MR B'S EMPORIUM - Key Persons
For me, reading is simply magic. It's a comfort, an escape, a friend; you're never alone with a book. Storytelling for me is primal - it's one of the oldest things we've ever had - and as a theatre lover and practitioner there's nothing I love more than a good story. My vivid imagination loves getting lost in a world and getting inspired. It's no surprise then that I love fantasy and historical fiction, anything with magic, dragons and far-off lands - but I'll read anything and everything that you put in front of me! When I'm not adding another book to the precariously teetering stacks in my little flat, you'll find me watching theatre, listening to movie scores or justifying that second slice of cake (always have the second slice!) Misery Stephen King £9.99 Add to basket The Last Kingdom Bernard Cornwell £9.99 Add to basket Discover Becky's other favourites
AKA Hannah from Tennessee. I'm a USA southern transplant into Bath as of 2018. I came over to earn my Masters in Writing for Children at Bath Spa University, was set up on a blind date at a pub, and the rest is history! I'm here for the long haul, ready to pitch you magical books, timeless children's stories, and beautiful words at a moment's notice. When I'm not curled up in my reading chair at home, I'm baking too many sweets, greeting dogs before their humans, and watching the American Office for the 25th time. You can find me in the shop lugging around my gigantic water jug. The Night Circus Erin Morgenstern £9.99 Add to basket The Unadoptables Hana Tooke, Ayesha L. Rubio £12.99 Read more Discover Hannah's other favourites
Harvey Packham (co-founder!) Still emotionally involved and so not true alumnus. Juliette's brother co-founded Mr B's helping on every aspect from writing the business plan to figuring out how to work the till!
Escapism has always been appealing in my reading. I'm up for getting lost in someone else's world, be that an expansive universe, or the claustrophobic cabin on some space faring vessel, or a medieval realm where dragons can be the least of worries or even following the path of a great river in the more remote places of the world. When I'm not reading I'm usually found wasting my time with video games, disagreeing with Dill the dachshund or more recently planting vegetables, although we are yet to see any results! 2022 update - Successfully harvested potatos and I'm now a Dad. The Hand of the Sun King J.T. Greathouse £8.99 Add to basket Notes from the Burning Age Claire North £18.99 Add to basket Discover Henry's other favourites
Books are my kind of magic. I love the comfort of escaping to another time, the joy of making a friend within pages and seeing through another's eyes in ways I could never have dreamed. Lord of the Rings was my first life-changing read, and anything with dragons or woodland elves still gets bonus points. Now, I especially enjoy books with beautiful descriptions of nature and landscapes, stories of realistic relationships, parallel lives, insights into distant rural cultures and being so absorbed in new ideas that I feel like I've forgotten about my own life by the time I finally look up from the last page. If you're looking for me, there's normally a leaf in my hair, cat fur on my jumper and a big smile on my face. The Offing Benjamin Myers £8.99 Add to basket The Rain Heron Robbie Arnott £8.99 Add to basket Discover Katrina's other favourites
Laura Korhonen a city as central as any character, snowy plains or the inside of an anthill What hooks me is a voice that really takes me into its confidence (I'll take a shout or a whisper) but what keeps me reading is a strong sense of place - a fishing village with just one trawler but plenty of churches, a city as central as any character, snowy plains or the inside of an anthill. Can I be the ant? Even better. Well-crafted picture books and foodie tomes also make me happy, as does ambling in search of the next best coffee to go with my next best cake read. The City We Became N. K. Jemisin £9.99 Add to basket Heliopolis James Scudamore £8.99 Add to basket Discover Laura's other favourites
My reading tastes might best be described by the same word used for my driving: haphazard. I'm all over the place, switching genres with abandon and never indicating where I'll go next. I like that reading allows me to be someone else, which is perhaps why I'm drawn most to contemporary fiction about who we are and how we're living. I like sly, slippery novels: unreliable narrators, weird women making bad decisions, satire that rings a little too true - books that might ask me to read them again and again, in order to figure out what they're trying to tell me. Oh, and anything with a hot pink cover. When not reading, you might find me trying to figure out how to work my film camera, writing Westerns, or reviewing aperol spritzes on Instagram. Tiny Moons Nina Mingya Powles, Emma Wright £8.99 Add to basket Known and Strange Things Teju Cole £12.99 Add to basket Discover Liv's other favourites
Nobody knows what book I'm going to pick up next, least of all me. I will read anything and everything, the weirder the better. I want to be entangled in other worlds, to be introduced to ideas and characters that cause me to re-examine the way I see our world. Usually that means I swing between terrifyingly dark books and sweetly wholesome ones, and a lot of Children's literature, which often strikes the chord in-between. Those gripping adventures are what I grew up on but my favourites are the ones that stay with me long after I've closed the book. LEONARD AND HUNGRY PAUL Ronan Hession £9.99 Add to basket Loveless Alice Oseman £9.99 Add to basket Discover Rhian's other favourites
In my life before Mr B's I worked various jobs, many of which I was horrendously unqualified for: tour guide (usually for cities I was seeing for the first time), zoo security guard (to keep animals in, or people out? I'm still not certain), and a gardener (with hayfever). Around books is where I'm happiest. Natural history and science fiction are my favourites, but I love to read and talk about everything and anything; if there's a giant spider in there somewhere, so much the better. Other hobbies include knitting, and memorising shuffled decks of cards. Also, I get outdoors a bit: I run the Mr B's Walking Book Group, Paperback Ramblers, which goes for a stroll and a literary chat once a month. Moonwalking with Einstein Joshua Foer £9.99 Add to basket Boys Don't Knit Tom Easton £7.99 Add to basket Discover Sam's other favourites
By escaping through books, I had accidentally created new siblings and new homes that I wanted to visit every day. Books have always been a magical gateway I wish I could step through. Growing up, I was the youngest of six brothers and sisters which, as you can imagine, meant noise, mess and a little more noise. Through the mayhem, I could often be found in the corner of the house or in the garden, or even sometimes under my bed, with a book. By escaping through books, I had accidentally created new siblings and new homes that I wanted to visit every day. One of my earliest and happiest memories of books comes from when I was around seven years old and my parents signed me up for a subscription. I received one Lucy Daniels Animal Ark book a month and within a two days I was finished and watching the letter box for the next. I think that was the true moment I fell in love with books, and (as you'll see me from my favourite's lists) why I'm so drawn to a series. I left Primary School Teaching in 2020 and started the Bath Spa ‘Writing for Young People' MA course, and am now writing my own book for children. It was then that I also found Mr B's and the magical spark of books was reignited. House of Earth and Blood Sarah J. Maas £16.99 Read more A Place Called Perfect Helena Duggan £7.99 Add to basket Discover Shelbi's other favourites
Reading is something I can't go a day without. The ultimate treat has always been to find time in the day but mostly I read in bed at the beginning and end of the day, cup of tea in hand. I usually have a couple of books on the go at any one time- different choices for differing moods. I love books that have a strong sense of place - ones to sink into and become fully absorbed in, such that I find I don't even hear conversations around me anymore-an attribute which has frequently got me into trouble for "not listening". Let me lose myself in a different country, time or even world. Give me a mystery to solve, relationships to unravel, or a journey to undertake. But most of all, make the language beautiful and the setting evocative so I can immerse myself. And when I finally emerge, blinking, into the real world, I may well be found cooking world cuisine, baking cakes for friends and family or playing with my gorgeous grandchildren. Once Upon a River Diane Setterfield £8.99 Add to basket Bewilderment Richard Powers £9.99 Add to basket Discover Sue's other favourites
I didn't start reading properly until my mid-20s... I have spent the decade since then making up for lost time. I didn't start reading properly until my mid-20s… I have spent the decade since then making up for lost time. I cut my teeth on American classics - Steinbeck, McCarthy, Stegner, Kerouac et al. - and more contemporary US writers like Elizabeth Strout, Jesmyn Ward and Philipp Meyer. Then blossomed a love of crime fiction, particularly the dark and humorous corners of noir, from James Ellroy and Elmore Leonard to Jean-Claude Izzo and Pascal Garnier. I also love Irish fiction, anything set in the wilderness, satire, dystopias and exploring children's fiction with my kids. Before becoming a bookseller I worked as a butcher and a journalist. Away from books, I can often be found enjoying the outdoors with my wife and two kids, tending my veg patch or furiously studying cricket scorecards. Lonesome Dove Larry McMurtry £10.99 Add to basket Fup Jim Dodge, Harry Horse £9.99 Add to basket Discover Tom M's other favourites