October Reading Update

So, my October TBR is coming along pretty well.  I am taking part in #Victober this year, as well as my own Halloween Reads challenge.

Victober 

• Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
• Wives and Daughters - Elizabeth Gaskell

Halloween Reads

• Thornyhold - Mary Stewart
• Pet Sematary - Stephen King
• Four Past Midnight - Stephen King

Of these five books, I have so far completed Thornyhold and Jane Eyre - both on the 1st of October - but since then I have not picked up anything else from my set TBR.  I did read Time's Convert by Deborah Harkness (which I bought on the 28th September), and one historical romance on my iPad, but since then I signed up for a trial of Netflix, and I have been hooked! ;-D

This weekend I am planning on starting one of the four short novels from Four Past Midnight, maybe Secret Window, Secret Garden?, anyway, I won't be missing out on any Stephen King because I can now watch Gerald's Game and 1922 movies that they adapted for Netflix.

A proper review video for Jane Eyre, Thornyhold, Time's Convert and whichever Stephen King I finish, will be up later in the month.  Until then, I'm heading back to catch up on some Netflix.

See you later,

 

Bookshelf Magazine Book Tag

Well, what do ya know?  I finally jumped on the book tag bandwagon early ;-D

I hope you enjoy this video.  Let me know in the comments what your biggest book industry pet peeve is.  Just because I'm so curious :-D

And until I see you next time,

Booksale Haul - Day 1

It's taken a little longer than I'd hoped to film, edit, and finally get around to uploading this.

As I was editing this I was struck with the thought that I'd bought way too many books.  Do I really need all of these?  Probably not, but they make me happy so I'm going with that.

I really do need those new bookshelves ASAP, especially now that I have this haul to add to my ridiculously large TBR pile.  I've got the name of a local carpentry place, and I'll bite the bullet soon and ask them for a quote to turn the spare rooms entire wall into built-in shelves.  It won't be cheap, but at least I won't have to worry about how the hell I'll fit in a new bookcase.

Anyway, I'm off to go and finish Day 2's haul video.  Wish me luck.  Finger's crossed I can get it up over the weekend.

Until I see you guys next time,

 

#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.

Annual Book Sale 2018

I am so sore, but it was worth it.

Yes, the annual book sale held in the town hall has been and gone.  As per usual, I went both days - although I always pay for it in the following few days.  Today, Monday, my feet and ankles are extremely tender, thank to achilles tendonitis and plantar fasciitis, and I have a sneaking feeling that my back will register a complaint by the end of the day.  However, it was worth it as I found so many great books (book haul to come).

Today I thought I'd put together a little vlog style video of my weekend at the book sale.  This is my first attempt at something like this, but I enjoy watching other booktubers vlog their bookish journeys so here goes nothing ;-D

Bookmail - Les Mystères de Paris

Bonjour, mes amours!  Yes, I have acquired some more translated French literature.  Why do I keep doing this to myself?  They have all been massive chunkers, but oh well, at least I have a few options for my Big Book challenge for 2019 ;-D

Today Les Mystères de Paris by Eugène Sue arrived, and I swear I thought it was a multi-book package when my post lady, Rosie, handed it to me.  She even felt up the package asking if it was more than one book.  I had ordered this a couple of weeks ago, and wasn't expecting it quite so soon.  As you know AbeBooks can be a little on the slow side when it comes to estimating the arrival date of the parcels.

Les Mystères de Paris was first published between 1842-1843 as a serialized novel - think Dickens - and inspired a whole new genre of mystery, the city mystery.  Novels in this genre include
Les Mystères de Marseille by Emile Zola, The Mysteries of London by George W. M. Reynolds,
Les Mystères de Londres by Paul Feval, Les Mystères de Lyon by Jean de la Hire, there are many more, but you get the drift.  It also, according to WIKIPEDIA, inspired Alexandre Dumas (at the prompting by his publishers) to write his masterpiece of revenge, The Count of Monte Cristo.

Anyway, I am in no rush to tackle this just yet.  I might wait until there is a readalong, perhaps?  But until then, this book will now go onto my ever increasing Classics TBR bookcase.

Thanks for watching, let me know in the comments if you have read Les Mystères de Paris, and if you have, what did you think of it - no spoilers please ;-D.

And until next time,

August Book Haul, Part 3 - Classics

Yes!  I have finally come to the end of this rather large (and if I'm honest, a pain in the arse) book haul.  Remind me not to do this again any time soon ;-D

As you can see, my collection of classics is growing steadily.  Enough so that I now need a large bookcase to keep them all together - they are scattered around various locations in the house at present - and with 3 very large bookcases crammed into the spare bedroom I feel the time has come to perhaps call a cabinet maker to make some custom shelves that cover a whole wall.  Expensive, I know, but there is so much wasted space in using standard bookcases that I think it will be worth it in the long run... maybe?

Anyway, I have more video's to edit, including a bit of bookmail from this morning, that I want to get up asap.  So I will leave you here, and until I see you guys next time,

August Book Haul, Part One

It's been a few weeks since I've felt like filming, or editing, a video.  However I have bought so many books during August that I really needed to get my butt in gear and film something, so welcome to the first of three book haul videos!

Today's video is just the new books I bought.  These either came from Book Depository, Booktopia, or from my local shopping centre.

Let me know in the comments if you have read any of these, and what you thought of them.  I'd love to hear your thoughts on these classics.  And until next time,

August Book Haul, Part 2

Well, this is odd.  Who would have thought that I'd get Part 2 of my August Book Haul up so quickly? ;-D

Thankfully I was able to film this on my small camera instead of the webcam (why are they such  poor quality?) and after a bit of editing, voila, Part 2 is up.  This video includes the romances I found, some miscellaneous titles (dystopian, non-fiction, horror/fantasy, etc.), and concludes with the small stash of cosy mysteries I was able to find.

Let me know in the comments if you have read any of these.  I'd really like to hear your thoughts on them, and until I see you next time,

Reading Progress July

Just keeping it short today.  It's been almost 2 weeks since I even turned on my computer, so getting it filmed and edited in a few hours was tiring.  I haven't read as much as I would have liked to, but what I did read I enjoyed, so that's a bonus.

I will be continuing on with my The Green Mile read-a-long next week.  Almost half way through and I'm loving it.  Will definitely have to watch the movie afterwards.  It's one of the few Stephen King film adaptations I've never watched - even though the blu-ray has been gathering dust on the dvd bookcase for nearly 18 months *hangs head in shame*

Anyway, I hope to start The Palace Job this weekend, or perhaps next week, and I have to film an unboxing because some bookmail arrived after I had edited this video.  Isn't that always the way? But I might start one of those books first.  Decisions, decisions....

So that's all for now.  I hope you're enjoying your reading and until I see you next time,

 

Making up for Lost Time

Apparently June was my reread Nora Roberts month!  Yep, once I hauled myself out of my reading funk with Shelter in Place, it opened the floodgates for rereading all my favourite NR novels from the last few years.

Birthright, Black Hills, The Search, The Witness, The Obsession. . . and Come Sundown?  I don't know how that snuck in there, but I didn't hate rereading it so. . . ?

However, this was only the first stop in my rereading binge.  Next I moved onto Ilona Andrews and had so much fun reacquainting myself with her Hidden Legacy books as well as the delightful characters in the Innkeeper Chronicles  *sigh*  Then it was onto Anne Bishop's A Novel of the Others series as I devoured all 5 books in two days - as well as ordering book 6,  Lake Silence - so I will have the complete set. 

I think I've gotten the rereading urge out of my system (for the moment), and have moved on to some new reads.  Last night I read Sorcery & Cecelia by Patricia C. Wrede & Caroline Stevermer and found it to be a fun fantasy of manners book.  It's been sitting on my tbr shelves for at least 18 months, but I just haven't had the inclination to read it until yesterday.  So I struck while the iron was hot and read it while indulging by eating dinner in bed (yum!) and found it charming and sweet, in the nicest way possible.  Will definitely be looking for books 2 and 3 to add to my collection.

The weather here has been cooperating marvelously.  It's been very cold and foggy, with a couple of rainy days, which has lent itself to staying indoors and snuggling up on the couch with a couple of blankets - or making a nest in bed and whiling away the hours with a guaranteed comfort read, a couple of cats and a hot cup of tea.  Heavenly.

Anyway, that is all I have at the moment.  I need to get lunch in to oven so I'll say cheerio for now, and until I see you guys next time, 

 

Hey, I actually finished a book!

It's been a boring couple of weeks where I just have not had the inclination to pick up a book.  This does not happen often, but when it does, it's a real problem. Thankfully, my mum lent me her copy of Nora Roberts new book, Shelter in Place, and that did the trick.  Roberts is an almost guaranteed good read so... 'Thank You, Mum!'.

However, I only picked this up after finishing The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie.  I don't know what it was about this book, but it took me three reading sessions to get through this teeny, tiny, little book of 192 pages.  I know, right.  I've read three books in a day (1000+ pages worth) and done it again the next day!  Yet, trying to get through this Poirot was like pulling teeth.  Which is silly considering I actually liked it, and I can't wait to see the new BBC adapation.

Yes, April to mid June has just been the pits.

Thankfully it looks like that slumpy, grumpy, not-reading time is over and I've been enjoying rereading some old favourites which I will be talking about in my next video.

So until I see you next time,

 

May reading wrap-up

Hello there!

It's been a hot minute since I got my butt in gear and got a video edited and up, but everyday life - and not having read much - might have had something to do with it ;-D

I'm still working on Mansfield Park which is kind of strange since I plowed through the first two volumes in two days, but for some reason the final volume just has me procrastinating.  I've binge-watched both seasons of Wynonna Earp - and started rewatching Charmed!  Anything but pick up MP and finish it.  Grrrrr, very frustrating.

However, I am enjoying the book more than the adaptation.  Edmund is a dick, Fanny is very bland and wishy-washy, and the Crawford siblings are actually not as shitty as the adapations make them out to be.  Maybe Fanny will grow a spine soon because the big fight about her not wanting to marry a certain caddish gentleman has yet to happen, so finger's crossed.

I also mention the couple of new books I have acquired and a great new bookmark that I just could not resist buying.

Anyway, my fingers are freezing off at the moment.  It's the first day of winter and boy, has it arrived right on schedule.  I had all three cats hogging the bed with me last night, and since it's still really cold at the moment I will be heading straight from the computer to the couch and my blankets while I watch some more Charmed (baby W just born), and warm up with some chilli con-carne.

See you guys later,

The Classic Book Tag

Well, hello there!

Yes, I thought it was about time that I dipped my little toes into the book tag waters.  There are so many tags floating around booktube that I can happily paddle in these waters for ages without running out of topics.

I didn't tag anyone, because to be honest, I think I'm the last person on BookTube to actually do this - but if you want to try this tag, please feel free... I tag YOU! ;-D

Anyway, I'm still editing another bookmail video so I'll say goodbye for now.

And until next time,

 

Eff-all Reading Update

Well, hello there stranger!

Yep, once again I got caught up in real life and two weeks have flown by before I've had a chance to turn on the desktop computer to edit and upload a video.  Thankfully nothing much has been happening reading wise.  I've been more dedicated to watching the latest season of Wynonna Earp that I picked up at Sanity just over a week ago.

I have a few reads planned.  I need to read The Island of Dr. Moreau before the end of April for my A Classic A Month challenge, of which I have fallen behind, and then in May it's time for everyone's favourite Austen, Mansfield Park - saying yah sarcastically.

Thankfully it looks like the weather has finally decided to behave and act like we're heading in to Winter.  It's almost May and I'm still walking around in singlet tops and shorts!  Which means that it's nearly time to get comfy on the couch with a good book/movie, a warm cosy blanket, a cat - or three - and a hot cup of tea and spend some quality time indoors out of the cold.

So now that my video is finally up and live (after internet dramas this morning), I'm now going to catch up on some of the household chores I was supposed to be doing this afternoon.  So, until next time,