We’ve got lots of exciting news to share with you for January following our recent update on our opening hours.
We’ll be doing Storytime every Sunday at 11 and Crochet club will now be on the first Sunday of every month at 12. Bring the projects you’ve been working on through the month and gather for a chat and some crocheting.
Real Magic Book Groups
We held our first book group of the year on Wednesday where we discussed Meg Wolitzer’s The Interestings, with the largest group we’ve had to date.
Thanks so much to everyone who supports the book group – it’s so brilliant to get together, share our always diverse and passionate opinions and get to know each other. It’s a highlight of the month for me. The book group may have been and gone, but if you fancy reading the book you can order a copy here.
Our next book is William Boyd’s Any Human Heart which has been considered a modern classic since it was published in 2002.
Any Human Heart is one of Boyd’s “whole life” novels and tells the story of Logan Mountstuart, a fictional writer whose life spans the defining periods of the 20th Century, including his childhood in Montevideo, his time as a spy, and an art dealer in 60s New York. It’s an epic story which shows the magnitude of one person’s life, while also rendering the small mundanities of existence absolutely perfectly. I love it and I hope you will too.
We have lots of copies in the shop so just let us know if you’d like one, or order one through our webpage – just click here. We’ll be getting together to discuss the book on Wednesday 9 February at the shop at 7pm. It’s free and everyone is welcome.
Children’s Book Group
For 2023 we’re also introducing a new children’s book group aimed at ages around 11-14.
Our first pick is the wonderful Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman and we’ll be getting together at 4pm on Wednesday 22 February to talk about the book.
Noughts and Crosses is the first, award winning novel in a series by Blackman and describes a dystopian future vision of the UK called Albion set in the 22nd Century. The novel tells the story of racial inequality and forbidden romance between childhood friends and it’s brilliantly written and gripping. You can get your copy in the shop or here.
If you’d like to discuss the book and check if it’s right for your child, or want to talk about how the group will work, just let us know (email us, or give us a call – details below) and we can have a chat. Parents are more than welcome to attend the group with their child of course.
Real Magic Events
Don’t forget on that on Sunday 22 January we’ll be welcoming Stone Club to Real Magic Books for an afternoon of films, talks and music with the founders Lally Macbeth and Matthew Shaw. Richard Norris will be on music duties for a live Ambient Hour and afternoon drinks will be on sale!
It should be a very civilised way to spend a Sunday afternoon. We hope you can join us. It’s free for Stone Club members (sign up here) or £5 for non members. You can find tickets here.
Book of the Month
In December I read Julia May Jonas’ Vladimir and went on to buy it as a Christmas present for lots of friends. It’s a brilliantly well observed story of an English professor, whose husband is accused of sexual misconduct with his students. I found myself photographing paragraph after paragraph and laughing out loud at the depiction of marriage, academia and long term relationships.
I’d highly recommend it and you can get your copy here.
Real Magic Books HQ’s current reading
Sophie: The Gourmand’s Egg. Absolute heaven for the egg fetishist. Egg related stories, recipes and art.
Pamela: Smash! by Ian Winwood. Perfect 90s nostalgia telling the stories of Green Day, The Offspring, Bad Religion, NOFX, and the ’90s Punk Explosion
Carl: The Lost Rainforests of Britain by Guy Shrubsole. The story of Guy’s discovery of the British temperate rainforest. The Sunday Times Science Book of the Year.
