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Wednesday 27 November, from 6 p.m.

The pitter patter of tiny feet. The thrilling sound of tiny hands shredding wrapping paper. The querulous shout of adults. ‘It’s 4 in the morning! Go back to bed!’ It’s worth it though, to see the broad smiles on their faces.

We’re already down to our last two Christmas Late Shopping Evenings! Join us on Wednesday 11 December and Thursday 19 December to get your Christmas shopping done with 10% off all books, a glass of wine to sip as you browse and free gift wrapping on anything you buy on the night.

Diary 2019: Selections by Alan Bennett

This beautifully hand-bound edition of extracts from Alan Bennett’s 2019 diary covers (among other things) a comparison of the film The Favourite with his own play The Madness of George III, reminiscences about wartime food, being doorstepped by Morrissey (again), falling off his bicycle and facing up to encroaching arthritis and the devastation of open heart surgery . . . all in the looming shadow of Brexit and his distaste for the Windsor knot.

Each book is 24 pages, bound in Cumbrian Book Wove with cloth binding and patterned paper sides. Each copy is signed and numbered by the author and the print run is strictly limited to 300 copies, so pre-order now to make sure you don’t miss out.

Copies will be sent out by courier after 16 December.

The traditional stocking filler is and always has been a foot; here’s 2ft of small books to brighten up the Christmas mornings and the bookshelves of the stocking recipient(s) in your life. If you include a tangerine in the toe, be sure to wrap it in silver foil to prevent burstage and damage to the pages.

Monday 23 December 10 a.m. – 6.30 p.m.

Tuesday 24 December 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. (Cake Shop closed)

Christmas Day Closed

Boxing Day Closed

Friday 27 – Saturday 28 December 10 a.m. – 6.30 p.m.

Sunday 29 December 12 noon – 6 p.m.

Monday 30 December 10 a.m. – 6.30 p.m.

New Year’s Eve 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

New Year’s Day Closed

Thursday 2 January 10 a.m. – 6.30 p.m.

Barely recovered from the ups, downs, tos, fros, epiphanies and vicissitudes of 2019, we’ve nonetheless set our minds to pondering on some of the literary marvels that 2020 holds in store. Take a look at some early results of our ponderings here.

Our first Author of the Month for 2020 is the Austrian novelist, playwright, poet and essayist Thomas Bernhard.

Although regarded by his many enthusiasts as a towering figure in European and World literature, comparable in stature to Samuel Beckett, his works have until recently only been sporadically available in English, and have suffered from an undeserved reputation of being dour, impenetrable and dauntingly intellectual. They are in fact none of the above, and share with Beckett a sharp sense of humour and a visceral engagement with life, and its necessary corollary, death.

Have a look at a list of his books here, and come and meet them in person at the shop on our dedicated Bernhard table in Bury Place.

We’re just about to kick off a new year of events at the London Review Bookshop.

Join us on Wednesday 22 January to hear novelist Samantha Harvey talk about her first foray into non-fiction, The Shapeless Unease, a philosophical memoir about a bout of insomnia that afflicted her out of the blue. She’ll be in conversation with Tessa Hadley. Book tickets here.

On Tuesday 28 January, we welcome novelist Lars Iyer back to the shop to discuss his latest work of philosophical comedy, Nietzsche and the Burbs, with Jon Day. Book here.

We’ve already started to announce our March and April events too – including a very special evening with Rebecca Solnit and Mary Beard – so head to our website to see the full lineup.

The Kenyan novelist, essayist and academic Ng?g? wa Thiong’o, our Author of the Month for February, was born James Thiong’o Ngugi in 1938. Following several books written and published in English, in the late 1960s he renounced English as a literary language in favour of Kikuyu, at the same time renouncing the name James Ngugi for its Kikuyu equivalent and Christianity for an anticolonialist Fanonist Marxism. His uncompromising political views and outspoken criticism of British colonialism and of the Arap Moi dictatorship led to periods of imprisonment under both regimes as well as long periods of exile, some of it spent in London.

Combining biting satire and high farce with a surreal vision that is always defiantly African in perspective, Ng?g?'s works have marked him out as one of the world's most important living writers.

You can read about some of them here, or come and meet them in the flesh on our dedicated Ng?g? table throughout February.

What's happening to our climate? And what, if anything can we do about it? And if we can do something about it, are we prepared, politically and socially, to actually do it? These and other questions are posed, if not definitively answered, in our Climate Change booklist, encompassing science, reportage, politics and fiction.

One of the things we can do to (possibly) make a difference (depending on who you listen to) is eating less meat and dairy. Whether you’re just looking to go veggie a couple of nights a week, on the verge of converting to a vegan(-ish) lifestyle or fully committed to making your own cashew nut cheese, here’s some books to help you along the way.

For the third event in the new #stayathome incarnation of LRB Screen, hosted by Gareth Evans on our YouTube channel every Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. (BST), the focus will be the moving and personal exchange of 'video letters' that comprise Life May Be, the feature-length essay-film by Iranian film-maker/actor Mania Akbari and Scotland-based director and critic Mark Cousins. Ranging across time and place, ideas and experience, it's an all too relevant exploration of distance and intimacy, and the journeys, in all senses, of our lives.

Details of how to watch the film beforehand, book a free ticket and join the conversation are on our website, as ever.

Here's a few of the latest additions to our new online shop. Click the button below to explore more of our favourite books, available to order via the London Review Book Box.

While we won't be hosting any events in the Bookshop for now, you can access a decade or so of events through our podcast archive, or via your preferred podcast provider.

Born in Congo-Brazzaville in 1966 Alain Mabanckou has established himself, in poetry, novels, essays and memoir, as one of the leading Francophone writers in the African diaspora. Mixing tragedy with high farce, surreal humour and twists of magic realism, his novels, set in both Congo and African Paris, have elicited comparison with Dickens, Samuel Beckett and Borges, while Mabanckou himself suggests C?line and James Baldwin as precursors. Such a long list of possible comparisons - J.M.G. Le Cl?zio adds Salinger and Achebe - implies, quite correctly, that he is incomparable.

Check out some of his titles here, and come and meet them in person at the shop throughout March.