Weather
My Booky Nook (From The Argus)
Get involved: Send your news, views, pictures and video by texting SUPIC to 80360 or email us.
My Booky Nook
7:41pm Sunday 28th June 2009
By Alice Wright - Reluctant Housewife »
Am following up my last literary post with another - but this time Baby gets in on the action! A gorgeous new bookshop for kids opened up near me in Hove recently and it seemed the perfect place to meet up with another local mother for a catch up, little did I know I could fall in love with a shop, but I have.
The Book Nook on First Avenue has lifted the ordinary book shop into something magical, especially for mums as it also includes a little café and cakeshop serving the most delicious homemade eatables around. It’s a large safe space, light and airy and full to bursting with lovely new books aimed at every age of child and teen, there is also a shelf or two about parenting and some new adult fiction so you can browse for yourself too. In the middle of the floor is a ‘real’ pirate ship full of toys and books that little ones can sit in while they check out the wares or listen to some stories.
I was very pleased to see that amongst the newer releases there were plenty of familiar and traditional books I remember from my own childhood. Which reminded me how happy I had been recently to see a large window display in the Purple Heart gift shop (North Laine) to mark the 40th Anniversary of The Very Hungry Caterpillar (what that caterpillar eats on Day Six is like me with a hangover!) You will definitely want to buy something; the books seem so chunky and friendly. I couldn’t resist a Scanimation book full of moving animal images and a nice modern take on the Zoetrope. The choice is so wide and varied and so well displayed I could have easily bought more, bookshops are bookshops and always tempting no matter what age they are aimed at. Baby was happy running around, sitting in the ship, looking at the shiny things on shelf and the cheerful staff were also happy to let him do what he wanted.
What really impressed me was how seriously they took the business of children’s books, I know its become almost too big a business in the past few years due to the literary juggernaut that is Harry Potter. But there was still plenty of charm and sincerity here, they treat their young customers well and afford them the same interaction, promotion and importance as any Waterstones would for you and I – employing a regular storyteller, holding themed days, hosting author talks and running competitions. They are also part of the Be Local, Buy Local scheme and want to establish links with neighbouring schools.
My friend and I got chance to relax over a cup of tea and a slice of hugest Victoria sponge I have ever seen while our small charges enjoyed a healthy flapjack sitting in the large, clean high-chairs. I have now decided to have all of my local mother meets in there, which could become rather expensive if I get tempted to buy something every time I go in!
The Book Nook, First Avenue, Hove BN3 2FJ 01273 911988
Your Say YourArgus
Alice Wright, says...
12:23pm Tue 7 Jul 09
If you look this pair up on Wikipedia there is a great photo of Sophia wearing the treasures they found - extraordinary!
The nearest blue plaque to me (I think) well the one I see most often is for local architect CA Busby which is fitting.
Also cartoonist John Leech is nearby who sadly doesn't get it for his own merit rather because his friend Charles Dickens visited him there!
I'd love for my own house to have a blue plaque - well maybe one day when I am dead it will do!!!
;-)
Until next time... RH
anubis, hove says...
7:21pm Thu 2 Jul 09
At the time, I muttered things about another famous anarchist resident of your area, I couldn't find some notes I had somewhere, so was not able to specify exactly where Heinrich and Sophia Schliemann had rented a house on the Brighton seafront, at 151 King's Road, probably situated in your patch today!? When I looked, many years ago, there was no 'blue plaque' .. it's a pity if it's forgotten.
Schliemann was an 'amateur' German archaeologist (in the days before there really was such a profession). Since childhood, he'd been obsessed with the location of the legendary Troy, so as a successful businessman, he retired at the early age of 36 years, and set out to find Troy (teaching himself Greek and Russian while he was about it).
Realizing he needed an educated Greek speaking wife, he advertised in an Athens newspaper and found Sophia, who was able to help him use the ancient texts to locate, successfully, where the several cities of Troy had existed, one upon the other, and also that of Mycenae. These discoveries (and they are an exciting and enormous area for study!) took place over the years 1858 - 1890. His wild amateur 'digging' caused much damage -- but as I've said, these were early days for archaeology.
In 1873 (?) he came to London to speak about his discoveries to the Royal Society of Antiquities, was entertained by members of Parliament; Sophia was rather ill with fevers she'd picked up somewhere and the doctors recommended she spend some months in Brighton. They rented the house on the sea front, in King's Road. It is recorded that Heinrich wrote to his wife from London, appreciating her being upset at missing the meetings, but, looking on the bright side (!!!), reminded her that as she was a woman, she "wouldn't be allowed to attend the events at the Royal Society".
So next time you see a picture of the "Lion Gate", think of the one-time Brunswick resident who found it ... and discovered all the nearby graves ... to say nothing of the four excavations he mounted at the palace of Priam.