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JonathanM
Bookseller and reader.
Interests: The decline of the West.
Recent Activity
That's brilliant Mike.
I once read a quote from one of their tour managers, with reference to the hotel they were staying at in Crystal Palace - They do things on the cheap and it always comes back and bites them on the bum.
Commented Mar 29, 2013 on Is the lady here? at The Bedside Crow
Is the lady here?
I open the door to welcome a woman pushing a buggy. The helpful lady is she here today? she asks me. Which one? I ask. The helpful tall lady, she tells me, the one who is always here. She is not, I say. It is Tuesday today and she only works on a Wednesday, I add. The woman sighs. She wraps thin...
Can I become an honorary member?
Commented Feb 22, 2013 on And then I laughed out loud. at The Bedside Crow
And then I laughed out loud.
Is this your shop? a lady asks me. I tell her it is. Can I leave some leaflets for Reiki? I nod. Just a few, she says. Do you own this shop? she asks me. I do, I say. Do you stock books on Spirituality? I look towards the section headed Spirituality. And Mind, Body and Spirt? I tell her we do. O...
All the fucking time. And we have a coffee shop next door On BOTH sides.
Commented Feb 15, 2013 on I am counting up the takings for the month. at The Bedside Crow
I am counting up the takings for the month.
A lady enters the shop carrying a box with amaz*n printed on the side. She walks around. She doesn't buy anything. I have counted up the numbers. It didn't take long. Sometimes,I think,the universe has a bastard sense of humour. [Possibly the point where I remind you that you can order online f...
Well, no more than usual eh? Thanks Belinda x
Commented Dec 28, 2012 on The number 63 special. at The Bedside Crow
The number 63 special.
Yesterday at five o'clock, as is our family tradition, we downed tools, locked the shop door and went to Beckenham for some Chinese food. I had been speaking with our friends at The Beckenham Bookshop about the restaurant which is their near neighbour. The food is very good, they said, but the J...
Bless you Mike, for remembering my previous finest hour. I hope you and yours are well.
Commented Nov 29, 2012 on Publishers, here's a tip from Bloomsbury. at The Bedside Crow
Publishers, here's a tip from Bloomsbury.
If your shortlisted book fails to win a major book award, just SAY that it did anyway. Not that the wonderful Ann Patchett shouldn't have won it (and did in fact for Bel Canto in 2002) but it's a tad wonky of her publisher, particularly when they also publish the real winner of the Orange Pri...
Isn't she just.
Commented Nov 12, 2012 on Book of the Week: Object Lessons. at The Bedside Crow
Book of the Week: Object Lessons.
Mal Vester had a pa who died in the Australian desert after drinking all the water from the radiator of his Land Rover. His momma had died just like the coroner said she had, even though he had lost the newspaper clipping that would have proved it. Not lost exactly. He had folded up the story a...
Nah, Sarah, just a couple of cards.
Commented Oct 31, 2012 on A woman wearing a red coat enters the shop. at The Bedside Crow
A woman wearing a red coat enters the shop.
She stands stock still in the middle of the room and turns to me. I thought you might have disappeared, she says to me. There is a silence. She looks around. But you haven't, she says. It is like that movie Don't Look Now. Except that it's not.
Game of Thrones. It seemed like a good fit and it's my job. I'm wondering if he will remember me in the morning though.
Commented Sep 30, 2012 on Get drunk early, come and buy a book. at The Bedside Crow
Get drunk early, come and buy a book.
It's a plan. Eleven o'clock and I open up. Across the road two men stand outside the pub with pints of lager. A minute later they are in the shop. I want a book to read, one of them says excitedly. A book? his friend says. Yes, a book, he says, I really want a book. What do you want a book for? ...
We done none. Possibly be cause I laugh uncontrollably every time someone asks me if I've read it.
Commented Sep 29, 2012 on So, today is officially the day for at The Bedside Crow
So, today is officially the day for
people to approach the counter and say, Have you sold many then? No, didn't think that you would I mean she may have all that money, but really, she should stick to what she knows best. The reviews have been crap haven't they, and apparently it's full of sex a swearing and drug taking. I mean I l...
It was great Mike. Apparently in the US Fox showed 45 mins highlights of the whole Paralympics.
Commented Sep 14, 2012 on On Wednesday we went to the Paralympics. at The Bedside Crow
On Wednesday we went to the Paralympics.
On the way in my Swiss Army penknife was confiscated. A nice RAF man said it was 'up to their discretion' and they had let much worse through, but a less nice Army man obviously thought I had the potential to stab someone and swiped it away. We watched the wheelchair rugby, GB versus the USA...
I am working on a medium-sized one. On the first page someone falls through a bookshop ceiling. Two men are sleeping in the shop. One of them is cuddling a cardboard cut-out of Morrissey.
That's enough for now.
Commented Aug 7, 2012 on I am not sure how we have reached this point. at The Bedside Crow
I am not sure how we have reached this point.
And I wish we hadn't. But we have. We have had a bit of an argument. He has demanded a pen and a piece of paper so that he can write down pages from a book. I have told him we are not a library. He tells me he is a grandfather five times over and he is not yet fifty. What's that got to do with a...
Sarah, what, what will they do when all these fields are Amazon? x
Commented Aug 7, 2012 on There is a man. at The Bedside Crow
There is a man.
He is looking at our postcards. And nodding his head. He is wearing a pair of Bowers and Wilkins headphones. How much are your postcards? he asks me. Sixty five pence, I tell him. Each! he says. Each, I say. He spends quite a long time looking through the cards, and then comes to the counter wit...
There is Martin, rest assured the estate agents have found it.
Commented Jul 25, 2012 on She is on the phone. at The Bedside Crow
She is on the phone.
The thing is, she says, they're getting divorced and they want two eight five and we made them an offer of two five five, and so okay we then upped it to two six five, but I want to say to them, It's not my fault you're getting divorced, I mean, I'm sympathetic and everything, but I just don't s...
WELL DONE ALAN :)
Stella, With the exception of Ali Smith in paperback I have 4 times as many copies of your book than any of the others. You should come and sign them. x
Commented Jul 1, 2012 on Fresh! at The Bedside Crow
Fresh!
Fresh out of the box this morning. New novels from Stella Duffy and John Banville. New paperbacks from Ali Smith and Hari Kunzru and Traveller of the Century in translation. Somthing for all the family.
Thanks Sian. When we went to New York we took a lot of guides and Frommers was the best.
The Time Out thing makes no sense. A couple of years ago they made The Exhibition Rooms their neighbourhood restaurant of the year, to not even mention it (and some even better restuarants) is nuts.
Commented Apr 16, 2012 on The Time Out 2012 Guide to some parts of London. at The Bedside Crow
The Time Out 2012 Guide to some parts of London.
Not a single mention for any of our brilliant rrestaurants, pubs or shops. Barely a mention for the park too, aside from a slightly sneery comment that the dinosaurs are decidedly inaccurate. I never noticed before, but I suppose the *hipper* parts of London must have decidedly accurate dinosa...
Mike, have just read The Broken Shore on H's recommendation. I think you have previously recommended it to me too. What a great book. Have just started The Truth. Mentioned you in dispatches on Saturday when I met up with H for the first time in a long time.
Commented Apr 10, 2012 on Bookselling; it's a rare science, my friends. A rare science. at The Bedside Crow
Bookselling; it's a rare science, my friends. A rare science.
That book that you recommended to me, a lady says, I really liked it. The Sea on Fire, I say. (See just over there on the left). Yes, she says, it's really good, you can tell he really knows his diving. I'm going to buy a copy for a friend. That's great, I say, I'm glad you like it. She leaves w...
No but the author has the (actually) engaging habit of talking about himself in the third person because he was there when the events took place.
Commented Mar 23, 2012 on Jubilee Hitchhiker the life and times of Richard Brautigan at The Bedside Crow
Jubilee Hitchhiker the life and times of Richard Brautigan
Genius does what it must, and talent does what it can. Epigraph quoted from a fortune cookie at the front of the book. Twenty years in the writing and 850 pages fat. With some great photographs. Tom McGuane, Jim Harrison Philip Caputo, Tim Cahill, Peter Fonda, Jeff Bridges, Michael McClure, Don...
It's a keeper, I think, Belinda.
Commented Feb 29, 2012 on and we were tickled no more. at The Bedside Crow
and we were tickled no more.
We needed a new shower hose. The one we had had sprung a leak and if you were not careful you could get an extra shower in a special place. Not that there was anything particularly wrong with that, except that it could tickle and there is not much dignity in laughing alone when wet. We were pass...
Man up John. Man up.
Commented Feb 10, 2012 on What I read. #fridayreads at The Bedside Crow
What I read. #fridayreads
The Sea on Fire by Howard Cunnell. Howard is an old friend who at one time when we ran wild and free was my almost brother-in-law, and his book is a beauty. Imagine if you will, a cross between The Long Good Friday and Point Break both thrilling and original in its portrayal of a diving trip go...
Nah. But plenty of other people did.
Commented Jan 23, 2012 on Girl says at The Bedside Crow
Girl says
I realise that this is probably a really stupid question, but I'm looking for a cover for my kindle, you don't stock them do you? I tell her not, but admit that I have considered stocking the Moleskine version, only hesitating because they are so expensive. She shrugs. Anyway, she says, when I'm...
You should have charged for a fifty minute hour x
Commented Jan 19, 2012 on I hope you don't mind me asking this rather odd question. at The Bedside Crow
I hope you don't mind me asking this rather odd question.
My customer leans towards me and looks me in the eye, But your name isn't Gareth is it? Um, no, I say. Are you sure? He asks. Not Gareth Crow? Not even a Crow, I say. Crow is my partner's name, I add. Not a common name, Crow, he says. Are you sure you don't know a Gareth Crow? I'm sure, I say. N...
Sarah, I'm glum too, can you tell? I was in NY this time last year and would love to be back there now. x
Commented Jan 19, 2012 on The Believer magazine issue eighty-six. at The Bedside Crow
The Believer magazine issue eighty-six.
Brilliant cover for the latest edition of The Believer containing an article on A History of Literature Created by Erasure, Collage, Omission, and White Out rightly beginning in 1966 with Tom Philips' Humument in which the artist makes art from a Victorian novel bought on Peckham Rye. ...
The first rule of Flight Club - Read more books.
Discover a new book every month selected and sent to you by The Bookseller Crow. It's that simple. Each month we will send you a book that we think deserves your attention, mostly, but perhaps not always, this will be a novel, or a book of short stories, in paperback.... Continue reading
Posted Jan 11, 2012 at OLD The Flight Club
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Sian,...as she pulls on her chuggers vest and heads to Camden. Oh well, I hope it works for her x
Commented Jan 9, 2012 on Rubbish bookmark. at The Bedside Crow
Rubbish bookmark.
Swing label from a piece of Fat Face clothing. Just think, somebody shared a Christmas dinner table with the twat responsible for this. I hope they ate too much pudding and ended up sitting on the toilet for most of the night. It's the least we could wish for. Bonus points to anyone who can id...
Stef You win the bonus points, it is The Family Fang. Have you read it?
Commented Jan 9, 2012 on Rubbish bookmark. at The Bedside Crow
Rubbish bookmark.
Swing label from a piece of Fat Face clothing. Just think, somebody shared a Christmas dinner table with the twat responsible for this. I hope they ate too much pudding and ended up sitting on the toilet for most of the night. It's the least we could wish for. Bonus points to anyone who can id...
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