Misc.

Espresso tales:
 "Print on demand" takes on a new meaning with the Espresso Book Machine, available at Blackwell's - you can see it in action here. Would you use it, and if so for what? If it catches on, how will it affect the secondhand bookshops?

Le rouge et le noir:
Thanks to Barbara for this link to Redheads in Literature (our very own redhead is away on the west coast today learning to drive a power boat - watch out all other craft near the Isle of Cumbrae!!). I was interested to see that The Tale of Ginger and Pickles is included in the list - it's "the best book on retailing ever written" (Deborah Devonshire).

Just William:
Another book was added to the wishlist this morning after I read this interview with William Nicholson in which he talks about his latest novel, The Secret Intensity of Everyday Life.
Last Friday, William Boyd was the special guest at our William's school. Will, who was otherwise engaged that morning, didn't get to hear him speak - I'm told he was very inspiring - but was nonetheless impressed that he arrived in a chauffeur-driven Mercedes.