Welcome back! 

We hope you enjoyed the boat rides and the bike rides; the beaches and the bazaars, the sunshine AND the rain. We hope you took lots of naps and read lots of books. We did (napped AND read)  - and you can catch our reviews online in the next few weeks.

There are as many ways to spend a summer as there are people, but one thing most experiences have in common is the opportunity to step back and reflect; on our choices and our voices, on elections and selections; on how we live our lives and spend our days.

So often it is the books and articles we find time to read - the ones crowding our bedside tables waiting for summer to roll around - that offer new opportunities for reflection. 

Our favorites make us question “the slippery slopes” of life - the habits and patterns we have unwittingly fallen into - and the best of such pieces strike that fine balance of simultaneously making you smile, cringe and think twice - all in the short span of a column and a cup of coffee.

One such article is David Brooks’ The Golden Age of Bailing published in The New York Times in July. We encourage you to read, smile (maybe cringe a bit) and consider whether this sounds familiar: 

“All across America people are deciding on Monday that it would be really fantastic to go grab a drink with X on Thursday. But then when Thursday actually rolls around they realize it would actually be more fantastic to go home, flop on the bed and watch Carpool Karaoke videos. So they send the bailing text or email: “So sorry! I’m gonna have to flake on drinks tonight. Overwhelmed. My grandmother just got bubonic plague.…”

Enjoy!
 

It is easy these days to feel overwhelmed by world events - and underwhelmed by the powers that be; easy to succumb to fears and frustrations. The eye of the storm is indeed a disorienting place to be. It was therefore truly inspiring last week to be reminded of the value and simplicity of choice and the strength of conviction. When asked by a reporter if his quest for sustainability was driven by a desire to be trendy, chef Matt Orlando of restaurant Amass in Copenhagen calmly replied, “I do it because it is the right thing to do” -plain and simple.

We were recently treated to a behind the scenes look at the ideas and ideals of Matt Orlando and Amass. The evening was peppered with inspirational, mind-blowing, fun and quirky ideas of how a business - in this case a restaurant - can have an impact on the environment and the community within which it lives and works. As inspiring as the ideas themselves was the humility with which they were presented. In a world where self promotion is increasingly “the name of the game” it was a welcome breath of fresh air to meet someone who was all about the work and the desire to improve life.

The world stage may be dominated by a cacophony of booming voices of doom, but listening to Matt Orlando was a poignant reminder of the many calmer, yet equally strong voices out there conducting a quiet revolution on behalf of us all and in return merely “hoping for the afterthought”.

And the afterthought is also what we hope for with our events at Books & Company. We would therefore like to take this opportunity to thank all the incredible speakers who give so generously of their time, knowledge and expertise to expand our horizons, challenge our beliefs and make us smarter about the world we live in. Thank you!

Spring Has Sprung!

Spring is here and with it lots of new and exciting books. Novels and non-fiction alike seem to reflect our need to make sense of our lives, our times and our place in history. It may be a coincidence, but this year, it seems, authors, publishers and readers all agree that literature is the place to go not just for answers and explanations, but also for calm, for reason and for sanity.

We look forward to seeing you at the shop and showing you our selection of books to weather the storm!

Kind regards,

Isabella & the Staff of Books & Company

The New York Times recently published a wonderful little piece about rereading favorite books - in this case ones by the doyenne of mystery writing herself, the late, great Agatha Christie. Click on the image above to go straight to the piece. Have a "chilling" weekend!

We will be closed Thursday April 13 thru Monday April 17 and look forward to seeing you again on Tuesday April 18 at 8:30.

We wish you a very happy Easter with lots of good books, a comfortable chair and delicious chocolate eggs!

The Books & Company Team (off to Ireland, Jordan and Fyn)

Hello Friends,

It is with great pleasure, much excitement - and a few butterflies - that we hereby announce the launch of our new website. Change is never easy and, as comfortable as we were with our old booksandcompany.dk, we knew it was time to update our site in order to make more room for community engagement, regular blog posts, and lots of book news and reviews!

So, with a little help from our dear friends Austin Sailsbury (web design) and Anne Prytz Schaldemose (photos), we now have an all new virtual home for our little independent, international bookshop.

Just as we prefer real books over “those other ones," we would, of course, always prefer to see you here in the shop on Sofievej. However, we are all aware of the realities and limitations of time, space and geography. With that in mind, we hope that this new virtual Books & Company effectively reflects the essence of the real shop and, in turn, reflects our commitment to our beloved community. 

We will skip the introductions to the new features of the website and let you explore on your own, however, we would like to direct your attention to the fact that due to the immense popularity of our book clubs, we have now decided to host four book clubs a month at the shop! 

We are also thrilled to announce several amazing new events in April and May which, in keeping with the Books & Company tradition of diversity, will focus on discussions that cover a wide variety of subjects and are hosted by visionaries and top experts in their fields.

Thank you all for your continued support of Books & Company. It's been a wonderful journey so far and we have nothing but excitement and enthusiasm for what is coming next.

We hope you will continue to join us on this adventure in books, ideas, and community. 

Best Regards,
The Books & Company Team