Welcome
Books Paper Scissors is an independent bookshop in leafy South Belfast, near to the Botanic Gardens, Queen’s University and the Ulster Museum.
We stock a curated selection of new fiction and non-fiction, plus classics, Irish writing and poetry. We also have a great children's room, with choices from newborn to teenager. If you don't see the book you want in store or on-line, please just ask via e-mail or telephone, we can source most books in just a few days.
Beyond books we stock high quality stationery, notebooks, pens, diaries and greetings cards. Plus gift wrap, gift bags and of course, scissors.
We also stock a small selection of non book gifts.
* * CORONAVIRUS UPDATE - ** 25th August
We re-opened in early June and operated 11am-4pm daily.
From Sept 1st, with life hopefully 'normalising' we will re-establish 9.30 - 5pm working hours. Full Covid-19 precautions remain in place, with gloves, sanitiser, screens and distancing.
Deliveries can still be requested throughout Belfast, or postal service as required.
New
The Secret Life of Special Advisers, by Peter Cardwell
£20.00
Despite the acres of speculation devoted to special advisers in recent years, from Alastair Campbell to Dominic Cummings, their role is much misunderstood. Who are the people Piers Morgan once called 'these miserable little creatures' and just how much influence do they have? Peter Cardwell served as SpAd to four Cabinet ministers, acting as media adviser, political fixer, troubleshooter and occasional wardrobe consultant. In this candid, compelling and frequently hilarious insider account, he takes the reader into the heart of Whitehall to reveal what the job really involves, from dealing with counter-terror emergencies in Cobra to explaining to the Justice Secretary what a dental dam is, to having your inside leg measured in a government office. Spells in Northern Ireland office add local insight to this amusing book.Packed with advice on navigating the perks and pitfalls of the job, The Secret Life of Special Advisers will inform and entertain anyone who has ever wondered what these mysterious figures really do all day.
THE LOST SPELLS by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris (October 2020, hardback)
£14.99
Dazzlingly beautiful and wonderfully inventive, discover the magical new book from the creators of bestselling, critically acclaimed literary phenomenon, The Lost Words . . .Kindred in spirit to The Lost Words but fresh in its form, The Lost Spells is a pocket-sized treasure that introduces a beautiful new set of natural spell-poems and artwork by beloved creative duo Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris. Each "spell" conjures an animal, bird, tree or flower -- from Barn Owl to Red Fox, Grey Seal to Silver Birch, Jay to Jackdaw -- with which we share our lives and landscapes.
Written to be read aloud, painted in brushstrokes that call to the forest, field, riverbank and also to the heart. Gorgeous to look at and to read.
Love, by Roddy Doyle (hardback published October 2020)
£18.99
'A profound examination of friendship, romantic confusion and mortality' John Boyne
One summer's evening, two men meet up in a Dublin restaurant. Old friends, now married and with grown-up children, their lives have taken seemingly similar paths. But Joe has a secret he has to tell Davy, and Davy, a grief he wants to keep from Joe.
Both are not the men they used to be. Neither Davy nor Joe know what the night has in store, but as two pints turns to three, then five, and the men set out to revisit the haunts of their youth, the ghosts of Dublin entwine around them. Their first buoyant forays into adulthood, the pubs, the parties, broken hearts and bungled affairs, as well as the memories of what eventually drove them apart.
As the two friends try to reconcile their versions of the past over the course of one night, Love offers up a delightfully comic, yet moving portrait of the many forms love can take throughout our lives.
How Should One Read A Book? By Virginia Woolf
£7.99
Where are we to begin? How are we to bring order into this multitudinous chaos and so get the deepest and widest pleasure from what we read?'Published for the first time as a standalone volume, Virginia Woolf's short, impassioned essay, How Should One Read a Book? celebrates the enduring importance of great literature. In this timeless manifesto on the written word, rediscover the joy of reading and the power of a good book to change the world. One of the most significant modernist writers of the 20th Century, Virginia Woolf and her visionary essays are as relevant today as they were nearly one hundred years ago.Features a new introduction by Sheila Heti.
Longhand, by Andy Hamilton ( hardback, September 2020)
£16.99
Malcolm George Galbraith is a large, somewhat clumsy, Scotsman. He's being forced to leave the woman he loves behind and needs to explain why. So he leaves her a handwritten note on the kitchen table (well, more a 300-page letter than a note).In it, Malcolm decides to start from the beginning and tell the whole story of his long life, something he's never dared do before. Because Malcolm isn't what he seems: he's had other names and lived in other places. A lot of other places.
As it gathers pace, Malcolm's story combines tragedy, comedy, mystery, a touch of leprosy, several murders, a massacre, a ritual sacrifice, an insane tyrant, two great romances, a landslide, a fire, and a talking fish. And the book was genuinely written in handscript and printed!
Jungle Drop, by Abi Elphinstone
£7.99
'Imaginative, adventurous and wonderful' Robin Stevens, author of A Murder Most Unladylike series 'The Unmapped Chronicles series is irresistible' Lauren St John, author of The White Giraffe '
Where the map ends, the adventure begins . . .
'Nothing, and I mean nothing, is more powerful than a child in possession of a plan.' Eleven-year-old twins, Fox and Fibber, have been rivals for as long as they can remember. Only one of them will inherit the family fortune and so a race is afoot to save the dwindling Petty-Squabble empire and win the love of their parents. But when the twins are whisked off to Jungledrop, a magical Unmapped Kingdom in charge of conjuring our world's weather, things get wildly out of hand.
An evil harpy called Morg is on the loose. And if she finds the long-lost Forever Fern before the twins, both Jungledrop and our world will crumble. Suddenly, Fox and Fibber find themselves on an incredible adventure in a glow-in-the-dark rainforest full of golden panthers, gobblequick trees and enchanted temples.
But, with the fate of two worlds in their hands, will the twins be able to work together for once to defeat Morg and her dark magic?
This series will not only leave children entertained, but will also empower them to battle climate change and environmental issues. Perfect for fans of Michelle Harrison, Piers Torday and Emma Carroll.
Wizards of Once, Never and Forever ( Book 4)
£12.99
The No.1 bestselling series from the author of How to Train Your Dragon. Can Xar and Wish unite their worlds in time to save the Wildwoods? Will it be Never... or Forever? The final book in the magical The Wizards of Once series.Xar and Wish have found the ingredients for the Spell-to-get-rid-of-Witches. Now the Kingwitch is calling them to the lake of the lost. But first they must mix the potion in the Cup of Second Chances ...
Can they defeat the hungry Tatzelwerm monster and escape with the cup? And will the spell be strong enough to lift the CURSE OF THE WILDWOODS... or will Witches reign FOREVER?"A rollercoaster of suspense and surprise" GUARDIAN"Cowell is moving towards national treasure" BIG ISSUE "Another coup
Kidnap on the California Comet
£6.99
Board the California Comet and help Harrison Beck to solve another heart-stopping mystery in the second Adventures on Trains story, Kidnap on the California Comet, from bestselling authors M.G. Leonard and Sam Sedgman. After the excitement of his adventures aboard the Highland Falcon Thief, Harrison Beck can't wait for the opportunity to go on another amazing train journey.
So when his Uncle Nat invites him aboard the California Comet, the iconic three-day train journey from Chicago to San Francisco, he leaps at the chance to travel. But when the daughter of billionaire entrepreneur August Reza goes missing en route, Hal finds himself with another mystery to solve. Can he uncover the kidnapper before the journey's end?An adrenaline-fuelled journey across America from bestselling authors M.G.
Leonard and Sam Sedgman in the second mystery adventure in the major Adventures on Trains series.
Wildly funny, with hairpin plot bends and inventive characters, this series is firmly on track to become a bestseller.'
Elsetime, by Eve McDonnell (paperback, September 2020)
£8.99
An exciting and engaging story, using historical events, from a new Irish author.
'Elsetime is a tale that combines time-travel with evocative description and colourful characterisation to create a unique and compelling story of friendship and courage.' Steve Voake, author of The Dream Walker's Child.
A compelling story based on the Great Flood of 1928.
The Girl and the Dinosaur, Hollie Hughes ( picture book, August 2020)
£6.99
A lovely gentle story, with evocative illustrations, destined to be read for years to come. The wishing stars burn bright tonight, the air is thick with dreams, and a deeply sleeping dinosaur is waking up, it seems . .In a town by the seaside, Marianne is often seen foraging on the beach. But she isn't playing with children her own age.
Instead Marianne is alone, and digging for dinosaur bones to build a special sort of companion. Then, one night, she goes to sleep wishing with all her heart that her dinosaur might come to life . .
I’m Sticking With You by Smriti Halls (picture book, Sept 2020)
£6.99
A wonderful, warm bear-hug of a story with sumptuous illustrations. A modern classic.' - Jim Field, illustrator of Oi Frog
Wherever you're going, I'm going too. Whatever you're doing, I'm sticking with you.
It's wonderful to have good friends to see you through the good times and the bad. But sometimes, friends can also be a bit . .
. well . .
. overbearing.
Great sentiment and lovely rhyming text that will keep children from 2 - 5 entertained.
A Saint From Texas, by Edmund White, hardback August 2020
£18.99
A bold and sweeping new novel that traces the extraordinary fates of twin sisters, one destined for Parisian nobility and the other for Catholic sainthood.
Yvette and Yvonne Crawford are twin sisters, born on a humble patch of East Texas prairie but bound for far grander fates. Just as an untold fortune of oil lies beneath their daddy's land, both girls harbour their own secrets and dreams -ones that will carry them far from Texas and from each other. As the decades unfold, Yvonne will ascend the highest ranks of Parisian society as Yvette gives herself to a lifetime of worship and service in the streets of Jerico, Colombia.
Smart, humorous, human. Great writing.
Twilight of Democracy, by Anne Applebaum
£16.99
by Anne Applebaum Hardback
- 224 pages
- Publisher:Penguin Books Ltd
- Imprint:Allen Lane
- ISBN:9780241419717
- Published:21 Jul 2020
- Classifications:
- Anne Applebaum is a leading historian of communism and a penetrating investigator of contemporary politics. Here she sets her sights on the big question, one with which she herself has been deeply engaged in both Europe and America: how did our democracy go wrong? This extraordinary document, written with urgency, intelligence and understanding, is her answer.
Analysis, reportage and memoir, Twilight of Democracy fearlessly tells the shameful story of a political generation gone bad. In the years just before and after the fall of the Berlin Wall, people from across the political spectrum in Europe and America celebrated a great achievement, felt a common purpose and, very often, forged personal friendships. Yet over the following decades the euphoria evaporated, the common purpose and centre ground gradually disappeared, extremism rose once more and eventually - as this book compellingly relates - the relationships soured too.
Anne Applebaum traces this history in an unfamiliar way, looking at the trajectories of individuals caught up in the public events of the last three decades. When politics becomes polarized, which side do you back? If you are a journalist, an intellectual, a civic leader, how do you deal with the re-emergence of authoritarian or nationalist ideas in your country? When your leaders appropriate history, or pedal conspiracies, or eviscerate the media and the judiciary, do you go along with it?Twilight of Democracy is an essay that combines the personal and the political in an original way and brings a fresh understanding to the dynamics of public life in Europe and America, both now and in the recent past.
Valentine, Elizabeth Wetmore (hardback, June 2020)
£14.99
top ten New York Times bestseller. With the haunting emotional power of American Dirt and the atmospheric suspense of Where the Crawdads Sing: a compulsive debut novel that explores the aftershock of a brutal crime on the women of a small Texas oil town. 'The very definition of a stunning debut' Ann Patchett 'Amazing ...like a grimmer, newer version of To Kill A Mockingbird ... It sounds bleak, and it is, but there is beauty, too; in the landscape, in the spirit of some of the people and most of all in Wetmore's wonderful writing' Wendy Holden, Daily Mail Mercy is hard in a place like this. I wished him dead before I ever saw his face...
Mary Rose Whitehead isn't looking for trouble - but when it shows up at her front door, she finds she can't turn away. Corinne Shepherd, newly widowed, wants nothing more than to mind her own business, and for everyone else to mind theirs. But when the town she has spent years rebelling against closes ranks she realises she is going to have to take a side.
Debra Ann is motherless and lonely and in need of a friend. But in a place like Odessa, Texas, choosing who to trust can be a dangerous game. Gloria Ramirez, fourteen years old and out of her depth, survives the brutality of one man only to face the indifference and prejudices of many.
When justice is as slippery as oil, and kindness becomes a hazardous act, sometimes courage is all we have to keep us alive.
The Wild Laughter, by Caoilinn Hughes (hardback, June 2020)
£14.99
NAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED TITLE FOR 2020 BY THE FINANCIAL TIMES, THE IRISH TIMES & RTE' From the author of the successful debut, Orchid and the Wasp.
It's 2008, and the Celtic Tiger has left devastation in its wake. Brothers Hart and Cormac Black are waking up to a very different Ireland - one that widens the chasm between them and brings their beloved father to his knees.
Facing a devastating choice that risks their livelihood, if not their lives, their biggest danger comes when there is nothing to lose. A sharp snapshot of a family and a nation suddenly unmoored, this epic-in-miniature explores cowardice and sacrifice, faith rewarded and abandoned, the stories we tell ourselves and the ones we resist. Hilarious, poignant and utterly fresh, The Wild Laughter cements Caoilinn Hughes' position as one of Ireland's most audacious, nuanced and insightful young writers.
Book Club
The BPS Book Club meets in the last week of every month. We have two sessions, each one covering the same book so just pick the session that suits you. There is no need to book, just show up. It's a relaxed and unintimidating sharing of views and opinions.
Please contact us if you have any questions about the book club.
BOOKS as GIFTS
Perhaps you have a relative or friend who loves reading but you have no idea what to choose? We can make recommendations based on a few hints! We offer a subscription 6 month gift service where the book(s) are chosen, gift wrapped and dispatched by BooksPaperScissors with a gift message from the recipient.
Recipient will receive an introductory letter allowing them to select genres and identify favourites - we do the rest!
For children or adults.
Our Book Store
15 Stranmillis Rd, Belfast BT9 5AF
Phone: 028 9066 7815
Monday - Saturday- 09:30 - 17:00 *
'Post-Covid 19*
daily, 11am - 4pm, until further notice
