Bout of Books 7.0: Sunday

~ Today's books ~

~ Today's statistics ~

Books I've read from:  Meet Me at the Cupcake Cafe by Jenny Colgan; That Awkward Age by Roger McGough; The Moneyless Man: A Year of Freeconomic Living by Mark Boyle

Pages read today:  44

Books finished today:  Meet Me at the Cupcake Cafe by Jenny Colgan

Running total:  1 book; 234 pages   

Non-reading progress:  Just visitin' some book ladies... y'know how it is.  I've also read another McGough poem, a rather disturbing one.  I like this collection though.

The menu:  Chai tea with honey, coffee, choc chip muffin, Vittoria vine tomatoes, orange squash, beef and mushroom stroganoff with rice and broccoli, Graze mini apple and cinnamon flapjack
Today #insixwords:  Getting my groove on too late!

~ Reading Notes ~

 2:00pm

A late first update today - but that's mostly because I've actually been READING!  I was reading over chai tea and honey (and Domino's furry little head) by 7am this morning, and read a bit more over breakfast before work.  Then I've read some more at the shop - there are quite a few people around but I think a lot of people are enjoying the sunshine instead of shopping - and HALLELUJAAAAH!  I've finished Meet Me at the Cupcake Cafe!

And it was funny and smart and romantic and yummy and everything I could have wanted from a summery read with Cupcake in the title.  I've also visited a couple more blogs, AND I've actually hit a page count this morning that already equals my page count from the last two days, so I have high hopes that I'll end BoB on a high note, even if I haven't made my goals!  :)

3:45pm

Grrrr, I'm in a snacky mood.  And I'm trying to DISTRACT myself from the snacky mood because: 1) I'm not hungry, just bored, and 2) we're having beef and mushroom stroganoff for dinner tonight, which is about as calorific as my usual breakfast and dinner combined.  Delicious, but NOT A GOOD DAY TO BE FEELING SNACKY.

Meanwhile, in the bookshop, I've had a woman in this afternoon who was horrified that her boyfriend didn't recognise the photo of Anne Frank we've got stuck on the side of the YA shelf.  She literally took his face in her hands and was asking him if he really didn't know who it was.  He didn't even seem that familiar with the name.  I volunteered to throw him out on principle - though I think he felt better when I told him that the other day a small girl recognised the photo yet her MOTHER had no idea who it was.  :)

And NOW I'm reading The Moneyless Man by Mark Boyle.  In my ambitious goal post I'd actually hoped to finish this one too, but that ain't going to happen unless I magically develop insomnia until midnight.  It's so good though - at the moment he's waxing lyrical about his efforts to live peaceably with a mouse who's nesting in the bottom of his wardrobe, and talking earthships.  He mentions glass bottles being used in the walls to create beautiful lighting effects, so I Googled it.  WOW.  Everything from subtle patterns in the kitchen to whole walls embedded with rainbow glass, it's amazing!  Look at this bathroom!

I think I might just have found a new type of house to add to my general cob/tiny/eco/yurt/hobbit ethical dwelling fantasy...

10:30pm

Different night, same story...  I actually spent a blissful few minutes sitting OUTSIDE when we got home from work, enjoying the lukewarm sun and the breeze, before I headed back inside.  To read?  Nope, to vacuum upstairs before my sister got home.  When I realised dinner was running late, I headed back upstairs for a second time.  To read?  Nope, to listen to music for fifteen minutes while there was no one in the next room to complain about the volume... :)

Aaaand then I stuck the Boosh on over dinner again, and that was that.  'Just one episode' turned into 'one new episode, plus all three so far with commentary just for the laughs'.  I love the commentaries actually, finding out who people are and noticing details I hadn't spotted before.  And I LOVE that these guys are so similar to their characters - Rich Fulcher yelling at top volume, Mike Fielding deadpanning, Noel mucking about and telling stories, and Julian trying to squeeze in serious anecdotes about filming and dropping in jazz references at every opportunity.  HOW DID I NEVER DISCOVER THIS JOY BEFORE?

Haha, I bet you won't be sorry to see the back of these late-evening entirely non-reading updates...  You know what I say to that?

I've been trying to work this GIF into a post all week.  LAST MINUTE TRIUMPH, ahahahaaaaaa.  I'm going now.

So that's it folks!  I'll be back in the morning with my wrap-up for the week, but until then, enjoy your reading, hope you've had a great week, and roll on Bout of Books 8.0!

Bout of Books 7.0: Saturday

~ Today's books ~
 

~ Today's statistics ~

Books I've read from:  Meet Me at the Cupcake Cafe by Jenny Colgan; That Awkward Age by Roger McGough

Pages read today:  39 

Books finished today:  I WAS SO CLOSE!
Running total:  0 books; 190 pages   

Non-reading progress:  I totally missed the Twitter chat, because the shop was too busy at the end of the day to even attempt to keep up (it started at 4pm here).  On the plus side, I've read another McGough poem (slightly odd but quite clever), and I've ALMOST caught up with my book girls' read-a-thon progress.  A couple still to go and I'm all up to date!
The menu:  Chai tea with honey, coffee, choc chip muffin, Vittoria vine tomatoes, Graze apple and cinnamon mini flapjacks, baked breaded chicken with broccoli, satsuma

Today #insixwords:  For gawd's sake woman, just READ!
 

~ Reading Notes ~

 11:30am

I was cutting it a bit fine before work this morning, but I still managed to cram in sixteen pages over breakfast.  I'm not sure how much reading I'll get done at the shop - Saturday and all that - but I DID enjoy a very relaxing ten minutes before we opened, sitting back in my little director's chair with my eyes closed, listening to Miles Davis and drinking coffee.  It ain't just books that can soothe the soul, y'know?  On with the day...  The shit has now HIT the fan in Cupcake Cafe so I'm thinking if I DO get a little time, I might just be able to finish an actual book today.  At laaaaaaast!

2:30pm

Hmmmph.  Well, I've managed to read a handful more pages, in between customers, and Mum wanting to talk about everything from gift orders to The Graham Norton Show, and a horrible condescending man berating us for not having a dedicated topography section.  I've also drunk my body weight in decaff coffee AND nearly managed to catch up with my neglected book girls and their Bout of Books updates.  Just three more to visit, I think, then I can wander over to some new blogs at my leisure later... 

Oh, and Cupcake Cafe did have one awesome moment this morning where Issy finally stood up to her vile slimy ex and poured a lovely mixture of flour, eggs, an entire tin of treacle and hundreds and thousands all over his head.  GO ISSY.  So much better than chucking a drink at someone - just imagine how long it would take to wash all that goo out of your hair...  *chortles evilly*  Onwards!  It looks very much like it's about to piss it down, so I reckon I could read another 10-15 pages by the time the shop closes this afternoon...

AYOADE!  :)

 

10:30pm

Yeah, so I did read a bit more, at work, before I went in the shower and while my dinner was cooking (again), but I didn't QUITE finish Cupcake Cafe.  My eyes were getting so sleepy, and I was in an antsy mood, so I opened up series 2 of The Mighty Boosh instead and watched the first two episodes.  I'll be quite honest, seeing Howard Moon in pants, Vince Noir in bunches AND Spider Dijon in a thong was compensation enough for not upping my page count any further.  And I didn't watch the Eurovision Song Contest AT ALL, because we always lose anyway and I can always catch up on 'the good bits' later.  Also, I forgot.  Must have been those pants...

 

Reasons Julian Barratt Is Hot: one from the shallower end of the list

 

Okay, my shameless Booshy spam for the day is complete, so I'm off to... *looks at pants again*... sorry, what? 

 

RIGHT, FOLKS.  One day left.  Are you going to hit your goals?  Looking forward to a lazy Sunday with a book, or have you got big weekend plans?  Happy reading!

 

Bout of Books 7.0: Friday

~ Today's books ~

~ Today's statistics ~

Books I've read from:  That Awkward Age by Roger McGough; Meet Me at the Cupcake Cafe by Jenny Colgan

Pages read today:  39 

Books finished today:  Do I even need this heading?  Really?

Running total:  0 books; 151 pages   

Non-reading progress:  Another Roger McGough poem down!  I'm glad I'm back in the swing of things with this collection, finally...  I haven't visited many blogs today though - I'll try and catch up again tomorrow.  
The menu:  Chai tea with honey, chocolate chip muffin, coffee, Vittoria vine tomatoes, Graze mini pud with cherry compote, baked breaded chicken with asparagus

Today #insixwords:  Book takes off, so does reading.

~ Reading Notes ~

 11:00am

Right, I'm determined that today will be better than yesterday!  I'm already four pages off my TOTAL count for Thursday, which isn't bad considering I only read for a few minutes over breakfast.  It's a shame, because I was definitely in the mood to read yesterday, but the shop was way busier than it normally is on a cold weekday, then last night I was just... tired.  I tried to read a bit but the words were swimming too much so I gave up!

ANYWAY.  This morning I've read a few pages of Cupcake Cafe - Graeme's still plotting and Issy's full of summer plans for the cafe - and another McGough poem, thankfully more cheerful this time.  A bunch of girls have been in and bought books and gift wrap while their boy mate followed them round miserably (as they left I heard him say, "I'm never going shopping with you lot again!"), and on our way to work we saw the first ducklings of the year.  TWELVE babies, not quite newly hatched, with their proud mum...  Good lass.

11:15am

MORE BABIES!  Six this time, up on the riverbank, teeny tiny new pompoms, and their Mum brought them right up to our feet by our shop sign, cheeping madly, before she turned them round and marched them back off to the river.  Ducklings really do make any day better.  Fact.

8:00pm

Silly mother duck lost two of her babies by the end of the day.  She kept bringing them out onto the riverbank and wandering up and down the pavement towards town - she even lost ALL of them at one point.  She was running up and down the wall quacking and they were waiting round the corner.  Easy pickings for the crows when they're that tiny...  Oh well, at least the good duck mother with twelve was doing okay!  :(

I've read a bit more of Cupcake Cafe at the shop and for a while after work.  It's definitely heading for the climax now - plotting, misunderstandings, happy things turning sour in time for the shit to hit the fan - so I might try and squeeze in a tiny bit more before bed, if I'm not too sleepy.  For now, I'm off to catch up with my fellow read-a-thonning book girls while my dinner cooks.  THEN it's the Boosh's Hitcher with commentary.  THEN probably the extras so I'm done with series 1 and can move on to series 2 at last.  Maybe a few more pages after that.  Or a bit of telly.  Damn I'm good at this read-a-thonning thing.

 

 

10:30pm

I rest my case.  As soon as my dinner was made, I did everything I thought I would.  Hitcher with commentary (I really shouldn't find that voice so sexy), followed by the half-hour Inside the Zooniverse documentary, the shorter History of the Boosh, my favourite musical numbers AND the outtakes.  Then I told my sister that it might be time to wind up her two-and-a-half hour semi-yelled Skype conversation in the next room, smushed the cat and went to bed.  Rock on. 

 

LIFESAVERS, n: people who can always make you laugh, no matter how shit you feel

How are all my fellow readers getting on?  Only two days left - are you feelin' the heat or just enjoying the ride?



Bout of Books 7.0: Thursday

~ Today's books ~

~ Today's statistics ~

Books I've read from:  That Awkward Age by Roger McGough; Meet Me at the Cupcake Cafe by Jenny Colgan

Pages read today: 12 

Books finished today:  None

Running total:  0 books; 112 pages   

Non-reading progress:   I've visited most of my book girls, plus a handful of random readers from the BoB Twitter feed and the Day 4 linky.  Two more Roger McGough poems down, but I'm still sort-of one behind for the week.  And I've done today's Acrostic Poem challenge, with the longest frickin' book title ever!

The menu:  Chai tea with honey, coffee, choc chip muffin, Vittoria vine tomatoes, little herby snack Graze box, orange squash, baked chicken in breadcrumbs with asparagus
Today #insixwords:  Busy day = epic fail.  Oh well...

~ Reading Notes ~

 11:00am

Morning kiddiwinkies!  This morning's been sort-of alright, as far as mornings go.  I got up nice and early and had a wander round a few Bout of Books posts while I had a mug of tea.  I did my weekly weigh-in and found that I'd lost all the 'Oh well, it's Hannah's birthday so I'll eat ALL THE CAKES' weight I'd put on during my fortnight off the diet.  I downloaded the remastered edition of Led Zeppelin's Mothership and listened to Kashmir and Stairway to Heaven while I got ready.  And finally I sat down with Cupcake Cafe and my faithful morning muffin 'n' coffee and had a little quiet reading time before the last dash to pack stuff up for work...

Now I'm at the shop, and about ready to settle down and read a bit more.  I've sold a £25 beautiful old Shakespeare volume already, and a bunch of funny cards, sorted out a book delivery later in the week, and put together a bunch of book details for our favourite customer David, to explain when he comes in before lunch.  Definitely time for a few pages of something nice, I reckon, before I make another cup of tea and think about whether I fancy doing today's challenges!

1:15pm

Well, today's first McGough poem was a little... angry.  It's called 'I Am Not Asleep', and it's basically about being dead.  It opens with a call for mourners to remember where the hell they are - none of this 'celebrating life' nonsense, he wants ALL THE TEARS - and ends with this happy stanza:

"Don't dwell on my past but on your future.

For what you see is what you'll be

and sooner than you think.

So get weeping.  Fill yourselves with dread.

For I am not sleeping.  I am dead."

Cheerful.  And yet so very powerful, and my eyes opened a little wider when I read it, and I kinda like it in a morbid way.  Nice one, Roger... 



First Boosh gif of the week, comin' at ya like a Northern bullet.  BOOM.

3:30pm

MY DAY IS MADE.  We had a regular customer who had to go into hospital six months ago with severe health problems.  His wife thought he might have to have part of his leg amputated.  We haven't seen him since, though we did send a slightly emotional get well soon card to him in hospital and he rang us one day to say hello from the ward.  Anyway, THIS AFTERNOON I heard a gruff 'Hello...' and looked up and HE WAS HERE, supported on crutches, shuffling steadily towards the desk, smiling gently while his wife looked on proudly.  As if that wasn't amazing enough, he said that aside from a couple of little trips out to restaurants or pubs for lunch, we are LITERALLY the first shop he's been to in town.  All the places he could have gone, and he came here first to say hello and thank us for our message while he was so unwell.  Needless to say, I was over the moon, and when he left a few minutes later I walked into the office and burst into tears.  *sighs happily*

10:00pm

Well, I did read another couple of pages while I was downstairs cooking dinner, but it pretty much went to hell in a handbasket after that.  On the plus side, I did visit more of my fellow read-a-thonners today to say hello, so that was nice.  I ended up watching Electro (again) while I had dinner, this time with commentary, and then got distracted on YouTube, and now I'm just about ready to fall into bed to be honest!  The familiar BoB refrain again... TOMORROW I WILL DO BETTER!  Over and out, kids.

~ Acrostic Poem Challenge ~

Hosted by Harley Bear Book Blog

This challenge asks us to write an old-skool acrostic poem based on a book title.  Well, I'm not one to shirk a challenge, and this HAS come out as more of a story - but I decided to tackle Meet Me at the Cupcake Cafe.  *takes a deep breath*

M aking money isn't all it's cracked up to be -

E veryone knows that.

E xcept they don't usually get chance to find out just how

T errific life can be outside the big-city rat race.

M eet Issy.

E nergetic, friendly, a cupcake-baking goddess...

A nd utterly wasted in her big-city firm.

T hen comes the redundancy.

T hen comes a betrayal, and a

H ellish push into a miserable new no man's land.

E nter Pear Tree Court.

C urious little shops, old-fashioned facades,

U ntouched by the tide of glass and steel; a single

P ear tree breathing life and joy into the quiet air,

C alling out for a new tenant.

A woman with heart, a woman with

K indness and courage - a woman made of

E verything nice, sugar and spice.  Just like her

C upcakes.

A ustin wants to find love.  Caroline just needs a

F riend.  Pearl wants to find a place to be herself.

E veryone will meet at The Cupcake Cafe.

Bout of Books 7.0: Wednesday

~ Today's books ~

~ Today's statistics ~

Books I've read from:  Meet Me at the Cupcake Cafe by Jenny Colgan; That Awkward Age by Roger McGough

Pages read today:  50

Books finished today: None

Running total:  0 books; 100 pages   

Non-reading progress:  I've visited a handful of my book girls again this morning.  I'm nothing if not a diligent read-a-thon stalker!  I've also read my first Roger McGough poem of the week - I'll try and read three today to make up for lost time.  :)
The menu:  Chai tea with honey, coffee, choc chip muffin, orange squash, Vittoria tomatoes on the vine, Graze Dark Rocky Road punnet, Seabrooks crisps, Patisserie Valerie mille-feuille

Today #insixwords: Free evening?  Bring it on, biatch!

~ Reading Notes ~

 8:00am

Okay, time for a better Bout of Books day, hopefully!  I've already visited some of my book ladies to check in, I've completed my own Tuesday post so that's done, and I won't be doing today's challenge...  Not only that, but we're back at work, which means order is restored.  It's raining, it's cold, customers are likely to be few and far between, so I'll be reading like a maniac until further notice...

MEANWHILE, I've started the day with another hot cup of chai tea and my first Roger McGough poem of the week.  I wanted to read one each day, so I might read a couple more today to catch up!  This one was called 'Carpe Diem', and I loved this:

So out I went to seize the day.

To catch it unawares and hug it.

To bathe in its light, to enjoy every minute.

But the day kept me at arm's length.

Didn't want to be touched

Bobbed and weaved until it dwindled away.

The man speaks the truth.  I do this all the frickin' time.  Think "TODAY I WILL DO THINGS" only to find that six hours later I'm still sitting on the floor in my dressing gown playing on the internet and eating toast.  RIGHT, it's time for me to go and start getting ready for work and making breakfast.  In the meantime, have this picture of Domino.  She likes to roll on books because they're papery and smell nice.  :)

1:00pm

Wow, where did the morning go?  I've done a little playing around online, admittedly (damn you, Buzzfeed!), and I had an order to do, and someone brought three loads of free books for us, and Bookshop Boy (as was) was here for nearly an hour so obviously I was too busy chatting and getting all giddy to concentrate on actually READING the book in front of my face...  NOW I SHALL MAKE AN EFFORT TO READ.  I have more coffee, I have an empty shop, this is it folks.  Seriously.  Reading galore.  Mmm hmmm. 



Dude, you're a wizard. Stop being so cynical.

4:30pm

Aaaah, now that's more like it!  I've sat all afternoon, reading in between customers, munching on Vittoria tomatoes and my last Graze box of the week (they've been a resounding success by the way - the dried cranberries, pecan nuts and dark chocolate in today's punnet are DIVINE!), and I've toppled about another 20 pages.  Not bad when I've been distracted by the internet and actual human beans a fair bit as well!

The shop closes in half an hour, and I THINK I'm going to spend my evening finally eating my Patisserie Valerie mille-feuille (I did have a couple of bites last night, it was gorgeous...) and reading as much of Cupcake Cafe as I can.  The rest of the family are heading off to watch Star Trek (or in Mum and Hannah's case, mostly watch Star Trek but also get a booster dose of Cumberbatch ear porn) so hopefully I'll be able to have a pleasant, distraction-free bookish few hours to myself!  :)

This book is just so bloody lovely, I can't wait to go back to it every time I have to put it down for a few minutes.  Right now it's Issy's birthday and all her friends are there and Austin's arrived and she's looking pretty and she's had champagne and the whole vibe is a tiny bit 'Armand's gypsy party in Chocolat' and it's perfect.  I might even be a tiny bit jealous.  Just a bit...

 

10:00pm

Not a bad evening, all things considered!  Since everyone else went out I've managed to have a good sing along to some music (it's nice to be able to turn it up when no one's home!), watch two episodes of The Mighty Boosh (if I don't have Electro Boy stuck in my head for the rest of the week I'll be very surprised), ate most of my Patisserie Valerie mille-feuille (verdict?  Delicious, but I couldn't manage the last bit of icing and vanilla custard.  Just too big for me...) AND read another 25+ pages of Meet Me at the Cupcake Cafe.  I'm definitely on the home stretch of that one now, right at the 'all problems converge here' part.  Lovely cafe owner Issy and her vile slimy handsome ex Graeme are back together (at which point I may have yelled at the page, "Oh FFS, woman!"), yummy bank boy Austin is kicking himself at home, and everyone's generally in a bit of a crap place to make way for the 'shit hitting the fan' chapter that is surely only pages away...  Roll on tomorrow!

How have my fellow Bout-of-Books-ers been doing?  Rocking the middle of your reading week?  Finishing books like there's no tomorrow?

Bout of Books 7.0: Tuesday

~ Today's books ~

~ Today's statistics ~

Books I've read from:  Meet Me at the Cupcake Cafe by Jenny Colgan

Pages read today:  36

Books finished today:  None

Running total:  0 books; 50 pages   

Non-reading progress:  I've visited a few blogs to say hello and cheer my fellow readers onwards - mainly my book girls, but I picked a handful of others from the Day 1 linky too.  I've also done the soundtrack challenge today, which was fun and a good excuse to spend a while playing on iTunes!
The menu:  Chai tea with honey, pain au chocolat, coffee, a couple of slices of fajita chicken and pepper pizza

Today #insixwords: Not great for a day off...  :(

~ Reading Notes ~

 1:30pm

Well, hello there readers!  It's been another fairly busy morning - chickens and cats to sort out, Mum and my stepdad getting home, sorting out the megapile of stuff I bought yesterday - but happily I've managed to sneak in a few pages of Meet Me at the Cupcake Cafe along the way, yaaaay.  At the moment the lovely Issy is disappointed after her sort-of date with hot bank nerd Austin, Pearl is worrying about whether her little boy is overweight, the voluptuous Helena is dating a junior doctor, and waspy Caroline is settling into her new job in the cafe.  So far so yummy!  I think I might have to make pizza or something now - I haven't quite recovered from yesterday, I didn't drink enough and it's making me a bit headachy - and then I'll carry on reading with a little Miles Davis goodness on in the background for good measure...

In the meantime, here's a little Lenka to wake everybody up.  This song annoyed me to start with - thanks, Windows 8 advert - but now I love it and it's just so damn peppy!



5:30pm

Well, I slept most of the afternoon, so that was a waste of a good reading time!  I made pizza, ate two slices and decided I didn't want it... opened popcorn, ate two handfuls and decided I didn't want it... then started feeling cold and sleepy and snuggled up on my bed under a blanket.  Happily I'm now awake, showered and I have coffee, so hopefully I'll manage some more cupcakey goodness this evening before bed!

~ Soundtrack Challenge ~

Hosted by Medusa's Library

This challenge asks us to provide a soundtrack for a book - maybe our favourite book, or something we're reading now, I guess?  I've decided to create a playlist for old favourite Books, Baguettes and Bedbugs: The Left Bank World of Shakespeare and Co. by Jeremy Mercer.  A travel writing-slash-memoir of over a year spent living with a diverse bunch of characters under George Whitman's watchful eye in the world-famous Paris bookshop, I thought it would suit a relaxed soundtrack - a little jazz, a little vintage goodness, a cafe classic or three, plenty of laid-back tunes...  What do you think?

1.  Pepee - Tony Murena

2.  The Lady is a Tramp - Ella Fitzgerald

3.  In My Mind - Amanda Palmer

4.  Society - Eddie Vedder

5.  Lilac Wine - Jeff Buckley

6.  Parlez-moi D'amour - Lucienne Boyer

7.  Freddie Freeloader - Miles Davis

8.  Ai Du - Ali Farka Touré

9.  Veinte Años - Buena Vista Social Club

10. Strange Feelin' - Tim Buckley

11.  Vous Qui Passez Sans Me Voir - Jean Sablon

12.  Getting Some Fun Out of Life - Madeleine Peyroux

How did you all get on today?  Are you getting nicely into your stride or still struggling to get in the read-a-thon zone like me?  Enjoying your books so far?

Bout of Books 7.0: Monday

~ Today's books ~

~ Today's statistics ~

Books I've read from:  Meet Me at the Cupcake Cafe by Jenny Colgan

Pages read today:  14
Books finished today:  None

Running total:  0 books; 14 pages   

Non-reading progress:  I did take part in the Twitter chat, even though I was about 15 minutes late (oops), but I didn't get chance to do much else, what with all that shopping!  ;)
The menu:  Chai tea with honey, coffee, choc chip muffin

Today #insixwords:  Reading books?  Nope.  Buying books?  YEAH!

~ Reading Notes ~

 6:30am

Good morning read-a-thonners!  It's early morning here in surprisingly sunny Derbyshireland, and I'm raring to go.  I've already been down to feed the hens and let them into the orchard for the day, which is always a nice way to wake yourself up on a fresh bright morning, and now I'm sitting on my bed with a fat black and white cat paddling on my dressing gown and a cup of chai tea with honey cooling on the bedside table.  I'm starting off with Cupcake Cafe first thing, to distract myself from the fact that I'm going to Sheffield for the day.  It sounds so tragic, being nervous when most people happily go that far for work, but I've not been to the city centre properly before and I haven't been on a train since I left uni!  *sighs shakily*  Yes, I think a trip to Issy's little cupcake heaven is EXACTLY what I need this morning!

8:30pm

Gawd, we really did paint Sheffield red!  We were out for a good seven hours (bearing in mind it's only about 40 minutes away, including the train from Chesterfield) and we are both absolutely knackered now.  My feet were screaming for a pair of soft slippers and a rest by the time we got back, my sister's dodgy shoulders had gone into spasm, and I'd somehow gone from 'Oh yeah, we'll explore a bit but I doubt I'll buy anything' to 'ALL THE THINGS!  BUY AAAAALL THE THIIIIIINGS!"  Ooops.  :)

I'll write more about it later, when I'm not half-dead, but here's a brief overview: MANY charity shops, a whole lot of books (yup, RIP Book Buying Ban, for today anyway!), The Works, a pile of stuff from HMV, a pair of shoes, McDonalds, a shitload of arty greetings cards, cakes from Patisserie Valerie to bring home, and a detour to B&M on the way home (my first time!) which somehow wound up with me buying a new bedside lamp, some wall art and a box of cereal bars.  By this point I'd have bought just about anything if my sister said it was a good idea, to be honest...

And just to prove that I did it, with no panic, a 'f**k you, agoraphobia!' smile on my face and a definite air of the windswept northerner, here's a photo my sister Instagrammed of me in the Winter Gardens:

Time to finally get back to my book, I reckon!

How's your Day the First going?  Reading loads?  Munching yummy snacks?  Or have you had a slow one too?

Bout of Books 7.0: Master Post and Goals

Alrighty!  Finally, finally, Bout of Books 7.0 has arrived.  It starts first thing tomorrow morning, wherever you are, and I'm really hoping it'll lure me away from the addictive land of FanFiction (always a temptation when I'm not at my best, it's just so easy) and back to the library books and TBR pile I've been neglecting.  I'm actually heading into Sheffield tomorrow for a bit of a girlie day out with my sister (yeah, we're totally bunking off work for the day), but aside from that I should be fairly free and easy to read at work, before work, after work, on my day off from work... well, you get the idea.

Okay, now, in case you've been living under a rock (by which I of course mean "actually have a life outside the blogosphere"), or haven't read-a-thonned before, or missed my hearty participation in previous BoB read-a-thons, here's the official blurb:

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda (On a Book Bender) and Kelly (Reading the Paranormal).  It is a week long read-a-thon that begins at 12:01am on Monday 13 May and runs through to the end of Sunday 19 May in whatever time zone you are in.  Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week.  There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 7.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog.

- From the Bout of Books 7.0 team

~ My Goals ~

First up, I'd really like to finish my main two books of the moment.  I'm in the middle of the charming and deliciously tempting Meet Me at the Cupcake Cafe by Jenny Colgan, and the straight-talking and thoughtful The Moneyless Man: A Year of Freeconomic Living by Mark Boyle.  The latter is a library book so I have even more reason to crack on with it at last!

If I could finish another book on top of that, it would be... well, a frickin' miracle... and I have plenty to choose from!  Here are a few of the titles on my mental maybe-list for the coming week:

In terms of other goals... well, it wouldn't be Bout of Books without reaching for the stars, would it?  Even though I do tend to drop back down to earth within about two days...

• Read at least one poem from Roger McGough's That Awkward Age each day.  I've kind of slipped with that recently.
• Read at least 30 pages a day - whether that's an average or a daily target remains to be decided!
• Try to participate in at least one Twitter chat.  I should be okay for Monday's and at least part of Saturday's - the other one's in the middle of the night here!
• Keep up a reading journal all week; it's been a while since I've done that and they're always fun to read back over later.
• DO NOT get swept up bouncing around the internet for five hours instead of reading.
• Drop by at least five other blogs each day to say hi and cheer and all that jazz.  This especially applies to my favourite book ladies who are taking part again!
• Take part in some of the daily challenges, particularly if I'm at work and can't read much anyway.
• Spend a little time digging into a comedy DVD box set or catching up on some funny telly, just to break things up a bit and put a smile on my face.
  
  

~ My Updates ~

I'll be updating here on the blog, as well as on Twitter.  My handle is @Bookshop_Girl, and I'll be using the read-a-thon hashtag #boutofbooks.

Since I like to keep my read-a-thon updates chatty, and add pictures, and participate in challenges, and all that jazz, I'm going to start a new post for each day of the read-a-thon.  I'll post the basic template first thing each morning and add updates, photos, statistics and challenge entries throughout the day.  Wash, rinse, repeat!  I'll add the links to each post here for quick reference.

1.  Monday
2.  Tuesday
3.  Wednesday
4.  Thursday
5.  Friday
6.  Saturday

7.  Sunday

Good luck to all my fellow Bout of Books-ers - and feel free to leave your links, comments, encouraging words or random book-addled thoughts at the bottom of any of my posts this week and I'll do my best to return the visit!



Top Ten Books For When You Need Something Light And Fun

 

 TTT is hosted by the lovely ladies over at The Broke and the Bookish.

 

This week we're talking light reads... books that are easy to read, fun and good for a giggle.  I tend to turn to super-light books when I'm tired or the shop's crazy busy, when I'm ill or miserable, or occasionally as a bit of light relief alongside heavier reading fare.  These are some of my favourite go-to choices!  I missed off Bill Bryson's Notes from a Big Country, just because it appears on these lists a LOT... but that would totally have made my top five otherwise.  :)

 

 

The Undomestic Goddess

by Sophie Kinsella

Yeahhhh, this one again.  SHUT UP IT'S AWESOME.  If I'm still in the mood for an actual novel, but I want something with a serious feel-good factor, then this is usually at the top of the list.  The story of a woman on the run from her high-pressure work as a lawyer, it makes me want to slow down and be domestic and bake things, and generally relax and enjoy life and the countryside and good food and good company.  Perfect.

 

The Pirates! series

by Gideon Defoe

Yay pirates!  Chris Addison first turned me onto these books when he was a guest on My Life in Books, and then Hanna got hooked on them, and then I read The Pirates! In an Adventure with Communists from the library, and THEN she sent me the first book in the series for my last birthday, and THAT'S where we're at right now.  They're funny and ridiculous and occasionally a tad Carry On, and I think Gideon Defoe might be a bit of a genius.

 

 

The World According to Clarkson, vols. 1-4

by Jeremy Clarkson

Jeremy Clarkson's a pretty divisive bloke, especially on telly when his mouth runs away with him, but his collections of newspaper columns are really quite hilarious.  Occasionally a particularly un-PC moment might make me cringe, but mostly they're just deliciously earthy and make me laugh when I need it most.  There are four volumes of 'general' columns (ie. not all car and transport-related) so far, and there's a mini review of the first volume here on the blog.

 

 

The Mighty Book of Boosh

by Julian Barratt, Noel Fielding and Dave Brown

This is a new one for me, but it's what's putting a smile on my face RIGHT NOW so it's getting a mention anyway.  I'm a few years behind everyone else with The Mighty Boosh, it seems, but now I've discovered it it's my favourite form of escapism of a tired evening.  The book's crammed with art, funny stuff, photos, comic strips and everything else under the sun, and I love it!
 

 

Anything by/featuring Karl Pilkington

by Karl Pilkington and/or Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant

I've read two of his books now: Happyslapped by a Jellyfish (a bunch of his travel anecdotes, diaries and little poems), and The World of Karl Pilkington (scripts from The Ricky Gervais Show).  Both have been funny, ridiculous, easy to read and a great dose of light relief on a bad day.  Next up will be An Idiot Abroad, which is waiting patiently on Mount TBR!

 

 

Deric Longden's cat books

by, ummm, Deric Longden
Like The Undomestic Goddess, these are for when I still want an actual narrative but also want to smile and laugh and be happy.  Mum gave me my first one (The Cat Who Came In from the Cold) as a kid and I still reread them on a regular basis, giggling at the antics of Deric's very anthropomorphic cats, and snorting at his wry take on life and his warm sense of humour.  Read 'em, cat people!
 

 

It Is Just You, Everything's Not Shit

by Steve Stack
Subtitled 'A Guide to All Things Nice', this is a kind of counter-volume to the two Is It Just Me or is Everything Shit? encyclopedias (which I've also read!).  Rather than a guide to everything annoying in life, it's a celebration of all the happy things that cheer us up but sometimes get taken for granted.  Things like David Attenborough, crumpets and bubble wrap.  I love it - and it's how I first heard about LibraryThing!  :)

 

Eating for England: The Delights and Eccentricities of the British at Table

by Nigel Slater

I read and reviewed this one back in 2010, and it was so delicious that I knew I'd be keeping it as a comfort read.  With bitesize morsels on everything from seaside rock to strawberry picnics, old-school puddings to supermarket shopping, all written with warmth and humour, it's guaranteed to make me smile AND make my stomach rumble, all at the same time.

 

 

Biblioholism: The Literary Addiction

by Tom Raabe

 A book about books can usually be relied upon to make me feel relaxed and inspired.  This one has the added advantage that it's very relatable and really funny!  It's about due a reread actually, but from what I remember I recognised myself all the way through and had a good chuckle along the way!  The alternative history of the book was particularly brilliant, and the little quiz to find out if you're a biblioholic (I scored impressively on that one!)...
 

 

The Babylon series

by Imogen Edwards-Jones and Anonymous

In the middle of summer, when I need something cheerful and light and utterly scandalous to while away some hot days in the garden and manic days at work, I could do much worse than these books.  Structured as semi-fictional 'week in the life' exposés, written with the input of various top industry insiders, the series is fun, insightful and occasionally damning.  I've already reviewed Beach Babylon and Wedding Babylon here on the blog, and I have Fashion Babylon waiting on Mount TBR!

 

 

These are some of the books that I turn to when I need a light, easy and uplifting read - what would make your list?  If you're a fellow TTT-er, feel free to leave your link in the comments, as always...  :)