and customers.

And here we are, 11 and a bit years later, established and doing well, and still with that same model of donated stock. It means we can keep prices low, and that I think is why we have survived and become busy. Because these days we are very busy. 

The events side of things is less important than it was, as I get older and tireder in the evenings, but is still a key part. All the finances come from selling second-hand books though, and that sometimes amazes me.

It's always been a lifestyle choice as much as anything, which is why I open at 10, to give myself a leisurely start to the day. We are now able to open 7 days a week, I pay Tom the Philosopher (albeit not enough) to do his two days, though he does much more, and I now earn enough to pay tax. We support three charities plus other one-off charity events. 

But mainly we are here because I want to keep books accessible on the high street, at prices that most can afford, to keep out of print books in circulation, to keep books as part of our town and our community. Books matter. There are all sorts of issues with second-hand books - sales do not support authors or publishers financially, which is a key one. But we do help people find new authors, take more risks because the prices are low, and keep books circulating rather than just sitting gathering dust.

We can't sell everything we are given, but we try to respect donations as much as we can - people give us their books in good faith, and many express how hard it is to get rid of books. We receive huge donations when people die and relatives clear out their houses - a lifetime of book collecting in some cases.

It's a wonderful thing to be a part of, a great lifestyle choice. It's exhausting, at times it's stressful running a small business, there are days when I have had enough of talking to people by lunchtime and still have hours to go - people come in for a chat quite a lot, and that's wonderful, but as an introvert by nature I can get to a point of finding constant peopleness hard. i do my best, because they are what the place is all about.

So that's a little bit about the shop and its - my - aspirations. It's not what I envisaged a second-hand bookshop to be, but it is better in most ways. It now just is, defying any attempt I make to organise it differently, and it is thriving, at a time when it's hard to survive on the high street. 

Hopefully we can survive for a few more years.

Victoria Mier, 30 October 2024

Day 29

I am writing this watching the bakers create their autumnal showstoppers on the Great British Bake Off, the only reality show I truly enjoy. I like Strictly and I like the Pottery Throwdown, but I have issues with both. Maybe it's just that I like cake. For the first time I don't have a favourite. It's a great series.

I do watch too much television. Often it's background - I keep rewatching Poirot because even though I know every word of every episode off by heart, it's a comforting and relaxing thing to have on while I am doing other things. 

And it's easy company. I live alone - which I LOVE but do sometimes crave undemanding company, and television (mostly drama) provides that. I love it.

And the showstoppers on Bake Off are amazing. 

Today has been horrible, so this is balm for the soul. Tomorrow might be better.

Victoria Mier, 29 October 2024

Day 28

So much for a stonkingly good blog post, as promised earlier...I have run out of steam again. Not that I had much to start with! A feeble day, but I did make my Christmas cake. Always a good time of year when that day comes.

I love Christmas. It's all that is keeping me going at the moment. Though I am also seeing Bob Dylan in concert at the end of this week, so that's cheering - though am dreading the palaver of getting there and getting around, etc! Mobility issues are frustrating.

Time for bed, in the hope that I will feel a bit less wiped out for work again tomorrow. I need to crack on with our Advent calendars, more orders in today!

Victoria Mier, 28 October 2024

Day 27: a day late (again)

I failed again! It's actually hard to remember to write something every day! Haha. Only a few days left. 

It was a blockbuster weekend at the bookshop, which is fabulous. I was tired last night, watched the Strictly results show, had a Zoom chat with a friend, then went to bed - and slept like a log, which is also fabulous! But I did remember as I was lying down to listen to my audiobook that I hadn't written my blog post - but didn't care enough to do anything about it!

So that's my blog post for yesterday. In the words of Samuel Beckett, Try again. Fail again. Fail better. Or as Bob Dylan sang, She knows there's no success like failure, and failure's no success at all.

Ah well, it's my day off, my sacred no-people, no-stress day - telly, crochet, afternoon nap. I shall write a stonkingly good blog post later.

Victoria Mier, 28 October 2024 (morning)

Day 26: Hibernation

We had the blockbuster Saturday I wanted - one of our most lucrative Saturdays ever! So that's good. And now an extra hour in bed because of the clock change - very welcome. I don't mind the dark evenings - I love autumn and winter - I am glad we have a season of darkness and hibernation.

We should do better on the hibernation front, admittedly - I am sure it's built into us, the need to hibernate. It's been driven out by capitalism, that's all, but it's still lurking.

Looking forward to Christmas because I close the shop for a week then and hunker down. Bliss. Best week of the year, that week between Christmas and New Year.

In the meantime, bed, audiobook and that lovely extra hour.

Victoria Mier, 26 October 2024

Today was one of those days when it was relentless from the minute I unlocked the door through to a busy evening but I achieved almost nothing and took an average amount of money! Funny how it goes like that.

It's a cliche that no two days are the same, but it's actually true. There is a kind of routine to the bookshop week - I do my days and Tom does his, particular customers often come on the same day each week, Friday is the day WOB come to take away our unwanted stock, etc. But beyond those bare bones of a routine, you just never know from one hour to the next how the day is going to go.

Which is part of the fun, of course. And tomorrow is Saturday, our busiest day usually - here's hoping it's a blockbuster, always good to have a strong end to the month.

Photo is of Anne-Marie Sanderson, who is playing at the bookshop a week today, Friday 1 November. We need to sell more tickets. You should come!

Victoria Mier, 25 October 2024

Day 24: Tim the Swim

One of the things about the bookshop is that over the years it has attracted many regular customers, some of whom are definitely 'characters'. 

One such - who has been part of the community since we first opened - is Tim the Swim. Tim is a very gentle soul, who loves art and books and books about art. He loves music and documentaries about the natural world. He walks very slowly. He does everything very slowly. The thing I admire most about him is that he lives at his own pace and is not remotely bothered about trying to keep up with everyone else's frenetic pace. He is called Tim the Swim because he'd end most conversations with 'I think I'll go for a swim.' I eventually discovered he had been quite an athlete in his youth.

I talk about him in the present tense, but today I discovered that he died a couple of days ago. He had been living with cancer for quite some time, and we hadn't really seen him for months. He came to the shop a few weeks ago, in a wheelchair and brought in by his nephew. It was a joy to see him, frail though he looked.

He was 73.

It's very sad because he was such a lovely man, an antidote to so much that's difficult in the world, and I have been missing him and will miss him even more now. He will forever be part of the bookshop.

Rest in peace, Tim the Swim!

Victoria Mier, 24 October 2024

Day 23

Fortunately I love Christmas, because in retail (if that is what I am in, I suppose it is) you have to think about it well in advance.

At this time of year I am always in the throes of putting together our Advent calendars. These are 24 individually wrapped books, for children and adults, and they are always popular - though it is a bit quieter this year. That's good in that I am just about keeping on top of it all, and am about to send out the first bunch of orders - all but one so far have been bought via our website by people who want them posted.

I love doing them, but at this point it is always chaos - the photo shows my desk area today, which made getting to the loo and to refill the kettle tricky. But it isn't really as bad as it looks.

If you want one, head to our 'Books by Post' page under Shop on the home page and choose one of the options. If you are local and want to collect from the shop, contact me directly, as the online price includes P&P.

You could of course not use them as an Advent calendar but give them as gifts to friends or table gifts on Christmas Day or stocking fillers...they are good value!

Victoria Mier, 23 October 2024

Day 22

Still not up to writing about the bookshop - I am not in a great place with regard to the bookshop, it has to be said, but it might also help if I wrote my blog posts earlier in the day! Not just before bed, when all I can really focus on is lying down! Haha. I love my bed.

But one thing I am not at all good at, for a number of reasons, is customer service. It's amazing we have such a positive reputation, given that I am a bit useless and also very inefficient and struggle to do more than one thing at once (aren't women supposed to be good that that? But as my English grammar teacher used to say, 45 years ago, 'to all good rules there are exceptions.'). Customer service on various levels - face to face, by email, by post. Nothing gets done well nor quickly. I do make life harder for myself. 

Tom the Philosopher is much better at that side of things than me. He has much more patience with people, he has ways of making it fun, he has a sunnier disposition. Just as well one of us is good at it!

I can be perfectly nice and chatty and friendly and all that, but that's only a small part of what it takes to provide good customer service. I admire those who seem to thrive on being grumpy and have it seen as endearing. Like the bookshop in Wigtown. I am more Bernard Black in Black Books, but with less alcohol and a little more restraint. I long for a megaphone sometimes to just tell everyone we are closing at 3 in the afternoon. Or the nerve when someone asks for a discount on a book to remove a chunk of the pages. And so on.

But anyway. People like the shop, so it can't all be bad. And I will try to be more efficient. No promises.

Victoria Mier, 22 October 2024

Day 21

I have done no reading today, though I did listen to the audiobook of Philip Pullman's Clockwork, which was wonderful - all the more so for being utterly brilliantly read by the magnificent Anton Lesser. An hour and a half of magic - if you have BorrowBox, get on it.

I am putting off reading our next book club book, which does not remotely appeal, and may well still read something else first, we'll see how much enthusiasm I can muster in the morning! Coffee and a book in bed for a couple of hours before breakfast is my favourite way to start the day. I have a lovely pile of books waiting (apart from the book club one!).

I was going to write about the bookshop, but Monday is my recharge day so I try not to think about the shop. I do feel a bit re-charged, but it's all over too quickly. I am getting better from the bug I've had but could do with more time not talking!

Still, the bills need paying, so it has to be done - and I will write soon about why it's more than a job, more than a high street retail business, why I keep it going even though it's hard.

Victoria Mier, 21 October 2024

Day 20

I have been thinking about the act of blogging, when all I am doing is blogging because I have a daily challenge to blog, rather than having something to actually blog about! I am avoiding politics, not because I don't have a lot of thoughts about that, but I don't want to get embroiled in pointless musings that add nothing to any of the situations in our world at home and abroad right now.

I do think that in the face of devastation, the best thing we can do is carry on living our lives the best we can, enjoying what time on this planet we have, not allowing ourselves to be immobilised by what we see and hear. I sometimes think we owe it to those whose freedom is curtailed or removed to make the most of the freedoms we have.

That's as political as I am going to get. I have now finished Andrey Kukov's wonderful novel The Silver Bone, see earlier blog post, set in Kyiv in 1919, written by Ukraine's most famous living writer. My three words would be surprising, funny, human. I need to find words that somehow give a bit more insight to others! It's hard - try to summarise a book you've read in three words and you'll see.

So I shall keep reading, keep relishing the loveliness and comforts of my home, keep listening to music, keep watching Only Murders in the Building. 

And tomorrow I might write about the bookshop and why I think it's an important place and fundamental to a sense of freedom - my own and society's.

Victoria Mier, 20 October 2024

Day 19

Only Murders in the Building is SO good. I am now on series 3. Americans do TV drama so much better than us - there are outstanding British dramas of course, but the imaginative ideas, the writing, the ability to sustain a very high quality through many episodes and several series in the best American TV dramas is amazing. Think of all the good ones. And Only Murders has it all. 

I am also watching Ludwig, as if to make a point. It is just a little bit dull...good but dull. The initial premise that made it interesting seems to be going nowhere, however well made and well acted it is.

The only thing I really want from TV is good drama, good TV drama is essential to the world, so hurray for the Americans.

Sorry to be unpatriotic, but there it is. (In fact I am not very sorry, patriotism is a ghastly thing.)

Victoria Mier 19 October 2024 (evening)

Day 18: better late than never

Well I didn't exactly forget yesterday - but I didn't remember that I hadn't written a post until I was getting into bed, and I was just too tired - and ill! - to get up and write one. Just a bad cold but have been feeling rough, and was at a lovely Live to Your Living Room gig so was later to bed than usual. So am just catching up this morning.

Do you know about Live to Your Living Room? Have I already blogged about this? My brain fog is fairly severe at the moment, so forgive me if I am repeating myself.

LTYLR grew out of live streams during lockdown, when the planned Folk Weekend: Oxford couldn't take place face to face, and has carried on. With fantastic tech, and a fine team of people, they host online gigs with folk musicians that you can watch from the comfort of your own home. In your pyjamas or whatever state you like. It works very well, and they have a fantastic programme of gigs.

I have recently joined as a steward, helping out on the night when I can, and am getting to experience a fab range of musicians. Last night it was Rachael McShane and The Cartographers (great name for a band). Go look at their website for what's coming up next - there are two gigs next week, they happen frequently (with a break over the summer during festival season).

It's another way of supporting musicians and a very easy one. Go to it!

Victoria Mier, 19 October 2024

Day 17: The Beatles

Sometimes you think you know and like and understand a person, then they say they are not a Beatles fan, and you are left questioning everything your world is built on.

Still, their loss!

Victoria Mier, 17 October 2024

Day 16: ghosts

I am not very well today - ill enough to stay off work, which is quite ill, as we can't afford to lose a day's takings. Huge thanks to Tom the Philosopher who found the shop empty and opened up. It means this really will be short today!

It also means I haven't had my daily visit to sit under the trees in the cemetery. But yesterday when I was there I had what I thought was a great idea for a ghost story. Now I need to write it.

If I am happy with it, I will read it on my radio show on 30 October. If not I might read one by MR James instead. I am always irritated that people treat Halloween as a bit of fun - something to celebrate - when it's the darkest night of the year, All Hallow's Eve, the night when the veil between the living and the dead is thinnest...

We need to put some serious spook back into Halloween.

Victoria Mier, 16 October 2024

Day 15: Sarah Whitaker

This morning, during my 20 minutes sitting in the cemetery before work, I finally noticed a grave right next to where I always sit. I have looked a lot at two headstones that are upright - the Griggses on my left, the Franklyns on my right. I don't know why I hadn't looked down before, though I am usually  looking up and ahead, at trees and sky.

I noticed that this flat gravestone (presumably it too was once upright) is noticeably older than the two upright ones, and reading the inscription it is for Sarah Whitaker, who was born in 1848 and died in 1947. That made me think a lot - she didn't quite make her century, but what a 99 years to be alive. 1848 and 1947 hardly seem possible as part of the same life. And think of all that she lived through in that time... 1848 was the year of revolutions in Europe; 1947 as well as being just after the end of WWII was the year that India finally gained independence from the British Empire - Sarah lived through the Indian mutiny of the 1950s. The industrial revolution, two world wars, and just so much social change...and huge changes in art, music, literature. It's hard to know where to start. 

I feel privileged now to sit next to Sarah's remains and think about her life and all that she saw. The world seems so awful today, but I think it's always been awful, in terms of wars, political difficulties, making ends meet. We just know a lot more about it thanks to the internet and television. Thinking about all that happened during Sarah's lifetime is thought-provoking.

My daily sojourn in the cemetery is giving me a whole new perspective. It's wonderful.

Victoria Mier, 15 October 2024

Day 14: international fiction

Oh, I forgot again, didn't I. Today is the 15th. Yesterday (Monday 14th) was my day off and I tend to switch off... Sorry, Jaki!

I am back on the International Booker Prize longlist in my reading. Huge thanks to Warwickshire Libraries for having most of these books! It also means I have read some as lovely hardbacks, including this one, Andrei Kurkov's The Silver Bone. I have not read his most famous book,Death and the Penguin, but Kurkov is for me at least the best-known author on the list, and the most famous Ukrainian author in the English-speaking world. 

The novel is set in Kyiv just after WWI, and is the story of Samson, who at the start of the novel is attacked by Cossacks. His father is killed in the sword attack and he has one ear cut off. He manages to pick up the ear, and keeps it in a box - and then discovers that he can sometimes hear what's going on in the room where he keeps the ear in a desk drawer, when his flat is requisitioned by two soldiers.

No doubt I will find my three words when I have finished (only about a quarter of the way through), but I have so enjoyed following this list and reading translated literature from around the world. The winner of the prize was Jenny Erpenbeck's Kairos, which remains the most worthy winner for me, but I am loving the Kurkov too. All the books have been very good in their different ways though.

Keep reading, everyone!

Victoria Mier, 15 October 2024 - 8am, meant for day 14!

Day 13: keep it live

Back from an evening of wonderful live music at the Tree House. Beautiful songs, fabulous voice, and a lovely person - Anna Pancaldi. Moving and funny. Go find her on YouTube - but those videos are a shadow of what she is like live.

Music and books - the things that really matter.

Thank you to everyone who came, for supporting live music and for being a responsive, brilliant audience. 

A very busy weekend all together at the bookshop, which is of course what's wanted - but I am ready for my day off tomorrow.

Victoria Mier, 13 October 2024

Day 12: yawn and yarn

If you come into the bookshop in the afternoons, you may see me crocheting. 

A while ago I had reached a point where the relentlessness of bookshop life was pushing me to the limit, and one Sunday I snapped at a customer who really hadn't done much. I spent the next few days feeling bad, and started to think about how I could make things work without me getting over-tired and stressed out.

One thing I have found hard is to do all the admin that needs doing while customers are in the shop.This is a side-effect of the shop being much busier than it used to be over the last couple of years, a situation that is of course excellent! But as a natural introvert - someone who finds constant contact with people draining - and increasingly tired - and therefore struggling with interruptions - I had to find a way to cope.

My solution is to do what admin I can in the mornings - emails, social media, ordering bits and pieces we need, creating Facebook events for live music and art talks, etc - and then after lunch I crochet or read, and do the admin that needs greater concentration - accounts, more complicated emails, bank stuff, etc - outside shop hours.

And it's working. The days are much less demanding, and I am managing to get everything done. I panic less when customers need me because I am rarely doing anything that matters if I am interrupted. It does mean more work outside the shop hours, but I get things done more quickly than I do with customers around, so it's all working out pretty well. Still tired though.

And I am making nice things that I might be able to sell in the shop! We'll see.

In other news, my three words about Barbara Comyns Who Was Changed And Who Was Dead - which I mentioned yesterday and finished today are: dark, unexpected, very funny. I know the last is two words, but hilarious isn't right, witty isn't enough, and I don't know what other word to use. What a writer.

Victoria Mier, 12 October 2024

Day 11: Three Words

I mentioned the other day that I had been to my book club, and the mixed feelings I have about book discussion. Liz who had chosen the book and led the discussion mentioned an idea of choosing three words to describe a book you have read. That seems both harder and less challenging at the same time than a full-on verbal response!

So for James Baldwin's Another Country, my three words are majestic, humane, challenging.

For Katya Balen's Foxlight, my words are beautiful, edgy, optimistic.

For my current read, Barbara Comyns' Who Was Changed And Who Was Dead...well, I had better wait until I have finished it. What a glorious writer she is though.

Victoria Mier, 11 October 2024

Day 10: Mental Health Day

Apparently it's Mental Health day today. I don't know who thinks these days up, or how they get made official. Every day is a day for something, usually for several things. I mostly ignore them, and am only referencing it here because I had decided to write about something I have been doing recently that has improved my mental health.

A friend posted a meme on Facebook that I have seen many times before, but somehow this time it made me stop and think - something about if you can't find time to sit in nature for 20 minutes every day, you should probably sit for an hour. 

I can't walk far, otherwise I probably would walk every day, but I am very good at sitting. I decided to go and sit in the local cemetery for 20 minutes - a place I have always loved, our house growing up adjoined it, and the wind in the trees is one of the abiding sounds of my childhood, lying in bed and loving it but also being slightly scared.

These days it is my favourite place. Last summer I did a sponsored month of walking to raise funds for Ellis Park and walked there every day, and built up my walking time to around 25 minutes some days. I realise my legs have got worse because I tried it this year and couldn't even do one short circuit (about 5 minutes at my pace). But it's a great place to scoot, with its wide paths to accommodate cars and very few people.

Above all it's peaceful, and I sit usually in the same place, under some beech and chestnut trees. I watch the squirrels - they are a pain, I know, but fun to watch - and listen to the birdsong - there are many different birds there. I put my Merlin app on to make sure I catch them all, and am getting better at recognising them. And I look at the trees, mostly chestnut and birch, mostly quite old, some yews too inevitably. And I set my timer and sit and look and listen and think and occasionally say hello to dog-walkers and others cutting through. There is a lady who comes every day to feed the cat that lives feral there. I love how the cat, out of nowhere, runs across to her then trots beside her to the place where she puts food for him.

It's magical. It makes a huge difference to the day.I feel my mind and body resetting as I sit there.I look up a lot, at the trees and the sky, and that is a great counter to spending much of the day looking down at a computer. Now I feel a sense of opening up and relaxing as soon as I enter the gates on my scooter. (The scooter really is a life-changer.)

The leaves are falling hard now, which is lovely. I am a huge autumn fan.

I would recommend it to everyone. I will see what happens as the weather gets colder! If it rains I can sit in my back garden under a sort of perspex awning, and that's great too - it's good to notice what's happening in the garden. But I don't mind the cold too much, and will do a few minutes at least if I can, through the winter.

Victoria Mier, 10 October 2024

Day 7

As well as selling second-hand books, we host live music gigs at the Tree House. A couple of times a month we have professional musicians on national tours sharing their latest music with us - mostly folk/acoustic/singer-songwriter musicians. We also work with the lovely United Reformed Church as a bigger venue - the bookshop only holds around 35.

It's hard work organising live music, for all involved, but amazing when it happens - live music really is a wonderful experience, and we love bringing these excellent musicians to Kenilworth. Ellie Gowers - herself a fabulous singer-songwriter - now does all the booking and artist liaison, I just attempt to sell tickets! We are supported by Kenilworth Arts Festival in all of this.

It is very hard selling tickets. I never quite understand why people rush to spend £150, sometimes a lot more, to see Oasis and other stadium bands but aren't interested in paying £15 to see live music in an intimate venue on their doorstep. But that's how it is, and we just keep trying! It's a problem across the country.

Musicians have a very hard time making a living, and touring and selling their music at gigs is crucial to their livelihoods. Someone once said they were surprised to discover that the ticket money we charge went to the musicians - they assumed it all came to the bookshop and the musicians played for nothing. That is uncommon as a response, but it is the sharp end of a general perception that music should be free. People hear it in pubs, musicians are often asked to play 'for exposure' when no one else involved in an event is unpaid, and somehow still people don't see music as a paid profession.

These are highly skilled people who have put years into perfecting their skills in both music and performance, and we need to respect that. Touring can't be a continuous thing, so even though it might sometimes seem as though a gig is well-paid, the money does not go far in terms of an annual income. 

The bookshop at least is not relying on gigs to provide us with an income - we get that from selling books. But we do put a lot of unpaid hours into organising and promoting gigs, as do many small venues, ensuring that musicians have good places to perform. We would find it much harder if we needed to pay ourselves too - and grassroots venues face a constant struggle with high street overheads.

So if you see live music locally, support it. If we don't sell enough tickets, gigs get cancelled, because musicians often travelling from distant places need to be paid enough to make that worthwhile. And live music is so brilliant. Even Oasis were a small band playing in a pub or club once. 

Our next live music is this coming Sunday, 13 October - the wonderful Anna Pancaldi. Here is a link to her YouTube account for you to hear some of her songs. Go have a look at our Live Music page for all the info on our upcoming gigs and the ticket links. We are putting together another fabulous programme for next year!

Support live music. Support small venues. Buy music, don't just stream it. Your local live music scene needs you!

Day 9: hard discussions

This is the real day 9 post!

I have just got back from my book club, feeling as I always do that I would rather not talk about books really. It's why I don't do a proper blog about books either, or write reviews. I should be interested in sharing thoughts and hearing what others think, but I am not. 

We discussed James Baldwin's Another Country, which to me seems an enormous work, majestic, magnificent, a book that is not 'about' racism so much as it is simply about people living in a racist society - not sure I have read any other book that deals with this profound subject so thoughtfully and with such warmth and compassion. Not everyone agreed - that's fine, though I do end up being quite belligerent if I think something important is being misrepresented or undervalued. Not just books, I am always the same in discussions. Part of it is the frustration of not really wanting to talk about books.

But this need to get across my own viewpoint in such situations is something I dislike in myself, I don't need either to labour my own response nor worry about disagreements. It does unsettle me though, that I find discussion so hard. I want to love it - but I am happiest just thinking my own thoughts, and I don't need to share them, it just feels as though it's expected. I never manage to put into words what I want to say, and I end up dissatisfied and wishing I hadn't said anything.

I persevere with book club because the people are wonderful and the general chat is fun. But I am trying to get to a point where I don't worry about the discussion, where I just let it flow.

James Baldwin is, for me, one of the greatest figures of the 20th century, a man of profound intelligence and wisdom, with a superb skill for writing great English and conveying ideas, while retaining an equally profound sense of humanity. He doesn't need me to defend his corner.

Victoria Mier, 9 October 2024

Day 8: Katya Balen

Well strictly speaking - or any kind of speaking - it's day 9, but I forgot again yesterday so am writing day 8 this morning and hoping to write day 9 tonight. Time is relative, let's not get too hung up on the details. Life is very busy at the moment, last night I was stewarding at an online gig with Mark Radcliffe and David Boardman and that finished way past my usual bedtime... Was marvellous though, organised to the fabulous Live toYour Living Room - check them out for excent online gigs!

This morning I read another chunk of my latest read, Katya Balen's Foxlight. I love reading children's books, but tend to shy away from the ones that are too fantasy-oriented. I did love some of the fantasy stuff as a child - Narnia, Earthsea especially - but my favourites were books like Lizzie Dripping, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Anne of Green Gables. Katya Balen's books are amazing - written about and from the viewpoint of children facing hard things in life - hard family situations and dealing with relationships - but with a strong connection with nature and the imagination and other beautiful things. Foxlight is about two sisters, Fen and Rey, who live in a Foundling home. It's not a cruel place, they are safe, cared for, well fed (despite mouse stew, as they call it, for dinner). But they want to find their mother, who abandoned them there as babies, and one day they pack a bag and follow a fox, believing the fox will lead them to their mother.

They are learning that the stories they have always imagined about life and their mother may not match reality. The safety and warmth of the home they have grown up in are replaced by hardship, hunger, vulnerabiity, even death, and their own very close relationship is strained.

I don't yet know where it will end, but will find out tomorrow. My friend Himadri recently lamented how many blogs and reviews describe a book as 'beautifully written', and he is right, it's an overused phrase with no meaning, unless you explain what you mean by that. I do think Katya writes beautifully, and it's all to do with her choices of words, they way she can evoke both beauty and fear, adventure and vulnerability, in the same phrases. Crafted sentences, carefully-chosen and used words, an ability to put into words both the inner and outer world of children. I hope it ends well for Fen and Rey.

If you haven't yet read her book The Space We're In, I would recommend anyone to read it. It would be a wonderful book to read with a child who has lost a parent, or anyone close. Her writing is the sort that children can absorb it is just as enthralling for adults.

I am also grateful to my local library, where I get many of my books from, especially current things that haven't yet found their way to the bookshop second-hand - but I'll write about libraries another time!

Victoria Mier, 9 October 2024 (8am - meant for 8 October)

Nick Cave

I was talking to someone today about music - their tastes are very broad - I admitted that mine are very narrow. It was sparked by Nick Cave and Kylie Minogue singing Where the Wild Roses Grow, and I said I found Kylie's voice too weak in comparison with Nick's, good song though it is. The friend likes many, many genres of music; I like very few, but am passionate about the few I like.

Nick Cave. Bob Dylan even more, as he has been with me since I was 13 and is the greatest songwriter ever, and the most brilliant singer. Then stuff around those - some folk, some Americana, some country, bits of post-punk, lots of 70s stuff, classical.

It's all I need. I know it seems better, morally, to like a broad range, but I just want to listen to what gets under my skin, into my heart and soul, and not much does that. Bob, my soulmate. Nick, who sits at his right hand.

They met once, at Glastonbury in 1998, and thankfully someone took a couple of pictures - someone being the great Bleddyn Butcher. Much respect between these two - would love them to do a duet.

I mentioned them both in the post about rock stars reading. Both are great readers, both are magicians with words, with lyrical depth and poetry and craftsmanship that sets them apart from most others. Goodness I love them both.

Victoria Mier, 6 October 2024

5 October

I have already failed! I completely forgot write a blog post yesterday. Ah well. Perfection is overrated.

I thought I would write a little bit about how much I love an audiobook. I used to be a bit dismissive of them as an alternative to reading, but during lockdown I discovered BorrowBox through the library, and have been listening daily ever since. I listen for about an hour lying in bed at night, my bedtime story! I go to bed early, and look forward so much to listening to books in bed.I have always loved being read to, even as an adult - I remember getting home after a Christmas with my family one year and lying in the bath on Boxing Day listening to Stephen Fry reading Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (they gave a whole day of R4 to it) and thinking that was the best part of Christmas.

I listen to a range of things as my bedtime story, but cosy crime is my favourite. Or any crime that is not too violent. I am currently listening to my first LJ Ross - Ryan's Christmas - and loving it. I get asked for her books a lot at the bookshop, and can see why she's popular - I'll definitely be borrowing more.

I also like character and relationship-based novels - Clare Chambers, Rachel Joyce. 

Susan Hill writes both, to a very high standard - her Simon Serrailler books have been among my favourite audiobooks, and her non-crime books are equally wonderful. I have yet to explore the ghost stories,I don't want anything too spooky at bedtime!

I love children's books too, especially children's crime.

And I love classics - especially Dickens.

I will make a list at some point, including the narrators, because they make or break an audiobook.

BorrowBox is a wonderful thing. It's free and there is a huge range of books, all unabridged. I love the library generally - that's for another blog post! - and this is a fabulous part of it.

Hurray for libraries, hurray for audiobooks.

Victoria Mier, 5 October 2024

Reading the newspaper

My Pa would have been 96 today. He died in 2018, a few days after his 90th birthday - he badly wanted to make 90 and he made it. I miss him a lot.

One of the things that always amazed me about him was that he seemed to know everything. I had arguments with him about things when I was convinced he was wrong; he was always right. A while back, my sister made the comment that perhaps it was because he read the newspaper every day of his adult life, and he certainly did - cover to cover, every day. The Daily Telegraph, but it was less tabloidy once upon a time! And reflected his political stance, which was very different from mine. But whatever your political flavour, serious newspapers do give you a window on the world. 

I used to love a Sunday paper, but admit that even then I only really read the culture bits and the magazine...rarely read much of the rest! I have an online subscription to one paper, but hardly ever read it. I use Wikipedia a lot. I don't watch the BBC news because it's awful, but I do read their website, and sometimes follow up stories elsewhere, but I remain quite ignorant about much of the world. My sense of geography has always been awful (I was mocked for ages by my brother when we were children for not knowing whether we lived (in Kenilworth) north or south of Birmingham...

Seeing the horrors in the world unfold, I know that someone with my social advantages and education should know a lot more about the countries involved and take more interest in politics. I often think of the writer Henry Miller, who didn't see any point in being politically engaged, as it made no difference to the world. Is that right? I don't know - things do happen because people make them happen, but perhaps not everyone needs to be an activist. I am drawn to Miller's stance, but I do also have strong political opinions (which perhaps he did not) and always get involved in discussions and spend a lot of time thinking about how to solve the country's and the world's problems.

These are musings. I admire my Pa for being interested enough to read the newspaper every day, to have that command of history, geography, culture and more. I am much more like my mother, who also read the paper a lot (it used to infuriate me, the two of them hidden behind the broadsheets for hours and showing no interest in us - I was always a selfish person!) but who loved art, music, literature, the things that are the bedrock of my life.

So on his birthday I remember a man who knew so much and whose knowledge died with him, and will attempt to make myself better informed. And also support journalists by paying for the news! 

Victoria MIer, 3 October 2024

Blogtober day 2: rock stars who read

Some of you know that I do a weekly radio show on Radio Abbey, our local community radio station in Kenilworth that broadcasts online from the Kenilworth Centre. It's mainly about folk music, the kind of musicians who come to perform at the bookshop, but really it's genre-free, I just play things I like. But I like folk music! 

Today on the show I paid tribute to Kris Kristofferson, who died at the weekend. I learned - and should have known - that he was a Rhodes scholar at Oxford University, studying English literature. He wasn't interested in academia though, and knew he wanted to be a singer and songwriter. I should have known this about him because I have loved him for a long time.

But I love a musician who reads. My two greatest heroes Bob Dylan and Nick Cave are both great readers and it shows in their songs. David Bowie was another avid reader, Kris Kristofferson's lyrics are beautiful, and it makes sense that he had an interest in literature. 

Knowing someone reads always makes me find them more interesting, and I always want to know what they are reading. I have a friend who instead of asking how you are, etc, asks, 'What are you reading?' I love that.

Anyway, here's to rock stars who read. They are beacons of hope in a difficult world, creating art that their reading takes to another level.

[My radio show, Shakespeare in the Alley, is on Wednesdays, 6-7pm, and available later on Mixcloud. Radio Abbey is at www.radioabbey.com]

Victoria Mier, 2 October 2024

Reading the world

Living in a small town, not a driver, with fairly severe mobility issues (over any kind of distance), I feel the world getting smaller. I have spent half my life in cities - Bristol and London, with lengthy stays in Paris, Florence and a month a year over several years some time ago travelling the Continent as a teacher - and I am not a city girl (hence moving back to Kenilworth) but I miss the cosmopolitan diversity and all that goes with it. Friends are just back from Rome and I now long to go and visit places, mostly to see art I haven't yet seen - Madrid, New York, Amsterdam, as well as revisiting places I love.

There is a way to experience the world from home though, and that is through reading. This year I have been reading the longlist for the International Booker Prize, and that's been wonderful - visiting Venezuela, Argentina, Italy, Germany, Korea, Soviet Russia and more. Each book has been a wonderful insight not just into a different culture but into the way literature can evoke and explore aspects of those cultures.

For book clubs I have recently been reading Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (set during the Biafran war) and James Baldwin's Another Country (half way through this). And a while back, Antal Szerb's Journey by Moonlight was wonderful for taking me through a number of European countries.

I want to say more but this is the start of Blogtober, aiming for a blog post every day this month, so I will try to be more detailed in future posts! (And I will make sure I include images - none of the photos I took of these books come out well here!) The posts won't all be about what I am reading, but I have been thinking a lot lately about the need to experience the wider world. It's one of the things literature can do so well, but I still feel the need to be among people, buildings, food, climate different from my own.

One day I will travel again!

Victoria Mier, 1 October 2024