Waterstones -- new online store

From The Bookseller:

Waterstone's has become the latest online bookseller to begin selling secondhand books with the launch of Waterstone's Marketplace. Read more here.
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The London Book Fair

Every year I promise myself to go to this event, and every year I 'forget' to get organised enough to attended. Same this year -- just realised that the Book Fair is a few days off. Never mind, maybe in 2010. Full details of the event can be found here.

Junk!

I thought I might recommend Junk by Melvin Burgess. Although this is aimed at the YA market, it warrants reading by adults, especially those with children, to help them understand their offspring. Junk tells of two young teenagers who run away from home, one from an abusive father, the other... Well, her reasons aren't as strong to the book's other protagonists. Gemma and David end up in squats in Bristol, amongst the unemployed, druggies, prostitutes. And it is only inevitable that they fall into this pit. Junk follows their life from several viewpoints, like the statements of all protagonists; and they come over with verisimilitude. Junk is so convincing. It is a salutory story which, I suspect, acts as a better caveat than all manner of warnings by teachers, politicians and parents.
--- Peter Coleborn