The Holes in the Road

Thank you!

Two little words, but if we could, we would shout them from the rooftops!

We would like to start the new year with a great - and grateful - thank you from the top of our bookshelves to the bottom of our hearts for your patronage, your support, your ideas, your smiles and your willingness to share with us your reading experiences and your lives. 

Thank you for being a part of the Books & Company community and for making 2018 such a succesful year. It goes without saying that we couldn’t have done it without you!

Despite the sunshine in the shop, it is difficult to ignore the fact that 2018 seemed shrouded in clouds and conflict. Indeed, the last couple of years have been full of pushing - and pushing back. 

While autocratic tendencies weaken in one corner of the world they pop up stronger in another, but leaders who pull apart rather than pull together have also been met with refusals to stand down, and heavy handed attempts at isolation have been met with greater insistence on community. 

At times, it seems that there is much to fret about, but it might also be worth changing lenses. As a customer recently pointed out in praise of British author P.G. Wodehouse: 'Anyone can see and write about ‘the holes in the road’, the real talent lies in seeing the humour.'

Yes, indeed, and perhaps we should focus less on the holes and more on the road itself?
There are many and very real societal issues in need of serious (re)consideration, issues of inequality and the environment to mention just two of the most pressing, and while talking about the lesser problems may be easier, certainly more popular and more politically opportune, it also serves as a distraction from the bigger, more complex discussions we need to have and the decisions we need to make about the direction we want to take.

So for 2019 let’s look up, avoid the holes and keep our eyes on the road.

Happy New Year!

Isabella & the staff of Books & Company