Tag Archives: Gifts

September 14, 2012

Bookish Mugs for Autumn

By bibliomouse

I don’t know what the weather is like in the rest of the country/world but here in the North East it’s cold and blustery. Autumn is  actually my favourite season, with its woolly jumpers, boots, scarves and crunchy leaves. It’s also perfect weather to curl up with a book and a mug of something hot and comforting. I’ll be sharing a selection of cosy books soon but for today I have fabulous mugs.

 

 

First up is my favourite Roald Dahl character and all-round amazing nerd, Matilda. I did have a hard time choosing which of the Roald Dahl character mugs to feature (the BFG one is pretty ace, as is Fantastic Mr. Fox), but it had to be Matilda. I’m sure I uttered the same words as her when I’d worked my way through my primary school’s library, but luckily my Mum was a little more sympathetic than Mrs. Wormwood.

Matilda is £7.95 from Bloomsbury & Co.

 

This comes from an incredibly popular range of designs but this is the original (other designs include ‘Go away, I’m blogging’ and ‘Go away, I’m marking’, perfect for any teacher/lecturer friends). A friend bought it for me last Christmas and I have absolutely no reason* to think that it was because I get grumpy when my reading is interrupted.

It’s bone china and is £9.95 from The Literary Gift Company.

*ok, maybe considerable reason.

I love this range of mugs which are inspired by the ability of a good book to transport the reader somewhere different and magical. The ‘stops’ are places from the book in question, with the Little Women mug featuring ‘Orchard House’ and ‘Camp Laurie’ among others. I adore Jo March so this one was an easy choice but there are also  Pride and Prejudice, the Great Gatsby and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas  mugs. My inner-geek also likes the fact that they’re stackable for easy storage (no, really).

These are £7.95 from Not the Usual.

Mr Mouse and I recently rediscovered the joy of Scrabble, if not a memory of the exact rules. You’re allowed to swear in various languages, yes? I like the simplicity of these mugs, despite the fact that my initial is worth a dismal 1 point. Sometimes I like to drink slightly more exciting things from pretty mugs, like gin, and having a reminder of my name might be a good plan…

These are £6.95 from The Literary Gift Company.

Finally, if a normal mug just isn’t big enough for you coffee/tea/gin needs then this monster from Emma Bridgewater might be for you. It holds a pint of your tipple of choice and is rather pretty too. It’s not literary but you could fit a lot of marshmallows on the top of your hot chocolate which is enough for me.

Priced at £24.95, it’s obviously not a budget option but Emma Bridgewater stuff is gorgeous and, as I can personally attest, they’re really hard to break… Get yours here.

4 comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in Gifts, Shiny!

June 16, 2012

Alice in Wonderland, illustrated by Yayoi Kusama

By bibliomouse


Publisher: Penguins Classics

ISBN: 978-0141197302

Publication date: 2nd February 2012

I’ve been in a bit of a writing rut recently, so whilst I battle away with actual reviews, I thought I’d do a quick post with photos of a gorgeous edition of Alice in Wonderland . It’s illustrated by the Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, whose art features both abstract and non-abstract use of polka dots. It’s absolutely beautiful and I think the illustrations really fit with Lewis Carroll’s style.

It’s £20.00 and would make a brilliant present for either a lover of Alice or a lover of lovely books.

1 comment   |  tags: , , | posted in Shiny!, Uncategorized

April 17, 2012

More pretty books

By bibliomouse

(photo from Virago’s tweet)

Twitter is good for many things. Many people would say that one of their favourite things about it are the stupidly cute pictures of animals that people tweet, but I prefer the ridiculously pretty book pictures (ok, I love the sloths too). These beauties are the latest Virago Modern Classics Designer titles, designed by Neisha Crosland, and are just gorgeous. Following on from the publication of My Cousin Rachel that I featured last year, Virago have chosen three more Daphne du Maurier favourites: Rebecca, Jamaica Inn and Frenchman’s Creek. Obviously I’m excited about the lovely new Rebecca, but I think that Jamaica Inn might be the prettiest, which is handy as it’s one of my favourite Du Maurier novels.

The books will be out in May 2012, and will be £12.99.

1 comment   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Comforting Reads, Gifts, Shiny!

February 6, 2012

Valentine’s gifts for book lovers

By bibliomouse

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner but there’s still time to drop some hints about lovely book-themed gifts, or treat someone special (that person can definitely be yourself!)

This origami card is lovely, with a heart folded from an old Turkish text and a sweet message which looks like it’s been typed on an old typewriter. Romance and punnery, perfect for book and type geeks alike, from one of my favourite sites for literary loveliness, Bookish.

£3.00 here

I love Scrabble and this ‘upcycled’ Scrabble brooch is fabulous. Simple and striking, it also comes in ‘geek’ and ‘riot’ for the less sappy amongst you.

£8.00 here

If you don’t want to give just a card, why not give a booklet of poetry instead? This adorable little package includes poems about tea by poets such as Carol Ann Duffy, Thomas Hardy and Jo Shapcott, and a matching bookmark.  Lots of variations are available including poems on love, mothers, cats and, rather brilliantly, puddings. From old favourite, The Literary Gift Company.

£4.95 here

Love poems here

The Literary Gift Company have also just brought out three mugs like this, each with a romantic scene from a different literary classic. I’ve chosen the one featuring the first kiss between Beatrice and Benedict in Much Ado About Nothing, my favourite Shakespeare play. I love how each mug only shows a tiny bit of the scene, which made me immediately go and look it up to remind myself!

£9.95 here

I’ve been thinking a lot about how I feel about these roses. That they’re gorgeous and special (and pricey) is not in doubt, but I’ve always been adamant about not buying anything that was made by harming a book. However, these seem to be made from well-loved but falling-apart romantic novels so I’m just about reconciled to them…oh, who am I kidding, they’re beautiful!

Available as a bouquet for £75.00 here or as a single rose for £8.00.

3 comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Gifts, Shiny!

August 25, 2011

Book Porn, part 3

By bibliomouse

I have a veritable mountain of posts that are 98% written, but busy times at work have stopped me finishing any of them recently. Bad mouse. I did have to make time to post about these beauties though. For their second collection of collaborations with designers, Virago have produced 5 gorgeous books with super-lovely covers. What makes this selection extra-specially nice is that Virago tend to go for slightly less well-known titles for their design collections. Whereas Penguin rarely use any novel that I haven’t read, this collection has only one which I have, making it much easier to justify buying them all! The collection includes:

Good Behaviour  by Molly Keane, My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier (the only one I’ve read), The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy, The Hare and the Tortoise by Elizabeth Jenkins and The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim. My favourite, and the first to grace my shelves, is Molly Keane’s Good Behaviour, mainly because its cover has been designed by Eley Kishimoto, whom I adore. It has bunnies! On a book!

See? It’s fabtastic.

The books are priced at £12.99, and are available from all good bookshops now.

 

2 comments   |  tags: , | posted in Lists, Shiny!

April 10, 2011

The Literary Gift Company

By bibliomouse

The Literary Gift Company is a fab website that sells a huge range of literary-themed gifts (I guess the clue’s in the name with this one). I’ve picked some of my favourites, but there’s so many wonderful things to browse that it’s easy to waste hours on the site.

Anyone who knows me knows that I have a bit of a crush on anything owl-themed, so this necklace combines two of my favourite things- books and owls. They’re lovely little wols, with great character, and I can see this being a bit of a permanent fixture around my neck. It’s £20, including the chain, and the range also includes earrings and a brooch.

These little beauties are the Ollie Owl bookends. There are lots of different animal bookends on the site, including cats, monkeys and elephants, but obviously my choice would be the owls. Although I have three double-lined bookcases in my (rather tiny) flat, I still have masses of books piled on two little shelves in my room. These are always threatening to collapse and scare the life out of me in the middle of the night, and I like to think that Ollie the Owl bookends would keep them under control (or at least on the shelves. I don’t think the bookends can be trained to stack books more neatly). They’re £16.95 and are made of linen and faux leather.

I was given this mug for Christmas, and it sums up how happy I am when I get distracted or disturbed when I’m immersed in a good book (although it might be slightly more polite than I tend to be…). Apart from being really quite lovely in terms of simplicity, colour and font (I’m a geek), it’s also made of bone china so it’s very thin at the top, which would please Mother Mouse greatly. It’s £9.99, and well worth it.

This quotation from Louisa M. Alcott is one of the site’s most popular designs, and comes on a tote bag, a tea towel and a mug, as well as this notebook. Little Women is one of those books that I used to read at least twice a year, and I was a lot like Jo March, the tomboy who was most often found in a tree-house with her nose in a book. My brain has well and truly been turned by too many books, and would proudly show off that fact by waving this notebook around. It’s £7.95 and has a lovely red ribbon bookmark.

www.literarygiftcompany.com

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March 24, 2011

My favourite trolls

By bibliomouse

The Moomins are among my favourite literary creatures (along with the inhabitants of the Hundred Acre Wood), and the novels are great, short reads, both cute and dark in tone.

However the reason for this post is the sheer amount of Moomin goodies that I’ve found recently. Having collected pretty Puffin editions of most of the novels, I feel the need for more Moomin-related fun in my life. And so,  may I present:

Moomin Writing Paper sets! I can see this being used regularly to write to Mr. Mouse (along with the dinosaurs, and the Cath Kidston cowboy sets I already have…), and it’s only £5.50.

I like to think that having a Moomin tea towel would make me enjoy the washing up more, but chances are I’d be too enamoured of it to dirty it on dishes.. Moomintroll and Snorkmaiden for only £6.80.

My mood first thing in the morning at work would be greatly improved by having a Moomintroll mug on the desk, holding my coffee. However, the prices on www.artbox.co.uk seem to be pretty variable, from reasonable to quite pricey, and it does not seem to be as logical as one might think. The mugs are £15.00, which seems rather a lot, but they are lovely…

Finally, I’m always losing my keys (which is made even worse by the fact that one keyring holds both my house keys and the shop key…not good). If I had Moomintroll guarding them on this very sweet keyring, maybe he’d make sure that they were always in the right handbag…too hopeful? It’s worth £6.00 to find out.

2 comments   |  tags: , , | posted in Shiny!

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