Sharri Harmel: Welcome everyone to the Extraordinary Women Podcast. I’m Sharri Harmel, editor and chief of the Extraordinary Women Magazine and your host for this podcast. Well, today I’m chatting with Antonia Mason, who, along with her mother, owns and runs a book star called Books on the Hill in St. Alban’s and Antonio shares some great insights into the running of a local bookstore and how you become really a part of the community around you. Well, I learned about Books on the Hill when I met Antonio’s mother who came to a book club that I go to and absolutely love in Paris, small world, right? So, let’s now without further ado jump into my conversation with Antonio. Hi Antonio. I am just so excited to talk to you today because I love books. I love what you and your mom have created, and I want to hear more as I’m sure most of our listeners do too. So, introduce yourself if you don’t mind, and just share with us how this idea happened. 

Antonia Mason: Yeah. So, first of all, thank you for having me. It’s a pleasure to come on. And yeah, the whole bookshop came about because my mum spotted a bookshop that was for sale in Cornwell, and she knew it was a retirement dream of mine to run a bookshop, so I started a bit early with her, but I did say I was not going to move to Cornwell. I unfortunately have roots here and didn’t really wish to relocate. We’re just outside London. It’s a lovely area to be. And I kind of said to her, look, why don’t we look a bit close to home? I’ll leave my job and we’ll come and work this together. And essentially my mom started to create this wonderful shop and the design. Plus, I then left my previous employer and decided to start this venture with her. 

Sharri Harmel: Help us to know kind of the process, and you kind of alluded to that, so it was your mom’s idea at the beginning, but if someone was to say, I want to start an independent bookstore in X, Y, Z city, what were those first steps like, when did you know it was safe to quit your job?

Antonia Mason: I never knew it was safe, in honesty. I went straight in guns blazing was like, yes, that’s what I want to do. I want to help my mom. We’d previously had businesses as a family, so I knew it was something that we could manage on our own. But that was a very different industry. So yeah, it came about that we just started doing research. My mom had research very heavily and myself. I’d previously worked in secondhand bookshops, so had some prior knowledge for how they would run. And together with all the research and a great deal of research, it is definitely not something to lightly go into. As any other book seller will tell you, it’s a very competitive and a very yeah, diverse kind of industry. So yeah, it’s definitely taking the time to what you want to do and what you want to specialize in and how you want to be, I think is a good starting point.

Sharri Harmel: So, talk about that a little bit more. What is your specialization, you know, Books on the Hill is the name of the shop, and I think you shared that you’re in St. Alban’s, England, which is about 20 minutes train ride. So, anyone who wants to come and visit you, it’s, it sounds like it’s easy to get there coming from London. Is that right?

Antonia Mason: Yeah, definitely. It’s just a straight journey from St. Pancreas Station straight into St. Toban City, and we’re just on the hill as our name states. It’s such a lovely day out because we’ve got so much an offer, not just with ourselves as a bookshop, but with our city. St. Alban’s is incredibly cultured and rich, and we’ve got a beautiful cathedral ground just across the road. Perfect place to read a book once you visited the shop.

Sharri Harmel: Yeah. So, focus in though on, you talked about the importance of someone who starts a bookstore to really think about what you’re going to specialize in. So, tell us about your bookshop and what you do. Cause you do a lot. I was looking at your website and I’m like, there’s events, there’s authors, there’s children, there’s a lot going on. 

Antonia Mason: We definitely wanted to make sure we were here for our community, and we have got such a rich city here in terms of culture and education that we knew if we would specialize in one area only, it would really limit the shop because we’ve got so many different communities that we can offer to and so many different age ranges. So, we decided when we curated our shelves to include our entire team of book sellers and volunteers. So, they all help in deciding every book that goes onto our bookshelves and carefully research our antiquarian books and make them accessible through our website. Yeah, it’s a lot of research and a lot of working with publishers and having those close relationships. It’s something that, yeah, it’s taken time to get. But it’s definitely something that we are quite proud of, that we are here for our community and no matter your reading chased, we can always get those books in. So, they might not necessarily be on the shelf when you walk through the door, but they will be there when you come next time to collect.

Sharri Harmel: I love that. Well, and that’s something that I think is so special about independent bookstores is that you learn about your clientele and your clientele’s tastes and interests that Amazon doesn’t. An algorithm never does really know you, and you don’t have the conversations where you get the opportunity to find out about new books. Were you always a reader, Antonio? 

Antonia Mason: Growing up I definitely was not at a young age, and my mom would read to me and was very much keen for us to read, but I found it very difficult and was only diagnosed recently with dyslexia. So, explains a lot growing up. Yeah, so it’s hard to find that accessibility, but it’s finding the right book I always say. Someone says they’re not a reader so for me, I came to reading towards the end of primary school and came across NICs and Unfortunate events, which is definitely holds a good place in my heart. And from there I ended up becoming a reader and it’s definitely something that I always knew education would always provide me some sort of basis for help with careers or otherwise. I just felt reading kind of it also allowed me that escapism as well from. A lot of people, especially since we’ve opened the shop with the last few years, has definitely said as well that they rely on it as that source of escapism. 

Sharri Harmel: I agree with you. Absolutely. And my daughter has dyslexia, so I know what those struggles are, but how wonderful that you got the help that you needed and you’re now a reader.

Antonia Mason: Is that right? Well, definitely. I mean, I didn’t get help as a younger child, unfortunately. I went to. A few primary schools that didn’t believe in dyslexia. My siblings struggled with that as well. They’ve both got dyslexia as well. It’s definitely something that the industry, especially in publishing, is certainly coming around to and getting better at, in my opinion. I mean, you can only get better. Exactly. So yeah, it’s definitely, it’s something that we are trying to push in store as well to ensure that we’ve got a range for people with dyslexia, but there’s always room to improve on that front. 

Sharri Harmel: It sounds very similar to the us. It has been an incredible journey, I think, for Haitian system to incorporate what needs to be changed or what needs to be done differently, and that it’s not a question of intelligence, it’s a question of processing. Yeah, really interesting. 

Antonia Mason: Definitely. I always say when people ask, it’s like I always think of, I think it’s the Einstein quote, I could be wrong, where he says that you can’t test a fish on its intelligence. By asking it to climb a tree because the monkey will always win. Yeah. And I always think that with books, that you can’t test someone’s intelligence based off what their reading tastes are because everyone’s so different and every book has something enriching in it.

Sharri Harmel: Yeah, that’s really interesting. But the escape that a book provides is really interest. and it’s a loss, and that’s why it’s important I think, to help. And we don’t need to go down that rabbit hole, but it’s really important to expose all children to that opportunity because sometimes we need escapes.

And it opens up a world that you never, whether his, it’s historical or fantastical or whatever, I mean, it opens up a world that we can’t imagine. I mean, Harry Potter’s, perfect example from a children’s book standpoint, and if I look tired, it’s because I’m into the Macy. Dobbs books and I was up until like two o’clock in the morning finishing the most recent edition, and actually it’s a British writer who started writing late that wrote all the Macy Dobbs books, which is really fun. You sound like you come from a family of entrepreneurs in some way. 

Antonia Mason: Yeah, my stepfather is definitely an entrepreneur. Been running his own businesses for years and is a very much a hard worker, and my mother and I helped him as well in his businesses over the last decade. So, it’s definitely something that we all kind of chip in with each other’s dreams and make them become reality. But it’s hard work running your own business. I would never say take it lightly because yes, you’re your own boss, but also then yes, you’re your own boss. You have to make sure that you do hit deadlines and you do work, and sometimes work can continue until the next day, and it is a difficult process, but it’s highly rewarding emotionally, physically, everything else.

Sharri Harmel: Yeah, it’s wonderful. So, talk a little bit about those challenges because some of the women who will be listening to this podcast have an idea for something they want to start, but they haven’t actually done it yet. They haven’t launched the business. So, talk a little bit about those challenges and I hear you’re doggy down below. So, for those of you who are looking to the audio, if you’re wondering what the growling is, it’s not me or Antonio, it’s the dog. 

Antonia Mason: I do apologize. Unfortunately, we’re in an old building and uh, the wife only works in one room and unfortunately that’s the dog’s room, the dog. So, um, I do apologize. One challenge is definitely doggy day with the lockdown, but the main challenge with any business is areas that you will not have experience in. No matter how much work experience and job experience that you have, you will not have experience in every area. So, one big thing for us when we started was website. Neither my mother nor I nor my stepfather had experience in creating website or managing the website cause our previous ones did not need that and so I had to learn very quickly in lockdown one, how to create a website and work with a website designer to. Our first website, and since the original product was made, which I think was a series of five pages, with one of which you could buy books off, and since then I have, with the help of my team, transformed it into a beast of information and resources and blogs and just an amalgamation of something that I think every book would desire to read or purchase from, but it’s always evolving and there are always new pages being added. And yeah, I think for that is just my main bit of advice I would give to anyone is just accept that there will be things that. You can’t do initially, but the more you research and learn and take the time, which is the key. And just don’t give up. Cause I was the biggest technophobe you would ever meet on the planet. It’s good to hear. And I run our website. 

Sharri Harmel: It’s good to hear. Cause I’m there and so many people are, but now you run the 

Antonia Mason: And I do our podcast, so editing podcasts. I mean, I can appreciate the time that goes into those now, whereas before you just think of the final product being that is what it is, and that is what was recorded. And it’s just a case of dragging it and dropping it into some sort of cloud, and that’s not the case. So, learning how to do that and adapt, I think is the biggest. Any new businesses, you will get challenges that you cannot prepare for. You will not know they are coming. There will be bills that come that you were not expecting and just rolling with it because you will survive, and the tide will keep going. But just making sure that you. Do not lose faith and that you have good people around you. I think your support system is always key. Whether that’s your support system at the workplace with your team, and whether that’s paid employers or employees even, or volunteers or even your home support system. My other half is definitely a keen supporter of the shop and will regularly come in to support if we need extra hands on a weekend or for an event, and it’s something that evolves. It’s, I, I describe it, it’s this beast. Sometimes we’ll go a bit mad, but you’ll be able to reign it back in. 

Sharri Harmel: Yeah, that’s a great way of describing it actually. Well, you mentioned the podcast and obviously you’re a bookstore. Talk about all the different aspects of your business. 

Antonia Mason: Yeah, so we mentioned out quite early on into the world of events, so. Our events kind of include an amalgamation of children’s, um, or talks adults or talks. We do a series of workshops, lectures. We do regular book clubs. Our most popular one throughout lockdown was our breakfast book club where there was no set text. People all around the world would log into Zoom and join us, so we had. Some people eating breakfast, some people eating dinner. Um, it was quite a lighthearted book club, and we continued it after lockdown to come into the store. So, it’s now an in-person event, which is still regularly getting attendees, and some of them are from around the world, which is lovely. Some come from Scotland, some come from. Across the waters. Yeah, it’s lovely to have that. But yeah, we, we do a bit of everything because our community, we can reach them in so many different ways. We kind of not only just sell books, but we also provide entertainment as well. Those author talks and workshops are something we adore, such as with our Festival of culture that is coming up in this weekend. It starts with a series of workshops and author talks and drawing classes and yoga in the park. So, there’s whole amalgamation of things going.

Sharri Harmel: Yeah. Well, and I noticed yes, you do of courses. Don’t you have a writing course coming up? Is everything in person, always Antonio. 

Antonia Mason: Yeah, we found that after lockdown, possibly three or four, I couldn’t keep up with all the lockdowns in the UK. We found that people just wanted to get back out and about, and those online events became a bit redundant in terms of people just didn’t want to attend because they’d rather be seeing friends getting out and about doing something, and sort of sat at home with those memories of lockdown where it was just them in the computer, which I throughout lockdown was amazing to have that resource. Um, for myself, I had to shield, so I was definitely doing a lot more just me and my computer. So, it’s understandable that people just wanted to get out and about now, but that’s why we still run our podcast so that we’ve still got that accessibility around the world for people to listen in on author talks and that kind of thing.

Sharri Harmel: So, tell us about the podcast though. What’s its name and what do you do on the podcast? What do you talk about?

Antonia Mason: Yeah. It’s just Books on the Hill. It did stop last year just because when. Everything was back open. We decided to just focus on the shop and with the dreaded C word, you know, Christmas coming around the corner. We ended up focusing on that. So, but it’s something we started up again two weeks ago for in, or no, last week, sorry, for independent bookshop weeks. So, we started again our orthodox series. So, we had one come out last week. We’ve got another one coming out next week with an author for our Festival of Culture. So, there’ll be few and far between. And they are a series of author talks, staff recommendations, poetry talks, burn poem, I think is our most downloaded podcast. I think over a thousand downloads of our team. Some with Scottish accents, some with not just reading burns. So yeah, it’s amalgamation. 

Sharri Harmel: Yeah. How fun. There’s something about books. I don’t know what it is, and I always say bookstores are my churches because I go into them and there’s an energy, a different energy in bookstores than there is in almost every other retail shop I ever go in. Do you and your mom feel the same way? Your mother has the idea before you, what drew her in?

Antonia Mason: Yeah, completely. I think because we are here for the products that we have on our shelves, we adore, we love every single one of them. And it’s something that you do just step in, and you are in this sanctuary of a place that you can just escape and adore. And you know, we always said from the beginning that we wanted, there to be seats for people to sit down and make sure that the products were right for them. So, we get a lot of children sat in our reading nooks. We get adults sat by the fire, and it’s lovely to have that kind of space. And as soon as you walk in, yeah, it should be a place that you don’t feel under pressure, you don’t feel worried about anything. You are just there to enjoy it. And whether you walk out with a. Or whether you walk out with just the recommendations ready for your future book purchases. We do not mind because at the end of the day, we just love talking about books and every. Team player has a different selection of books that they want to talk about, and I think that’s what makes it so special. But yeah, my mum definitely had the idea to, well, the nerve to open the bookshop. I was definitely thinking, I’ve still got 40 years in me, and then I’ll have the confidence to do so. Whereas my mum definitely has that confidence and that energy just to, you know, what, what are we waiting for? Let’s make the dream happen. And luckily, we have. 

Sharri Harmel: Yeah, that’s very cool. So, the space that you’re in, because you talked about having to have a room with a fireplace and I can see wallpaper in the background, which I absolutely love, wallpaper. Was that all kind of a conscious decision, Antonio, that I wanna make room. Feel like a home or how did you do that?

Antonia Mason: Yes, definitely. So, my mom is the interior designer. I take no credit for that. She definitely has an eye for interior design, and it’s one of those things that she made. Every room feel as if you are in someone’s private library and that you can actually just take the time and enjoy being there because it’s just beautiful. And the way that the shelves have been built to house, everything, it’s just lovely to sit and enjoy. Um, but yeah, we’ve got a variety of different rooms, so we’ve got. The front room, which houses all our new books and our curiosity cabinet. Um, something my mom definitely was a keen being to have, um, first editions and rare curiosities that we find around the world that we house in that collection for people to browse or people to buy. And it’s lovely to have that. And yeah, by our fireplace, it’s a lovely spot. We get a lot of dogs who like to sit there and then the children seem to find the dog beds and they sit in the dog beds instead. So, it’s quite a funny exchange there. And then we’ve got a beautiful children’s section with a large table of beautiful gift books that we feel would make any child’s day because they’re just gorgeous to look at and beautiful to hold and yeah, just visually stimulating. And then of course we’ve got our cafe upstairs now that’s open and that again, we call it our reading rooms. So, you do feel like you’re in someone’s, someone’s living room sat working away. And we get a lot of teachers and students that sit up there and do work, which is lovely.

Sharri Harmel: Yeah. Now, so that wasn’t part of the original design, it sounds like you’ve expanded into that. 

Antonia Mason: Yeah, yeah, yeah. The cafe came about last year with the launch of our festival of Culture. So, the pictures from last year have hideous blue carpet, and that was definitely not our choice, but it was a very quick opening. So, the design that it is now is definitely what we wanted it to be, and it’s just a lovely, cozy vibe. And that was through the support from our community over the. Nearly two and a half, well just over two and a half years now, um, that we’ve been able to do that. But it’s definitely with a lot of hard work going into it as well.

Sharri Harmel: So, you mentioned earlier about kind of an association of independent book sellers, something of that sort. How important has that been to your company as well as you as a person to connect with people who are in the same world, in the same space as you are?

Antonia Mason: Yeah, I think it’s so important, like mentally for my mom and I having a support system and a community outside of our little shop where they’re facing the same struggles and dilemmas that we have faced. You know, being as a, a retail. On the high street that is not always as busy as we wish it would be so having the understanding that they’re also struggling on days we’re struggling, the same rising costs, and also spreading ideas of how we’re trying to help with, you know, the cost of living crisis that’s happening in the UK and ensuring that we are keeping our prices. As low as we can do in terms of events as well as the books and helping students. And I think the, the best thing about independence is that everyone’s always so open to help one another and give advice and be there as a support system. And you know, we have many independent bookshops that follow us on social media, and we follow them back. You know, just having those few comments of you are doing a good job, and that’s an amazing achievement. Having those things between us all, it just, it’s so mentally stimulating and. Makes us so proud of what we are doing as a company. So, I think it’s, yeah, I think it’s so important. You should never feel like you’re alone in business in any sense. Whether that’s reaching out to other independents or having a great team that is vital. Cause that can be very alienating and I think to failure cause you’re alone. 

Sharri Harmel: Exactly. I agree wholeheartedly. Do you go to conferences? Are there independent, I’m assuming there are independent book seller conferences.

Antonia Mason: Yeah, so we’re part of the Book Seller Association so they do a conference every year in London. But most recently, my mum had the wonderful opportunity to go to the Norwegian literature festival alongside a handful of other independent bookshops. And she had the amazing chance to meet Nobel Prize winning authors, different Norwegian authors, and yeah, it was such an exciting trip and one that she definitely treasured in terms of knowledge and experience.

Sharri Harmel: Yeah. How has it changed, because in the old days, the agents would set up all of the different book tours and marketing kinda plan for authors. How has that changed? Do you connect directly to. Authors themselves or do they reach out to you? How, how does that world work? 

Antonia Mason: Yeah, so I run all our events. It’s definitely difficult because you can’t always necessarily get the authors you want just because of, yeah. Like you say, they’ve got tour dates that they can’t always align with. A lot of these authors live around the world, you know, they’re not always here in the UK, so it’s definitely working with the publishers and sometimes through their schedules but nine times outta 10 as well if you reach out on social media, they’ll always return that favor and speak back to you. But I think the publishers do an amazing job and it’s something that is definitely. Worked well for us in terms of our events, working closely with those publishers and having that opportunity. But I think reaching out that’s, you know, you can only be your own advocate and the more you kind of sell yourself, as you know, we are a lovely business in a beautiful city, and we’ve got a great community around us. Please do believe in us and our publishers have thankfully, and it’s been wonderful to have an. Authors and poets and talks here. Last year we had Sisi, who is an incredible speaker, and it was wonderful to have that in store. Yeah, it’s hard work, but it’s definitely a case of just reaching out is the best way to go, and nine times outta 10 as well. The authors will have their direct contact information for their agents and publishers on their websites, so, okay. It’s always useful to make sure you know who to ask for. We’ve got certain contacts in the publishing world that do direct you into the right place, but it’s always nice if you can go to the right person first time.

Sharri Harmel: How fun just as a consumer, I love author nights or author events where we can go and listen to the person who actually wrote the book and kind of get into their creative process. Very fun. Absolutely. How important, because you talked about connecting the city that you’re in or the town that you’re in and being a part of that, but also social media. So how important from a promotional standpoint, engaging people. Into your bookstore. Share with me a little bit of that pr, that marketing, that advertising, what goes on there? 

Antonia Mason: So social media. Yeah. It’s its own entity essentially. And without it, I think we’d be very much, we’d be lost. It’s such a great resource. I mean, last week we created a TikTok account. We decided, to finally jump on the bandwagon. Oh no. And um, one of our videos, yeah, it’s one of those things we’ve put off, but actually it’s been wonderful and one of our videos got 32,700 views and Oh my God, it’s incredible to see the reach. Yeah. And most of them were from the UK so it’s great to see that we’re being able to connect with people cuz it’s sometimes you can come to a city and not realize, you know, that particular bookshops are and it’s quite interesting to see that you reach into those pockets and I think a lot of people rely on social media these days for news and everything else, so why not rely on Books Bookshop knowledge as well for your social media accounts. Yeah. We also reach out a lot with our communities, so we work closely with schools. I mentioned quite a lot of teachers do come in, we get school visits come in, we have work experience who come. We’ve got one currently working with us now. We have Duke of Edinburgh students come in, which is a program to help with children getting into volunteering and doing outdoor exercise. It’s a wonderful award. So having that community focus I think is wonderful for the local as well as the global. We have quite a lot of followers around the world and it’s a wonderful environment because it does make you go to different, So I’ve just come back from Paris two nights ago, and I actually went to the Shakespeare company because they’re one of the most beautiful and renowned bookshops of the world, and one of their book seller is actually, she has a godmother who lives in St. Tobins and is an active supporter of our shop. So, it’s wonderful to see that It’s so easy to connect around the world through social media, and you never know what kind of ripple effects it can have. So, I just think any PR for any business, the social media can be such a wonderful source of information for them.

Sharri Harmel: Yeah, that’s such a positive take on social media and I think that’s really valuable for all of us that focus in on what you’re really interested in and don’t worry about. Everything else, even if it’s on TikTok, which, yeah, I remember when my granddaughters were dancing up for TikTok. So, you know, it’s come a long way since then. Absolutely. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. So, and back on the book clubs, you need to ask the Duchess of Cornwall who has the whole series on Instagram. Tell her she needs to do an independent bookstore tour. In England or or the UK really, because she promotes books, but she doesn’t ever promote bookstores. That’s my suggestion. for the day.

Antonia Mason: Yeah, that would be lovely. I think I understand why, because there’s so many incredible ones that I adore as, even though I have my own, I want to be an advocate for my own. Every bookshop has something different in them, and every single one is a different experience. And I always think, yeah, doing a book tour is always good fun. And they actually, there is a UK bookshop independent tour that happens and they, every year on Twitter, they promote it and it’s. Wonderful fun resource. We’ve had a few that have dressed up for the occasion, which did spark a bit of surprise when we had some man Droses walk through the door. I’m not gonna lie on that one, but it is, yeah, it’s something I think a lot of book bloggers and book lovers kind of, they do actively research what’s in their local area or where they’re going on holiday, and I think that’s wonderful, and social media can only make that easier for them. They don’t have to look too hard for you. That always makes it worthwhile.

Sharri Harmel: What a beautiful trip to have someone from Paris to London and then from London to St. Albans. You know, you’re in the same train station, so it’s kind of like a wonderful trip cuz as you know, and your mom probably knows, I spend half of the year in Paris. And so, it’s really a wonderful way to get someplace and then create another little kind of experience in the town. Stay in the town, St. Alban’s and visit you. Use the events as really a focus, if you wanna call it that, to a little side trip outside of the city. How fun? Yeah, definitely. If you weren’t running a book Star, and I’d love to ask your mom this question too, so you can answer the question for your mom as well as for yourself, but if you weren’t running a book star, what would you be doing?

Antonia Mason: I would probably be doing my PhD, finished my master’s not long, a few years ago now in archeology, and it was always something I thought would be the next step would be my PhD. But the bookshop is so much more fun. So, I decided to stick with the bookshop. It might be something I go into in the future. We have many doctors who have written some wonderful books. One of my recent favorites is Unwell Woman by Dr. Ellenor, which is fascinating read about women medicine. And it’s all based on historical facts. Wonderful book. I would definitely be doing that. My mom, I would imagine she’d be a photographer or a gardener. She definitely has that vibe in her and can definitely see her doing well with that. 

Sharri Harmel: Yeah. For an interior designer, because I see that, like you said, she did the entire shop. How beautiful. So, what are you reading right now that you’re just loving? 

Antonia Mason: Oh, I have about four or five books on the go. I’m too impatient. I’ve got too many two red books on the go. The one that I’ve been loving recently from the British Library is that Scottish Crime Collection. It’s a series of crime classics that they’ve done across the board, but their specific one, the Scottish. It’s beautiful and it has an amalgamation of different crime writers from, I probably get the dates wrong, but I think it’s 1860 to 1970, so it includes classics such as African and Doyle Stevenson, all those. But then it has some rarer finds in there as well, which are just absolutely fantastic and one story. Makes you think in a different perspective when you see it from a juror’s perspective of a crime and it’s, it’s a fantastic book, but yeah, I’m loving that one at the moment. The one I read Unwell Women that I just mentioned is a fantastic read. I read that last year as part of our festival. But it’s coming out in paperback on the 7th of July. I think. I could be wrong, but that’s a lovely one for that as well. But yeah, I’ve got so many books on the go. As a book seller, you can’t always limit yourself to one book cuz there’s too many, you’ll fall behind and you want to keep him with conversations. So yeah. For those that love Nature 12 Birds. To Save Your Life by Charlie Corbert is an incredible book written everything about his mum passing from cancer and how he kind of turned to nature to help get through that time. And there’s a particular chapter all about a Robin and I read it in the garden, and I’ve got a nest of Robins. So, they were just chirping away as I read this book and it was such a beautifully heartwarming and wonderful story and I’m looking forward to seeing him at our Festival of Culture. Our books and Amy will be, uh, chatting to him, so that’ll be incredible to. So many books I could recommend. But yeah, those are my current recent reads.

Sharri Harmel: Okay. So, and they will be in the show notes, so I’ll make sure when we get off this call that I have all the titles correct. Of course. If you could have dinner with an author, current or past, who would it be? Or maybe it’s a couple of authors. 

Antonia Mason: Like I said, I’ve always got so many on the go. If it was current, I would either personally have to choose Mary Beard or Stephen Fry. They are my two that I think they are just amazing people and do amazing work, and the way that they bring history back to life, I just think is so incredible and just so accessible as. Whenever I read their work or see them on TV or anything, I always think it’s so nice that they’re never condescending, despite the fact they are highly educated and know so much.Yeah, it’s fantastic and I think it would just be wonderful, but dead or myself personally, I would have to say soles obviously wouldn’t be able to understand him, but I think he would be an incredible one to ask. His Stephen and players especially, and ticky, I just think is so incredibly rich and so still relatable to this day, which is scary, but wonderful at the same time, and I just think he would make a very intriguing guest.

Sharri Harmel: Oh, that would be fascinating. I’d wonder what you would serve at that dinner. . . That’s interesting. Yeah. I hear a bit of that interest in history, archeology in some of your readings and even your authors are connecting the past to the present and maybe to the future. Very interesting. Does that feel true too?

Antonia Mason: Definitely I have a love for ancient history. I mean, my undergraduate was ancient history and I specialized in Rome, in Britain. Definitely a real love of mine and opening the bookshop, it’s been a real experience to kind of open up to different areas of reading that I don’t always, so I don’t read a lot of science fiction, but I’ve read Pure by Susan Clark and it blew my mind and it was absolutely incredible. So, it’s really kind of, we run a book subscription and we always kind of test the waters with new books for people. So, they fill out a questionnaire and based off those tastes, we recommend books, and we give, wrap them, and send them straight to their door for how many months of their subscription. And there have been a few I’ve sent here in Iita, and they’ve come back like, this is incredible. I would never have picked up science fiction and it’s so different and so wonderful. Vice versa with other works. You know, we’ve, we’ve chosen an array of books by an array of amazing authors for an array of ages, so, yeah. Yeah, I just think books are so personable, but there’s no reason why you can’t push the boat and read something completely out of your comfort zone.

Sharri Harmel: Which is why I think to some extent, and tell me if you agree with me, why book clubs are so interesting. Cause sometimes it forces you to read a book that you may not choose on your own. But I love you, it’s almost like the Book of the Month Club where you’re sending based on my preferences, my interest, you’re sending me a book, I’m assuming once a month or whatever it might be.

Antonia Mason: Yeah, so it’s dependent on, we do a variety of different ones. You can get one book a month or two books a month. Um, and it’s, yeah, it’s done on that monthly basis just for re res, cuz definitely around Christmas we normally have a hundred to 200 books that we’re sending out and it can get a bit hectic, but, We definitely adore that process and it’s so lovely to see people come back or people extend their subscription. So, we’ve actually had one individual who has been with us since we started the subscriptions two years ago, and it’s, it’s incredible to see that they adore it so much that they continue with it. 

Sharri Harmel: Yeah, that’s fantastic. Wonderful. Well, thank you so much for your time today. I know you’re a very busy woman and I so appreciate your time and I think the listeners are going to be excited to not only come and visit you, but also explore some of your book suggestions as we go forward, and they’ll show up in the show notes. So, any last words of wisdom, anything you wanna share?

Antonia Mason: No, just thank you to all your listeners. I apologize for the noisy puppy, but yeah, definitely. We’re always doing something and there’s always something going on, and always ask if there’s something that you are looking for. We make our book shop accessible for all, so on Tuesday mornings we have all the music off, so if you’re sensitive to noise, it’s a good time to come in store to browse. If there are particular books that you are researching or after for degrees or students, we can find those for you. So definitely get in touch. But yeah, never be too worried. We’re always here to help is our main message.

Sharri Harmel: How special. Very special place. Thank you, Antonio. And thank your mom cuz your mom is who I actually first met online because she attended a book club that I go to sometimes in Paris and that was the connection. So I heard her introduce herself and your bookstore and I thought, oh my gosh, I have to talk to these people, So, thank her for me. Yeah. Thank you so much.

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