Gift Ideas - Books
The other day we took a little walk to Shawlands to pick up a few things and to start getting ideas for Christmas Presents to buy. Last year we managed to get all but one of our gifts from Southside Shops and the aim is to do so again. So we are looking for suggestions from you guys. What great things have you spied in the Southside shops or shopfolks what is your number one top gift tip for Christmas? We'd also be interested to here any creative southsiders suggestions for homemade presents or decorations.
Lets get a catalogue of good southside suggestions pulled together. Here's our first suggestion.
Lets get a catalogue of good southside suggestions pulled together. Here's our first suggestion.
On our walk we popped along Skirving Street and peeked in the window of Young's Interesting Books and loved the current display which is full of classic Christmas stories including a few old School Charles Dickens and we asked the owner for a bit more info on the things in the window and this is what he said.
"The best Christmas books, starting with the obvious and Charles Dickens' Christmas Stories, the books from which so many of our ideas of what Christmas should be have originated.
Everyone knows A Christmas Carol, with Scrooge and Tiny Tim and Bah! Humbug, but there were four other Chrismas stories by Dickens: The Haunted Man, The Chimes, The Cricket on the Hearth and The Battle of Life, all of which are wonderful reads. We have a beautiful miniature version of The Battle of Life from around 1910, with gilt edges and lovely coloured plates, and a few different versions of the others, including the Arthur Rackham-illustrated Christmas Carol, and another version by the people behind Spitting Image!.
Then there's The Night Before Christmas, Clement C. Moore's famous poem that begins "'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse." Just as Dickens gave us the idea of a Victorian Christmas, so Moore gave us most of our ideas of Santa Claus, including the reindeer names. Again, the great Arthur Rackham has lent his genius to depicting the wonderful scenes in the poem.
Another traditional Christmas book is Longfellow's "Christmas Bells". Many of these poems were beautifully produced around a hundred years ago in small volumes intended to be given as gifts. We have a few in the shop, including a gorgeous version with coloured lithographs on every page."
I've never read the other Dickens' Christmas stories, so might need to give them a go. We also liked the little book parcels that Young's have put together. Two or three books in different genres, from science fiction and biographies, to westerns, pulp war paperbacks and poetry, children's and hard-boiled crime, all bound in ribbon for £5.
18 Skirving Street
Glasgow, G41 3AA
Phone: 0141 649 9599
Labels: Christmas, gift guide
posted by Alburt at 09:39
3 Comments:
Do you have any interest to declare with regard to this shop?
It seems to get rather a lot of undeserved favourable publicity on your otherwise usually dependable website.
Young's operates on the premise that Interesting = Rare = Valuable = Expensive.
It is he who decides what is "interesting" and everything else follows on from there.
Perhaps around 10%, at the most, of his stock, is any different to what you would find in any other bookshop. (This is a feature of most bookshops, not only Young's) Much of the stock is similar to charity shop stock - just the same old stuff, again and again.
While his books are, overall, unremarkable, and certainly no better than can be found in most other second-hand bookshops, they are certainly overpriced, not only in comparison with online vendors, but also in comparison with other booksellers.
It may be nice to receive personal attention from local shopkeepers, but without either quality product or competitive pricing, it's simply not worth it.
Your blog/site is usually more objective, and I am genuinely at a loss to understand how this insipid shop inspires your continued loyalty.
Hi Stuart, you seem to have very strong feelings on Young's Interesting Books. In this and your previous comments elsewhere in the blog.
We've not got any "special interest to declare" we just like the shop (we are both books nuts) find the owners very friendly and they seem to be involved in quite a few interesting groups and events in the area.
As we say in the description of this blog, its just our own personal thoughts on the things that we like in the Southside, nothing more. People are welcome to disagree.
What are your top tips for shops/ things in the Southside to make/buy for peopel this Christmas?
I'm not sure what I've done to upset Mr Fraser so much, but I am deeply sorry for any unintentional hurt I have caused by selling books I consider interesting in a shop.
Fifteen months ago, in reply to another post on this site from Mr Fraser when he claimed the bookshop appeared to be "crashing and burning", I stated that it was never my intention to be cheaper than the internet, just to be interesting and friendly.
I can certainly assure him that if my stock was, as he claims, "the same old stuff, again and again" and was overpriced, I wouldn't have lasted three months in this business.
As it is, I have been doing this for 14 years now, and we are very much looking forward to our second anniversary here in Shawlands.
I hope Mr Fraser will come along to our party, so we can discuss his concerns face to face.
I would also like to state that I have no connection with Southside Happenings, other than my gratitude for their continuing support, not just of Young's Insipid Books, but of all local businesses who are trying to keep the High Street interesting.
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