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(Just click here to open our website in your browser - you'll find links to a variety of articles and books!)
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" He deserves to die in dishonour who does not love books and believe in them."
"This paperback is very interesting, but I find it will never replace a hardcover book- it makes a very poor doorstop."
- Alfred Hitchcock
"A book is a version of the world. If you do not like it, ignore it; or offer your own version in return."
-Salman Rushdie
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Don't forget to use your Rewards Card
For every £10 spent you'll collect a stamp; with 10 stamps receive a £5 discount off of your next purchase
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Welcome to our new-look Much Ado e-Newsletter. We've re-vamped and freshened the look, and we hope you like the result; we'd love to hear from you about it either way!
Best Wishes,
Cate & Nash
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| February Supper Club - Book Design |
If you haven't already signed up, there are still some tickets left for our Supper Club on Wednesday, 24 February.
As regulars will know, you can expect plenty of book chat and news. And as guest speakers we have joining us award-winning book designer Jonathon Christie and his wife, illustrator Kim Marsland, to reveal the secret world of book design. Jonathan won industry accolades for his work on Eco House Book, and the pair together designed Everyday Harumi; their talk promises to be fascinating.
Tickets cost £15 and include a delicious two-course meal; a cash bar is
also available. Club doors open at 6:30 for a 7pm seating at Deans
Place Hotel.
Call the hotel for your tickets on 01323 871248 or consult our website for more details by clicking here
 
Eco House Book - HB (£35) Everyday Harumi - HB (£20)
Both books are available to purchase in the shop.
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Shop Favourites
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Artists
Edward Bawden and Eric Ravilious are firm favourites with our
customers, and only in part because of their deep-rooted connections to Sussex. The pair developed a graphic style that continues to
resonate and influence artists today.
Two recent books promise to become classics:
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Ravilious in Pictures: Sussex And The Downs offers terrific essays about each of the numerous pictures presented, some of which are quite rare and all of which are beautifully reproduced. (HB - £25)
Edward Bawden from the Cecil Higgins Gallery offers a fantastic array of graphic design work and art. Bawden himself donated much of his work to the gallery, and this delightful book features many hitherto unpublished pieces, as well as fascinating insights offering a diverting glimpse of the artist at work. (HB - £25)
Both these - and several other books about Ravilious and Bawden - are available through our website by clicking here.
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Sussex Born, Sussex Bred...
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 The Snake River Press continues it's lovely series of Sussex books with The Shaping of the Sussex Landscape by Peter Brandon.
Peter has penned more books about Sussex than there are sheep on the hills, more or less! He knows his stuff but fortunately he knows how to share his extraordinary knowledge without pretension. This is a terrific volume, filled with fascinating details about Sussex geology, geography and archaeology - an entertaining tour of the county's extraordinary history.
(Peter will be guest speaker at an upcoming Supper Club, by the way - we'll share details at a later date.)
Be sure to look for a copy - priced at £8.99 - next time you're in the shop.
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Several Thumbs Up
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A Brighton- based book group escaped the city for one night, meeting at Much Ado on a cold February evening to consider Sue Eckstein's Cloths of Heaven. Sue joined the group, which, fortunately, quite liked the book and enjoyed meeting the author.
 We served the readers homemade quiches, soda bread and broccoli soup, followed by our own lavender shortbread and banana bread - all in the name of helping them keep up their energy and for book talk of course!
The Brighton gang has been meeting monthly for 20 years, discussing books ranging from Booker prize winners to obscure favourites championed by various members. We were delighted to have them here.
If you are part of a book group that might enjoy meeting for a night at Much Ado we can accommodate up to 8 people in our 'Garden Room', where you can talk books surrounded by ... books. Give us a call on 01323 871222 to discuss details.
Set in the diplomatic circles of 1990s West Africa, Sue's book offers a diverting portrait of diplomatic life coming into conflict with local people and traditions. The book group gives it an enthusiastic recommendation, and you can see it for yourself next time you visit us (PB - £7.99).
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Not Just for Fishermen!
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This just in - an extraordinary limited edition book that will delight book lovers and - most especially - fishermen.
John Swarbrick's List of Wharfedale Flies
is a fantastic volume, just produced by the extraordinary Fleece Press.
It offers a description of fishing and lures from 1807, with extensive
digressions through the natural history of the area.
The book
offers marvelous colour illustrations of flies, but the perhaps most
impressively it features two actual flies, tied with the materials
specified by Swarbrick and mounted to the inside covers.
You can see the book here at the shop, or order on-line from our safe, secure website - just click here.
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Cookbook of the Month
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 Breads and pastries from around the world abound in Faitri Pagrach- Chandra's Warm Bread and Honey Cake. You'll find recipes for exotic spice cakes, baklavas, 'Moon Cakes', 'Drunken' Apple cakes and more - a cornucopia from different countries and traditions.
Maybe this sounds intimidating - all those pastries and breads seem as if they should be complicated to make. But the book is anyhing but intimidating, the presentation is simply gorgeous and the instructions, which include photographs to clarify unusual techniques, make every recipe a delight.
From Coiled Sweet Rolls to Grean Tea Cake; from Saray Sarmasi (aka Palace Rolls) to Kus Gozu (Birds' Eyes), you'll find plenty of inspiration. try out, for instance, this recipe for 'Goudse Moppen' or 'Lemon Shortbread Cookies', taken from a Dutch recipe. Prepare the dough in advance as the book suggests and bake them just as your guests are arriving to give your house an unforgettable welcoming aroma...
Lemon Shortbread Cookies - Goudse Moppen
Ingredients:
250g, plain flour, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/8 tsp salt, 150g butter (softened), 100g caster sugar (superfine), 1 egg yolk, zest of 1/2 lemon.
Method:
Mix the flour with the baking powder and salt and set aside.
If possible, use the paddle attachment of a mixer to cream the butter and sugar together until lightened in colour. If you don't have a mixer use a wooden spoon and be very thorough. Beat in the egg yolk and lemon zest. Add the dry ingredients and knead until it all comes together and stays together.
Transfer to a large sheet of baking parchment or greaseproof paper and shape into a 'sausage'. Use the paper to help you roll the 'sausage' into a neat cylinder about 28-30cm long. Chill the dough in the paper for at least an hour or until firm enough to slice. You can leave it overnight if necessary.
Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark. Line 2 baking sheets with baking paper.
Remove the dough from the refrigirator and unwrap it. Use a sharp knife to cut rounds 1cm thick. Neaten the edges with your fingers and space them evenly and well apat on the baking sheets.
Bake one sheet for 15 minutes or until the outer edges are golden brown. Remove from the oven, and use a thin spatula to transfer the biscuits to a wire rack to cool and firm up . Cook the second batch and store in an airtight container.
Warm Bread and Honeycake (HB - £25) is available at Much Ado - stop in to browse after you've whipped up some Lemon Shortbread.
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There's lots and lots coming up this Spring; we have events in the planning stages, fabulous new books, and all the developments of our new space. So stay tuned; watch for our next communique; or stop in for a visit . . .
We look forward to seeing you in the shop soon!
Best Wishes,
All of us at Much Ado
Much Ado Books, High St, Alfriston, East Sussex, UK, BN26 5TY
www.muchadobooks.com, shop@muchadobooks.com, (01323) 871222
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