10 lovely literary LitBits to stroke your bookish-bones this week...

I came across a rather wonderful kickstarter campaign for The Library Cafe the other day which really chimed with me (books, creative events and coffee - my perfect mecca!) so I got in touch with Matt the man behind the mission to find out more about it.  Here he is talking us through the where, the what, the why - and most importantly how you can help make this dream a reality...

The travel site cheapflights.co.uk has created a rather fabulous infographic exploring some of the real-life locations as featured in children’s books. And as we love a) infographics and b) kids books we simply had to share.

This month we have come over all child-like so are focusing on all the books that switched us onto reading when we were little. Come join in let us know what your favourite books were when you were just starting out on your reading adventure.

Continuing on from our ‘Literary Awards Part one' selection, this week we turn our attention to some of the smaller prizes out there.  Those that that may come with somewhat less impressive pay cheques and publicity but carry just as much importance to readers, writers and publishers alike.  Dear friends, keep your eyes peeled for some of these wonderful awards this year…

We were right there with those of you who felt a jolt of sadness yesterday when it was announced that the social reading site Goodreads will be joining the Amazon ‘family’. The big question on everyone's lips now is will they devour or nurture...

Founded in San Francisco in 2007 in Otis Chandler’s front room Goodreads is one of the most prominent online communities for readers with over 16 million members using it worldwide.

Here at Book Exchange HQ we love a literary award, not only do they bring to our attention authors and titles we might have otherwise missed but also because anything that raises the profile of reading across the country is alright by us!  So we thought we would create a little compendium of dates for a handful of the book awards coming your way during 2013. This week a selection of the big hitters...

I'm delighted to say - The Book Exchange is one year old this month!  How amazing is that?  To celebrate we are offering free delivery on all books bought during March.  Please do take advantage and join our pre-loved books party :o)

Yippee the shortlist for one of my favourite literary prizes has been announced – it’s only the Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year Award – brilliant!  Previous winners of this prestigious literary award include: Greek Rural Postmen and Their Cancellation Numbers, How to Avoid Huge Ships, Living with Crazy Buttocks and last years perfectly named Cooking with Poo a 114-page cookbook penned by Saiyuud Diwong, whose nickname, “Poo” is the Thai word for crab.

Last week I succumbed to the dreaded 72 hour lurgy and ended up spending much of Sunday, Monday and Tuesday between the bed and the sofa.  Not fun especially as I’m not a particularly patient patient, I should also confess that when I’m under the weather reading is low on my list of recuperative tools and I turn to light telly to pass the time instead.  There is however only so much day-time TV that this girl can take so I started scouring the book-shelves for a good sick-bed read.