#victober TBR

Yes, I have decided to toss my tiara into the ring and join #Victober 2018.

My plans were to start slowly and in Jane Eyre I found a book that actually fulfills all five challenges set by the hosts.

• A book by a hosts favourite Victorian author - check ✔︎
• Read a Victorian novel with a proper pronoun in the title (persons name/place name) - check ✔︎
• Read a book published in either the first or last decade of the Victorian era - check ✔︎  Jane Eyre was first published in 1847
• Read a novel written by a woman under a male pseudonym or published anonymously - check ✔︎ 
• Read a novel and watch a screen adaptation - check ✔︎

Victober was created by Katie Lumsden over at BOOKS AND THINGS, and is co-hosted this year by Ange from BEYOND THE PAGES, KATE HOWE, and Lucy from LUCY THE READER, who all have Victober Announcement video's up on YouTube and I have linked them above if you are interested in watching them, or if you would like to participate this year. 

So, as well as reading Jane Eyre, I will also be attempting the book chosen for the readalong which is Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell.  Like Jane Eyre, I have been meaning to read this for years to no avail.  Looks like Victober is the kick in the butt I need to finally start these classics.

Finger's crossed that I can complete both books.  I'll be updating my reading progress as the month goes along.  These won't be the only books I'll be reading in October.  I also want to get in some Halloween Reads and a little bit of Kingoween as well.  Looks like I'll have a lot on my plate for next month.

Wish me luck!, and until I see you next time.

Pre-birthday splurge

Yeah.  So, this was a thing over the weekend.  Money has been a little tight - still have to pay my electricity and telephone bill this week - but with my birthday coming up I wanted to treat myself to a book or two since my family don't buy me books because they are never sure what I've got, or want to read.  

Enter the smart phone.  I was browsing the Book Depository and Awesome Books websites on Saturday night and after about an hour of idle searching it was a shock to discover that I had 10 books heading my way!  Okay, two were for my mum for Mother's Day, but daammmmn!

Sunday afternoon.  I'm online again and poddling about Awesome Books - again! - adding books to my wishlist (and the cart) when I hit on the 'genius' idea of buying up some more Penguin English Library (PEL) editions to add to my collection.  Yeah, really bright idea.  Bought a further 8 books, and then jumped on AbeBooks to find some OOP PEL editions and ended up spending more money as I found two (and bought a third book anyway)!

So, here is a list of what I bought on this birthday binge of shame...

As you can see, I must have lost my mind for a few hours!  In truth, these are books that I've wanted for a long time - and that I will be reading in the future - so I don't feel too guilty about buying them as a majority of them are used books in great condition.  However, I probably could have timed this splurge better ;-D

In the meantime, I have not been reading as much as I would like.  Everyday chores like laundry, mowing the lawn, gardening, cooking, etc., have been a priority.  Hoping to read Sense & Sensibility by Jane Austen this month.  I read Emma last May and loved it, so finger's crossed I have the same reaction to S&S.

Since I've spent way too much recently on books, I'm going to concentrate more on my massive TBR pile (300+ books I think) and get a chunk of that read before I allow myself another book order.  I'll settle for reading 20-30 titles.  It will be a challenge, but with winter only a few weeks away, and the colder nights, I'm hoping to snuggle up with some good books over the coming weeks - there's nothing on TV anyway ;-D

Have you had a huge book splurge?  If you have, let me know how many books you got so I don't feel so bad ;-D

Until next time,