Bedside Companion for Book Lovers

An early night. In literary theory.

You were going to turn the light out. Then Charles Dickens had something to say about the smell of books. Bedside Companion for Book Lovers gathers literary curiosities for every night of the year: fact and fiction, letters, diaries, essays and dedications that understand why reading is rarely something you do in moderation. There’s Maya Angelou on reading aloud, Virginia Woolf on finding space to write, and Nick Hornby on reading for sheer enjoyment.

Editor Jane McMorland Hunter works at Hatchards bookshop when she isn’t writing, so books follow her home professionally as well as personally. Her writing and editing includes Ode to London, Favourite Poems of England and several daily poetry anthologies devoted to nature and friendship. Here, she brings together advice on caring for treasured volumes, coping when books take over the house, and discovering atmospheric libraries and bookshops around the world. Keep it beside the bed. The light switch can wait.

Details

• Edited by Jane McMorland Hunter
• Illustrated hardback
• 448 pages
• Published October 2022
• A year of literary extracts and curiosities, with contributions from writers and book collectors throughout history
• Includes book-care advice, reflections on living with books, and libraries and bookshops around the world

Perfect for

• Bedtime readers whose lights-out deadline is always negotiable
• Literary magpies who collect quotations, odd facts and glimpses into writers’ lives
• Bibliophiles whose bookshelves have quietly spread into every room