In Praise (yet again) of Persephone Books. . .

As the summer draws to a close, we're very busy doing all sorts of projects to spruce the house up. I have guests coming in a month from Canada (hooray!) and so we're painting the spare room, finally getting around to hanging up pictures that have been leaning against walls for ages, weeding the garden, and generally GETTING THINGS DONE!

It's been over two years, but I'm finally starting to get all my books sorted.  It's taken me some time to convince the Liverpud that books (and bookcases) do furnish a room, and then to persuade him to take me to IKEA where the crowds and parking always fill him with dread. 

At any rate, on our last trip, I picked up two smaller Billy bookcases and got the accompanying glass doors, purely to house my beloved Persephones.  Possibly the most beautiful books in the world, they deserve no less.  I've been collecting them for over ten years now and have yet to read one that I haven't enjoyed. 

The birth of Persephone Books coincided more or less with the time that I started working in publishing. Back then, imprints often produced really lovely tote bags for marketing purposes but these started to decline in size and quality.  So I was absolutely delighted when Persephone announced they had one for sale.  Isn't it lovely?  It's big and roomy with a solid bottom and strong handles.

But the best part (and really, would we expect less of Persephone?) is the lining, based on the endpapers for one of their books - The Winds of Heaven by Monica Dickens.  Gorgeous!  It's the perfect book and knitting bag and I've got the perfect project to go into it.

Along with the bag, I ordered their latest book - Wilfred and Eileen by Jonathan Smith which I've just finished reading as part of my ongoing (albeit slow) challenge to tackle numerous books on and about the First World War during the next four years.

Aren't the endpapers stunning?  It's from a 1913 fabric called Maud, designed by Vanessa Bell.

It's a very interesting novel to compare and read alongside Persephone's first ever book - William: An Englishman by Cicely Hamilton.  Each features a couple falling in love and marrying during the First World War and focuses on their idealisms and naivete, and the inevitable loss of innocence and future plans that the conflict brings.  The characters and outcomes are very different though - written as they are, almost sixty years apart - but Smith's novel was based on an actual couple and their experiences and through their letters, he has been able to capture details and ambience from the period. It's another worthy offering from Persephone and a very moving story.  

Counting My Sheep. . .

We spent a rainy weekend in the Lake District completing one long recce for an upcoming walk that the Liverpudlian is leading at the end of the month (I was following, trying to make notes in the rain), and enjoying a couple of nice meals and a lovely B & B.  But by Sunday we'd only just dried out our boots and gear and it was just too wet to contemplate another walk.  We read the paper in a cafe and did a little local shopping in Ambleside.  At Fred Holdsworth's Bookshop I couldn't resist buying Counting Sheep: A Celebration of the Pastoral Heritage of Britain by Philip Walling.  It's the perfect bedside book don't you think?  And I loved that the bookseller was knitting a gorgeous purple cabled sock behind the counter.  We had a chat about how Ambleside really needed a good yarn shop.



I counted dozens of pink sheep near Hartsop on our walk  - a whole flock of them dotting the hillsides.  I don't know if their markings had run or if they were dyed for a special purpose but they were certainly a sight to see. 

And they probably unconsciously led to my other lovely purchase - this pink and gray wool felt bag from Urban Country.  I bought it in a new shop called GEAR in Ambleside. Despite its name, it does not sell walking paraphernalia, but is a gift shop full of lovely things. These bags were in their front window and I just couldn't resist.  And it's definitely big enough for all my daily bits and bobs, my lunch, a book and a large knitting project. 

Woolly Wants. . .

One of the lovely things about living in the UK is that I am now truly in the land of sheep and wool. British people tend to think you're a bit strange when you go potty over sheep but no matter where you live on this island, you don't have to go far to see a fields of them. But despite this, the wool industry isn't as robust as one might think and I've been in several yarn shops in the country that strangely don't stock a lot of British wool. However, this may be changing.  There have been lots of recent campaigns to bring wool to the national consciousness as a wonderful and sustainable material to use in fashion and home furnishings, and something to be proud of.  The Campaign For Wool hosts an entire week devoted to celebrating the fibre in October. I would love some day to be able to attend all the wonderful events happening at the Shetland Wool Week  but it's a bit far; hopefully I'll pop over to Yorkshire for their Wool Week festivities instead.

Meanwhile, I'm obsessing these days about wool throws. I know it's summer but it can get chilly in the evenings and I like to snuggle under a blanket on the couch.  All our couches are beige (the Liverpud is quite basic in his decorating style) and I need to punch them up with some colour.  I also love using wool throws as a blanket over the bed, not only for another needed burst of colour, but there's nothing warmer or cosier. And yes, I'm very far behind in my ongoing hexi-puff knitted quilt and I really need to sew up my knitted log cabin quilt.  But it's just so much easier to drool over the gorgeous throws at this Yorkshire company with the enticing name of Bronte. Just beautiful stuff, and I love how all their goods are manufactured from start to finish in their mill in Guiseley, trying to be as environmentally conscious as they can.   They also create lovely bags and I'm really coveting this Heathcliff.

A Lovely Visit to Ottawa or Things You Can't Get in Toronto. . .

Took the train up to Ottawa at the end of last week for a brief work jaunt.  It's a city that grows on me each time I visit.  I love all the bike trails (and they now have a barricaded bike lane on Laurier - similar to some of the lanes they've installed in Montreal), and it's such a pretty city to walk around, particularly in the fall and especially with the gorgeous weather we've been having recently.

As with any travel destination, I'm always drawn to shops and restaurants that aren't available in my home city. On this trip, I booked a later train home to give me some extra free time, and I'm afraid I over-indulged in some retail therapy. Here are just a few haunts I like in the nation's capital city.

Places to Eat:
Best place to go for breakfast:  The Scone Witch  (love their lemon poppyseed and their herb & onion scones - I always get extra for the train ride home.)

Favourite place to pick up a latte: Ottawa's local chain Bridgehead  (they also have a awesome lemon scone - can you sense a theme here?)

Favourite Thai Restaurant:  Khao Thai.  They have a really yummy appetizer platter of satay chicken, spring rolls and minced pork served on orange slices.  I also like their peanut sauce and their pad thai which is not bright orange.

New Favourite Restaurant:  Zen Kitchen.  This was my first ever all-vegan meal and it was delicious. So many interesting flavour combinations.

Unique stores to check out:
Cool clothing: Roadtrip   Always something original and fun to see.

Housewares and gifts:  Zone  (they also have great costume jewelry and awesome bags - I've been looking for a new fall bag in an earthy tone and found this great two-in-one number. They can be used separately, or the smaller one attaches on the inside of the larger, allowing for important things to be enclosed with a zipper and other miscellany - knitting, a book - to be shoved down around it. It's the perfect size - I really love it!)

French books:  Librairie du Soleil.  Located in the Market, I always pop in for a browse. I like to see the different covers on the French editions of books I've read, and in my unending optimism that I'll make the time to improve my French, I usually end up buying something.  This trip, I found two beautifully packaged classics - the subject for another blog post once I get my camera sorted.

Yarn: Of course I have to check out local yarn stores and I really like Yarn Forward in the Glebe area.  I found some gorgeous chunky wool in a deep red colour and bought all four skeins that they had. Started my first sweater on the train ride home and have now run out with only 60% completed.  I'm hoping I can find more here in Toronto and the search will start in earnest next week.  I've modified a simple pattern and added some extra texture. It may all prove to be quite daft - I'll have to see how it looks when it's done. But it's been a lot of fun to knit.

Picked up some magazines, CDs and a summery shirt on sale as well - I was really quite bad. Ah well, it's all out of my system now. . .

Tales From TIFF. . .

I haven't bought one yet, but I do love the TIFF messenger bag and actually all of their merchandise is quite nice and reasonably priced. It's the films though, that have taken a large chunk out of my credit card but so far, so good.

I started yesterday with a real winner - a gorgeously filmed tribute to black and white films and the silent era.  It was The Artist, directed by Michel Hazanavicius who I applaud for having the artistic guts  to create a silent film in this 21st century of 3D movies and state of the art special effects, not that he doesn't imaginatively employ a few of the latter himself.  Jean Dujardin stars as George Valentin,  a charming, successful silent film actor whose career spirals downward when the talkies come to Hollywood. Berenice Bejo is  Peppy Miller, a struggling actress given her first break by Valentin, but as her career soars, her attempts to help George revive his career, come up against his pride and ego.  The plot resembles a lot of movies from the 1920s and 30s, but what makes The Artist such a cinematic treat is - ironically for a silent movie - the director's clever use of sound.  There is almost zero dialogue in the entire movie or sound effects, but when they do make an appearance, they are used so effectively in enhancing both the humour and the style of the whole picture.  There's a dream sequence that is just brilliant.  There are definite homages to Singing in the Rain and the dance partnerships of Fred Astaire with both Ginger Rogers and Eleanor Powell;  Dujardin is also definitely channelling the charm of Gene Kelly.  I loved, loved this film. Great score too - a must for a silent film. 

I then dashed off to see Andrea Arnold's adaptation of Wuthering Heights.  I'm still in two minds about this one.  There were aspects of the film that I liked very much.  She certainly got the weather right;  I was chatting to someone afterwards about the film and he said it could have been renamed "the four seasons of Wuthering Heights".  And I thought it was interesting to have the entire film shot from Heathcliff's point of view.  So no Lockwood, and Nelly plays a very minor role.  However, I really wished she'd filmed the whole book. This is a novel about an intricate plot of revenge and also about the healing of the two houses at the end.  As such, you really need to tell the story of the next generation - the second Cathy, Linton and Hareton.  I don't know why film-makers always shy away from this.  Arnold takes a few tentative steps - she does show Heathcliff wrestling ownership of Wuthering Heights from Hindley, but that's about it, choosing instead to focus on the childhood Cathy and Heathcliff, who is played as a runaway slave, by a black actor, which works very effectively although a lot of his language, especially his cursing, seemed too modern for the period (I could be completely wrong about this).  The younger actors, especially the younger Cathy were terrific, which made the appearance of the older Cathy, played by a different actress, quite a let down. I actually thought it was Isabella when she first came on screen. It's a very visceral film; full of mud and wildlife (maybe too many dead bunnies for my liking) and raw emotions, and it's certainly different from other adaptations.  But I still think the definitive film has yet to be made.

It's In the Bag. . .

Moleskine now has bags???  Okay, I'm officially lusting after this one called "The Reporter". I love the elastic band that wraps around it, just like it does on their notebooks.  You can see the full line at their website here.