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.

On Saturday Hugless Douglas was in Abingdon, and can be seen here with Mark of Mostly Books.

There are a number of books about Hugless Douglas.

In the first he tries to find that hug he is after, having just woken from hibernation.

A rock is big but is not that good to hug. Neither is a tree. Nor are some of the following hugs that get very funny: sheep, rabbit, owl etc. …

You will have to read the book to see if Douglas finds that hug.

(Mark Comments: It is worth mentioning that his creator – author and illustrator David Melling – is an Abingdonian, and we can all be very proud of him. Douglas is becoming a global publishing phenomenon!)

At Mostly Books this evening Brother Cedric from Abingdon Abbey was there to launch his new book: Sixty spooky, strange and suprising stories about Abingdon.

Cedric has illustrated Abbey manuscripts in times gone by, but this is his first book. Cedric was drowned in 1327 trying to escape from rioting Abingdon townspeople since when he has had a lonely existence. He says in the chapter on Ghastly, Ghostly and Ghoulish Tales, that “One does not bump into other ghosts at all. It seem every spirit is on a different wavelength”

It has taken ghost writer, Judy Stubley, pictured above, to get him finally published by writing it all down.

At Mostly Books for £6.99.