The Haunted Bookshop, Cambridge and assorted thoughts

I have read some simply terrific books in the last week: Pomp and Circumstance by Noel Coward, sheer delight from start to finish; The  Spy Game by Georgina Harding, elusive and sad and intriguing at the same time; The Blue Hour by  Lillian Pizzichini, a biography of Jean Rhys which had me swinging wildly between feeling sorry for Jean and then wanting to wring her neck and, finally, as an antidote to the excesses and misery of the aforementioned Ms Rhys, I re-read The Wedding Season by Katie Fforde which has made me feel much better.  Lots to write about all of them and will do so in due course, but not today as I am feeling lazy.

It is lovely at the moment, the sun is shining and all is peaceful and quiet in my little corner of Colchester. I have turned off Classic FM, the ads which seem to have increased in frequency of late, were annoying me as I was getting impatient by the interruptions of a silly voice telling me I should eat more yogurt, go to Waitrose and buy more Premium Bonds, and Radio 3 is also silent as I decided I just wanted peace.  And here I sit at my trusty laptop looking out of the window - to my left the bushes and shrubs of the small gardens surrounding this block of flats and to my right, the car park....enough said.

The reason I am mentioning the Haunted Bookshop is that I am going to Cambridge tomorrow and every time I go there I visit this particular bookshop which I love.  The owner, Sarah Key, used to (well probably still does), come to the book fairs at Long Melford, a glorious village in Suffolk and it was there I first discovered her and her wonderful collection of children's books (she also has adult books in her bookshop but it was the junior stuff I was then interested in), and it was from one of these visits that I got hold of a first edition of The Valley of Song by Elizabeth Goudge and also Linnets and Valerians by the same author. 

On a visit to the Haunted Bookshop back in 2004, when I and assorted book lovers were attending a Persephone weekend at Newnham College, we made a raid, luckily just before closing time (the door was just going to be shut and locked for the day when I grabbed the handle and said, to my own utter astonishment 'Oh stay' and the shop duly stayed and we all went in and between us spent about £150).

The bookshop is tiny with books crammed in from floor to ceiling, upstairs is even worse/better (choose which you think describes this best) with books double and treble stacked, all over the floor, piled in heaps against the wall (heaven help you if the one you want is at the bottom) and you have to kneel, rummage and grovel to see all the treasures that are there.  I was rummaging in great style one day when an American woman arrived and nearly passed out when she saw all the books by Dorita Fairlie Bruce, Angela Brazil and others and was obviously in seventh heaven.

It was during the earlier 2004 foray that I discovered, among the William books of Richmal Crompton, a good selection of her adult works of which I am a huge fan.  Bought some, those I could afford, but left others but last year I bit on the bullet, took a very expensive RC downstairs and negotiated its purchase.  It had been there for at least four years (I know because I checked it each time) and decided that it really should come home with me.  Sarah was at a book fair that day so she was called on her mobile and a bidding war started.  Well, not as grand as that but after a bit of toing and froing I persuaded her to give me a pretty good discount and duly came home with me.

Sarah very kindly sent me tickets for the last Cambridge book fair and I met up with my friend Jan Jones (we meet for lunch in Cambridge every six weeks or so and we always join up outside the Haunted Bookshop) and we had a lovely day trolling amongst the booksellers there and I came home with some out of print Josephine Tey which has started me off on a re-read of this author. 

So if ever you are in Cambridge, do take time to drop in and check out this link here which will tell you where it is located.

So will be calling by tomorrow to have another rummage, though now I am a Retired Lady, I shall need to hone up my negotiating skills even more now that I am also living on a Limited Income and need to save money.

Sarah has told me she looks at my website so thought I might just drop a hint or two......

Comments

[Margaret Powling]

What a lovely book-erly blog today, Elaine, so thanks for that. I'm currently taking time off from cleaning the bookshelves in the study ... this can't be done in a day, there are far too many shelves and books and so every so often I need a little sit down!
Long Melford ... this delightful Suffolk village was our introduction to Suffolk in 1984 when we did a house swap for our summer holiday. We fell in love with the country, especially the Suffolk coast and such towns at Southwold and Aldeburgh and have since returned several times although it's more than 300 miles from our home in Devon.
I've only been to Cambridge a couple of times but love the bookshops and envy your visit tomorrow! Happy Easter bookhunting!

[Barbara]

You're missing The St John Passion on Radio 3!

[Jan Jones]

Have a lovely day, Elaine! I won't tell you not to spend too much, because as we know, good books that you just have to have are never too much money.

[Ruth]

I remember that outing well, Elaine. I seem to remember you were wearing your bright pink mac and somewhere I probably have photographic evidence.

[Karen]

Have a great day out! You are the second person in the last hour to tell me of plans to spend tomorrow in Cambridge; a friend in Lincolnshire is going to the Zoology Museum there with her family to see the Darwin exhibit. I am pea green with envy.

[Flo]

i love a good book shop, i will be sure to visit this one when I am next in Cambridge. I will also have to look into the Long Melford book fair. I now live in Kent but my family are in Suffolk so I viist reguarly. I have just written about my visit to a lovely littl book shop in Westleton near Dunwich, have you heard of it?

http://iwanttoliveinalighthouse.blogspot.com/2009/04/dunwich-march-2009.html

Flo

[Peta]

The Haunted Bookshop looks fabulous! I've just been browsing their online catalogue and it's so awfully tempting that I am almost glad they are not in Norwich as that could be financially ruinous!