The Abingdon Oxfam Shop has become more and more an Aladdin’s Cave in recent weeks with interesting items crammed in every nook and cranny. Last Saturday there was a group of books about Abingdon, many of them out of print. I was fortunate to get Historic Streets of Abingdon by Agnes C. Baker for £9.99. The original price in 1957 was One Shilling and Sixpence.

On Ebay this evening there was a lovely print of Abingdon Bridge – just one page taken from a book called “The Royal River – The Thames from source to the sea”, printed by Cassell and company Ltd and dated 1885. The book has been broken up to sell at £11.30 a page. The text alongside appears a bit mixed up … “Opposite the church at the side of the Market Place is the Market Cross, designed by Inigo Jones, erected in 1667, and far too extensively restored in 1853.“

Alison Mercer read extracts from her second novel ‘After I Left You’ at Mostly Books this evening. This was the fifth book event for Mostly Books this summer, and all have been blessed with good weather.

Alison lives in Abingdon with husband, poet Ian Pindar, and two children. She always wanted to be a writer, and showed us her earliest novel, handwritten as a child, alongside her first published novel ‘Stop the Clock’ which came out two years ago.

Find out much more about the books at Alison’s website, and find these or many other good holiday reads at Mostly Books.

Private Peaceful is the Abingdon Community Read this summer as promoted by Our Ladies Abingdon. They are hoping that people will read and leave comments abut the book.

Abingdon Library has a Summer Reading Challenge, with postcards you can fill in:

• Tell us about a book you’ve read…
• Which three books would you recommend?
• What is your personal reading challenge this year?

Mostly Books and The Abingdon Bookstore are promoting both these events, and Mostly Books has its own summer reading special.

The Head Teacher of the school where I am a Governor signed off the end of term newsletter, after goodbyes to Year 6’s, with “Have a great summer and please ensure that your children read daily, it keeps the mind sharp!”

Annabel’s House of Books is one of Abingdon’s longest established blogs. Anabel has been reviewing books on-line, since at least 2008. She also sets book quizzes for Mostly Books, and recently has co-founded a new book review website (with three other book-bloggers – in Oxford, Cambridge and Normandy) called Shiny New Books which, in addition to book reviews contains articles by authors, publishers, book-sellers etc.

Recently local book seller Mark Thornton, from Abingdon’s Mostly Books, wrote a piece for Shiny New Books. His main business is still selling physical books to customers coming through the door, using local knowledge and recommendations, but eBooks have changed the landscape in recent years, so Mark writes about the challenge to selling eBooks on the High Street, and about running a successful local bookshop in the 2nd decade of the 21st Century.