I need to get my reviewing mojo back! In the pile of books sitting beside my laptop are some absolutely brilliant novels I read over the summer, but haven’t felt able to write about – yet! Sometimes I really struggle to get started when drafting a book review. Do you ever get periods like that? Read More
Category: Incoming & TBR
Midweek Miscellany
A rainy Wednesday seems the ideal time to catch up on many little things with you all… FIRSTLY BLOG MAINTENANCE I must apologise to those of you whose readers have been filling up with my old posts from 2010 that I’d reposted here, after they got lost in my web-host transfer. I’d gaily thought that if Read More
Weekend Bookishness
It’s been a busy month – and some, so I’m glad that school breaks up at the end of next week (although I have two or three more days work to do on the school magazine after that). However, part of that busy-ness has been the Christmas edition of Shiny New Books. In The Eds Read More
Yet another grand projet bites the dust!
The dusty death of the Book Jar Back in June 2013, I put 200 or so slips of paper each with a book from my TBR pile into a jar – and made a Book Jar – you can read my original post at my old blog here. I read precisely one book from it and Read More
Books Are My Bag & a local book sale – My super Saturday book haul
It’s Books Are My Bag BAMB day at independent bookshops in the UK. Each year the BAMB team commission a limited edition bookbag. Last year was Grayson Perry’s typically challenging but great fun design – see right. This year, however, they have commissioned a bag you can take out without having to check which side Read More
My TBR Rainbow: #10 The Medal Edit
Congratulations to all our Olympians who took part in Rio In celebration, I made a pile of gold, silver and bronze-spined books from my TBR. I chose the three volumes of HP Lovecraft’s weird tales to represent the silver incarnation of Penguin Modern Classics between 2000 and 2007, of which I have many. Interestingly, all the Read More
My TBR Rainbow #9: Pattern
Earlier this year I did a series of posts of books from my TBR piles grouping them into rainbow colours (collated here). Time for another – and something different. Spotting a multi-coloured striped spine across the room, I thought I’d look for more. Gosh it was difficult! There are many bicoloured spines – maybe different colours Read More
My TBR Rainbow
Having lost a lot of posts and comments when I moved webhosts, I’m reblogging them, grouping together sometimes. Thus, seven of my TBR Rainbow posts have been combined and edited into just one below. This series originally ran between mid-March and the end of May. * * * * * This morning while sitting in Read More
I’m taking the TBR Double Dog Dare…
For the past few years I’ve signed up to take part in James’s TBR Dare. Hosted by James of James Reads Books and featuring his beloved pooch Dakota in the graphic, the TBR Dare is very simple – Read only from your TBR from Jan 1 until April 1. You can make your own exceptions Read More
A Weekend Miscellany…
Apparently it is #ArchiveDay today. I don’t know who has designated it such – but twitter is alive with tweets to good folks’ archives – so I shall highlight my three most viewed posts since starting this blog – and an odd collection they make too: ‘Fashion! Turn to the Left. Fashion! Turn to the Read More
Irresistible Incoming!
When I saw this book online, I *HAD* to have it! My copy arrived today. It’s a novel, but also a triumph of a design parody – all the way through the book. I’m not going to tell you what it’s about though – that can wait until my review – but here’s the cover! Read More
Look what I won! …
Before Christmas I entered a competition run by The Omnivore online magazine to win an entire set of the Costa Book Prize 2013 shortlisted books – and heavens to Betsy, I got an email the other day saying I’d won. Today a big box of all the books arrived. THANK YOU! As the individual category winners Read More
Look at what I won!
I have had my moments as a ‘comper’ in the past – entering loads of competitions, and winning a few too. I haven’t done that for years though, and have reverted to not winning things in general – but this week I’ve won twice! Not only did I win a prize (a nice multi-wicked candle) Read More
Incoming Beryl …
Beryl Bainbridge: Artist, Writer, Friend by Psiche Hughes I am inordinately excited to have been able to get my mitts on this rather different biography of my favourite author, the first full biography since Beryl’s death. Thanks to my lovely neighbours who rescued it from the Amazon delivery man and depot hell this morning, so Read More
The TBR Double Dog Dare
For the past two years, James over at Ready when you are CB has hosted the TBR dare, and I signed up for the full dare both times. The TBR Dare became the TBR Double Dare, and this year has become the TBR Double Dog Dare, as James’s dog Dakota is in on the act! Read More
Strange places for books
I think about the over-large extent of my TBR piles all the time. Blog-friend Simon Savidge has been doing that too recently. In his recent post on his TBR he asked “Where is the strangest place that you have ever left piles of books?” Rather than comment, I went to take a photo of my Read More
Mid-book cull – pause for a giggle or three…
As you may have surmised, I’m in the throes of having a major book cull. I gave seven bags full to my daughter’s school fête back in June, and have been working my way through the other piles, double-stacked shelves and bags over the past weeks. I’ve sorted out some worth selling via various routes Read More
Incoming – Real lives …
I haven’t done an incoming post for a while, but I bought a book at the weekend that I’m so looking forward to dipping into over weeks to come, then another brilliant sounding book arrived from the OUP (thanks Kirsty)… Once I’d picked up Mirrors: Stories of Almost Everyone by Eduardo Galeano, translated by Mark Read More
Not enough time to read …
I’m very aware that I haven’t posted since last Thursday which is a long time for me. But there has been so much going on – we’re in December and suddenly Christmas rears its head and I’m behind with everything because November was even busier for me. So I shall fill the gap by telling Read More
Housekeeping …
… no, not the book by Marilynne Robinson, just a rounding up of bookish things, as later in the week, it’s my first blogbirthday! I’ve been trying to be good and actually get rid of some books recently (inspired by Scott’s efforts over at Me and my big mouth). I’ve not ditched as many as Read More
My new cult faves have arrived – WooHoo!
I’m now the proud owner of two new cult faves – which to read first? The Booker longlisted Me Cheeta, the ‘autobiography’ of the Hollywood star chimp. Our book group has chosen this for our October book, but I can’t wait that long to read it. Or should I read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Read More
My new rules for keeping books once read & GIVEAWAY!
It’s no good, my book mountains seem to be more and more like the Himalayas every day, new piles thrust up from spare bits of floor in the study, and existing ones seem to get higher and higher. I’ve probably got about fifteen years worth of reading if I can manage a hundred or more Read More
Reading Resolutions
HAPPY NEW YEAR! It’s a grey day here in Abingdon and the anticipated hard frost didn’t materialise, so I’m hoping that it is not quite so cold as the past few days have been. This means a good brisk walk to start working off all those chocolates. I’m not good at making, or keeping, New Read More