In which I hit the library, swoon over Neil Oliver, and get shop visitors!

Oh hai!  Yeah, I'm still pootling along.  A little journal-writing here, a little music-listening there, a hefty dose of nightmares (every frickin' night, people!), plenty of funny-telly-watching, and OCCASIONALLY a tiny chunk of reading.  Which is more than I can sometimes manage at Times Like These, so I'll take what I can get really...

Today's been horrendously busy and my dodgy hip has been on FIRE, but I've actually handled it pretty well.  No meltdowns or anything.  I struggled to eat lunch in the shop so in the end I booted Mum out of the office and had a few minutes with my sandwich and Harry Potter, relishing the relative peace and quiet after the madness out front.  And just as I was contemplating returning to the counter she called through and informed me that I had visitors.  It was my favourite family, popping in to browse and to have a good book/movie/everything else chat, yaaaay!  This time topics covered included The Life of Pi, forging of parental signatures, and the adventures of a toy cat called Whiskers.  It always makes my day when they come in, and it's a good opportunity to slyly slip the boys some of my old ARCs and review copies as well.  Hi Olly and Tanda!  :)

I've spent evenings watching Charlie Brooker's latest satirical news series Weekly Wipe, 8 out of 10 Cats, and The Sarah Millican Television Show.  The Sarah Millican one I watched during breakfast this morning was the best yet because it had Neil Oliver on it (and we all know how I feel about HIM), finally confessing the secrets of his luscious locks and what's in his enigmatic man-bag, and flirting a tiny bit while blushing madly.  Lovely.  And I spent Valentine's Day evening gleefully eschewing all things soppy, eating sandwiches and watching old episodes of Law and Order.  I did get a Valentine though!  *blows Laura a kiss and showers her in jellybeans*

Another library trip!

I went for a wander around town first thing, since we tend to get to the shop quite early on a Saturday morning.  First stop was the library, where I picked up a handful of short/funny/interesting reads, just to see if I can sort of inspire myself right into some reading mojo at last.  I went looking for Knut Hamsun's Hunger, which was apparently on the shelves somewhere, but that particular search was in vain.  In the end, this was my mini haul:

• Smut by Alan Bennett - I loved The Uncommon Reader, and I've heard that the two little stories in this book are good fun.
• Seasonal Suicide Notes: My Life as it is Lived by Roger Lewis - I have no idea what this is, except that it was wedged in amongst the literary bios and poetry, and is apparently very funny.
• The Moneyless Man: A Year of Freeconomic Living by Mark Boyle - I'm kinda fascinated by minimalist living and creating a lighter footprint on the Earth... I'm just quite bad at it.  Books, blogs and YouTube channels like this are soul food for me.
• Tired but Wired: The Essential Sleep Toolkit by Dr Nerina Ramlakhan - Because if I'm not struggling to fall asleep, I'm tossing and turning all night, and if I'm not tossing and turning all night, I'm having nightmares involving dead owls, giant man-eating alligators, supersized man-spearing hypodermic syringes, bombs and abuse.  And that's just this week.
• Cream Teas, Traffic Jams and Sunburn: The Great British Holiday by Brian Viner - This has been on my wishlist for AGES, and I finally tracked it down on a random 'new in' shelf just as I was about to give up.  Sounds funny and nostalgic and brilliant.

And a feel-good half term buy...

I KNOW I KNOW BOOK-BUYING BAN.  But I really don't have much girlie fiction at home and it's often the ideal antidote to the half-term crazies.  So, I popped into Age UK and spotted this one for a miniscule 99p.  I would also like to say that I NEARLY bought The City and the City by China Mieville AND The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë, but I DIDN'T.  I took a couple of very deep breaths and for the first time ever, I PUT THE BOOKS BACK AND WALKED AWAY.  Oh yes.  A proud moment.  But I DID buy From Notting Hill With Love... Actually by Ali McNamara.  It was on my wishlist because it sounds suitably frothy and fun and is apparently crammed full of references to British chick flicks (clue's in the title, I guess) and I am TOTALLY down with that. 

 

I mean, I don't read them that often, but I do enjoy the occasional girlie novel.  My problem is that I won't pick them up unless they have some kind of angle that really appeals to me, y'know?  For example, The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella has the whole 'city workaholic discovers a more peaceful and wholesome life in the country' thing, and it does it really well.  The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler does what it says on the tin.  The last few Jenny Colgan books have the foodie angle - sweet shops, chocolate shops, cupcake cafes - which is DEFINITELY a winner as far as I'm concerned.  The Thing About Jane Spring by Sharon Krum had this quirky storyline about a 'beat the men by being just like one' kind of woman watching a bunch of old movies and being inspired to adopt Doris Day as her role model to see if she'll be luckier in love as a result.  THAT'S how girlie froth ends up on my shelves... and if it lives up to expectations, it'll probably stay there as a fail-safe pick-me-up for years to come!

Well, that's how MY weekend's shaping up so far - anything new to share?  Good books, awesome plans, chick lit recommendations, TV comments, thoughts on any of my library books?  Hit the comments!