1st November Newsletter
What’s On At Veranda
Welcome, welcome! We’re not ones to blow our own trumpets, but this week we’re wheeling out the whole brass section, because… we’re celebrating our FIRST birthday. One whole year of Veranda Books. 12 months of books and chat, laughter, tears*, new friendships, events, author visits, tea&biscuits on repeat, flamenco guitar, late nights, long days, way too many cardboard boxes, and honestly – next-level job-satisfaction. So here’s to us, to YOU, and to the next 12 months! Read on for step-by-step guide to celebrating…
*kidding! No tears whatsoever, just said that for dramatic effect
Shop News
You are invited…
If you’d like to help us celebrate, please come along to the shop on Friday, 14th November between 4 and 8pm for a glass of wine and a catch-up. We’d love to see you!
If you can’t make it (or even if you can tbh), then feel free to buy some extra books – the perfect gift! All our stock’s available on the website, and if you can’t find what you want, then just email us and we’ll do our best. Drop a line to: alison@verandabooks.com
Other ways to show you care:
- Follow us on instagram (@verandabookshop)
- Recommend us to all your friends, family, coworkers and associates
- Recommend us to your enemies and complete strangers (hey, a sale’s a sale, we’re not too fussy)
We’re so grateful to all our customers, and the first year’s been a joy – but the life of a small business can be hard, and we’re relying on your support to get us to the next birthday. See you soon!
NEW! Veranda Picks to your door
Picture the scene: it’s a nothing-y Wednesday in February. You’re a bit bored/stressed/bewildered by modern life. Then the postman arrives with a little package containing a lovingly-selected novel from the team at Veranda, who you KNOW enjoy putting the right book into the right hands at just the right time. Your nothing-y day just got so much better. AND the same thing happens again in March, and April, and…what are we talking about??
Our newly-launched Subscription service, that’s what!
Sign up for 6 or 12 months; the one-off fee includes book, postage and the expertise of Leo/Emily/Alison. Choose from the latest in Translated Fiction, or opt for the thrill of Contemporary Fiction.
Great as a gift for yourself or for any other book-lovers in your life – younger bookworms too! (Kids’ subscriptions also available).
Find our more at the shop or on our website
Now Booking
Last call for November events
We’re happy to bring you the last few events of the year before the festive madness of December kicks in, and we hope you can join us. Coming up, we have:
- 6th November: launch party for Relearning to Read by Ann Morgan
- 11th November: Alice Vincent, author of Hark, in conversation with Amy Key, poet and author of one of our bestsellers, Arrangements in Blue
- 12th November: writer and film-maker Xiaolu Guo discusses her latest novel Call Me Ishmaelle with writer Paul French
If you’d like to come to any of these, please sign up via the link below, or call in to the shop to reserve your space. If it’s sold out, then please get in touch and we’ll do our best to fit you in. Likewise, if you’ve reserved a space but can’t make it, please let us know (last minute is fine!) Contact Emily – emily@verandabooks.com
Our Recommended Reads
Dead and Alive: Essays by Zadie Smith
If you happen to be trying to make sense of the world, then Zadie Smith’s new essay collection, Dead & Alive, may be a suitable salve. The collection is full of her usual ambivalent wisdom on everything from smartphones to the Welfare State, but it’s her more personal essays on her literary heroes – James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, and her close friend, Martin Amis, that stand out most.
The Melting by Lize Spit (tr. Kristin Gehrman )
This week, Emily’s been reading The Melting by Lize Spit, translated from the Dutch. A disturbing and odd coming-of-age tale that addresses the harsh experiences of being a young adolescent, mixed with a thriller-ish sense of dread at what occurs with the novel. A brilliant debut!
What we’re loving this week…
Emily went to a private view for Dan Jamieson at Air Contemporary Gallery in Ham Yard. Particular highlights were his ‘hate plates’ – the passive-aggressive thoughts we all have made into beautiful ceramic plates.
She also enjoyed Halloween at Kew Gardens, a spooky trail for all the family. Although Sonny (age 2) was petrified by the grim reaper jumping out at him!
Leo went to the Old Vic to see Susan Sarandon’s star turn in Mary Page Marlow. Tracing the course of an ‘everywoman’s’ life over 70 years, this is a powerful and meditative play about the extent to which we are able to determine the course of our lives. With nothing explicit or prescribed, it felt like a particularly ‘novelistic’ piece of drama, leaving the viewer to read between the lines and fill in the gaps.
Alison saw movie-man-of-the-moment Josh O’Connor’s latest film, The Mastermind. Daylight (art) robbery in 1970’s Massachusetts, provides the canvas for O’Connor’s slippery, loser-ish character. A real hidden gem of a film – quite literally; it’s surprisingly hard to find in cinemas! Alison tracked it down at the Ciné Lumière in South Kensington.
She’s also loving The Pelican, a fantastic pub on All Saints Rd, W11. With a fire in the hearth and autumnal English fare on tap, this is exactly where you want to spend a rainy weekend afternoon or evening – perfect with friends or a good book.
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