The Last Bookshop Oxford

07/10/2022

Today’s pick from our October Horror & Hijinks special is ‘Strangers on a Train’ by crime master Patricia Highsmith.

This suspense-filled novel also enjoyed a screen adaptation by Hitchcock in 1951 and was revisited loosely in 1987 as ‘Throw Momma from the Train’, a black comedy chocked full of unforgettable chuckles.

Two strangers meet on a train and find they have something in common. They’d just as soon do away with a very bothersome significant other. Guy Haines is a famous tennis star who is sick of his trampy wife making him look bad and she won’t give him a divorce so he can marry the senator’s daughter. Bruno Anthony is the psychopath he meets randomly on a train who offers to kill Guy’s notorious wife if he in turn agrees to kill Bruno’s father. This way neither can be suspected of the crime they are close to. Bruno is appalled. However, to help things along, Bruno goes ahead and kills Guy’s wife anyway. Guy becomes the number one suspect and Bruno threatens to turn him in if he doesn’t fulfill his part of the bargain and kill his father. Guy is caught in a cat and mouse game and frantically battles to thwart the canny Bruno.

The story deals with the theme of nature versus nurture and whether or not we all have it in us to commit murder for our own gain. It deals with the shadow part of ourselves that must sometimes be confronted or there will likely be a horrible price to pay if we go on ignoring it. Sometimes repression can create monstrosities inside of us that have to be faced sooner or later. Happily, Guy finds a way to face his monster Bruno but we won’t spoil the how!

A must read thriller from a venerated master of crime. We recommend a hot cup of chocolate beside a warm fire to keep you from flying off your seat in suspense with this one. Or better yet, have it keep you company on a train journey. Let us know if you meet any Brunos... though we sincerely hope you don’t!

“People, feelings, everything! Double! Two people in each person. There's also a person exactly the opposite of you, like the unseen part of you, somewhere in the world, and he waits in ambush.”

06/10/2022

Our pick of the day is ‘Interview with the Vampire’ by … A powerful analogy for the human condition and clever portrayal of the meaning of friendship, this instant classic also enjoyed a captivating screen adaptation by Neil Jordan.

Played to perfection by Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise onscreen, the friendship in question is the very destructive & codependent alliance between Louis and Lestat, two vampires bound together by blood.

The older and more experienced vampire, Lestat, who is also hedonistic, sadistic, and irresistibly charming, finds the broken down wealthy plantation owner Louis in 1781, New Orleans. Louis is bent on letting things go through boozy dissolution over the sad loss of his wife and child. He gets just that when he wakes up after a bad hangover to find that he’s just burnt down his estate and is now a vampire. Lestat pursued him during the chaos in classic vampiric, l***y predatory fashion and turned Louis against his will. It was because Lestat wanted a friend to spend eternity with. Ok…

To add insult to injury, Louis is even madder when he discovers his soul has also been left intact, something that isn’t supposed to happen when you become a vampire. This mystical oversight manifests as an insurmountable guilt over the prerequisite of having to kill people in order to survive. However Louis’s misfortunes only increase as he is determined to defy and thwart both the natural and moral laws of vampirism, with Lestat in tow to laugh at all his failures. Louis can’t shake Lestat either, the reason for which becomes inescapable. As Lestat puts it so succinctly himself to his wilful protégé, ‘.. life without me would be even more unbearable.’

A masterful twist of the genre by Rice and a supreme cinematic accomplishment by Jordan, it is a tale set in a sumptuous garden of unearthly delights. Our vampire with a soul careens through the turgid moral contradictions and hypocrisies inherent in his state of having the best and worst of both worlds with some very near misses. Louis and Lestat are an irresistible pair and show us that no matter how bad things get, you can always rely on your friends to see you through… Well, mostly.

05/10/2022

Some delightful new arrivals in collectibles today 📚💔

05/10/2022

‘In fairy-tales, witches always wear silly black hats and black cloaks, and they ride on broomsticks. But this is not a fairy-tale. This is about REAL WITCHES. The most important thing you should know about REAL WITCHES is this. Listen very carefully. Never forget what is coming next.’

A great children’s horror classic, and a story that may well take longer than a lifetime to recover from. Since we’re visiting a horror classic once a day for the scary month of October, we thought we might as well throw in the movie version too, and explore just how much you can bend, stretch and twist a great story between different mediums.

You’d be hard pressed to find a more original voice in children’s fiction than Roald Dahl, or a more inimitably pitch-perfect performance from Anjelica Huston as the Grand High Witch in Nicolas Roeg’s mesmerizing adaptation in 1990. Growing up, it was wonderful to see this great story beogg g BT to life on screen by so many talents, including Rowan Atkinson who plays the cranky and squirmy hotel manager.

One of the best and worst things about monsters is that adults can’t handle them, let alone kids! It’s not as though monsters obey our laws or follow any of our rules and usually have a special taste for human flesh. So what’s to be done? Fight or run? It all depends on the ghoul! You can’t fight witches, zombies or vampires with human weapons. Some occult dabbling is often called for. But watch out, if you can’t beat ‘em you usually have to join ‘em! Or end up in their bellies. Which would be worse?

One of the scariest parts in The Witches might be at the very beginning when our hero Luke meets his first witch near his front gate. His grandmother has just told him all about witches and how to spot them. The moment when Luke’s alarm bells start going off when this strange woman offers him a bar of chocolate 😱 Easy to lose it after that. What do you think? Any chillier moments you think can top it?

We have to recommend The Witches. Terrorizing fun for all the family!

04/10/2022

Horror story of the day: The Birds. We’ve all been there. Maybe got swooped at or pooped on or had a sandwich or two stolen on us by some more precocious breed of these flying beings, but arguably no better casting has come close of the innocent flying beings living in their millions above our heads than in the bone-chilling short story once penned by Daphne duMaurier, ‘The Birds’. Long-time admirer, Alfred Hitchcock adapted her story for the silver screen to make for one unforgettably horrible epic, although it is arguable that DuMaurier’s version is far more ruthless. The premise was simple: What if a whole species turned against us humans because they just didn’t like us…? Or did they? That may have been the reason for the disturbingly violent antics of the ominous feathery armies, but one of the worst aspects of their bizarre behaviour was that it went unexplained by both the author and director. A mindless, faceless violence from nature without rhyme or reason. Perhaps an act of God... What do you think? Over the month of October, we’re visiting some terrifying classics and would love to hear some of your favourite or shall we say, more memorable tales! We highly recommend having a look at DuMaurier’s short story which can be found free to read online. Happy Halloween, from all our horror lovers here at the shop! 🧡

04/10/2022

If you need a good scare to keep the real chaos at bay, then we have just what the doctor ordered. At least the evil will be happening to someone fictional and not you. Better than a daily dose of the news, get some healthy horror into you … 😭🧟🧛🏻😱

01/10/2022

We’ve seen the movie, maybe not read the book, probably all nightmared to the soundtrack at some point in our lives but here is a fair (albeit unexpected) question put to us by a customer today: Is Jaws a horror movie?

30/09/2022

Getting ready for Halloween with some shockers and frighteners! Picking out some favourites with Grace 🥶😱👻🧛🏻🧟❤️‍🔥Display by Ellen

02/04/2021

An interview in the Oxford Mail about our reopening and selling books online.

As Oxford is the home of world-renowned book chains Blackwell’s and Waterstone’s, the city’s literature fans are in a good place.

01/04/2021

THE LAST BOOKSHOP IN OXFORD IS BACK

We are very happy to announce a grand reopening on April 12th. We also have a beautiful new website where you can order books online.

More details through this link:

Dear All, NEW ONLINE BOOKSHOP! You're receiving this email because you have signed up to the mailing list for the Last Bookshop in Walton Street. Thank you for being a loyal customer and supporting our physical bookshop in Jericho. We are looking forward to reopening on 12 April and hope to see you....

24/08/2020

Yesterday was a great one for us at the Last Bookshop! We always hope you find what you weren’t looking for.

21/08/2020

It is always a pleasure to be visited by the Independent Jericho. They highlight the best that Jericho has to offer, check them out for great recommendations!

One of the many things people love about Jericho is that there are still charming shops like the Last Bookshop. We popped in yesterday and picked up a couple of these excellent postcards. Truly knowledgeable staff with a real interest in books. The Last Bookshop Oxford 25 Walton Street (near the end of Little Clarendon Street). 01845 554488 Support our Jericho businesses.