Books... October

October has passed me by in a blur of adventures and busy-ness, and I only managed to finish two books. Unusually for me, I am also in the middle of three others, I don't really know how that happened...

October Books - 

• Posy Simmonds - Gemma Bovery 
• Robert Newman - The Entirely Accurate Encyclopaedia of Evolution

Reading... September

I am a self confessed creature of habit, and although I try to always read things that I've never read before, I am always drawn back to the Harry Potter books. I read books five to seven earlier this year, in preparation for our visit to the Studio Tour, but I've started the series again. It's like coming home to visit old friends. I also read the short story "The Collectors" from Philip Pullman, and as much as I enjoyed "The Dark Materials" trilogy, I don't feel the same emotional attachment that I do to Harry Potter. 

I have followed "Fine Little Day" on Instagram for some time now, and was thrilled to find that Elisabeth's book has been translated to English. It's a lovely, lovely book, inspiring and filled with beautiful images and words. It's pure happiness.

So my September reads were...

• JK Rowling - "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"
• Elisabeth Dunker - "Fine Little Day"
• Philip Pullman - "The Collectors"
• JK Rowling - "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban"

Readings...July

This month I have been immersed in books, as always they have been a welcome distraction from the real world! I loved re-reading "To Kill a Mockingbird" in preparation for "Go Set a Watchman", having read it originally about ten years ago, and I found I appreciated it so much more this time around, the benefit of a bit of life experience I should imagine. Don't know that I'll be re-reading "Go Set a Watchman"...

My July books...

• Gillian Flynn - "Gone Girl"
• Harper Lee - "To Kill a Mockingbird"
• Harper Lee - "Go Set a Watchman" 
• Lena Dunham - "Not That Kind Of Girl"
• R.J Palacio - "Wonder"
• Sue Townsend - "The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year"

A Thrifty Day Out

Yesterday, over tea and toast with my family, a plan was hatched - a trip to a weird and wonderful place called Dagfields. Armed with a bag of sweets for the journey, we jumped in the car and went off on a spontaneous adventure. 

My thrifty heart was filled with joy when we arrived and saw a variety of buildings all full of the most random artefacts imaginable. 

We started in the book shop, this was just the outside, the shop itself was a tightly-packed rabbit-warren filled with every genre of book I could think of, including a shelf labelled "female authors" which made me happy indeed. There were biographies of the stars, books on every battle in history, fantastic works of fiction and a children's section that would fill any imagination to overflowing! 

We wandered through to the first antiques and collectables building and I could have spent a lifetime mooching it's aisles, looking at all of the treasures. There were bits and bobs from every era, oddments and wonderful pieces of ephemera. Every shelf was piled high, I don't think I have ever seen so many THINGS! All of my little purchases came from this one building, it was amazing. 

The highlight of the other rooms was this kooky little corner, with T-Rex skull models and a quirky-faced wooden statue, and jumbled combinations of tiny Netsuke, Lego figures, various vintage Disneyana and a very beautiful 1970s pink telephone.

My haul was small and pretty modest - A funny-faced little doll, who looks to be an Uneeda Perfekta doll from 1967 (my research was a little inconclusive), a Saint Etienne tape (a present from my husband), a pretty vintage bead purse, and a Handkerchief vase. All of this for under £10. I was a happy little thrifter. 

I must say, I left behind so many things that I could quite happily have found a home for, including several other Handkerchief vases, a beautiful handmade wooden drop-spindle, pretty floral biscuit tins, records, books, and collector cards of Starlets from the Golden Age of cinema. 

What a strange and wonderful place to visit.

Readings...June

I found myself in a fairly unusual position this month - I really didn't enjoy one of the books that I read. I persisted and finished "All the Materials for a Midnight Feast", but it really was a chore. In fact, it took most of the month to read it because I couldn't bring myself to pick it up. There's nothing that I can put my finger on, it just didn't go anywhere or have anything much to say. I don't really like to be negative, but it really was a disappointment. 

The positive was that "The Opposite of Loneliness" was full of brilliance. I found the recommendation on a blog that I follow, but unfortunately I have since lost track of which one, because I would like to thank the author for sharing it. Marina Keegan died so tragically young, but I believe that her legacy will be a great one. I would say it's worth picking up a copy for the opening essay alone, her words are so poignant... 

"We're so young. We can't, we MUST not loose this sense of possibility because in the end, it's all we have." Marina Keegan

My June books...

• David Nicholls - "Us"
• Gary Dexter - "All the Materials for a Midnight Feast"
• Marina Keegan - "The Opposite of Loneliness"
• Mark Thomas - "100 Acts of Minor Dissent"

Make on Monday

Today was something shiny and new - Make on Monday. It was the first ever, and I'm pleased to report that it went rather well. My friend and I have been plotting this for some time, joining forces to offer our crafty skills in a lovely local cafe. Becca is one of my go-to friends for knitting advice, and she has a great business called Alterknitive. 

So we packed up our bits and bobs and set up in the Baby Bird Cafe with lots of books and hooks and needles and yarny-goodness. 

We had a visitor each, Becca helped with increasing and cable knitting, and I gave a bit of advice on stitches, different UK and American abbreviations, and pattern reading - we made granny squares, following the pattern as we went along. I felt pretty proud. 

We have the next Make on Monday dates all booked in already, I have such high-hopes for our joint adventure.

Reading - May

The one advantage to the fairly miserable weather that we are having is that there is more opportunity to read. The garden is looking overgrown, but it's just so much nicer to stay inside. My May readings were an interesting mix - a bit of fiction, some political musings and a sweet vintage Penguin biography of Beatrix Potter. As much as I look forward to nicer weather I am making the best of it.

My May books...

• Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen - "The Rabbit Back Literature Society" 
• Jamie Kilstein and Allison Kilkenny - "#Newsfail"
• Nick Hornby - "Funny Girl"
• Margaret Lane " The Tale of Beatrix Potter"

Readings...April

My April books were just lovely, as always I wish I'd made more time to read, but the month just seemed to fly by. 

I read...

• Denis Theriault - "The Peculiar Life of a Lonely Postman"
• Arthur Conan Doyle - "The Lost World"
• Jojo Moyes - "Night Music"

I'm reading "The Rabbit Back Literature Society" at the moment and enjoying it so far. I've added more books to my "to read..." pile, I can never resist buying a book.

My Week...

What a week it has been. There have been so many adventures and happy days. We started the week with a visit to the Warner Brothers Harry Potter Studio Tour, and of all of our adventures it remains one of my favourite places. The highlight was seeing the Hogwarts Express, it was splendid. We ended our trip in London, mooching around Covent Garden and Soho in the rain, and it was like coming home. 

There have been visits to Shrewsbury, for shopping  and more mooching (and a delicious Vegan breakfast at Optimum Joy, a new favourite place!) and a trip to Chester with my lovely mum and dad for even more shopping and lots more mooching, and I've even managed some knitting time - a pair of chunky socks. 

Happy Easter lovely folks. 

Readings...March

My readings for March - a strange sort of mixed up month for books, I seemed to go from action-packed adventures to complicated reality... 

I read...

• JK Rowling - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
• Kim Gordon - Girl in a Band
• John Green - The Fault in Our Stars
• Ian McEwan - The Children Act
• Jon Ronson - So You've Been Publicly Shamed
• Pittacus Lore - The Power of Six

Have you read anything nice recently? Any recommendations?

Reeadings... February

February was a month of whimsical tales and fantastical adventures. 

I read...

• David Shrigley - "The Red Book"
• P.L Travers - "Mary Poppins"
• Esther Freud - "Mr Mac and Me"
• P.L Travers - "Mary Poppins Comes Back"
• Philip Pullman - "Grimm Tales"

My Week...

There were so many adventures and fun things last week that I barely know where to begin. We went to the Theatre, and the Seaside, to new favourite cafes and old favourite cafes, to a museum that we'd never been to before, visited three towns in one day, and did quite a lot of charity shop mooching. 

I managed to squeeze in some craftiness - I finished a pair of socks (they'd been on the needles for ages and I'm rather pleased to have them finished), added a row to my 2015 blanket, made another bow scarf and fancified the one from last week. My best crafty moment of the week however, was not my own - happiness of happiness, my mum finished her first ever sock! It's utterly glorious and I hope I have started her on her way to  a sock addiction to match my own. 

Readings... January

With all the excitement of January coming to an end, I forgot to share my reading for the month.

I read...

• Joan Didion - Slouching Towards Bethlehem
• JK Rowling - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• Richard Ayoade - Ayoade on Ayoade
• JK Rowling - Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

I always plan to read the Harry Potter series from start to finish, but find invariably that I get distracted by something else around "...Goblet of Fire", so this time I started at the end, with the last three books. I am halfway through "...the Deathly Hallows" now, and so pleased that I've done everything the wrong way around. 

I think I may have started in the wrong place with Joan Didion though. I hadn't read anything else she'd written, and although "Slouching Towards Bethlehem" is famous for being a good representation of the time, quite honestly it was too much of it's time - essentially before mine - for me to understand the context or some of the references. I will persevere though because I loved her style. 

"The impulse to write things down is a peculiarly compulsive one, inexplicable to those who do not share it, useful only accidentally, only secondarily, in the way that any compulsion tries to justify itself." 

Joan Didion from "On Keeping a Notebook"

Readings - October and November

I always seem to be such a busy bee, and the little smidgens of time that I have to spare fill up quickly with makings, but I've managed to squeeze in these books over October and November...

• Victoria Coren - "For Richer For Poorer"
• Patti Smith - "Auguries of Innocence"
• Julie Arkell - "Home" and "Away" exhibition guides
• Caitlin Moran - "How to Build a Girl"
• Karen Joy Fowler - "We are all Completely Beside Ourselves"

My Readings - September

September has seen me settling into the cosy Autumnal routines of reading under blankets in front of the fire. I have enjoyed the long and sunny summer, but the arrival of chilly weather and the need for woollens always brings a little smile to my face.





My readings for September were -

• "The Quantity Theory of Insanity" by Will Self
• "The Vet's Daughter" by Barbara Comyns
• "I am Number Four" by Pittacus Lore

My Week...

This week has flown by in a whirlwind of crochet, tea and spending nice bits of time with friends. I found a delightful pattern for making little fingerless gloves, perfect for my newly-acquired sheepy-wool which was crying out to be cosy mitts, so I settled in on Saturday evening and crocheted away. I worked my way around my blanket a couple of times on Sunday, and I'm sure that one day soon it will make a very warm little bed cover.

I am utterly thrilled with the progress of my windowsill garden, now flowering away nicely with pretty little white Gypsophilia. The next one that looks ready to bloom is the Delphinium, and I have high hopes for my tiny greenhouse plants. 

I found some lovely charity shop treasures this week, with the thrifty luck on my side for more fabulous sheepy-wool, some pretty coral 4-ply, and crafty books (Amy Butler and Applique). The yarn was put to good use quick-fast, and during an afternoon of excessive amounts of tea I made another pair of cutesy mitts, using strands of both coral yarns together to make a rather splendid blend. This afternoon I enjoyed a rare catch-up with some of my dear friends, and taught their sweet little girl how to crochet, and we made friendship bracelets, because we are best friends - As always my week has been full of tiny moments to treasure, but none more so than a seven-year old telling me that I have a special place in her heart. Such sweetness. 

My Readings - August

If there's one thing that I like particularly about the summer - and I must admit there are lots of things to like - it's the opportunity to have days out, and how that can often lead to reading in a cafe or a park, or just making the most of sitting outside in the the garden. I have spent lots of time grabbing those opportunities, and that means I have read lots of books in August. I generally like to read lots of books, so I am rather pleased.

So in August I read - 

• The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
• Out of the Ordinary and What I Do by Jon Ronson
• Secret Britain - the Hidden Bits of Our History by Justin Pollard
• Tamara Drewe by Posy Simmonds

A Little Bit of Shopping...

I must confess that I love to shop. I know it's a stereotypical "girl thing", but I just can't help it. My favourite places to shop are little quaint independent shops, charity shops, markets and antique centres. So I took an opportunity to have a mooch around the sweet little local towns of Shrewsbury yesterday, which is just full of lovely shops and quirky little nooks. 

 I had a small but quite exciting haul - a hardback copy of the "Tamara Drewe" graphic novel, an adorable ceramic bird and some brightly coloured plastic bead necklaces (to be split for bracelets!) all from the charity shops, and a very sweet 1940's brooch from the antiques centre, which apparently is a "Sweetheart" brooch, with dried flowers. I've tried doing a little bit of research online but haven't found anything out yet, but I love it and all of it's pretty pink and floral goodness.