Make some, er, noisy for a bookstore in Boise*

We love this idea of a little table-and-chair display outside a bookshop (inset), complete with books to browse.

This is Trip Taylor Bookseller in Boise, Idaho. Inside they have used books, open mic poetry nights, a chessboard and a poodle called Apollo.

Alas, the outside display is not something we could get away with on Oxford Road. But we still have chairs to enjoy the sun outside our cafe.

Trip Taylor, we salute you.

* we were hoping 'Boise' rhymed with 'noise', but it's pronounced like Boysie from Only Fools And Horses.. and even then, it's weak rhyme with 'noisy'. BLOGGING'S DIFFICULT, YOU KNOW

Paul Morley pops in for a cuppa



Here is Paul Morley signing his book The North (Bloomsbury Publishing) in our shop.

There are a few things we love about this picture. Maybe it's the person sneakily stealing the coffee in the bottom right corner. Maybe it's Maggie keeping an eye on The North. Or maybe, just maybe, it's Paul's 'author face'.

Needless to say, we now have stacks of signed first editions of The North now in stock!

Students get complaining after tuition fee rise

Universities are more likely to get complaints now tuition fees are higher.

A report by the Office of the Independent Adjudicator says appeals jumped by 20% in the first year of the new fees in England and Wales.One upheld complaint was from a PhD student who said their university examiners did not understand his subject.

Complaints against universities are still incredibly rare, and we think we have it pretty good in Manchester.

Not included in these complaints were [Censored] University that ran a course on Jedi mind tricks, [Censored] University that gave students food with drawing pins in, or indeed [Censored] University which is famously downwind of a sewage treatment plant.*

* All allegedly (according to online reviews) and none, thankfully, in the UK!

£29 Nook in stock again... get 'em while they're hot*

At the risk of repeating ourselves, we have received a LARGE delivery of £29 Nook Simple Touches.

We have stacks of covers, chargers and accessories too - even waterproof slipcases!

* actually room temperature like most, er, objects and that.