Tag Archives: Shiny

Bookish Mugs for Autumn

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.


More pretty books

(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.


Valentine’s gifts for book lovers

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.


Folksy Finds – Bookmarks

I love me some Folksy crafts. The British version of the better-known Etsy, it has some gems if you’re prepared to search for them. I’ve been realising recently just how many books I open, only to find used train tickets, shopping lists and leaflets reminding me that it’s time for Bibliocat’s boosters*, instead of pretty bookmarks. This has to change, so I’ve been scouring Folksy for some lovely one to share.

First up is this one, by Made♥4♥your♥Books and combining two of my favourite vices, books and coffee. I love how the little charms hang out of the top of the book, and how the fabric is printed – so cute. It’s priced at £7.00 plus £1.25 P + P, and would make a lovely present for a bibliophile.

Next is this Alice in Wonderland-themed bookmark by ‘it’s the little things’. Complete with a poison bottle, a toadstool and bunch of keys, it’s £7.50 plus P. + P., and would make you smile whenever you picked up your book.

Despite its simplicity, I think this one might be my favourite. My parents used to have a fox terrier, and this fellow is exactly like her (and her blatant disregard for books), as he trots blithely over the page. He’s by Forever Foxed and is only £2.00 plus £1.00 P. + P., and I’m ordering him when I’m done here!

Finally, these four gorgeous little mice are by Handmade by Emily, whose things I covert greatly.  They are available separately, but who needs only one bookmark? They’d also make excellent gift-tags. I love that they’re bright ribbon tails let you know your place in the book. They’re £4.40 for four, plus £1.50 P. + P.

*I really must take Bibliocat to the vets’, now that I don’t have the leaflet as a bookmark-reminder…


Swedish Capital, English Bookshop

Apologies for the terrible photo, but this is the lovely little bookshop that Mr. Bibliomouse and I found in Stockholm, which has a sister shop in Upsaala, and is online here. Without wanting to sound twee, it is possibly the most charming bookshop I’ve been to in a long long time. As well as having the advantage of high ceilings and wooden floorboards, it had lovely and helfpful staff, there was a fab selection of gifts (Mr. Men mugs!) and the selection of English-language books was fantastic. Mr. Bibliomouse very kindly bought me the only copy of A Shilling for Candles, which was the only Josephine Tey book that I didn’t have, and had been looking for for years- it was so odd to find it in Stockholm.

All in all, we could have spent hours in The English Bookshop, if we hadn’t had some serious sightseeing to do, and definitely plan on going back when we’re next in Stockholm in the summer.


The Literary Gift Company

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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