In Which I Got a New Kindle

HAPPY BELATED NEW YEAR.  Wow I am already so far behind the times but worry not!! I am going to be ALL ABOUT THE BLOGGING this year. By which I mean I will probably blog like crazy for a few weeks and then go back to my usual failings but whatever – the intention is there. Anyhow. I’m going to talk at you a little bit about the back end of last year and the start of this one, and maybe a little bit about what I hope my 2018 might look like. A little bit of a catch-up if you will.

So. WHAT NEWS. Christmas was lovely. I spent it with my favourites: my best friend and my family and it was full of fun times and giggles and then I went on holiday on Boxing Day for just over a week. I did the same a couple of years sgo and I really am such a fan of it because that week between Christmas and New Year is always such a weird week and I’m not a fan of New Year’s Eve as a thing anyway so getting away from it all nad having some QT in the mountains is the absolute best for me. I had a horrible early morning flight which was not my favourite at all – so not a morning person - but which gave me the chance to get to know the Christmas present I got myself because, drumroll please, I used part of my Christmas bonus (which probs I should have put to one side for when I have to pay my tax bill at the end of this month but whatever you only live once) to BUY A NEW KINDLE. #successfulmoneymanagement

I won’t lie: this felt like a necessity more than a treat truth be told (holy first world problems, batman, I know) because I didn’t really want a new Kindle. I love my trusty Kindle Keyboard with all my bookish heart but it’s absolutely on its last legs. Every time I use it I am on tenterhooks expecting it to die and it felt like it made sense to buy a new one whilst I had the cash (and my best guy has been on at me to get one ever since it out and out refused  to work when we were on holiday in the summer and who can blame him because who wants to be stuck in a foreign country with a me with nothing to read? NOBODY. He was probably dreading what this ski trip would look like if it happened again and I had no reading material) and so I used Christmas as an excuse and I ordered me a Paperwhite.

I love it, actually. I even loaded some books to it all on my own, which was easier than I expected it to be actually because wow I am a technophobe but magically it came linked to my Amazon account and all the books were there just waiting to be downloaded and it was so easy. We’re just getting to know each other but so far it’s going well. I think we’re going to be just fine. Welcome to my world, Paperwhite.

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.

In which I love bookish snail mail

SUBSCRIPTION BOXES.

Best thing since ever, am I right? I am, I’m totally right. Not always or about everything, but absolutely about this.

I mean most of my snail mail is dullsville, bills and other such adult stuff about which I care not a jot but which I have to deal with because I am trying my hardest to do successful adulting.

Trying my hardest but not always succeeding.

‘My head hurts. I need ibupforen and hugs,’ I wailed at my Dad recently, ‘I am not ready to self-parent,’ and because most post is telling me about money that will be leaving my bank account and thus making me sad, it feels nice when those little boxes rock up. I mean I know that money has had to leave my bank account in order for me to get said boxes, but whatever: I feel much better about spending my hard earned cash on bookish goodies than on gas and electric and council tax. It’s just the way it is.

Book Review: Manhattan Beach

Oh my goodness but this book. Which, is that how I start a lot of blog posts lately? I feel like it is. I make no apology; I’m reading some good stuff. This book is Some Good Stuff.

Book Review: Genuine Fraud

Genuine Fraud - E Lockhart

YES THIS BOOK.

I am, as it happens, a massive fan of Lockhart’s We Were Liars; I think it’s an excellent book and so obviously I was super excited to get my hands on a copy of her new book, Genuine Fraud and let me tell you a thing: it didn’t disappoint.

Blog Tour: Little Fires Everywhere

Everyone in Shaker Heights was talking about it that summer: how Isabelle, the last of the Richardson children, had finally gone around the bend and burned the house down.

In Shaker Heights, a placid, progressive suburb of Cleveland, everything is meticulously planned - from the layout of the winding roads, to the colours of the houses, to the successful lives its residents will go on to lead. And no one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson, whose guiding principal is playing by the rules.

Enter Mia Warren - an enigmatic artist and single mother- who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenage daughter Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons. Soon Mia and Pearl become more than just tenants: all four Richardson children are drawn to the alluring mother-daughter pair. But Mia carries with her a mysterious past, and a disregard for the rules that threatens to upend this carefully ordered community.

When the Richardsons' friends attempt to adopt a Chinese-American baby, a custody battle erupts that dramatically divides the town and puts Mia and Mrs. Richardson on opposing sides. Suspicious of Mia and her motives, Mrs. Richardson becomes determined to uncover the secrets in Mia's past. But her obsession will come at unexpected and devastating costs to her own family - and Mia's.

Little Fires Everywhere explores the weight of long-held secrets and the ferocious pull of motherhood-and the danger of believing that planning and following the rules can avert disaster, or heartbreak.

Autumn Wrap Up

But how is it November already. That means it’s almost Christmas, right? Not that I am going to get excited just yet. I mean, I love Christmas, I absolutely totally do, but I love it in the way that means I want to concentrate that love into a small time frame so that I can love it really intensely whilst it lasts and then tuck it away for another year knowing I’ll love it just as hard when it comes around again which means I don’t ‘do’ Christmas until December 1^st. I won’t even eat a mince pie, which is pretty hard going actually because holy moly I love mince pies. The only exception I make to this rule I think is the festive coffees. Give me all the gingerbread lattes please. Today I had a spiced cookie latte from McDonalds (Maccies is the only coffee place open before I go to work and actually it’s not that bad), the cup had little foxes on it and I was beyond delighted.

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.

Books I am looking forward to for the rest of this year...

...even though my TBR is already the size of Everest and my bookshelves are full. A list by me.

Basically guys, I am in a reading slump and it’s making me sad. Seriously, up until yesterday I think I’d read about ten pages in as many days and I hate when this happens to me and I have decided to try and get myself out of it by making a list, thanks to the notes on my phone, of the books I am excited about for the latter part of this year. Also because this list is generated from said phone notes me of which are months old, a couple of these books are OUT NOW GO GET THEM.

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.