The progress of The Big Comfy Bookshop

On Monday the tenants of Fargo Village including myself, invaded the place to start measuring up all the units. It was the first time we could all see our units with the partitions in them as before it was one large space. I could finally see what was in my head and start filling in all the gaps. Although only in for half an hour, I still manage to take 56 photos. I measured every bit of space imaginable so now can go back to the drawing board and properly see how to make a shop. I took along my sisters boyfriend Richard, who is a plasterer, van driver, handyman and all-round nice guy. With his expertise we discussed ways to treat walls, coat old beams, lay floors and basically be the most masculine I have ever been. Richard was also a hit with a few other tenants as they dragged him away to view their units! Below is a selection of photos from the visit.

I'm now scouting through various flooring departments (including secret ones known only to Rich!), plus trying to figure out the optimal layout. Alongside this I'm also looking into the catering licenses needed, the music licenses needed, the cost of X,Y and Z which have all been researched to high heaven but now it's coming to the final stretch I feel I need to familiarise myself with what I need once more.

My head is swimming with dozens of questions, and my to-do list, that I keep on my phone, is getting longer. Every time I cross something off, something else pops up.

I also last week met up with Alison Smart who will be, along with Claire Avery, making me cakes. Alison is a friend I've known for around 10 years and she's just started to venture into cakes and they taste delicious. I also contacted Claire as last week she had a baby! Cakes and babies don't mix so it's good there are a few months before she'll need to bake for the shop.

One major decision I have taken is to close the online shop. Although initially it made a great start, it did dwindle and the past few months it's been hard to find the time to keep adding stock. I was invited to try eBay free for a while and already it's been great so I'll be selling online through that for a while instead. If you now type in www.thebigcomfybookshop.co.uk you'll find yourself straight back here on the blog although a new website will be coming soon. Have a browse of the eBay shop HERE.

Overall it is picking up pace and I don't think I have enough hours in the day. I'm now off to post a book order, buy some graph paper, get a haircut ready for a video, call my new bank...

Michael.

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My day at the Earlsdon Festival

On bank holiday Monday I took part once more in the Earlsdon Festival, Last year it was the best experience I'd had as a bookseller so this year had some way to go to beat it.

That's my wife it is

Did it beat it? Weather wise no. I came home bright red last year yet this year the sun only broke in sporadic outbursts, but it didn't rain! How about bookselling wise though? Well, YES! My stall was a little bit more organised and I could even show off my Big Comfy Bookshop banner. Once more I spent 6 hours the day before working on the set-up and creating bunting, whilst my wife cut out home made bookmarks, and it was all worth it. Even before the gates opened for the public I had sold half a dozen books to other stall holders and it continued none stop til around 1pm, where the lunchtime lull kicked in, for 10 minutes!

The afternoon heaved with people up until around 3.30, then it started to trail off. One mistake I made last year was I didn't bring enough replenishing stock, so this year I bought 4 boxes worth, and by the end of the day all that was gone! My wife Heidi came along for the ride and helped out and I'm so glad as it was ridiculously busy.

The highlight for me though was meeting so many new people who new about the shop. Every 10 minutes someone would say "I recognise that logo!" or "So when are you moving to Fargo then?" or "I saw you on twitter and have come to say hello". The whole experience filled me with even more optimism that the shop will be a success. 

I hope to attend next year too!

Michael

A long overdue update

There has been quite a lot going on in the past 3 weeks since I last blogged. Apart from Easter, my birthday, my wife's birthday and a lot of time spent with my family, I have been trying to cram in as much bookshop work as possible. So first and foremost the shop.

We've been told by the lovely Fargo Village people that we should be able to enter Fargo in July. Just 2 months away! I'll then have X amount of weeks to get the empty shell up to scratch to house thousands of books, delicious home-made cakes (from Clairey's Cakes) and teas and coffees. Since I found this out I've been scouting for bookcases. So far I have around 7 that I've managed to pick up cheap (or even free) from eBay and Gumtree. I've travelled to Coventry, Market Harborough, North Leicester somewhere and Solihull to collect them then store them alongside my mountain of books, my desk and other titbits. I've yet to solidify the design of the interior but have roughly estimated I'll need 24 bookcases. I have my eyes on a few tables and chairs too, as you need to sit down in a comfy shop! The big red sofa will be purchased close to opening as I have nowhere to store it! 

I have a stall again at this years Earsldon Festival. Last year it was THE best experience and also where I met Jo from Fargo Village. The festival is currently ongoing and culminates in a street long celebration of local traders with loads of entertainment on May 5th, Bank Holiday Monday. Come along and say hello (and buy a book).

Last year at Earlsdon Festival

Back to the shop, I will be looking for local people to chip in to help with several things. First off the basics like painting the shop, but also people to make signs (and fit them), help organize events (anything be it music, comedy, clubs ets), artists to design posters and other things, plus volunteers! Just 2 days ago I had a brainwave to have local artists create a bookmark for the shop so I'll have around 6-10 special ltd edition bookmarks that both showcase their work and promote the shop. I've had a great response too!

I'll shortly be launching a crowd funding scheme to help give the shop a massive boost when it opens. I've come up with some great rewards for those that donate. That'll be active in a few days.

The bookshop music sessions have already started. The Big Comfy Sessions was hosted at The Tree House Bookshop in Kenilworth with Wes Finch playing the first one, filmed by Rob at Redwood Photography along with Richard at TheSpoonPlayer blog. These will be regular sessions filmed exclusively in the shop and we'll be getting local and touring bands and solo artists in to film one song. A larger blog is coming very soon about this but in the meantime check out Wes doing his thing on the website www.BigComfySessions.com.

There will be several book reviews coming soon including two of my favourite books I've read this year. 

Finally this site will soon be transformed. The online shop (www.thebigcomfybookshop.co.uk) and this blog will be amalgamated into one brand new website. All this while the shop is creeping ever closer!

Please like the Facebook and follow me on Twitter too.

A final thank you to my beautiful wife for getting me the BEST birthday presents!

Michael

A visit to The Book Barge

Many will know I'm a big fan of social media. In January sometime a friend posted a picture on Facebook of a bookshop van from Spain. I retweeted this picture and received loads of comments about other quirky places you can find a bookshop. One such place was The Book Barge. 'That's really cool!' I said out load to my cats then after browsing a bit more, found out it's docked just 45 minutes drive from me. I made plans to visit but never made it to Barton Marina where it was docked. Nevertheless I followed The Book Barge on Twitter and soon found out that the owner, Sarah, was releasing a book and having the launch on the barge!
There really was no excuse now. I contacted Sarah to see if it was OK to pop along and a week or so later I pulled up at the Marina with my wife in tow.

The book in question is The Bookshop That Floated Away and documents Sarah's undulating adventure across England and Wales for 6 months in the barge trying to drum up support for her bookshop and others in a time of financial uncertainty, at the same time figuring out what the hell she was doing. I'll have a book review posted later this week but I can honestly say it's my favourite book I've read this year.

My wife Heidi and I arrived at the Marina dead on time (a McEntee trait) and headed to the 60ft vessel. I peeped through the windows first as outside it was quiet and deserted but I soon saw the barge was packed like a can of sardines from front to back (bow to stern?). We ambled down the steps and was welcomed by Stu, Sarah's boyfriend along with a big table filled with teacups ready to be filled by the dozen or so gins on offer.

I've never been on a barge let alone a converted bookshop one and the feeling was of slight amazement and slight terror. I've always been very claustrophobic but I was too consumed taking in my surroundings to realise I was stuck in the middle of the barge with no way out unless I barged (HA!) past lots of people. It wasn't until my wife mentioned the confined spaces that I came to realise this. I let it slide though and introduced myself to Sarah.

Sarah was a delight, she was stunned by the amount of people there, consumed by the event and looked generally like it was all a dream, but she took it all in her stride. We managed to grab 10 minutes chatting about the book and the barge, the press and the future between the melee of eager punters. She signed my book and I went off to grab some food.

The barge is moored right next to the pub The Waterfront so Heidi and I grabbed a lovely meal there then waited for the group of keen readers to pour out of the barge and into the pub. Part of the pub had been earmarked for the group as an 'after party drinks venue' so we stayed for half an hour waiting but it seemed like the barge was a too packed, too comfy venue as everyone stayed on board! We headed back to the barge to talk some more but then had to escape back to Warwickshire.

Sarah Henshaw AKA Captain

The Book Barge is a truly wonderful bookshop and venue and Sarah is such a warm and friendly book seller I hope that I can emulate the environment she has created, albeit in a more regular bricks and mortar shop!
There will be a second book launch in London on April 22nd on the barge starting at 6.30 then heading to The Narrow Boat Inn, Islington.

You can normally find the barge at:

The Book Barge

Barton Marina

Barton Turn

Barton-Under-Needwood

Burton-On-Trent

DE13 8AS

www.TheBookBarge.co.uk

I'll be returning very soon to have a proper chat with Sarah and do a bit of shopping.

Michael

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Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson was February's book club choice but I only managed to finish it this week, 6 weeks after I started. It's quite a weighty tome stretching to 621 pages and I found myself dipping in and out of it rather than devouring it like a lot of the book club did. This didn't hamper my enjoyment of it much though.

The premise is a simple one yet one I've not read before. What would you do if you could live your life over and over again? What would you change and how would you change it? This is explored from the very first page as we find Sylvia giving birth to our protagonist Ursula, but complications arise and Ursula dies within minutes. Darkness falls around her then she feels snowflakes. Ursula is now being born again, in the same place, to the same mother with the same surroundings, yet this time she survives. Just. Only for her life to end not long after. And repeat. Each time Ursula dies she is reborn on February 11th 1910 to Sylvia whilst a blizzard rages outside. It took a while to fully grasp the writing style but once I understood then it was a treat. We find out not just about Ursula and how her life pans out in several spanning arch's but also that of her family and friends. In one life a child is murdered whilst in another that same child grows up to wed Ursula's brother. There is never a conscious knowing if Ursula remembers her previous lives, but more that she has a feeling about what is right and wrong. Should she take the shortcut to get home or should she walk the long way? One way leads to a grisly confrontation so in the next life she unconsciously decides on the other path.

After the first few reincarnations her live's seem pretty similar and mundane, but then when Ursula turns 16 a shocking act occurs. I felt rocked by this act. I was emotionally sapped. I'd come to really enjoy Ursula's company and it veered away from the importance of focusing on how she's headed towards her deathbed to how she's going to cope with her current life. It was the first time I was happy for the story to start again, as that's the easy way out, rather than dealing with it.

Being born in 1911 meant that Ursula lives and experiences the second world war. Kate Atkinson has found several angles to approach this from. In one life we see Ursula living in Germany and has regular contact with Adolf Hitler himself, mostly in the mid 1930's. The book ask's itself not just 'What would I do differently?' but also 'What would I change?'. Does she pull the trigger on Hitler in the mid 30's to stop the war ever happening? And even if she doesn't in one life, does she in another? I must admit her time in Germany was the least engaging for me as I enjoyed her relationship with her family. Once she returns to the war in another life in London however I think this is the strongest part of the book.

The street's are transformed to rubble and glowing embers, explosions occurring almost hourly. The way Atkinson weaves Ursula into this is majestic. She throws several unlikely personalities together to create a band of amiable figures. Butchers, teachers, musicians all banded together to help clean up the streets along with Ursula. Sometimes Ursula lays down and accepts death and sometimes she's heading straight into a 20 foot mound of twisted metal and fire to see if anyone is alive, but never once do we feel that she's a different character each life. Her decisions in her life affect how she approaches the war. It was a very moving part of the book.

The main gripe with the book club though was the ending. How do you end it? Can she just keep being reincarnated  for ever more? I won't reveal how it does end but I disagreed with most of the club as I thought the ending was suitable and bitter-sweet. It was a long read, a sometime burden if I wasn't enjoying a certain route she had taken, but that route always ended a new path was taken as a new life. I would recommend it to most but perhaps make sure you devour it in a few sittings rather than the two dozen or so I had!

Rating books is a personal thing and I've decided against giving half scores this year. It's better than a 6 but not quite a 7, but I think it probably deserves the 7 for the devastating scenes alone so it's been awarded 7 cushions on the comfometer.

If you want to join the book club just add yourself to the Goodreads club and the Facebook club. Choices are posted at the end of every month to pick from and the winner announced when we chat about the previous book. We chat on Goodreads on the last Sunday of the month at 4pm but also have comments on Facebook too so if you only use one of these (Goodreads is best) then it doesn't matter.

Michael

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An update on the status of The Big Comfy Bookshop

On Tuesday evening I was invited along to the Fargo Village tenants meeting. This meeting also included a walk around the site. From the outside the place looks the same as it did in November but stepping indoors I can see a lot of progress has been made. The place has been sandblasted, cleaned up, doorways cut out and partitions have started to be put in place to divide the place into the units. As my unit is on the corner, the architect has decided to change my doorway from what it was, with it now facing a more central direction and including a large window. I think this will be better.

The roller doors will be my front door, partitions still to be put in

We were shown the rest of the village and it's all at varying degrees of completion. Once the walk-around was completed we shuffled along to the Fargo Office and started the meeting. About 20 tenants were in attendance along with Jo and Steve from Fargo and Wendy from the Federation of Small Businesses; a very valuable woman to know! Each person shared what they hope Fargo will become and what they will bring to the village. I brought a book. I know, original right? But not just any book, I bought The Legend Of Everwinter by local author Tara Behan and artist Matthew Hill, to showcase that I'll be involving local talent in the shop, with both of them hoping to have an author reading, discussion and workshop.

The Fargo Family checking out progress

We were shown through exactly how far Fargo has come since building started and what to expect over the next 6 months. The question on everyone's lips was obviously 'When does it open then?'. We were given a pretty good idea of when we can access the village, start creating the shop and eventually opening, but I won't divulge that here. I know in the past I've said 'Nearly there!' then it's delayed again and trust me, it's so frustrating, but as long as we don't get a blizzard or wind like the past month, then all should be ready VERY SOON.
I came away very positive. The unit was bigger than I recalled and definitely has a lot more height so I'm wondering how to fill all that room with wonderful things.

My front door

I've started to slowly buy up things that the shop will need. Bookcases are a priority but I know where I'll be purchasing them from. One worry was that I'd need to fork out for a counter soon. In a bitter-sweet email from Tinderbox Toys in Earlsdon it turned out my problem was solved. This lovely local shop that's been open for 5 years was shutting its doors, so they offered me a few things. I snapped up their counter amongst other bits and bobs. I also started to buy a few pieces from eBay. I couldn't resist this Roald Dahl cushion cover.

I have also set up an eBay shop to help shift a few more books and it's going OK. Early days yet. View the shop HERE and buy something. Please.

Finally, I've been confirmed to have a stall at the Earsldon Festival on May 5th. Last year it was the best experience I'd had since starting The Big Comfy Bookshop and was the catalyst for me joining the Fargo family. Have a look at what's going on at the festival and pop down!

Michael

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Where is Fargo Village?

When asked where the bookshop will be, my reply is "The new Fargo Village on Far Gosford Street in Coventry that's opening very soon!". The next question is usually "Where's that then?".

Well Coventry resides in the centre of the letter 'a' in the word England. Look.

It's sandwiched between 2 other cities, Birmingham and Leicester, and just 10 miles from where I'm writing this blog from. Closer inspection sees it's located in the little gab in the letter 'e' in Coventry. Just to the West of Coventry is Meriden, the official centre of England for 500 years. 

 And once in Coventry, you don't even have to manoeuvre the love-it-or-hate-it ring road, as Fargo is just outside. See.

So there you go.

Michael

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