Post by Daveym on Mar 11, 2011 0:34:56 GMT 1
What to buy when at WH Smiths...?
Well contrary to popular thinking book retail isn't dying a death due to cheaper online sources, if you're anything like me you still enjoy the regular visit to the local bookstore and browsing the latest releases. I tend to buy fairly regularly from my local Smiths branch, mostly impulse purchases, but also I do find it satisfying to be able to buy instantly without the wait you get from buying over the net.
This time i'd felt myself drawn to the sizable The Secrets of the TARDIS, a fancy packaged 'book' that comes with a sonic screwdriver replica that will apparently illuminate secret messages therein... my enthusiam evaporated when just a peripheral flip through shows it to be nothing more than yet another lazy cut & paste job churned out by the BBC, and capped at a whopping £14.99 pricetag!
No, what I ended up being impressed by was a more modest venture - The Eleventh Doctor: Matt Smith. A BBC childrens book priced at £6.99 that is basically an interview with Matt Smith and looks at his first series. There's Lots of behind the scenes stuff here with a wealth of photos from behind the camera and Matt Smith out in public, it looks at the making and reception of the series and his reaction to it but also at the man himself.
This book has been out awhile now but with the sea of books out there was drowned out pretty much. While it is aimed at the BBCs usual 'picture-scrapbooks-for-the-children-only' market it is genuinely set apart from the other sausage factory product by having some actual genuine substance to it, this is genuinely a very interesting book to read! It's only 60 pages long but as a souveneir of Matt Smiths appointment in the role and his very first series it is really very well done. Buy It!
