Question:

What do you do if you have been back from your holiday for a week and area already suffering from withdrawal symptoms?

Answer:

Book another one of course!

Yep, we have just booked a campervan for a week in early August and plan on travelling round Cornwall and Devon, parking on cliff tops to watch the sun set and rise, exploring quaint fishing villages and chilling on little beaches (weather permitting – it is the UK afterall!)

So, I have a question:

  What books do you recommend that are set in Cornwall?

I obviously know of Daphne du Maurier (but I have only read Rebecca and Jamaica Inn) so what others of hers are set there and are good holiday reads? I am open to all options: chicklit, mysteries & crime fiction, historical fiction, sagas etc. I would prefer something that is not too heavy going as I like my holiday reading light and fun and page-turning.

  Over to you…

♪  Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay

My, oh my what a wonderful day!
Plenty of sunshine heading my way
Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay ♪

Huzzah! I’m going on holiday for two whole weeks. Yep, two weeks of lying on the beach, dipping in the pool, drinking peach belinis and reading and pretty much nothing else. Mr Whisperer are flying off the Greek Island of Kefalonia to stay in a villa on the side of a hill, overlooking a quiet beach with nothing else around.

Chilling in a taverna

  But what about the books?

Okay, so let’s get our priorities right here: are my shorts, sun cream and flip-flops packed? Yes, yes and yes! But now onto the more important part of packing for any holiday: books!

Now, this is an important of any holiday planning whether it be a fortnight in the sun, a weekend in Europe or even an overnight stay in a hotel for work, and it’s important not to rush the ritual….

Now, you’d think that having aquired a Kindle this year that it would make my holiday book planning somewhat easier, yes? No. I kid you not, I have stressed just as much as I normally do when trying to cram 20 books and one pair of shorts into my suitcase (until Mr Whisperer sweaps in and unloads more than half of them – don’t get me started on the fact that they’re always the WRONG ONES! Tsk!) . Having a Kindle has not taken away the fact that I still have thousands of books sat at home all calling my name in thw hope that they may be the chosen ones.

  As with every trip I take, my packing routine looks a little like this:

Put suitcase on bed

Open it

Throw in shorts, vest tops, bikinis & flip-flops

Stop to look lovingly at large pile of books on floor

Throw in some toiliteries

Pick a few books of pile & decide that I can’t possibly lose any of them

Put them back on pile

Pack sun cream

Maybe I will just remove these two…

Ooh, sun hat!

Throw in a beach towel

Throw a tantrum that I have had to narrow my pile down to just ten

Dresses – will need a few for the evenings

Grieve for the books I have given up

Pack remaing 10 books (and Kindle!)

Unpack remaining 10 books and play eenie-meenie-minie-moe

A moment’s silence for the ones that got away *pause*

Pack iPod and camera

Pack remaining books and close lid of suitcase

*2 hours later*

I’ll just check that the books that are left are the right ones…….

So anyway, I have now created a little *holiday reading list on my Kindle and also some hardcopy books** which include the following:

Anyway, I have scheduled some posts to go out while I’m away – I love getting your comments so please do pop by and I will reply to all when I get home. Bye for now

My birthday weekend

I’ve been so busy I haven’t even had a chance to tell you all about my birthday weekend 2 weeks ago: 

Mr Whisperer took me to a little cottage by the beach in west Wales for my birthday. We had a deck overlooking the sea and the weather was so mild that we could sit out and watch the waves and chill out in wonderful peace and quiet.

As well as chilling at the cottage, we went for long walks on the beach and we also went for a walk along a river (in T-shirts, it was so warm) in the middle of Snowdonia and stopped for tea and cake (yep – there was quite a lot of this went on all weekend ). We also went up to Conwy on the north Wales coast and wandered around the castle walls and had a nosey inside the smallest house in the UK (which is literally one tiny room downstairs and one tiny room upstairs – so quirky). 

Walking in Beddgelert, Snowdonia

Smallest house in Britain



View from our cottage

On the day of my birthday, I awoke to the smell of fresh coffee and crumpets coming from the conservatory of the cottage that overlooks the sea. I was greeted by a scrummy breakfast and a pile of cards and presents.

Now, I have whinged and moaned so often in the past about my lack of booky presents in the past that you can imagine my shock to open this:

My Kindley treat

I had absolutely no idea I was getting this as I hadn’t really ever considered getting an e-reader before. I love the look, feel and smell of books and e-readers almost seemed impersonal. I am a convert! OK, that’s not stricktly true as I still love my books but I have to admit that I have loved every minute of setting up my Kindle and downloading books – I didn’t know I could get so many for FREE!!! It was so useful for the last few weeks as I have been away training for my new job and where I would normally have a suitcase full of more books than clothes for this lenghth of stay, I only needed to pack my Kindle (well, OK, I took 3 books too – a girl has to have options!)

My new toy, complete with shiny red leather folder

What do you think to e-readers?

And finally…

Look what my gorgeous nieces bought me for my birthday:

Cats and books - what more is there to life?

How well they know me!

Have a great week everyone!

It’s Monday…

which normally means back to work, but as I am still on holiday until my new job starts I am going for a walk in the Pennines today with my parents. We’ll be getting the train there (time for reading) and also, there are several coffee pit-stops planned along the way (time for more reading) so I’m looking forward to a nice day out in the fresh air. Boo hiss to all of you who are on your way to work!

I’m reading…

Well firstly, I have to say that a couple of days ago I finished Dog Boy by Eva Hornung and it has made it on to my current list of best books of 2010. I LOVED it! My review will be up next week sometime so please look out for that.

I started reading Dracula by Bram Stoker this weekend and I am just loving it so far. The first few chapters were so spooky and eerie and brilliantly written. I am currently at the part where the ship the Demeter has just sailed into Whitby Harbour (with no crew) and they have found the captains log book….dun dun duuuuuuunnnnnn!!! Has anyone else read it? I can’t wait to get stuck in and read some more.

Dare you read it?

In October, the month of Halloween when the nights draw in, I plan on doing some posts about spooky or scary books that I am either going to read shortly or review some that I have read in the past but haven’t got round to reviewing on my blog yet. Books that are perfect for those chilly evenings where all we want to do is curl up infront of the fire with a good (spooky) book. I will call the post “Dare you read it?”

What do you think?

  BBAW

I loved the BBAW, did you? I discovered some fantastic new blogs that were  completely new to me and enjoy similar books to me so I have spent many a happy hour trawling through reviews and picking up recommendations to add to Mt.TBR.

I didn’t do the final post about my blogging plans for this year on Friday as I wasn’t sure I had much to say as I don’t plan on making any big changes to my blog just yet. However, I have made one resolution and this is to read more books off my own personal TBR pile as I do sometimes feel pressured with reading review copies. The dilemma is, though, that I love receiving them in the post (it’s like Christmas every day I get one – I can’t smile wide enough!), but sometimes they look at me from the shelves and make me feel guilty everytime I walk past them. It’s so nice to just be able to pick up a book off my shelf that I haven’t read yet (i.e. Dracula) that I haven’t got round to reading yet but really fancy picking up. Do you have this problem too? I swear I will need to live to be 500 years old to fit in all the books I want to!

Have a great week and happy reading

Ladies, welcome back

It’s been a while since these two got an airing so I’ve let them out to play (and gossip) today.

To change or not to change, that is the question

Thanks to all of you who commented on my post about changing templates the other day – it was really helpful to read all your thoughts. It looks like most people prefer this template so I have reverted back (for now). I still love the other template but every time I looked at it, it felt like I was reading someone else’s blog. So, I’m back home – until I get bored again

  Zippety doo dah…..

Huzzah! I handed my notice in at work this week. I have got a new job! Woop woop! I am so excited about starting my new role in October – I would have loved to have told them to stick their job where the sun don’t shine but alas I was ever the professional and did it with a huge amount of decorum and gitted teeth. I now  have a full 5 weeks off! What can I possibly spend 5 weeks doing? Reading, that’s what! Oh, all those lovelies on my shelf calling me and all those weeks I can spend with them – is this what heaven looks like?

 But before all that….

I am going on holiday again tomorrow. A week in Olu deniz in Turkey. I plan on doing little else except lying round the pool or on the beach at the Blue Lagoon with book in hand.

I have so far narrowed my holiday choices down to a rather respectable six (with a few more waiting in the wings just in case I change my mind last minute) and of course there is the obligatory stop at WHSmiths to buy airport books (it’s the law – in fact I almost look forward to my airport book spree as much as the holiday itself).

See you all when I get back! Happy reading!

A very bookish weekend

I feel like I’ve been away for ages, but it’s only actualy four days. I’ve just got back from a long weekend away with my parents, my brother and his wife and two young children and Mr Whisperer in Staithes, a tiny fishing village on the North Yorkshire coast. We all  stayed in a cottage together and actually had fantastic weather! Hurray! I had a lovely time buiding sand castles and racing on the beach with my neice (3) and nephew (7 months) and I even managed to get a few pages of my book read while chilling with an icecream or three.

Goth Weekend in Whitby

The seaside town of Whitby is only 11 miles from where we stayed in Staithes and I LOVE Whitby. What we didn’t realise when we went, though, that it was actually Goth Weekend this weekend. Goth Weekend is an event where goths from all over the UK and even abroad descend on the town of Whitby – it’s the most amazing sight. Everywhere you look there are people dressed in the most weird and wonderful outfits – some of them are so elaborate that you have to stop and stare. There were hearses too with coffins in the back and skulls and spiders all over them and and horse and carriages pulled by jet black horses with huge plumes of feathers on top of their heads.

Goth-weekend (I have since found out) is an bi-annual event that started in 1994 and Whitby was chosen as the town where it would take place because that’s where Bram Stoker is reputed to have set his famous novel Dracula there.

Aside from  goth-watching and stuffing my face with fish and chips and the famous Magpie Cafe, I also managed to do a spot of book shopping (as is the law when on holiday). I slipped off down a side street near the harbour to pay a visit to a lovely little second-hand bookshop, a new book shop round the corner and when I came home I had some lovely brown packages waiting for me. Here’s what I got:

  Whitby Books

A Sensible Life by Mary Wesley (just read and loved another of hers so I was deleriously happy to find a copy of this)

Aimez-Vous Brahms by Francoise Sagan (I really enjoyed her more famous Bonjour Tristesse so when I found these 3 books all together I had to have them)

Sunlight on Cold Water by Francoise Sagan

A Fleeting Sorrow by Francoise Sagan

Daughters of the House by Michele Roberts

I also managed to nip into the new book shop round the corner and pick up the following:

Miss Marjoriebanks by Margaret Oliphant (to read for a group read in May)

Little Boy Lost by Marghanita Laski (recently read The Victorian Chaise-Longue and really enjoyed it)

Books from Publishers

The Shadow of Your Smile by Mary Higgins Clark (anyone who reads my blog regularly can guess at my euphoria at getting this book! Woop woop!). Thank you to Simon and Schuster for my copy.

White Woman on a Green Bicycle by Monique Roffey (shortlisted for the Orange prize). Thank you to Simon and Schuster for my copy.

The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers by Thomas Mullen. Thank you to Fourth Estate for my copy.

The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg. Thank you to Oxford University Press for my copy.

The Confession of Katherine Howard by Suzannah Dunn. Thank you to Amazon Vine for my copy.

Hedwig’s Journey by Frederick van Eeden. Thank you to Holland Press for my copy.

A little spree last week

I also managed to squeeze in a little spree last week after a client meeting in Leeds. One of the bookish people I follow on Twitter had told me to go to Headingly and buy books and drink coffee. Not wishing to be rude, when I found myself in that neck of the woods I duly obliged and came away with some real gems for next to nothing (and of course went for coffee afterwards to admire my new friends):

Quincunx by Charles Pallister

O Caledonia by Elspeth Barker

The Play Room by Olivia Manning

The Doves of Venus by Olivia Manning

Therese by Francois Mauriac

The Water of the Hills by Marcel Pagnol

Did anyone get up to anything interesting this weekend? Anyone buy any books? ☺

♪♫ Here comes the rain again ♫♪

I am reminded of that old Annie Lennox song as a lovely weekend of BBQ’s and country walks in the sunshine comes to an end and Monday morning in Yorkshire dawns wet and miserable. Pah!

Anyone get up to anything exciting? Mine was pretty lazy – just the way I like ‘em!

Mini Shopaholic cover revealed

Anyone who knows me knows how crazy I am about the Shopaholic series and I cannot wait for the new book to be released in September. I have read every book written by Sophie Kinsella – her books are my ultimate comfort reads and make me laugh out loud. I am so looking foreward to the latest edition in the shopaholic series to come out – it appears that Minnie is every bit as shopping obsessed as her mother! Hurrah!

I won!

Back in January I entered a competition to win a signed copy of Robin Maxwell’s new book O, Juliet and also a gorgeous leather journal from La Bella Vida & Company on Robin’s blog.  

O, Juliet by Robin Maxwell

Leather Journal

The competition was to write a love poem. Now I am no poet, I assure you, but I really wanted to win the book and the journal so I decided to go for it. I had forgotten all about it as I hadn’t heard anything but this week I had an email from Robin to say that I had won! I was stunned but really happy (obviously!). As I say, I am definitely no poet (you’re about to read the evidence to support that claim) but what I wrote was how I felt about meeting Mr Whisperer eleven years ago:

Daphne du Maurier challenge

I came across this new challenge yesterday and have joined up. I have only read one du Maurier book (to my shame) but I have an entire box set at home that keeps whispering my name from the shelf so really this is just the excuse I needed to get going with her others. The challenge is hosted by Chris at Book-a-rama.

Has anyone else read any Daphne du Maurier books? Which are your favourites? Which should I start with?

Last day of freedom

Ahh yes, I’ve had a few weeks of book-heaven and it’s back to work on Monday. To help me celebrate my last day of freedom in true-bookaholic style I popped out in the car today and drove to a little town where I could sit outside sipping coffee and reading my book in peace, quiet and the spring sunshine. Lovely!

Now, as luck would have it, as I ambled back to my car, what did I spot tucked down a side street? Yes, a lovely old bookshop! What are the chances? (Mr Whisperer swears I have a radar up my backside that bleeps whenever I get within a half-mile radius of one – I think he’s right. Either that or I have an inbuilt homing-device like pigeons have).  Anyway, I was in heaven. There was a gorgeous classics section with some gorgeous oldy-worldy books that caught my eye the minute I walked in and after several minutes hours of careful consideration I chose my favourites.

Meet Princess Saffy Twinkletoes

I have two cats. Two very spoilt and very pampered cats. You are about to meet one of them: Princess Saffy Twinkletoes (or as Mr Whisperer calls her – Princess Saffy Thundertoes as she is rather on the large side). It wasn’t actually my intention for her to get her first taste of fame just yet but apparantly she had different ideas.

Ta-daaaaah! All rise for Her Royal Highness Princess Saffy Twinkletoes.

So, what I was actually trying to take a photo of was four of the books that I picked up today and I am really excited about. It is the 4 books in Lawrence Durrell’s Alexandria Quartet. I have wanted these for so long and can’t believe that I managed to get all 4 of them at the same time. I have heard such good things about these books and can’t wait to dive in. This is what they should have looked like:

Books minus cat

I also picked up some other books at the same shop and I had credit for 3 brand new ones too. It was like my birthday picking all these out!

My pretties!

The ones I got brand new are:

The Small House at Allington by Anthony Trollope

Les Liaisons Dangereux by Choderlos de Laclos

More from the second hand bookshop:

Les Enfants Terribles by Jean Cocteau

Where Angles Fear to Tread by E M Forster

Have His Carcase by Dorothy L Sayers

Strong Poison by Dorothy L Sayers

Was that the end of my lovely day? Oh no!

Two gifts in the post

I received a book that I’d won in a competition over at the blog of the fabulous Amanda – Floor to Ceiling Books. I won a copy of Hell’s Belles by Paul Magrs and as soon as I opened it I wanted to dive straight in (have some other books to read first though). It does look great and I can’t wait to read it.

My second gift was the sweetest card from my good friend Virginie from Goodreads (and who also regularly posts comments on here). She won a copy of Alice I Have Been when I ran a competition a couple of months ago and so she sent me a card to say thank you with a lovely letter inside it and also a whole load of bookmarks and a notebook from Paris. I am thrilled to bits! Thank you Virginie!

Princess Saffy Twinkletoes Part 2

Yes, there is a part two. Apparantly my girl isn’t satisfied with merely posing with a pile of books -she wants in on the bookmark action too!

Note a ginger paw moving in from the top...

....and pounce!

This is the card that Virginie made me herself:

"If I just move in slowly......"

"MINE!!!!!"

And this is the point at which I intervene before my card dies a death by fang!

24 hour Read-a-thon!

Are you all ready???? I will be shaking those pompoms full-force tomorrow. Perhaps I had better choose a book to read too………

Boof’s lovely weekend

This is where I get to gloat about how wonderful my husband is. All last week, Mr Whisperer kept telling me that he had a surprise for me on Saturday. I couldn’t get any clues out of him other than a categoric “NO!” when I gleefully asked if it was a 10 minute trolley-dash round Waterstones (sigh!). Mr Whisperer told me to set my alarm clock for 9am on Saturday, which I dutifully did (although I did end up getting up at 6.30am because it felt like my birthday!) and finally I got to know what my surprise was: a trip to the spa!

Oh yes! My day consisted of an aromatherapy massage, a facial with head massage, a manicure and a pedicure, all while listening to plinky-plonky music and surrounded by scented candles. Pure bliss.

And all this because I was made redundant (AGAIN!!) last week and Mr Whisperer wanted to cheer me up becuause I had been feeling blue about the whole job thing. I’m a very lucky girl!

Websites / blog’s I’ve found

I love discovering new bookish websites and blogs on the internet. This week I have fallen in love with BookRabbit. They are webiste where you can review books, connect with people who like the same books as you, they do author interviews and most importantly they do lots of freebie book giveaways of just-out books! Oh, and they’re UK based. What’s not to love?

24 hour Read-a-thon

Hurray!!! My first ever Read-a-thon is coming up on 10th April. Not only that, but I am an official Cheerleader for this. Yep, that’s right, I am donning white ankle socks, a short skirt and waving pink pompoms around especially for the occasion (OK, not really – I’m 38, that would be weird!).

So, what is the Read-a-thon I hear you cry. Well, it is what it says on the tin – 24 hours of pure unadulterated blissful reading. There will be teams set up and and prizes given out and lots of online encouragement and all you have to do is read. I know, perfect eh?

One of my jobs as a Cheerleader is to recruit more cheerleaders to spread the love and make sure that 10th April is fun! Does anyone want to join me? If you’re interested please can you let me know on the comments below and also go to this link and fill in your details. You don’t need to have a blog to do this – just a love of books and a sense of fun. That’s you, right????

What I’ve learnt reading this week

15-20% 0f all Norwegian children think that their Dad is a different man to who he really is. (The Snowman by Jo Nesbo).

Good morning everyone! I had a really lazy weekend which consisted of lying horizontal on the sofa (book in hand), watching The Young Victoria (which SKY cut off 20 minute before the end – GRRRRRR!) and going to Ikea with the intention of coming back with a new bookshelf to house the increasing number of books that are slowly taking on a life of their own and spreading all over the house (which apparantly bothers my husband). We came back empty handed though as I didn’t like any of them (unless I want my office / library to look like a teenage boys bedroom!)

I hope you all had a great weekend? Anything exciting to report?

So, onto my bi-weekly blah blah’s:

Susan Fletcher book signings

A couple of weeks ago I interviewed Susan Fletcher, author of the fantastic Corrag (you can read the interview here). Susan will be doing a couple of booksignings in Scotland this week for those lucky enough to live up there. If I were closer I would be there in a heartbeat but if anyone does go and see her I would love to hear how you got on.

These are the dates:

Wednesday 24th March, 6.30pm

Talk and signing at Blackwell Book Shop, South Bridge, Edinburgh
Contact: 0131 622 8222

Thursday 25th March, 6pm

Talk and signing at University of Dundee
www.literarydundee.co.uk
Contact: 01382 200 322

Author Interview coming up

I am SO excited about this one! Joanne Harris, author of Chocolat (probably her best known book), Five Quarters of the Orange (in my top 10 of all time), Blackberry Wine etc has agreed to do an interview here at The Book Whisperer.Her lovely publicist, Louise, has sent me a gorgeous hardback copy of Harris’s new book Blueeyedboy which I cannot WAIT to dive into. Apparantly this book is similar in sytle to Gentlemen and Players which I just loved, rather than the foodie type books and is meant to be quite dark. I will be reading this book in the next few weeks and then sending my questions off to Joanne.  You can read all my Joanne Harris reviews here. Keep your eyes peeled for the interview!

I met Joe Hill!

In January I read a review copy of Joe Hill’s new book Horns (given to me by the lovely Lori of The Next Best Book Blog, my friend from Goodreads when we met in New York in December). For anyone who isn’t aware – Joe Hill is Stephen King’s son and has written a couple of horror books in recent years. Horns was my first book by Hill and I really enjoyed it. You can read my review here.

On Thursday last week, Joe was doing a booksigning at Waterstones in Leeds so off I went, review copy in tow, and I met the man himself. First impression: he is really tall! I felt like a hobbit stood next to him. Anyway, he signed my book and drew a picture of the devil (which he informed me was a different devil to the ones everyone else was getting as I had an American copy of the book) and posed for a photo with me. I got all star-struck and stuttered a shy thank you and slinked away to admire my lovely signed book.

Websites / Blogs discovered

It’s a small world out there. This week I got a new twitter follower, another book blogger,  and I immediately recognised the photo. David and I used to go to the same book group every month at Waterstones in Huddersfield and both left within a few months of each other as we both moved house – me only to the next town, David “darn sarf” about 18 months or so ago. I have checked out his blog and he has some really great reviews on there. Check out his blog at Follow The Thread.

Things I’ve learnt reading this week

Before the C17th carrots were purple, not orange! (courtesy of Queen Emma and the Vikings by Harriet O’Brien – currently reading)

My bookish and historical weekend

The Bronte Village (and lots of bookshops)

I had the BEST weekend! My two booky friends that I met on Goodreads stayed over (one from California and one from Manchester) and we had a blast; gosspied about books looked in bookshops, bought books in bookshops (OK, we did other things too but I’m getting my priorities straight, you understand). Both Tisha and Kirsty are really into history too so we had a great time wandering round castles, little villages with cobbled streets and museums etc. I had big plans to take them to see the Bronte Parsonage too (and we did get to the actual village of Haworth where the Bronte’s lived) but alas we got distracted in a book shop (yep) and missed the house’s opening times.

York (and lots of bookshops)

On the Sunday we went to York which is one of my favourite places in the whole world. It’s a walled city and has so much history there (and lots of ghosties too apparantly). Our first stop was the Jorvik Centre which I hadn’t been in for about 20 years and it was FANTASTIC!

There is a car (like the ones you get at a funfair) that takes you round a reconstruction of York in the Viking age (this was all unearthed about 30 years ago by archaeologists where they found a whole Viking village under the city). The model people move and speak (in Old Norse) and there are the smells too. It was brilliant.

When we got out at the other end we talked to one of the staff who was dressed as a Viking for about half an hour. He was so knowledgable and passionate about the Vikings it was fascinating; we kept bombarding him with questions – it was so interesting to learn all the myths about the Vikings too: Did you know that the Vikings didn’t really have blonde hair? They were mostly dark haired in Scandanavia but used to pour wee over their heads to kill lice and the amonia in it dyed their hair white blonde. Then blonde became fashionable and desirable so they sought out bondes to mate with and thousands of years later, the Scandanavians are blonde! On the way out we (naturally) stopped in the bookshop to feed our newfound thirst for knowledge on the vikings and I got two books that look really interesting and I can’t wait to read.

Next we went to visit York Minster. The Minster is the largest gothic chathedral in Europe and took over 250 years to build (longer if you count the extensive rebuilding after the huge fire in the 1980′s). It had just finished raining as we got there and the most brilliant double rainbow came out right above the Minster; it was amazing and stopped everyone in their tracks.

I mentioned the rain, right? Well, of course, not wanting to get wet we bundled into the first shop we saw which just happened to be a bookshop (what are the chances?). It had 5 floors of books in this higgledypiggledy (or pigglywiggly as Tisha thought it was :O) ) old building.

After a stroll down The Shambles we stopped at Betty’s for “a spot ‘o tea” (again, Tisha’s saying – apparantly we Brits sound posh!).

Ahh, so now back to the working week. A nine hour round-trip in the car to a meeting yesterday (back was killing and I neary fell asleep on the M1 but did manage to get two audio CD’s played so happy about that) and lots of calls and emails and updating of pipelines to do today: groan, groan, groan! How I despise that work gets in the way of my leisure time. I want to curl up on the sofa and read about Vikings!

Anyone else been to York? Care to sharre?

It’s Friday!

*Does cartwheels and pops champagne cork* I have visitors this weekend so I have lots of rushing around to do today (inbetween my day job, naturally) tidying up etc. I’m really excited as my two guests are booky friends! Yes! I have known them both for going on for two years now – we met on Goodreads and we are part of the same small group who have got to know each other really well through our love of books. Tisha is from California and is travelling round Europe and she is flying to Yorkshire (from Amsterdam) tomorrow morning and staying with me until Monday. We’ve never met before! Also, Kirsty is the only other Brit in the group (we met for lunch about 6 months ago so we have met before) and she is going to join us. I’m really looking forward to it. I have lots planned: The Bronte Parsonage and village where the grew up, York (which will be a whole day as there is so much to do and see). I asked Tisha what she wanted to do when she came over and she is a huge fan of history (she reads alot of historical fiction) so she said “castles and quaint villages” which is basically what Yorkshire is full of so the problem is narrowing it down. I will post photos etc next week.

Blog Stuff

I have been thinking for a while now about getting rid of my star ratings. I have a 10 star system at the moment as on Amazon and Goodreads I always wish I could give ½ stars. However, the more I see star ratings the more I have realised that the influence me before I read a book. For example, if a book has an average of a 3 star rating, I won’t be as eager to pick it up as one with a 5 star rating and that has meant, in the past, that I have missed out on some great books. The way I write my reviews is to try and include both postitive and negative points so that others can make their own mind up. Just becasue I didn’t like a book, it doesn’t mean that you won’t like it.

What do you think?

And finally…

I found this picture and it made me laugh.

Hurray, it’s Friday! I’ve had a pretty gruelling week at work this week and not been able to read or post as much – jobs are so inconvenient to a bookaholic!

UK Book Blogger meet-up

Anyway, quite a few updates for this week. Firstly, I have found out about a UK Book Blogger meet up in London on 8th May which I am going to go to and I’m really excited about. Being pretty new to this blogging lark it will be great to meet and chat with like-minded book-lovers and get to know the people behind the blogs I have been reading recently. The meet-up is being organised by Simon at Stuck-In-A-Book and there are still places available. If there are any UK book bloggers out there who would like to meet up in London on May 8th just stop by Simon’s blog and mail him and he will put your name down (then let me know if you’re going as I haven’t met anyone else yet so feeling a bit shy).

Websites and blogs I’ve discovered

I found a great website this week called Love Reading. It’s got loads of suggestions about what to read next etc, but the bit I really love is the Like for Like section – you enter the name of an author that you like and it comes up with other authors that it thinks you will like and lists all the books by them so you can have a browse through some you might not have thought of. I tested it with a few of my favourite authors and it works! It came up with some authors that I already know I like and also recommended some others that when I looked into them more I think I will really enjoy their books. I have already added quite a few new authors to my TBR list. One I’m particularly looking forward to is Graham Swift’s book Waterland (this was recommended to me because I love John Fowles).

Some great book blogs I’ve discovered this week too are:

Novel Insights

I love this blog. I really like the books reviewed – I think we have quite similar taste.

Farm Lane Books Blog

Another great find. There are lots of discussions going on here which are really interesting and also Jackie offers some great blogging advice and tips.

My name up in lights

I am going to be answering some questions on Bookworming in the 21st Century‘s blog this weekend in Kristen’s Sunday Spotlight. It feels like ages since I answered the questions so I can’t even remember what I wrote. This blog does weekly spotlights of other blogs which is great as you can find some real gems this way.

Meet the author

My next author interview is coming up on Monday 8th March. Susan Fletcher is the author of the fantastic Corrag which I reviewed in January and is due out in shops next week. I cannot rave about this book enough and the interview is really interesting so I hope you’ll stop by for that .

New at The Book Whisperer

I have two new posts series’ coming up shortly that I have been thinking about for a while and I will be doing the first post in each series within the next few weeks. One will be all about Yorkshire authors and books. There are so many great authors that were either born here or now live here and I will be showcasing books and authors from this region as well as doing some author interviews etc. There will be a few other surprises thrown in too.

The second will be a series of posts called Let’s Talk About…… and each time a new topic will be picked. The first one I am planning on doing will be The Victorians. There will be discussions about authors and books from the Brontes to Dickens and some of the lesser known books and links to other blogs / websites etc. I also plan on doing: historical fiction, YA fiction, chicklit, dystopia fiction, British authors, Great bookgroup reads, mysteries and thrillers, debut authors, books due out in 2010 and many more. I will do one post every few weeks (or at least every month) and then invite discussion, recommendations etc.

What do you think?

And finally…

What are everyones plans for the weekend? I have my inlaws coming to stay tonight (up from London). We are planning another lovely long hike tomorrow in the Yorkshire Dales again – it’s just the most stunning place and the weather is meant to be cold but sunny so it will be perfect. Then Sunday will be a slob-out day. I plan on staying horizontal on the sofa, coffee cup in one hand and book in the other. Bliss!

Have a great weekend everyone!

It’s Monday! How did that happen? I’ve had a really lovely weekend. For the third weekend in a row we’ve been hiking – this week was in Grassington in the Yorkshire Dales. Went with my lovley husband and my parents and we spent about 5 hours walking over hills and through the dales and forests and by rivers. Places like that are my favourtie places in the world -  I love nothing better than complete solitude and quiet. Every time I walk through a Dale or a Moor I always swear that I’ve had a previous life living on one because every time I spot a solitary house (even if it’s crumbling away to nothing) I always say “That’s my house! I want to live there.”

Here is a photo of the Yorkshire Dales – these are from last weekend when we went to Malham (haven’t uplaoded the most recent ones yet). How lovely does it look here?

Yesterday we went to the cinema to see The Lovely Bones. I read the book about when it first came out (about 7 or 8 years ago) and really enjoyed it. The film was really well done and stayed faithfull to the book (what I can remember of it). The music was really atmospheric and worked brilliantly. Has anyone else seen this yet? What did you think? How did it compare to the book? I am going to do a post soon comparing books with their movie counterparts.

Onto books – I am still reading East Lynne. It is taking me so long to get through for some reason but I am just loving it so much that it feels like a real treat when I get the time to settle down and read a few chapters. I am really going to miss this book when I finally finish it.

What did you do this weekend?

Good morning everyone! It’s a lovley grey, overcast, miserable day outside up in Yorkshire (but warm and toasty inside in my home office).

I had great fun yesterday looking through hundreds of images and trying to find one that I wanted for my new blah blah blah posts (where I ramble about bookish things). I finally decided on this one and added my own quotes to it. Hope you like it – it made me laugh; two ladies who lunch with their tea and gossip.

I am still reading East Lynne and it seems to be taking me forever. However I am still loving it. Classics, to me, are like savouring a lovely full-bodied red wine or eating chocolate – not to be rushed. I think I’m going to pick up something esle along side it though as I have quite a few ARC’s to get through too.

I am really happy to say that I have won another blog award! They are always so lovely to recieve as it shows that people are enjoying what they see and read. This award is from the lovely Booklover Book Reviews - thank you so much! You should check out her blog, she reads some great books (we have quite similar taste).

Here is my award and these are the rules for passing it on:

Right, well I have quite a lot of work to get through today so I had better get to it (boo!) but I am working from home so I am hoping to sneak in a nice hour or so this afternoon with a cup of coffee and a book on the sofa!

Is it only Tuesday? All I want to do it stick my feet up on the sofa and chill out with a cup of coffee, a cat on my lap and a book in my hand.

I’ve decided to start a new topic called Boof’s blah blah blah’s, partly because I can’t think of anything better to call it and also because it will be just me rambling and blah blahing about all things books in my life.

I am still reading East Lynne by Ellen Wood which I am absolutely loving but it seems to be taking me forever to read (the classics always do) which in turn is giving me moments of panic about all the other stuff I have promised to read. Mind you, I’m not complaining - one of my favourite things in the world is to get books in the post . This morning I got two (0ne was a readitswaptit book and the other was sent to me by a Book PR company in NYC about an Irish childhood – I have flicked through it and think I’m going to enjoy this one, it seems to be beautifully written. I’ll post more info on my next “In My Mailbox”).

I was planning on getting through loads of East Lynne on Thursday as I was supposed to have a meeting in London and had train tickets booked so I was looking forward to a long return jouney reading my book in work time but the damn thing has postponed so I won’t get to do that now. Grrrr.

I am really excited that I have got the answers back to my interview with  Susan Fletcher, author of Corrag, Eve Green and Oystercatchers. I was lucky enough to have a review copy of Corrag back in January and I loved it so much that I can’t stop raving about it. My review is here. Susan very kindly agreed to answer my questions about her writing of the book and I will be posting the interview on 8th March when the book is due out, so make sure you look out for that. I lent my copy of my book to my Mum (there are very few people in this world that I trust with my precious books but my parents are two of them because I know they look after them). I may have to rethink this rule. I lent my Mum Corrag and she loved it so much (gone into her all time top 5) that she won’t give me it back! She says it looks better on her shelf and that’s where it belongs. If your’re reading this, Mother (and I know you are!)…. I WANT IT BAAAAAAAAAACCKK!!!!!!!!