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2010 Events | Past Events
Throughout
the year, mostly books runs
many events - ranging from children's
fun days, to meet-the-author talks and signings. To register your
interest in a particular event, email us at books@mostly-books.co.uk
or subscribe to our newsletter.
| Feb
2010 |
Thursday
Feb 11
2pm |
Regular
Storytime for Under-5s
|
Thursday
Feb 11
7.30pm |
Author
Event
Ben Macintyre
Times
columnist, historian and author Ben
Macintyre comes to Abingdon to discuss his new top
secret book about an unlikely, yet staggeringly successful,
wartime deception that changed the course of World War II
- 'Operation Mincemeat'.
Ben was
the author of the bestselling book 'Agent Zigzag',
the story of wartime double agent Eddie Chapman, (currently
in production as a film to be produced by Tom Hanks next year).
As unlikely as Eddie's life was, the story of Operation Mincemeat
is altogether more bizarre - and the stakes much higher. One
April morning in 1943, a sardine fisherman spotted the corpse
of a British soldier floating in the sea off the coast of
Spain and set in train a course of events that would hoodwink
the Nazi espionage chiefs, sent German troops hurtling in
the wrong direction, and saved thousands of lives by deploying
a secret agent who was different, in one crucial respect,
from any spy before or since: he was dead.
"The
complexities and consequences of the story that Macintyre
tells in Operation Mincemeat are compelling - a tribute to
his impressive abilities as a sleuth…and to his capacities
as a writer"
- William Boyd
"Ben
Macintyre turns up trumps in this rollicking tale of a second
world war mission to dupe the Germans by using a corpse bearing
fictional military plans"
- Max Hastings
Come along
and hear Ben talk about the book in the new Sports Centre
Hospitality Suite at Abingdon School on Thursday, February
11th at 7.30pm. Tickets are £5 and can be reserved
by emailing books@mostly-books.co.uk
or call 01235 525880.
|
Thursday
Feb 18
2pm |
Regular
Storytime for Under-5s
|
Thursday
Feb 18
7pm |
Thursday
Evening Bookgroup
We meet be discussing Sarah Waters' The Little Stranger.
|
Friday
Feb 19
7.30pm |
Sara
Paretsky
Sara
Paretsky is the author of the VI Warshawski novels,
and is often credited with transforming the role and image
of women in the crime novel through the creation of her detective
V.I. Warshawski. By creating a female investigator
who uses her wits as well as her fists, Paretsky challenged
a genre in which women typically were either vamps or victims.
Her first
book 'Indemnity Only' has been followed by twelve more best-selling
Warshawski novels. In February, her latest, Hardball,
is published in the UK. Read
what we thought about the new Warshawski on BBC Oxford
recently.
Her books
have been filmed and dramatised for radio. Called "passionate"
and "electrifying" V.I. Warshawski reflects her creator's
own passion for social justice. Paretsky is an impassioned
advocate for those on society's margins. She worked as a community
organizer on Chicago's South Side during the turbulent race
riots of 1966, and more recently, Paretsky served with then-state
senator Barack Obama on the board of Thresholds, which serves
Chicago's mentally ill homeless. She has mentored teens in
Chicago's most troubled schools, and works closely with literacy
and reproductive rights groups. In 1986 she created Sisters
in Crime, a worldwide organization to support women crime
writers, and the British Crime Writers awarded her the Cartier
Diamond Dagger for lifetime achievement.
Paretsky
lives on Chicago's south side with her husband, a professor
of physics at the University of Chicago's Fermi Institute."
This event
takes place in Abingdon Guildhall's Roysse Room at 7.30pm.
Tickets are £6 (£3 for Mostly Booklovers).
and can be reserved by
emailing books@mostly-books.co.uk
or calling 01235 525880.
|
Wed
Feb 24
2pm |
BBC
Oxford Afternoon Book Club
Five books under discussion on the Jo Thoenes show.
|
Thursday
Feb 25
4pm |
Book
Signing
Linda Newbery
Linda
Newbery is a former English teacher, and award-winning children's
author. Best-known for young adult novels such as Set In
Stone, Sisterland and The Shell House (which won
the Costa Children's Book of the Year Award in 2006).
Linda
now writes full time, and for younger readers as well. We
are big fans of the Cat Tales in the shop, and Linda
is also the author of the Catherine Rayner-illustrated picture
book Posy.
Come
along to Mostly Books on Thursday, February 25th at 4pm to
meet Linda, who will be signing copies of all her books. If
you can't make it to the shop, copies can be reserved by emailing
books@mostly-books.co.uk.
|
Thursday
Feb 25
2pm |
Regular
Storytime for Under-5s
|
| Mar
2010 |
Mon
Mar 1
7.30pm |
Publisher
Event
Can't Read, Won't Read
There are many reasons that children struggle with reading.
Whilst there is a lot of help, advice and resources out there
to help you help your child, it can sometimes be a challenge
to know where to start, and do the right thing and what you,
as a parent or teacher, can do to unlock the door to more
confidence.
So how can you help your children develop a love of reading?
We would like to welcome you to an author evening - hosted
by specialist publishers Barrington Stoke - with the
latest books and advice for reluctant and struggling readers
and what parents can do to help.
Barrington Stoke is a publishing company with a difference.
They commission bestselling authors to write great stories
for kids in a way that appeals to struggling and reluctant
readers.
The event takes place at Larkmead School on Monday, March
1 at 7.30pm, and is open to parents, teachers - or anyone
interested in how to get kids reading. Drinks and refreshments
will be provided on the evening. Tickets are £3
and available from Mostly Books. Reserve
tickets here.
|
Tue
Mar 2
5.15pm |
Author
Event
Douglas Hurd
From
1979-90 Lord Hurd of Westwell (Douglas Hurd) served
in Margaret Thatcher's and John Major's governments as Secretary
of State for Northern Ireland, Home Secretary and Foreign
Secretary. Viewed as one of the Conservative Party's senior
elder statesmen, he is a patron of the Tory Reform Group,
and remains an active figure in public life.
His latest
book 'Choose Your Weapons: 200 Years of the British Foreign
Secretary' centres on the historical debate of two opposing
methods of being a foreign secretary, reflecting his fascination
- both as diplomat and foreign secretary - of when and how
to intervene. It's a debate that has run for two centuries,
and remains at the heart of heated discussion on both sides
of the Atlantic today. The book concentrates on personalities
and circumstances, different approaches - and the results.
Lord Hurd
will be lecturing to Abingdon's Edmund Society in an open
event at Abingdon School on "Rights and Wrongs in Foreign
Policy" and signing copies of his book. The event - at 5.15pm
on Tuesday March 2 - is free, but you do need a ticket,
available at Mostly Books. Reserve
tickets here.
|
Thursday
Mar 4
2pm |
Regular
Storytime for Under-5s
|
Wed
Mar 10
7.30pm |
Special
Bookgroup Meeting
Roma Tearne - Brixton Beach
Roma
Tearne is a Sri Lankan born artist and writer, whose first
novel, Mosquito, was shortlisted for the 2007 Costa
Book Awards first Novel prize.
In
a very special meeting of two of the regular bookgroups, Roma
will be joining in the discussion on her latest book Brixton
Beach, one of the novels selected for this year's TV Book
Club.
The
evening event is open to all - with two provisos. We will
be holding the event in the shop, so places are limited. The
second is that you must have read the book!
|
Thursday
Mar 11
2pm |
Regular
Storytime for Under-5s
|
Thur
Mar 11
7.30pm |
Author
Event
John Gribbin
We
once had to abandon the idea of earth being at the centre
of the universe. Now, we need to confront an even more profound
possibility: the universe itself might just be one universe
among many.
On Thursday,
March 11th join 'the master of popular science writing' (The
Times) John Gribbin at the Guildhall in Abingdon as he takes
us on a mind-bending, and time-travelling journey to the very
frontiers of current scientific theory - and on to the multiverse.
John worked
for the journal Nature and New Scientist, before becoming
the bestselling author of books such as In Search of Schrödinger's
Cat, In Search of the Double Helix and In Search
of the Big Bang. Biographical subjects have included Stephen
Hawking, Richard Feynman, Galileo, Buddy Holly and most recently
James Lovelock. He has even written a biography of the Universe
itself. Together with his wife Mary, he has written science
books for children, including the brilliant Time Travel
for Beginners for any budding Dr Whos out there.
His latest
books include In Search of the Multiverse and Timeswitch,
his first science fiction novel for ten years. His books have
received science-writing awards both in the UK and the US.
Since 1993, Gribbin has been a Visiting Fellow in Astronomy
at the University of Sussex, chiefly working on the problem
of determining the age of the Universe. In 2009, John was
given a Lifetime Achievement award by the Association of British
Science Writers.
Given
Abingdon's proximity to Oxford, and the science campuses of
Harwell and Culham, we expect interest in this writer to be
significant, and recommend booking tickets early. Tickets
are £7. To reserve your place, please email books@mostly-books.co.uk
or phone 01235 525880.
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Featured
Events
Friday,
Feb 19, 7.30pm
Sara
Paretsky
Sara
Paretsky is the author of the VI Warshawski novels,
and is often credited with transforming the role and image
of women in the crime novel through the creation of her
detective V.I. Warshawski. By creating a female
investigator who uses her wits as well as her fists, Paretsky
challenged a genre in which women typically were either
vamps or victims.
Her
first book 'Indemnity Only' has been followed by twelve
more best-selling Warshawski novels. In February, her
latest, Hardball, is published in the UK.
Her
books have been filmed and dramatised for radio. Called
"passionate" and "electrifying" V.I. Warshawski reflects
her creator's own passion for social justice. Paretsky
is an impassioned advocate for those on society's margins.
She worked as a community organizer on Chicago's South
Side during the turbulent race riots of 1966, and more
recently, Paretsky served with then-state senator Barack
Obama on the board of Thresholds, which serves Chicago's
mentally ill homeless. She has mentored teens in Chicago's
most troubled schools, and works closely with literacy
and reproductive rights groups. In 1986 she created Sisters
in Crime, a worldwide organization to support women crime
writers, and the British Crime Writers awarded her the
Cartier Diamond Dagger for lifetime achievement.
Paretsky
lives on Chicago's south side with her husband, a professor
of physics at the University of Chicago's Fermi Institute."
This
event takes place in Abingdon Guildhall's Roysse Room
at 7.30pm. Tickets are £6 (£3 for
Mostly Booklovers). and can be reserved by
emailing books@mostly-books.co.uk
or calling 01235 525880.
|
|
Thursday,
Mar 11, 7.30pm
John
Gribbin
We
once had to abandon the idea of earth being at the centre
of the universe. Now, we need to confront an even more profound
possibility: the universe itself might just be one universe
among many.
On Thursday,
March 11th join 'the master of popular science writing' (The
Times) John Gribbin at the Guildhall in Abingdon as he takes
us on a mind-bending, and time-travelling journey to the very
frontiers of current scientific theory - and on to the multiverse.
John worked
for the journal Nature and New Scientist, before becoming
the bestselling author of books such as In Search of Schrödinger's
Cat, In Search of the Double Helix and In Search
of the Big Bang. Biographical subjects have included Stephen
Hawking, Richard Feynman, Galileo, Buddy Holly and most recently
James Lovelock. He has even written a biography of the Universe
itself. Together with his wife Mary, he has written science
books for children, including the brilliant Time Travel
for Beginners for any budding Dr Whos out there.
His latest
books include In Search of the Multiverse and Timeswitch,
his first science fiction novel for ten years. His books have
received science-writing awards both in the UK and the US.
Since 1993, Gribbin has been a Visiting Fellow in Astronomy
at the University of Sussex, chiefly working on the problem
of determining the age of the Universe. In 2009, John was
given a Lifetime Achievement award by the Association of British
Science Writers.
Given
Abingdon's proximity to Oxford, and the science campuses of
Harwell and Culham, we expect interest in this writer to be
significant, and recommend booking tickets early. Tickets
are £7. To reserve your place, please email books@mostly-books.co.uk
or phone 01235 525880.
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