2017 Best Reads

Let’s talk very quickly about all the books I gave 5 stars to in 2017 because YES and also because if you discount Handmaid’s which was a re-re-re-re-read, there were 10 of them which is a nice number for a round-up and also points to A Good Reading Year.

I’m going to keep this post pocket sized but shall also link back to where I’ve chatted about them previously so that I am not repeating myself. Mostly all you need to know is that THESE BOOKS ARE EXCELLENT.

Author Visit: Jen Campbell

THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT
Spirits in jam jars, mini-apocalypses, animal hearts and side shows. A girl runs a coffin hotel on a remote island. A boy is worried his sister has two souls. A couple are rewriting the history of the world. And mermaids are on display at the local aquarium.
The Beginning of the World in the Middle of the Night is a collection of twelve haunting stories; modern fairy tales brimming with magic, outsiders and lost souls. 

So a couple of weeks ago I asked the lovely Jen Campbell to sit down and have a slice of pizza and chat with me* about her short story collection The Beginning of the World in the Middle of the Night which is published today. This is how that chat went.

*I say ‘with me’ but actually real life prevents Jen and I from eating pizza together as often as I’d like so what I actually mean is she was there and I was here although in my case the pizza was in no way hypothetical.

Review: The Beginning of the World in the Middle of the Night

So.

I’ve been pondering over this review for a while now, partly because I excel at procrastination and partly because never has a review ever felt so important. I want to do this book justice, and I want to review it in a way that makes it clear that what I love most about this book is the quality of the writing and not the person that wrote it.

Make your selves comfortable my lovelies. This could go on a while.

Book Review: Franklin's Flying Bookshop

Franklin's Flying Bookshop

Let us not pretend here guys, that picture books are the type of book I review often on this blog.

They’re not.

Let us not also pretend though, that I don’t read them.

I do. I totally read them. I love a good picture book.

Quick August Wrap-Up

September already though.

Holy and also Moly, goodness and also gracious. LET’S DO A WRAP UP. Let’s do a wrap up, mostly because August was a fun fun month and I had a nice nice time and I want to get that written down for posterity so that in one hundred years where some future person from the future stumbles across this blog they can say ‘wow she had a really nice time in August 2017.’

That and the fact that when I have lots of talking to do it makes sense to put it all in one post. Lazy blogging is lazy but whatever.

So, what did I read?

A Darker Shade of Magic by VE Shwab which I loved. It’s the first in a series and it’s fits right in with the kind of books I seem to be loving right now. It’s about this guy called Kell (who I might be in love with a little bit) who is one of the last magicians alive with the ability to move from London to London to London because there isn’t just 1 London. There’s 4. (I know, right) – he’s like an Ambassador between Red, White and Grey London (black London isn’t around anymore) so he’s pretty important but he's also a smuggler. Which is frowned upon, obvs.  & there are shenanigans so he ends up on the run and he meets this girl called Delilah – a cross dressing thief who I also love - and there is lots of magic and a whole host of excellent characters  and so much angst and perfect perfect worldbuilding which is always such a thing for me in these kinds of books and basically I just liked it a whole lot and I cannot wait to read book two – which is a little bit of a lie actually because I have book two so technically I could have read it already except that I have a bad case of book procrastination and a massive to do pile.

in which I am London-bound

Today I am mostly happysmilyhappybouncyhappy. It's fairly safe to say that I absolutely have the Friday feeling, which, lets's be honest, is always nice.

Not only have I had a fairly good week [so far, so good, 2012] but this time tomorrow I will be in London Town with the fabulous Jen Campbell which I am extremely excited about. It's been a long time coming and I am uber excited about walks on Hampstead Heath and antiquarian bookshops and The Hummingbird Bakery and a Quentin Blake exhibition and catching up with other London-based friends and chatter and books and films and wine and photographs. It will be a very nice time indeed I think and I shall return next week and regale you with tales of our adventures [which hopefully will not involve us getting lost anywhere ever]

In other news it has dawned on me that I haven't blogged about the good books of 2011 which is annoying as I totally meant to do that over Christmas. Curses.

I struggled a little because I  read some really really good books last year. 2011 has been a good year for me, reading wise and narrowing it down to just 5 was tough. I managed though, so in no particular order here you go:

Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro 

“Because maybe, in a way, we didn't leave it behind nearly as much as we might once have thought. Because somewhere underneath, a part of us stayed like that: fearful of the world around us, and no matter how much we despised ourselves for it--unable quite to let each other go.”

The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini 

For you, a thousand times over”

The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins

[I’m cheating a bit here and counting the trilogy as 1 choice. Please don’t shoot me. I loved these books. I preferred the first and second to the third but I loved them all. They totally got under my skin and I just couldn’t put them down. I can’t wait to read them again!]

One more time? For the audience?" he says. His voice isn't angry. It's hollow, which is worse. Already the boy with the bread is slipping away from me.

The Perks Of Being A Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky

“I think that if I ever have kids, and they are upset, I won't tell them that people are starving in China or anything like that because it wouldn't change the fact that they were upset. And even if somebody else has it much worse, that doesn't really change the fact that you have what you have.”

Between Shades Of Grey - Ruta Sepetys

I left the jutra to chop wood. I began my walk through the snow, five kilometers to the tree line. That's when I saw it. A tiny silver of gold appeared between shades of gray on the horizon.
I stared at the amber band of sunlight, smiling.
The sun had returned.
I closed my eyes. I felt Andrius moving close. "I'll see you," he said.
"Yes, I will see you," I whispered "I will." 

I reached into my pocket and squeezed the stone

And there you have it. If you haven't read those books then I suggest you do because each one of them is fabulous - be warned though because they'll more than likely bring a tear to your eye. I seemed to like books that made me sad last year.  Maybe 2012 ought to be the year of laughter....

Happy Friday.

in which i am feeling jolly (if not a little cold)

I can't believe we're halfway through the week already! Seriously, this week seems to be flying by. I looked at my watch at about half past 11 this morning and nearly keeled over; I honestly expected it to only be about 9.30.
I shall have to work faster I think if I don't want time to get away from me. I could always just sit back and let it go of course, but that's hardly productive is it?

I am in a good mood today bloggers, because I am planning a weekend in London town with the rather spesh Jen, not til after Christmas but since I haven't actually seen this girl since our summer excursion in '09 I think I'm entitled to get excited now. I have no idea what the weekend will entail but I suspect there will be winter Pimms and yummy food and books and giggles and photographs aplenty. I also suspect we shall walk on Hampstead Heath (and not get lost like we have maybe been known to do before!) Whatever happens it will be lovely lovely and the prospect of it is making me very happy because look how much we love each other *points to photo*

In other news, this weekend I am having a meeting of the families. Ha. By that I mean that I have taken it upon myself to cook for my parents and brother and Ian's parents and sister. I think I might have taken temporary leave of my senses if not only because there will be 8 of us present and I only have 6 dining chairs.....

it's friday and Jen is doing the 100 poem challenge

I’ve been a bit under the weather this week, so the majority of the time I’ve not spent working has been spent sleeping and still I am tired. Ian and I were supposed to go and see ‘The Three Musketeers’ last night but instead I was asleep by 9.30. Poor Ian. I slept Wednesday night away too. I haven’ even done any reading; I’ve been on page 36 of my book (Murakimi’s South of the Boder, West of the Sun) since Tuesday. Most unlike me.

I did see my Grandparents last night though, which was lovely. It was my Grandpa’s birthday on Wednesday so we called round with a card and chocolates and had a catch up, that was a giggle.

& Monday marked my ten year anniversary at work. Yup, that’s right people, I have been working here *gestures around self* for a whole ten years and four days. How about that. I was feeling quite sentimental about it on Monday, if I’d had time I probably would have blogged about how even though there’s been times when I’ve been utterly utterly miserable deep down I feel a sense of achievement at how far I’ve come and how actually from office junior to the desk I have today is pretty darn good and things are better at work right now than they’ve ever been and hurrah for me. I didn’t have time though, which is probably lucky for anybody reading this as it would have been a truly yawn-worthy post. I did get a new watch out of it though, a very pretty one too (I have it on good authority that it was chosen by my boss’s wife. Ha.)

Whilst I’m here I’ll quickly point you in the direction of the fabulous Jen Campbell’s fundraising page. Jen is a good friend of mine, she’s a bookseller and writer (her book, as I’ve mentioned before, is out early next year) and has a very rare genetic condition called EEC Syndrome. It’s so rare that people in the medical world don’t even have any statistics for it as such, s’just rare. Not a lot is known about it, new things are being uncovered all the time such as the way it affects the cornea meaning Jen, and other people with EEC might lose their sight. So, Jen being Jen and not one to sit around feeling sorry for herself, has decided to try and raise some money for EEC Italia, who research not just EEC but lots of other conditions. She’s doing this not by a bake-off or a sponsored walk but by writing 100 poems in 1 weekend. That’s right, 100 actual poems. (Seriously, she has so much damn talent that if she wasn’t so cute I’d probably hate her!) Miles did the maths and has calculated something ridiculous like a poem every fifteen minutes, which you have to admit is pretty impressive. So, I ask you to click this link, read what Jen has to say; she’s much more eloquent than me, watch the video if it takes your fancy and please pledge some money even if it’s only $1 (it has to be dollars; the site is American) because it really is a worthy cause and every little helps. Fanks.

& Happy Friday.

Yes Mark, yes, it's VERY VERY COOL. I wanna see where Molly killed Bellatrix. Take me?

meanwhile, back in the real world...

Lifewise, not a lot has been happening. Aside from y'know, the premiere. Ha. I still can't get over that.

Ian and I disappeared to Cornwall for a week in the middle of last month. That was nice. We stopped in a gorgeous little beach hut just outside of St Ives and spent our days mooching around little fishing villages and eating seafood and cuddling up in bed reading (me) and playing on the iPad (Ian), it was very nice. We also took in a production of Madam Butterfly at the Minack Theatre.
Seriously, if you're ever in Cornwall, you have to do this. It's amazing. The Minack, if you don't know, is an open air theatre carved out of a cliff and it has the most spectacular views. The seats are basically just stone, some have a bit of grass growing out of them (if you're lucky) and you sit, or perch, on your little bit of stone with legs behind you and legs in front of you and if you're short like me then your legs don't quite touch the ground so by the interval you're aching and the play/musical/opera is performed against a backdrop of the ocean and crashing waves. It's breathtaking. You can hire little foldway seats for £1 to give you a bit of back support; I am so glad we did that, and we bought ponchos for £1.99 to protect against the weather which wasn't great. All of that, plus the ticket came to £11. Not bad for a night of culture. It was pretty good too, although it had been translated to English, which was random and quite possibly took away from the drama and passion of the piece. Things don't sound quite as dramatic in English and there's something quite amusing about hearing people sing about having a catch up tomorrow. We may or may not have gotten the giggles. Whoops.

It was a lovely break, even the less than fabulous weather for 60% of the time didn't spoil it.

Since we've come back we're focussing on sorting out our house. We are so rock and roll. We've also been spending lots of time with our lovely friends and took our gorgeous God-Daugher (or rather, one of our gorgeous God-Daughters) to Chester Zoo for her birthday on Saturday which was fun. Emily will be 7 at weekend and is a little ray of sunshine, we had a lovely time.
The rest of the month looks like being just as busy. We're supposed to be taking our Camper up to the Lakes this weekend for a weekend of camping with friends; we have plans for dinner with an old friend of Ian; a day of fun with Helen and my brother and other such fun stuff.

I had also hoped to meet up with Jen in Oxford, for a good old catch up and a cocktail to celebrate her book deal but I don't think I can afford that at the moment, not until I have gotten the month of birthdays and MOTs out of the way anyway. This makes me sad. However. I will see her this year come hell or high water or bankruptcy - that Jen, if you're reading this is a promise, a published on the t'interweb, actual promise.

Anyway, yup, you read that right: my pal Jen has a book deal and I am so proud because she is so good and works so hard and she deserves this more than anybody. Jen works in an (amazing) bookshop in Highgate and to say she gets some slightly eccentric customers would be an understatement. A while ago she started noting these little anecdotes on her blog, here: Jen's lovely blog
Due to Jen's wonderful style and her way with words (check out her other work via the links on her blog; she's an amazingly good writer) it wasn't long before things took off and soon she was featured in the Huffington Post and being tweeted and blogged about by Neil Gaiman(!!!) One thing led to another et voila: book deal. It's all very exciting and I am counting down the days til I can go into a book shop and see her book on the shelves (and buy ten copies and casually say to the cashier "she's a very good friend of mine you know...")
Those of you who know me personally can expect a copy of this for your next birthday!!

So yes, that's life in my world at the moment. Things are pretty good.

Day 13 – Your favorite writer:

Margaret Atwood.

I was accidentally introduced to Margaret Atwood one Christmas when Alias Grace was in my Christmas book parcel. I found it hard to read at first, in fact, I had to stop and read something else and go back to it a couple of months later, but when I did read it, I loved from there I’ve pretty much devoured anything of hers that I can get my hands on & I've loved her ever since. The ‘A’ section of my bookshelf is pretty much taken up with her work and I’ve read most of them more than once.

Margaret Atwood made me broaden my horizons. It’s because of her that I realised that I actually quite like the dystopian future-esque fiction that I always filed under ‘sci-fi’ and steered well clear of. The Handmaid’s Tale and Oryx and Crake for example are up there with the best books I’ve read because when Margaret Atwood is writing dystopia is just the setting and she doesn’t go too far; there are no space ships and aliens from outer space. It’s not extreme. It’s just a baby step really from where we are now so it’s really easy to accept without question – that’s what I don’t like about sci-fi usually; the fact that the world and the events portrayed are just totally unrealistic. Besides that her characters are so well developed, so real and her narrative so engaging that it’s easy to forget that the world you’re reading about isn’t real….yet. You care and believe in these characters so much that somehow you find yourself believing in the whole thing and that goes not only for her ‘science fiction’ works but for everything she writes. She’s made me laugh and she’s made me cry and her writing is always thought-provoking and intelligent and inspiring. Her ability to write about human relationships is breathtaking and whilst her characters are not always likeable, they are always real and they make you question not only them but yourself and your own relationships.

I was lucky enough to meet her in August 2009 at Edinburgh Book Festival with the lovely Jen Campbell – we need to do that again please Jen, it was a nice time – where she signed my dog-eared copy of The Blind Assassin and my first edition of The Year Of The Flood and told me my name was lovely. “Josephine. Jo-se-phine. Lovely.” Ha.