tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32463809814796042752017-08-16T01:13:25.739+01:00An Armchair By The Sea“Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.” ― Frederick DouglassBex Hugheshttps://plus.google.com/113325858220271902301noreply@blogger.comBlogger774125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3246380981479604275.post-88277867875367559502017-03-13T14:23:00.002+00:002017-03-13T14:23:38.568+00:00Shopping My Shelves (and giving away books!)Hey people, it's been a while... I've been having a wonderful time reading whatever I want and having very low commitments blog-wise. It's making my brain feel better I think - either that or just leaving me more room to be anxious about other stuff!<br /><br />Either way I reorganised my books the other day during a fit of wanting to hide from the world. They're now shelved by publisher, which is pretty much the only way I've never shelved them before <b>and </b>it means they no longer fit on my (two bookcases worth of) shelves! When I was going through them though I realised, as you do, that I'd forgotten I had a lot of them and while I've done a pretty good job of passing on things I know I'll never get around to, I thought a fun thing to do might be to go through them in a bit more depth. Cue a new thing I'll be doing over on my <a href="http://www.instagram.com/ninjabookswap">Instagram</a>: <b>Shopping my Shelves.&nbsp;</b><br /><b><br /></b>Each day (or sporadically, depending how ingrained this becomes) I'll post a picture of a book chosen at random from my shelves of unread books, plus the blurb and a little on where I acquired it/how long I've had it for and a summary of whether I'm going to add it to my pile of books to get to immediately, put it back on my shelves for eventual reading, or pass it on! If it's a book that's being passed on, <b>you </b>dear friends and readers will be able to request it. I'll send one parcel a month for free (up to 2kg - 2-3 books) to a UK person, and other than that you can just cover postage &amp; I'll send you books. I do this fairly often on twitter, but I thought this would be really fun, give me something to post on Instagram rather than just pictures of my lunch, and enable me to share even more bookish love with you lovely people.<br /><br />Hopefully I'll also make you aware of some brilliant books in the process. If you're not already following me do come and say hi! I'll be using #shoppingmyshelves and will have a page here on the blog for books currently on offer. Look out for the first post this evening!<br /><br />For reference purposes, here's what my bookshelves of unread books look like:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0ZlZcW4HQB0/WMaq-ovXZYI/AAAAAAAAEWo/eI-MDhl2u84xvcfFUg380uOYrdck11u4QCLcB/s1600/bookshelf%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0ZlZcW4HQB0/WMaq-ovXZYI/AAAAAAAAEWo/eI-MDhl2u84xvcfFUg380uOYrdck11u4QCLcB/s320/bookshelf%2B2.jpg" width="163" /></a><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/--HJjqkz9sao/WMaq9U2vJXI/AAAAAAAAEWk/Q4pxaOKN9zwQeqjiZUyDfld4ednoDm0fwCLcB/s1600/bookshelf%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/--HJjqkz9sao/WMaq9U2vJXI/AAAAAAAAEWk/Q4pxaOKN9zwQeqjiZUyDfld4ednoDm0fwCLcB/s320/bookshelf%2B1.jpg" width="181" /></a></div><br /><br />There are between 300 - 400 books pictured. I have a lot of books. I do not need any more books. I will undoubtedly get more books. We are so far failing absolutely on the spending freeze front, but we are becoming way more mindful of what we're spending and why and I hope this exercise will help more with my book buying! Wish me luck!Bex Hugheshttps://plus.google.com/113325858220271902301noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3246380981479604275.post-30492562937596383742017-02-19T21:15:00.001+00:002017-02-19T21:15:25.260+00:00London Bookshop Crawl 2017<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Cn9JivKxaqc/WKoKT6T_rOI/AAAAAAAAEVs/pVPFyGIerCYexboCpydV3r9pSD7ICUxrwCLcB/s1600/bookshop%2Bcrawl%2Bimage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="307" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Cn9JivKxaqc/WKoKT6T_rOI/AAAAAAAAEVs/pVPFyGIerCYexboCpydV3r9pSD7ICUxrwCLcB/s320/bookshop%2Bcrawl%2Bimage.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br />Where to start with this post? If you've been around the blog for a while you'll have seen that the bookshop crawl I started last year to brighten up February, support bookshops and meet fellow book lovers got a <b>lot </b>bigger this year. Because of that I've been busy madly co-ordinating everything and organising groups and haven't had time to worry about how it was actually all going to work. As we got closer to Saturday I found myself getting a bit apprehensive...<br /><br />However Saturday morning hit and we headed out to Foyles, the meeting point for the people who were in the four groups we ran during the day. Many other people took part in the crawl across London and it was amazing seeing tweets of where they'd been and all the bookshop love going on - one of my favourite things about the day!<br /><br />We were a little late to Foyles due to some train/breakfast issues so lots of people were already there when I arrived - some familiar faces and a lot of new ones. If you were feeling overwhelmed I was totally there with you! It was lovely to meet so many people though, and we spent a little while chatting and handing out books (some of us had posted books we wanted to rehome on social media beforehand so it was fun to put faces to names and make some shelf space all at once) and the tote bags we'd had printed for the day.<br /><br />Rhys and I were leading group 3 and headed off to Orbital Comics. Personally I love and adore Orbital, and they were giving away free comics to bookshop crawlers which was amazing. Rhys got <i>Doctor Strange</i>&nbsp;and I picked up volume one of <i>March </i>by John Lewis which was recommended to me by Elena (and many others). I've actually already finished it and it's just as brilliant as everyone says it is - I highly recommend it! I'm not sure there were a huge number of comics fans in our group, and so we thought it would be good to split up, as our second stop according to the itinerary was Gosh! Comics.<br /><br />Rhys took most of the group off to Oxfam Books in Bloomsbury where they were given free chocolate and badges and generally seem to have had a whale of a time! Katie, myself and Jane (who it was awesome to finally meet after a while of Ninja Swapping and chatting online) headed off towards<i>&nbsp;</i>Gosh where we found Katheryn, Hanna, Charlotte and Laura (and Peter). This was particularly exciting for me since I last saw Charlotte and Hanna three years ago, before Sam was born, and we've been trying to meet up again ever since! I think I did a good job of creeping up on them and generally involving myself in conversations that didn't involve me, whilst accusing them of bitching about us. Excellent friend, me.<br /><br /><br />Anyway, at Gosh I decided to theme my comics buying for the day and got volume 2 of March. I'm slightly kicking myself now for not having bought volume 3 as well, but never mind! I've never been to Gosh before and I'll definitely be going back - I loved the layout as the upstairs is laid out much more like a bookshop than other comic shops I've been to, and I found it really easy to browse. Their selection was awesome and the staff were great - the 10% discount for bookshop crawlers helped too!<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5xWlQPDCHhg/WKoHhS250_I/AAAAAAAAEVg/xo-jPmsX9d4IDL-nny3XSUsesR9TV7LqACLcB/s1600/gosh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5xWlQPDCHhg/WKoHhS250_I/AAAAAAAAEVg/xo-jPmsX9d4IDL-nny3XSUsesR9TV7LqACLcB/s320/gosh.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br />After we'd rounded up all the people we were supposed to have we made our way over to Persephone. After a couple of minor mishaps (we got split up from a couple of people but found them again at the other end) we finally made it, to find the rest of our group had already finished! Agreeing to meet them at Blackwells we went for a browse. I love Persephone books. They're a small (teeny) bookshop with a publishing house in the back and they publish books by forgotten writers, mostly women. I've yet to read a Persephone book I didn't like so my choices this year were mostly random. Taking advantage of the 3 for £30 offer (they're usually £12 per book) I grabbed <i>High Wages </i>by Dorothy Whipple, because I bought and adored <i>They Were Sisters </i>on last years' crawl, <i>William - an Englishman </i>by Cicely Hamilton, because it's Persephone Book 1, and <i>Miss Buncle's Book </i>by D.E Stevenson.<br /><br />The last stop before lunch was Blackwells, where I picked up <i>Under the Udala Trees </i>by Chinelo Okparanta, with some encouragement from Jane! Those of us who'd met last year, plus a few people I was particularly looking forward to meeting, met up for lunch at Pizza Express. It was really nice to chat with everyone and have a little bit of time off from being in charge of everything!<br /><br />After lunch we embarked on my big mistake of the day. Our next stop was Libreria, which is a really cool little bookshop - really quirky, beautifully and very cleverly designed, but absolutely miles away from the rest of the crawl route and really not big enough for a group! I grabbed <i>The Association of Small Bombs </i>by Karan Mahajan which I'd heard good things about, and we were on our way over to Word on the Water.<br /><br />This was the stop most people were most excited about I think. It's a bookshop on a barge in the Regents Canal and it's amazing. They had a great selection of second hand books, live jazz and a really lovely owner who gave me a book (<i>Bookshops </i>by Jorge Carrion)&nbsp;as a thankyou for organising the crawl and generally enthused about how brilliant it all was so much that it really reminded me why I was doing it in the first place. Independent bookshops are the best. With the last of the unseasonal sun on the water and the saxophone, plus the friendly dog sniffing all of our bags, it was the perfect penultimate stop. I also bought Nina George's <i>The Little Paris Bookshop</i>, as it's about a bookshop on a boat and seemed fitting.<br /><br />We merged the remainder of our group with the remainder of Louise's group at this point. Our final stop of the day was Waterstones' Piccadilly where we had a chance to sit down and have a drink while attempting to remember obscure bookish things and doing a quiz organised by Stephen (thanks again!). Everyone was pretty much asleep by this point, but after some lemonade and a chat I felt sufficiently revitalised to spend my book tokens on <i>A Close and Common Orbit </i>by Becky Chambers, the only thing besides <i>March </i>that was actually on my 'must buy' list, <i>The Bear and the Nightingale </i>by Katherine Arden, and the beautiful hardback Victor Gollancz <i>Guards! Guards! </i>to add to our collection.<br /><br />After that we said goodbye to everyone who was still around and wearily made our way home. Of course being me I'm already thinking about the summer crawl (if you have an idea for where you want it to be - it roams, and isn't in London - please let me know on <a href="http://www.twitter.com/ninjabookswap">twitter</a>. At the moment the front runners are Canterbury and Brighton) and ideas to make the 2018 London event even more excellent. If you missed out on the event but would like info about future ones you can sign up for updates <a href="http://www.ninjabookbox.com/london-bookshop-crawl">here</a>.<br /><br />I'm sending out a feedback survey this week, but so far all the feedback I've had has been really good. It seems like people had a brilliant day and I'm so thrilled to have met so many book lovers and made so many bookshops happy by pointing people in their direction. This is the stuff I live for guys. It makes me happy.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iEdzw2YJIg4/WKoKwC6UPKI/AAAAAAAAEVw/OJQxoK_6Y34M4lVmYChTM_mtleJ7V5R4QCLcB/s1600/haul.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iEdzw2YJIg4/WKoKwC6UPKI/AAAAAAAAEVw/OJQxoK_6Y34M4lVmYChTM_mtleJ7V5R4QCLcB/s320/haul.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>My eventual haul plus awesome tote bag &amp; badge. The left hand pile were given to me by fellow crawlers, the right hand pile are my purchases...</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br />Bex Hugheshttps://plus.google.com/113325858220271902301noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3246380981479604275.post-61823461077690174912017-02-11T13:46:00.000+00:002017-02-11T13:46:01.215+00:00On QuittingI've seriously lost my enthusiasm for blogging lately, and I don't blame the blog. I overcommit myself and I'm really sick of feeling like I can't read what I want to read. Even when constraints are things I'm really excited about and even things I've originated (i.e Re-Readathon, Discworldathon) I've still been feeling really unmotivated. This week has been Re-Readathon and my usual count is 2-4 books finished. This week I've not finished one, and this is partly because of Bookshop Crawl planning but primarily because I'm just having a huge aversion to anything I 'have' to read at the moment.<br /><br />This post is an announcement, of sorts, and before I start I want to apologise to anyone I may be letting down, but I've decided for the sake of still loving books that I need to pull out of all reading commitments for the rest of the year. No more Re-Readathons, and I'll still co-ordinate Discworldathon of course and will still hope to read some Pratchett this year, but overall I'd like to leave the actual posting and running of events to the hosts for each month as I'm finding having to post about stuff to be really off putting too.<br /><br />I'm feeling like my focus needs to really be on <a href="http://www.ninjabookbox.com/">Ninja Book Box</a>, <a href="http://www.ninjabookbox.com/london-bookshop-crawl">bookshop crawls</a> and book swap, since these are things that I'm enthusiastic about, and I'd love to bring the excitement back to my reading life. I think making these changes will do that.<br /><br />I'll probably be putting the blog on a little bit of a hiatus. I plan to primarily post short book reviews on <a href="http://www.instagram.com/ninjabookswap">Instagram</a> and leave the blog for the occasional parenting/lifestyle/general thoughts type posts and book lists. I'll be on <a href="http://www.twitter.com/ninjabookswap">twitter</a> for all the events I organise. I don't want to stop blogging but the fire has really gone out of it at the moment and I think I need to read exactly what I want, when I want, without ANY pressure at all for a long, long time.<br /><br />Thanks for reading.Bex Hugheshttps://plus.google.com/113325858220271902301noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3246380981479604275.post-31721408528245917862017-02-08T08:53:00.002+00:002017-02-08T08:53:54.582+00:00Re-Readathon: Day 1-3 Stats & Different Perspectives <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fd8aWXo1bxE/WJeF4P4Wg6I/AAAAAAAAEUg/2BxBZ9W6JvUmiXNku4LU3TpuNIb7nnOSACPcB/s1600/rereadathon.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fd8aWXo1bxE/WJeF4P4Wg6I/AAAAAAAAEUg/2BxBZ9W6JvUmiXNku4LU3TpuNIb7nnOSACPcB/s320/rereadathon.png" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;Trebuchet MS&quot;, sans-serif;">My re-reading so far this week has been really reflective of the state of my brain; disjointed! I'm going through a phase of life where I think after this week I'm probably going to throw in the towel for any kind of reading commitments besides Discworldathon (which I'm doing a terrible job of hosting, and I apologise) and Ninja Book Box related things and just read whatever the hell I want for the rest of the year. However it remains that I love and adore the premise of Re-Readathon and I </span><i style="font-family: &quot;Trebuchet MS&quot;, sans-serif;">have </i><span style="font-family: &quot;Trebuchet MS&quot;, sans-serif;">been doing some re-reading this week, amongst the mass email sending for London Bookshop Crawl, sorting things for goody bags and organising the February book box!&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><b><u><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Day 1,2 and 3&nbsp;</span></u></b><br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Books read from: <i>Pride &amp; Prejudice, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle </i>by Barbara Kingsolver and <i>The Colour of Magic </i>by Terry Pratchett</span><br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Pages read: 90</span><br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So that's pathetic, but on the plus side I am really enjoying <i>Pride and Prejudice</i>. Mr. Bennet particularly is hilarious.&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><b><u><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Different Perspectives&nbsp;</span></u></b><br /><b><u><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></u></b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Today's mini challenge is hosted by Gee. She asks us to reflect on a different perspective a re-read has given us, for better or worse. Honestly I don't have an answer for this! I'm not saying I've reacted in exactly the same way every time I've re-read a book, but similarly enough that there aren't any particular books that spring to mind when I think about this question! The closest I can get is my response to Sylvia Plath.&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">When we studies Plath at school I really <i>really </i>hated her poetry. It struck me as massively self indulgent, whiny and narcissistic. Honestly, it still pisses me off that she'd compare her relationship with her father to Hitler and the Jews. For goodness sake. But when I re-read a lot of it at University I eventually began to realise that although all my former opinions remain (in my head at least) true, I do have to give her credit for being pretty great with words.&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Here's the poem that changed my mind (from <a href="https://allpoetry.com/poem/8498493-Cinderella-by-Sylvia-Plath">allpoetry.com</a>)&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><h1 class="title tttgap bbbgap" itemprop="name" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #141823; font-size: 23px; line-height: 55px; margin: 15px 0px 2em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Cinderella</span></h1><div class="rendered poem_body" itemprop="description" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #141823; font-size: 15px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>The prince leans to the girl in scarlet heels,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Her green eyes slant, hair flaring in a fan<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Of silver as the rondo slows; now reels<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Begin on tilted violins to span<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />The whole revolving tall glass palace hall<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Where guests slide gliding into light like wine;<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Rose candles flicker on the lilac wall<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Reflecting in a million flagons' shine,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />And glided couples all in whirling trance<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Follow holiday revel begun long since,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Until near twelve the strange girl all at once<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Guilt-stricken halts, pales, clings to the prince<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />As amid the hectic music and cocktail talk<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />She hears the caustic ticking of the clock.</b></span></div><div class="rendered poem_body" itemprop="description" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #141823; font-size: 15px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="rendered poem_body" itemprop="description" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #141823; font-size: 15px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Weird because it's definitely not technically her best, but I do still really like it.&nbsp;</span></div><div class="rendered poem_body" itemprop="description" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #141823; font-size: 15px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="rendered poem_body" itemprop="description" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #141823; font-size: 15px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Head over to <a href="http://thewellreadpanda.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/re-readathon-challenge-different.html">Gee's blog</a> and link up your entries for today's challenge, and don't forget to let us know how your re-reading is going in the comments or using #rereadathon!</span></div>Bex Hugheshttps://plus.google.com/113325858220271902301noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3246380981479604275.post-81385130740099478502017-02-05T20:09:00.000+00:002017-02-05T20:09:48.910+00:00Re-Readathon Day One: Intro Survey & TBR<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fd8aWXo1bxE/WJeF4P4Wg6I/AAAAAAAAEUc/RPrUxrhKpIkrkDT7Gxn2q0Xk3CyG46deACLcB/s1600/rereadathon.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fd8aWXo1bxE/WJeF4P4Wg6I/AAAAAAAAEUc/RPrUxrhKpIkrkDT7Gxn2q0Xk3CyG46deACLcB/s320/rereadathon.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />Hey people, welcome to day one of Re-Readathon. I hope your reading has been going well, and I'll just say now, from the start, that you shouldn't expect my posts this week to be anything less than last minute. I'm going to aim to post every day but we'll see what happens because with organising the bookshop crawl and sorting the February <a href="http://www.ninjabookbox.com/" target="_blank">Ninja Book Box</a> not to mention caring for two under fives, everything's a little bit mad around here!<br /><br />Anyway, here are my answers for the opening survey. Below there will be a master linky for you to link up anything Re-Readalong related all week so please feel free to link up your survey answers and TBRs there!<br /><br /><b><u>Opening Survey</u></b><br /><b><u><br /></u></b>1. Tell us a little about yourself!<br />I'm Bex, I'm the founder of Re-Readathon and many other much crazier internet based projects. I find it impossible to do just one thing at a time, including reading one book at a time. I have an addiction to buying books and live in a house with 300+ of them as well as my two young children and husband. I like milkshakes, singing loudly, Harry Potter and board games, the more obscure the better. I'm also entirely failing at hosting Discworldathon this year!<br /><br />2. How often do you re-read books?<br />I re-read fairly often - often I don't finish my re-reads though. Whenever I'm feeling down or the world is going to shit I reach for an old favourite, most regularly <i>Harry Potter</i>, <i>Little Women</i>, or <i>Fangirl </i>or <i>Attachments</i>, but I'll often just read until I start to feel better again and then move on to something else. Re-Readathon is my chance to actually finish entire re-reads.<br /><br />3. What is your current favourite book?<br />I think <i>The Outrun </i>by Amy Liptrot which is absolutely phenomenal memoir slash nature writing, although I did just finish <i><a href="https://wordery.com/homegoing-yaa-gyasi-9780241242728?cTrk=MzkxNTE0MDB8NTg5Nzg1YjhhMTJjZToxOjE6NTg5Nzg0ZWNiNGU0ZTMuNDc3MTY5MTU6MTZjYzU2YWI%3D#oid=1308_1" target="_blank">Homegoing</a> </i>by Yaa Gyasi which is entirely as good and better than everyone has been saying it is. Talk about breaking your heart, firing you up and making you fall in love with it all at once.<br /><br />4. What do you love most about re-reading?<br />Oh where to start. Re-reading is like my medication. Reading familiar words calms me down so much. I love revisiting worlds that I know I'll be swept up in, or wallowing in nostalgia from re-reads of childhood favourites. For me there isn't really a risk in re-reading like there is in other reads. Yes I've started to re-read things and they've not had the same effect that they did the last time I read them and that's sad but ultimately I just put them down until another time. For years I re-read <i>Little Women </i>annually. In the last couple of years I've only dipped into it, as mentioned above, but have moved to Barbara Kingsolver's <i><a href="https://wordery.com/animal-vegetable-miracle-barbara-kingsolver-9780571233571?cTrk=MzkxNTEzNzN8NTg5Nzg1YTA1NjZiYzoxOjE6NTg5Nzg0ZWNiNGU0ZTMuNDc3MTY5MTU6OWFhNmJlZWE%3D#oid=1308_1" target="_blank">Animal, Vegetable, Miracle</a> </i>for my annual fix of familiarity. I think what I re-read reflects what I need at the time really, and I'm great with that.<br /><br />5. What's on your TBR? What are you going to read first?<br />I've tried to keep my TBR a little more manageable this time. Usually I go completely overboard and it's ridiculous but this time I've kept it to six... <i>Animal, Vegetable, Miracle </i>(of course, because it's a new year and I haven't read it in 2017. Plus it'll inspire me for the coming season on the allotment), <i><a href="https://wordery.com/winter-of-our-disconnect-susan-maushart-9781846684654?cTrk=MzkxNTExNzJ8NTg5Nzg0ZmNmMDMwYToxOjE6NTg5Nzg0ZWNiNGU0ZTMuNDc3MTY5MTU6NWVjMzY2Zjk%3D#oid=1308_1" target="_blank">The Winter of Our Disconnect</a> </i>by Susan Maushart, because I've been thinking a <i>lot </i>about how connected we all are <b>all the time </b>recently and I'm needing some inspiration to unplug, <i><a href="https://wordery.com/the-colour-of-magic-terry-pratchett-9780552166591?cTrk=MzkxNTEyMjZ8NTg5Nzg1MTk0NGU2NToxOjE6NTg5Nzg0ZWNiNGU0ZTMuNDc3MTY5MTU6ZTk0NDA0Mzc%3D#oid=1308_1" target="_blank">The Colour of Magic</a> </i>for Louise's readalong for Discworldathon this month, <i><a href="https://wordery.com/little-women-louisa-may-alcott-9781407145433?cTrk=MzkxNTEyNTl8NTg5Nzg1M2I2Njg2NDoxOjI6NTg5Nzg0ZWNiNGU0ZTMuNDc3MTY5MTU6NWM2YjQ0ZjE%3D#oid=1308_1" target="_blank">Little Women</a></i>&nbsp;because it feels like a crime to not include it, <i><a href="https://wordery.com/the-outrun-amy-liptrot-9781782115489?cTrk=MzkxNTEyODl8NTg5Nzg1NTllYjU4ZToxOjE6NTg5Nzg0ZWNiNGU0ZTMuNDc3MTY5MTU6NmQ4MGJjMzQ%3D#oid=1308_1" target="_blank">The Outrun</a> </i>by Amy Liptrot because I haven't re-read it yet, and I've started with my beautiful clothbound edition of <i><a href="https://wordery.com/pride-and-prejudice-jane-austen-9780141040349?cTrk=MzkxNTEzMzd8NTg5Nzg1ODFjZDI0ZDoxOjg6NTg5Nzg0ZWNiNGU0ZTMuNDc3MTY5MTU6MzIyNWI1ZmM%3D#oid=1308_1" target="_blank">Pride and Prejudice</a> </i>because I saw it at the theatre last week and wanted to remember it better.<br /><br /><b>Please link up any and all Re-Readathon related posts below!</b><br /><b><br /></b><b><link href="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/styles/default.css" media="all" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"></link><script src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/loc_en.js"></script><script src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/opt_defaults.js"></script><script src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/misterlinky.js"></script><script src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/autolink.php?mode=standard&amp;owner=anarmchairbythesea&amp;postid=05Feb2017" type="text/javascript"></script></b>Bex Hugheshttps://plus.google.com/113325858220271902301noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3246380981479604275.post-41045681325850735762017-02-04T21:34:00.003+00:002017-02-04T21:34:40.312+00:00Re-Readathon Schedule and Kick Off! <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mTbBU013oY0/WJZI3aHlVAI/AAAAAAAAEUM/9HRqp1xtg-U1K7ZSeiBejmA--mJXktRhQCLcB/s1600/rereadathon.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mTbBU013oY0/WJZI3aHlVAI/AAAAAAAAEUM/9HRqp1xtg-U1K7ZSeiBejmA--mJXktRhQCLcB/s320/rereadathon.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />So Re-Readathon 5 officially starts tomorrow but since it's Saturday evening and I have small kids who are actually asleep I thought I'd put this up now.<br /><br />If you have no idea what Re-Readathon is, basically it's a week during which you read something you've read before. You can devote the entire week to re-reading or you can pick up a re-read on the side of whatever else you're currently reading. You can read old favourites or books you just read last year (or even last month). The only rule is that you give yourself some time to revisit books you've already read.<br /><br />For this Re-Readathon I have two co-hosts, <a href="http://www.katiesbookblog.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Katie</a> and <a href="http://www.thewellreadpanda.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">Gee</a>, and they'll be hosting various mini challenges and events throughout the week. Of course, all of these are entirely optional, but it is nice to get to know each other a little better and chat as well as inspiring each other with what we're reading! If you haven't officially signed up for the event yet please do make sure you do so so that we can all come and say hi to you - you can link up your blog, twitter, Instagram, Youtube channel, wherever you'll be talking about what you're reading, at <a href="http://anarmchairbythesea.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/re-readathon-5-february-5th-12th.html" target="_blank">this post</a>.<br /><br /><b>We'll also be using #ReReadathon across all social media channels throughout the event.&nbsp;</b><br /><b><br /></b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bXA-1Wp_Tjo/WJZHNTn2acI/AAAAAAAAEUA/-riVTXAC0a4LSKTBwzkFiuExCYgUHjs8wCLcB/s1600/rereadathon%2Bschedule.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bXA-1Wp_Tjo/WJZHNTn2acI/AAAAAAAAEUA/-riVTXAC0a4LSKTBwzkFiuExCYgUHjs8wCLcB/s400/rereadathon%2Bschedule.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">And as you can see Day 1, officially tomorrow but have the questions now, is me with the Opening Survey &amp; TBR. I'll be answering this myself tomorrow as well as posting my updated TBR.&nbsp;</div><h3 style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><u>Opening Survey</u></b></h3><div>1. Tell us a little about yourself!&nbsp;</div><div>2. Have you participated in a re-readathon before? How often do you re-read books?</div><div>3. What is your current favourite book?&nbsp;</div><div>4. What do you love most about re-reading? Or what makes you wish you re-read more?&nbsp;</div><div>5. What's on your TBR? What are you gonna read first?&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div>Happy Re-Readathon, everyone!&nbsp;</div><b><br /></b>Bex Hugheshttps://plus.google.com/113325858220271902301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3246380981479604275.post-393626821419647752017-01-18T09:04:00.000+00:002017-01-18T09:06:03.375+00:00Re-Readathon #5: February 5th - 12th<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nm1Ow42kIow/WH8tc3_-WTI/AAAAAAAAESU/q8AL58Nfh8IErZrWyGhSaO_5L6tKS_KJQCLcB/s1600/rereadathon.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nm1Ow42kIow/WH8tc3_-WTI/AAAAAAAAESU/q8AL58Nfh8IErZrWyGhSaO_5L6tKS_KJQCLcB/s320/rereadathon.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">It's a new year and thus time for another Re-Readathon! Those of you who took part last time will know that I was ill and thus the event sort of fell apart. To stop that from happening again I'm so excited to announce that I now have two co-hosts for the event, so please give your loudest cheers for long time Re-Readathon supporters, <a href="http://www.katiesbookblog.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Katie</a> and <a href="http://www.thewellreadpanda.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">Gemma</a>!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The rules for Re-Readathon are simple: during the week it's on, read a book you've already read. This can be a book you've read once or seventeen times, you can dedicate the week solely to re-reading or just pick up an old favourite alongside your other books, it's entirely up to you. We just love it as a week out of any reading obligations, spending time with old friends.&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">During the week we'll be running mini challenges and also possibly giveaways and we really encourage the social aspect of the event, so please go and visit other participants and say hi! You can use #rereadathon on social media to easily find each other.&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">If you'd like to take part please blog, vlog, Instagram or tweet about your intentions (with a link back to this post please!) and link it up below. For your convenience, we have an easy tweet you can send already written for you, just click the link below.&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://ctt.ec/C0a33" target="_blank"><img alt="Tweet: I'm doing #Rereadathon 5!Spend a week re-reading with me? https://ctt.ec/C0a33+ " src="http://clicktotweet.com/img/tweet-graphic-4.png" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">What'll be on your TBR?&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><link href="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/styles/default.css" media="all" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"></link><script src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/loc_en.js"></script><script src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/opt_defaults.js"></script><script src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/misterlinky.js"></script><script src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/autolink.php?mode=standard&amp;owner=anarmchairbythesea&amp;postid=18Jan2017" type="text/javascript"></script></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><br />Bex Hugheshttps://plus.google.com/113325858220271902301noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3246380981479604275.post-85689696743375324112017-01-16T20:51:00.000+00:002017-01-16T21:45:35.482+00:00London Bookshop Crawl #2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YXbSgW3i6H8/WH0x3np-xEI/AAAAAAAAERs/MnAn4hdg7TozFMAsHtLbcPeQVF1mDmu7QCLcB/s1600/Bookshopcrawl%2Bposter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YXbSgW3i6H8/WH0x3np-xEI/AAAAAAAAERs/MnAn4hdg7TozFMAsHtLbcPeQVF1mDmu7QCLcB/s320/Bookshopcrawl%2Bposter.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />London Bookshop Crawl is happening again and its popularity has exploded, as mentioned in my previous post. Because of this there seems to be some confusion about details for the day and this would appear to be the easiest way to clear those up!<br /><br />Last year, on the first London Bookshop Crawl, there were less than 30 of us and we went around a route created by myself and chatted and had a lovely day. This year the intention is to do the same, but because of the interest we've had it's going to have to work a little differently.<br /><br />I pretty much organise this event on my own, but thanks to help from some lovely past crawlers we are running four groups this year, each of a similar size to last year (so 25-30 per group), because it's very important to me that people have the chance to connect with each other and meet new book lovers without the day becoming totally overwhelming. I know some people deal well with huge groups but I don't and I know a lot of others don't either, so the groups are staying small, for this year at least. Small groups are also essential for some of the smaller bookshops that we'll be visiting on the day, as large numbers would overwhelm them. These four groups will be visiting 7 bookshops over the course of the day - the bookshops are pretty much the same for each group but the itinerary is different, allowing us to stagger the arrival of groups at smaller shops and helping them to deal with the crazed book lovers descending on them! People who sent a message asking to be in the guided groups before the spaces were gone have been allocated a group and we'll be sending more information to them this week.<br /><br />However because we didn't want anyone to miss out on the day, we have extended the crawl throughout Greater London and are putting together a huge list of bookshops who'll be taking part and providing special offers and discounts for bookshop crawlers. We'll be circulating this list along with some suggested routes and a printable bookshop crawl ID card to everyone who has a free ticket via <a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/london-bookshop-crawl-tickets-29725298167" target="_blank">Eventbrite</a> so anyone who wants to will be able to take part on the day. We'd also love everyone to use #LondonBookshopCrawl to share where they go and what they buy and even to meet up with other crawlers if that's something they're interested in doing.<br /><br />The only difference between being in a guided group and doing the tour alone is that people in guided groups will be following a set itinerary and meeting a few new people, but as of writing this post there are 400+ people with Eventbrite tickets who aren't in guided groups, so I'd say the chances of you stumbling across another bookshop crawler during the day are quite high!<br /><br />It's basically going to be a huge celebration of the excellence of bookish people and bookshops and we hope you'll join us, whether or not you got a place in a guided group (which, to be honest, are just a group of people walking around visiting bookshops anyway!).Bex Hugheshttps://plus.google.com/113325858220271902301noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3246380981479604275.post-17819287841670749772017-01-13T20:51:00.002+00:002017-01-13T20:51:31.286+00:00Six. A few days ago my blog turned six. I KNEW I would forget so I mentioned it on twitter several days beforehand, but I thought I should write something here (especially since I've been so awol recently!) to mark the occasion because the fact is that blogging has pretty much changed my life.<br /><br />I could talk about all the books I've read since I started, and I will if you give me long enough, but really for me blogging has been the gateway to things and people and experiences and even a business. Here are some things that have come from six years of blogging:<br /><br /><br /><ul><li>Friends of the most wonderful (and offensive. Hi, Laura!) kind. They are not just blogging friends, they are real friends friends, especially the two other Southerners, and they enable me to buy books and eat cake and shout rude words in the children's section of bookshops and sing songs from Les Mis loudly outside Queen's theatre. One of them can walk around for hours in the most ridiculous (and beautiful) shoes, and one sends me secret santa parcels that make me cry and talks to me about minimalism and another I'm just looking forward to getting to know better. And one of them is from all the way over in America and has actually come and stayed in my house and I LET HER GO TO FOYLES ALONE BECAUSE I'M A TERRIBLE FRIEND (and then her luggage weighed so much she couldn't carry it anymore). These are people I would have never met without the wonderful world of book blogging and I am extremely grateful for them.&nbsp;</li><li>Ninja Book Swap. Although I've recently had to close it to new participants I love the swap so much. It was the first time I ventured into a joint project with a person I (at the time) had never met before and Hanna and I had a lot of fun running it together. I'm excited to keep running it with the group of swappers I already know and trust, and I've met so many fantastic people through it as well as acquiring so many amazing books and sending many many copies of <i>The Night Circus </i>to people...</li></ul><br /><ul></ul><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uGKH3Zo2AvU/WHk9S1Se0fI/AAAAAAAAERQ/m7nKCYSxJhQE4VNzKYouKBglby-AHalewCLcB/s1600/bookshop%2Bcrawl%2Bimage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uGKH3Zo2AvU/WHk9S1Se0fI/AAAAAAAAERQ/m7nKCYSxJhQE4VNzKYouKBglby-AHalewCLcB/s320/bookshop%2Bcrawl%2Bimage.jpg" width="304" /></a></div><span id="goog_1054113765"></span><span id="goog_1054113766"></span><br /></div><ul><li><a href="http://www.ninjabookbox.com/london-bookshop-crawl" target="_blank">London Bookshop Crawl</a> - in case you're not aware, this is pretty much the reason I've been missing from the blog for a while. Last year I decided it would be cool to get random bookish strangers from the internet to come book shopping with me and lo and behold we had an amazing day going round lots of different bookshops and I got to meet some Ninja swappers face to face and made a lot of excellent new friends. It was always going to be an annual thing and we all thought it would be bigger this year, but this year I decided to put the event on Facebook and currently we're running three groups for the day and have literally 300 others taking part on their own. There are bookshops all over London joining in and it's totally insane, but very very wonderful and I'm terrified and excited and hoping it's going to be just as amazing as last year's was. (If you want to join the madness the Facebook event is <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/1197702637004275/" target="_blank">here</a>). If it hadn't been for my experience with Ninja Swap and with meeting Laura, Katie, Hanna, Ellie and Charlotte in real life I never would have had the guts to start this, so thanks blogging!</li></ul><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QOPaf7a9nF8/WHk9k9MMw9I/AAAAAAAAERU/L1mkfvL9dMsEII9Bq3gS8On8vf2GDff3wCLcB/s1600/logo%2Bblack%2Band%2Bwhite.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QOPaf7a9nF8/WHk9k9MMw9I/AAAAAAAAERU/L1mkfvL9dMsEII9Bq3gS8On8vf2GDff3wCLcB/s320/logo%2Bblack%2Band%2Bwhite.jpg" width="271" /></a></div><div><br /></div><ul><li><a href="http://www.ninjabookbox.com/" target="_blank">Ninja Book Box.</a> This is the most recent of my bookish projects, but blogging has made me so much more aware of publishers in general and there's no way I ever would have had the thought of starting up a subscription box of any kind without seeing all the other wonderful ones there are out there and realising that there isn't one that did exactly what I wanted - gives you books from all genres published by independent publishers along with gifts that are beautiful as well as being actually useful. Without blogging and all the previously mentioned confidence boosting projects I would have never had the guts to launch a Kickstarter which was really successful due to phenomenal support mostly from online friends, and now here I am with a business and once again thanks blogging!</li></ul><div>So yes. Six years ago I'd just moved across the country with my fiance and was living in a teeny tiny flat with a teeny tiny shower and terrible windows on the high street with VERY LOUD buses going past constantly and now I'm married with two kids and a lovely house with a garden and all sorts of bookish shenanigans going on. It's pretty miraculous really, thanks for being here for it.&nbsp;</div>Bex Hugheshttps://plus.google.com/113325858220271902301noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3246380981479604275.post-9779170699858187752017-01-03T08:19:00.000+00:002017-01-03T08:19:17.504+00:00#Discworldathon: In the Beginning...Welcome to Discworldathon, a year of celebrating all things Discworld. If you're new to the series, this month is designed to help you work out where might be best for you to start. If you're not new to the series, feel free to weigh in in the comments with where you started/where you'd advise newcomers to start!<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XhzV4ip_a0Y/WGtW3BEdGRI/AAAAAAAAEQQ/8raPBO6bsc0rKyCjsYSyGPcCzEPgN7S4gCLcB/s1600/Discworld_ReadingGuide_Infographic_EpicReads.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XhzV4ip_a0Y/WGtW3BEdGRI/AAAAAAAAEQQ/8raPBO6bsc0rKyCjsYSyGPcCzEPgN7S4gCLcB/s640/Discworld_ReadingGuide_Infographic_EpicReads.jpg" width="502" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This is the Discworld Reading Order produced by <a href="http://www.epicreads.com/blog/the-official-discworld-infographic/" target="_blank">Epic Reads</a>&nbsp;and it's a handy, colour coded way to decide which order to read the books in. Each colour represents a character or theme - just pick a colour and follow it. Easy, right?&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">But what if you know <i style="font-weight: bold;">nothing </i>about Discworld? Well, either you can find someone who knows you well who's already a fan and can give you an idea about which characters might be most 'you', or you check out my little guide below!&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">If you've ever mentioned your desire to read Discworld to anyone it's quite likely they've told you not to start with <i>The Colour of Magic. </i>Although it's the first book in the series even Terry Pratchett didn't think it was the best. Honestly <i>Wyrd Sisters, </i>our readalong book for January is probably as good a place as any to begin, although it's technically the second book in the Witches 'series', but the writing is hilarious and the story is gripping. If you're still baffled, here's a little synopsis of the characters...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Wizards </b>- you'll get a better introduction to them when <a href="http://www.anovelhaul.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Louise</a> hosts next month but they're basically a bunch of ageing, slighly bumbling magic men who think they know a lot more than they actually know about the world. They also have some strange ideas about...well, most things, and have a librarian who is an orangutan.&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Witches</b>&nbsp;- the antithesis of the wizards. A (smaller) group of women (not) lead (they don't believe in leaders) by Granny Weatherwax who believes in 'headology' and has no idea what the theatre is. The witches are the ones who actually get things done in the Discworld.&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Tiffany Aching - </b>some of the witches (notably Granny Weatherwax) also feature in the Tiffany Aching books, but these are the ones I recommend most often to people starting out. Tiffany has help in her &nbsp;world-saving endeavours from the Nac Mac Feegle, a group of vicious, hard-drinking pixies...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Death - </b>Death is brilliant, and this is probably one of the only times you'll hear that said. A big skeleton with piercing blue eyes riding a horse named Binky, he's constantly struggling to understand mortals and has the occasional midlife (mid death?) crisis...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>City Watch </b>- These are my favourite books. Commander Sam Vimes sort of accidentally becomes in charge of turning the Night Watch from a shambles of inept, bumbling men into a cohesive system of law enforcement. He's pretty put-upon and has to deal with all sorts of idiocy and prejudice along the way.&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">There are lots of other stand alone type books, and the Moist von Lipwig books which also (in the above infographic at least) encompass some of the other 'industrial' books, but hopefully this little intro gives you some kind of ideas about where you might want to start.&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Those who are familiar with the series already feel free to weigh in in the comments or over in the <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/205759-discworldathon-2017" target="_blank">Goodreads group</a>!</div><br />Bex Hugheshttps://plus.google.com/113325858220271902301noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3246380981479604275.post-80617566325901390652016-12-31T21:19:00.001+00:002016-12-31T21:19:39.908+00:002016 Bookish StatsAh 2016. What a year! I think my 2016 has been better than lots of people's - I started Ninja Book Box, ran two bookshop crawls and gained a new brother in law along with other fun things. There's also been a lot of well documented awful this year, including closing the Ninja Book Swap to new participants which was a very sad day but necessary for my mental health! I've really found my friends in the bookish community this year though and I'm so grateful for everyone who's supported me in any way over the course of the year.<br /><br />This being New Year's Eve, what better way to spend it than by collating the stats of all the books I've read this year? I was going to do Jamie's End of Year Survey (and may still) but my attention span is crap at the moment, so here we are.<br /><br />I read 90 books this year and this pretty stats picture I made will give you the general idea. Basically...<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UGKl4NnTx80/WGgdLiMX9AI/AAAAAAAAEP8/DW6VGH8W720bnHA6GPV_8YD_JWbLlK3EACLcB/s1600/pretty%2Bstats.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="336" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UGKl4NnTx80/WGgdLiMX9AI/AAAAAAAAEP8/DW6VGH8W720bnHA6GPV_8YD_JWbLlK3EACLcB/s640/pretty%2Bstats.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />The only stats on here that I'm proud of are the number of books I finished and the percentage of female authors I read. The rest are pretty shocking, but I turned them into a pretty picture because it's important to pinpoint where you need to do better.<br /><br />I'm hoping my <a href="http://anarmchairbythesea.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/beginning-to-read-world.html" target="_blank">Read the World Project</a> will help with some of these, and I'm signing up for <a href="http://estellasrevenge.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/readmyowndamnbooks-2017-sign-ups.html" target="_blank">#ReadMyOwnDamnBooks</a> again in 2017, plus the <a href="http://anarmchairbythesea.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/2017-biggest-challenge-yet.html" target="_blank">Spending Freeze</a> means I won't be buying books except for on bookshop crawls so that should help too. Besides that though I'm giving myself permission to read whatever the hell I want during 2017.<br /><br />My year of reading indie has been a massive failure stats-wise, but in terms of awareness I'd call it a huge success. I spend far more time looking for independently published books in chain bookshops now and am far more aware of small presses and what's coming out from them. I also started a business dedicated solely to the promotion and discovery of independent publishers (<a href="http://www.ninjabookbox.com/" target="_blank">Ninja Book Box, check it out)</a> which has been a massive thing and is already causing big changes in my reading life so watch this space for more of that next year!<br /><br />How's your reading year been?Bex Hugheshttps://plus.google.com/113325858220271902301noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3246380981479604275.post-11072413411946841782016-12-31T07:00:00.000+00:002016-12-31T07:00:13.645+00:00#Discworldathon January Readalong Title & Schedule!<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bbrnwyyzEeE/V_OsVzobYDI/AAAAAAAAEM0/FBs-iQPiiYMBefbBoQF-3uIC14IUO6V1gCLcB/s320/discworld.jpg" /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In case you haven't seen, January 1st sees the beginning of my year long celebration of everything Discworld related. January's theme (hosted by yours truly) is 'In the Beginning' and I'm going to be posting about reading order and all the various smaller storylines within Discworld. If you're new to the series (or if you're not but have thoughts) hopefully this month will be helpful to you.&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In the Goodreads group for the event - please come and join us there and chat to everyone - I put up a poll to see which title people would like to readalong in January and <i>Wyrd Sisters </i>got the most votes. This is technically book two of the Witches books, but <i>Equal Rites </i>has wizards too so I'm counting it!</span><br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Because Pratchett books don't really have chapters I've divided the book roughly into quarters and for each section I've given the page number from my edition (the Corgi paperback edition with the Josh Kirby cover) plus the quote that ends the section for that week. Each Sunday I'll be posting here on the blog with my thoughts and a link up for anyone who wants to add their own thoughts. Alternatively there's a thread in the Goodreads group which will be active all month so you can discuss the book as and when you like.&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">If you are planning to join in and blog/vlog/whatever about the readalong you can add your link below so I (and others) can make sure we're following you. You can also use #Discworldathon and #wyrdalong on social media.&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Here's the schedule:</span></b><br /><b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">January 1st - 8th - Beginning to P82 "and to think she had expected it to be small..."</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">January 8th - 15th - P82 - P171 "and grinned a set of gums that were more menacing than teeth"</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">January 15th - 22nd - P171 - P248 "And as for thinking it could be controlled..."</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">January 22nd - end - P248 - end of the book!</span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It works out at approximately 82-85 pages a week so not a huge commitment really! The great thing about Discworldathon is you don't have to join in for all of it so if this is the only thing you do all year then that's totally fine!</span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><link href="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/styles/default.css" media="all" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"></link><script src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/loc_en.js"></script><script src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/opt_defaults.js"></script><script src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/misterlinky.js"></script><script src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/autolink.php?mode=standard&amp;owner=anarmchairbythesea&amp;postid=30Dec2016a" type="text/javascript"></script></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">See you tomorrow for kick off!</span></span>Bex Hugheshttps://plus.google.com/113325858220271902301noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3246380981479604275.post-82528698845444663692016-12-30T14:01:00.001+00:002016-12-30T14:01:30.976+00:00#LilttleHouseRAL: The End!<div style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Mkv55KK4SxU/Vkct8XIxWpI/AAAAAAAAErY/WglnPIdbKOM/s320/Little%2BHouse%2BRead-Along%2BMeme%2BJPG.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Apologies that we've been a little awol for the last month or so. We've had family weddings, unexpected trips home and lots else to deal with so the blog has been a bit quiet which has included Little House. As of yet I haven't finished <i>A Wilder Rose </i>but I'm hoping to put in some reading hours tonight now we're home from our travels and get it finished before the year is done.<br /><br />Please use this post to link up for November as well as I never got around to putting up that post! Personally I enjoyed <i>West from Home </i>a lot more than I did <i>On the Way Home</i>, since I felt like more interesting things happened in it (and there was less about how much land cost and what kind of crops people were growing) and I found it really interesting to read about the fair and a part of history that I didn't know much about, although the more of the series I read the more troubling I find the casual racism. I don't know if it makes it more or less troubling that this was probably reflective of the general attitudes of the time but either way I've noticed it progressively throughout the series and it troubles me. Aside from that I thought the last story was a nice way to end the series - with Laura when she was older and her relationship with her daughter. It's like we've gone full circle with her.<br /><br />I'll post about <i>A Wilder Rose </i>when I've finished it, but I'm very much enjoying fictionalised Rose Wilder Lane's take on her mother. The story is very entertaining and her view of Laura - 'Mama Bess' - is quite different from the image we've been given of Laura throughout the earlier books so that's fun.<br /><br />I can't believe 2016 is pretty much over. In a year that's been difficult in lots of ways this read-along has really been a bright spot and I'm so glad I had the chance to discover this series for the first time. Thanks so much to all who have read along with us!<br /><br /><link href="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/styles/default.css" media="all" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"></link><script src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/loc_en.js"></script><script src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/opt_defaults.js"></script><script src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/misterlinky.js"></script><script src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/autolink.php?mode=standard&amp;owner=anarmchairbythesea&amp;postid=30Dec2016" type="text/javascript"></script><br /><br />If you're interested, I'm hosting Discworldathon starting January 1st; a year long celebration of all things Discworld and Terry Pratchett related. <a href="http://anarmchairbythesea.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/discworldathon-2017-schedule.html" target="_blank">Check out the schedule</a> and/or join the <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/205759-discworldathon-2017" target="_blank">Goodreads group</a> - our first readalong title will be <i>Wyrd Sisters</i>!Bex Hugheshttps://plus.google.com/113325858220271902301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3246380981479604275.post-33888833592719766102016-12-13T15:11:00.001+00:002016-12-13T15:11:15.205+00:002017: The Biggest Challenge YetIf you've been a long time reader of this blog you've been with me through my boycott of Amazon (still ongoing), my 9 month long book buying ban, my decision to read more nonfiction and more diverse authors, my recent decision to participate in Louise's Read the World Project (a review of my Malaysia pick is coming soon), as well as being aware of Ninja Book Swap and Ninja Book Box from the beginning and dealing with all my rambling about both London and Bath bookshop crawls <i>plus </i>dealing with my massive love for Laura, Katie, Hanna, Ellie, Charlotte and Nahree among many other blogging friends. Which is to say you've put up with a lot from me, but 2017 is going to be, as the post title says, the biggest challenge yet.<br /><br />Rhys and I have decided that in 2017 we are going to spend <b>no unnecessary money</b>. Yes, you read that right, and yes I am immediately going to state that this is with the exception of the two bookshop crawls (London is on February 18th, everyone's welcome so <a href="http://www.twitter.com/ninjabookswap" target="_blank">tweet me</a> if you want info!) but I will be holding myself to a <i style="font-weight: bold;">very </i>strict one book per shop rule!<br /><br />This year we've got rid of loads of stuff we didn't really use and cleared our house out a lot and we're both feeling so much better about everything. It's also changed the way we shop - before this year we were thrifty shoppers - car boot sales and charity shops are big favourites of both of ours - but we bought a lot of stuff we didn't need. This year we still do that but we're more likely to think about purchases more. We want to take it one step further next year and try not to really shop at all.<br /><h2 style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Spending Freeze</span></h2>Here's what we're planning to do:<br /><br /><ul><li><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Get rid of our car. </span>This is more of a stress thing than anything as Rhys does all the driving (because I'm a wuss) and although he loves driving he finds he's always really stressed and tired by it, plus the car is expensive so we're going to see if we can do without and use public transport and our legs instead!</li><li><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Get rid of the TV licence (again). </span>We only got it back just under a year ago but we barely watch TV and it seems like even if we were to buy box sets of the four or so series a year that we actually watch plus occasional CBeebies DVDs for the boys it wouldn't add up to £150 a year. Also means we'll spend less time watching mindless rubbish and actually do more productive stuff instead hopefully.&nbsp;</li><li><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Not buy books.</span> With the exception of bookshop crawls as mentioned above and if we have book tokens. I have one more month of OTSP Secret Sister to go so I'll spend some for that but I'm not signing up for the next round, and though I'll be running at least two Ninja Swaps this year I'm undecided whether I'll participate or not. If I do it'll be only one parcel per swap and I'll do my best to gift homemade and preloved stuff. It also means I'll only be doing giveaways on the Ninja Book Box website and twitter on occasion and here not at all (because postage costs), but I <b>will </b>be doing lots of books for postage giveaways so watch out for those.&nbsp;</li><li><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Bring tea from home in a thermos.</span> I have a terrible weakness for coffee shops because I get into work way too early for my shift (because buses) so I tend to go to a coffee shop at least twice a week. This will stop and I know I'll save more than I think from it.&nbsp;</li><li><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Bring lunch from home.</span> We're generally pretty good at doing this when we're at work except when we're not and we're terrible at it when we go out for the day all together. I think this is because we get caught up in the mad rush of getting out the door and forget about food, thinking we'll just grab something while we're out. Hopefully public transport will help with this, as our days out will have to be generally more planned and that'll prompt us to remember a picnic! <b>No restaurants </b>unless we have a gift card! (So anyone who wants gift ideas for me for this year, I love Pizza Express...)</li><li>We can <span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">buy shoes &amp; clothes only if they're absolutely necessary</span>, so shoes for the boys are fine, shoes for us aren't unless we've actually worn them out. Also where possible we'll try to go to charity shops for clothes (we mostly do this anyway since you often get way better quality clothes for Primark prices!).&nbsp;</li><li>We can <span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">buy only what's on the weekly grocery list.</span> If we want treats that week we have to factor them in to the weekly shop, and we're going to try to make that stuff as much as we can. Ditto for beauty and cleaning products. Homemade stuff is way better for you anyway!</li><li><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Buy bus passes and use them to get as many places as we can!</span> If we can get a bus using our already paid for monthly bus passes rather than a train then we will. If we can get a bus part way and save some money, we will. If we can get a bus and hike across a field, we will. You get the picture.&nbsp;</li></ul><div>The reason this list is weirdly worded is that I didn't want to write a bit list of stuff starting 'no' or 'not', so I've rephrased things to make it feel more positive! I've started a Pinterest board full of <a href="https://uk.pinterest.com/fairybookgirl/spending-freeze/" target="_blank">Spending Freeze ideas</a>. Let me know what you think of our crazy plan - I'll be keeping you all updated whether you like it or not (though seriously, if you don't want updates unsubscribe now, you've been warned!).&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Bex Hugheshttps://plus.google.com/113325858220271902301noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3246380981479604275.post-79405541445323482702016-12-10T09:47:00.003+00:002016-12-10T09:47:44.378+00:00#Discworldathon January Readalong Title<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ij6qmRbCyB8/WEvNl90w4gI/AAAAAAAAEPk/tyBgZVJoLywONJzUoWQUST6cGM4N0MupACLcB/s1600/jan%2Breadalong.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="257" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ij6qmRbCyB8/WEvNl90w4gI/AAAAAAAAEPk/tyBgZVJoLywONJzUoWQUST6cGM4N0MupACLcB/s320/jan%2Breadalong.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br />I'm back with another post about <a href="http://anarmchairbythesea.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/discworldathon-2017-schedule.html" target="_blank">Discworldathon</a>! I'm in the full throes of planning January now and I've put a poll up in the <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/205759-discworldathon-2017" target="_blank">Goodreads group</a> so everyone can vote on a title to read-along together in January. In case you're a Discworld newbie and have no idea about the titles included here's a little more information to help you make up your mind!<br /><br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i><a href="https://wordery.com/the-colour-of-magic-terry-pratchett-9780552166591?cTrk=MzIzOTEzOTl8NTg0YmNlODI3ZDVkYjoxOjE6NTg0YmNkYjI3NTU0YTUuMTMzMTM2NDE6Y2U1OWIwNzI%3D#oid=1308_1" target="_blank">The Colour of Magic</a></i><i>&nbsp;</i>is the first Discworld novel, but even Terry Pratchett didn't think it was that great (as he mentions in <i>A Slip of the Keyboard </i>and other places!). Not to talk it down, as it's a great book, but the majority agree it's not the best place to start - it's not as funny as some of the later books, and Pratchett hadn't really developed his Discworld style yet. It's about Rincewind (who you'll be encountering a lot more throughout the year!) a more than slightly inept wizard, and Twoflower, a tourist with a trunk called the Luggage which has hundreds of tiny legs...&nbsp;</span><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Image result for the luggage" src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/76/a9/cb/76a9cb3d28a4f37241fbdfd865b17f73.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=images&amp;cd=&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=0ahUKEwiuoZ3RpenQAhXEuRQKHSLnCZQQjRwIBw&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinterest.com%2Fpin%2F365284219746147031%2F&amp;psig=AFQjCNE8xkod5DIX8FOgx5u6wpH_DbOkBA&amp;ust=1481447889484712" target="_blank">Image credit</a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i><a href="https://wordery.com/mort-terry-pratchett-9780552166621?cTrk=MzIzOTEzNTR8NTg0YmNlNmQ4NGNkMzoxOjE6NTg0YmNkYjI3NTU0YTUuMTMzMTM2NDE6MWE2MmQwYjk%3D#oid=1308_1" target="_blank">Mort</a> - </i>from Goodreads:</span><div><i><br /></i></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">In this Discworld installment, Death comes to Mort with an offer he can't refuse -- especially since being, well, dead isn't compulsory. As Death's apprentice, he'll have free board and lodging, use of the company horse, and he won't need time off for family funerals. The position is everything Mort thought he'd ever wanted, until he discovers that this perfect job can be a killer on his love life.</span></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This is the first book I fell in love with, and I continue to be a big fan of the Death books. I'm particularly excited about Hogswatch in December!</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><div><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i><a href="https://wordery.com/equal-rites-terry-pratchett-9780552166614?cTrk=MzIzOTEzMDB8NTg0YmNlNDc0Yzk0NzoxOjE6NTg0YmNkYjI3NTU0YTUuMTMzMTM2NDE6OWI4ZWY2ZTc%3D#oid=1308_1" target="_blank">Equal Rites</a> </i>- from Goodreads:</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">On Discworld, a dying wizard tries to pass on his powers to an eighth son of an eighth son, who is just at that moment being born. The fact that the son is actually a daughter is discovered just a little too late. The town witch insists on turning the baby into a perfectly normal witch, thus mending the magical damage of the wizard's mistake. But now the young girl will be forced to penetrate the inner sanctum of the Unseen University--and attempt to save the world with one well-placed kick in some enchanted shins!</span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">If you were reading in order of publication, <i>Equal Rites </i>is the book I'd start with because it's the first one that feels Discworld to me, and also it's funny and feminist as. So there's that.&nbsp;</span></span></div><div><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i><a href="https://wordery.com/guards-guards-terry-pratchett-9780552166669?cTrk=MzIzOTEyMjV8NTg0YmNlMWZjYjdkNDoxOjE6NTg0YmNkYjI3NTU0YTUuMTMzMTM2NDE6OTk2Njc3NTg%3D#oid=1308_1" target="_blank">Guards Guards!</a> </i>- from Goodreads:</span></span></div><div><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">Here there be dragons . . . and the denizens of Ankh-Morpork wish one huge firebreather would return from whence it came. Long believed extinct, a superb specimen of&nbsp;</span><i style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">draco nobilis</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">&nbsp;("noble dragon" for those who don't understand italics) has appeared in Discworld's greatest city. Not only does this unwelcome visitor have a nasty habit of charbroiling everything in its path, in rather short order it is crowned King (it is a&nbsp;</span><i style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">noble</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">&nbsp;dragon, after all . . .).</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">Meanwhile, back at Unseen University, an ancient and long-forgotten volume--</span><i style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">The Summoning of Dragons</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">--is missing from the Library's shelves. To the rescue come Captain Vimes, Constable Carrot, and the rest of the Night Watch who, along with other brave citizens, risk everything, including a good roasting, to dethrone the flying monarch and restore order to Ankh-Morpork (before it's burned to a crisp). A rare tale, well done as only Terry Pratchett can.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>The first in the City Watch series which is probably my favourite of the mini series.&nbsp;</b></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><i><a href="https://wordery.com/wyrd-sisters-terry-pratchett-9780552166645?cTrk=MzIzOTExNzd8NTg0YmNkZmUxMjcwYjoxOjE6NTg0YmNkYjI3NTU0YTUuMTMzMTM2NDE6MDMyODViN2Q%3D#oid=1308_1" target="_blank">Wyrd SIsters</a> </i>- from Goodreads:&nbsp;</b></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">Kingdoms wobble, crowns topple and knives flash on the magical Discworld as the statutory three witches meddle in royal politics. The wyrd sisters battle against frightful odds to put the rightful king on the throne. At least, that's what they think...</span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Technically this is the second Witches book, but <i>Equal Rites </i>has witches and wizards so.&nbsp;</b></span></span></div></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">You can vote in the poll <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/205759-discworldathon-2017?type=group" target="_blank">here</a>&nbsp;once you've joined the group, which I strongly encourage even if you're only planning to join in for a month or two (or less!).&nbsp;</span></span></div><div><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bbrnwyyzEeE/V_OsVzobYDI/AAAAAAAAEM4/unVGqLwQYx0eHSdHFKLW1iRoeOYomiAlQCPcB/s320/discworld.jpg" width="320" /></div><div><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span></div>Bex Hugheshttps://plus.google.com/113325858220271902301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3246380981479604275.post-67109180512208993432016-12-06T14:38:00.001+00:002016-12-10T09:08:39.871+00:00#Discworldathon 2017 ScheduleHi everyone, apologies for the silence on the blog recently. Things will return to normal soon, and kicking that normalcy off will be Discworldathon! If you haven't seen I'm hosting a year long celebration of all things Discworld throughout 2017. Whether you're an afficionado, a total newbie or somewhere in between you're more than welcome to join at any point throughout the year.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bbrnwyyzEeE/V_OsVzobYDI/AAAAAAAAEM0/FBs-iQPiiYMBefbBoQF-3uIC14IUO6V1gCLcB/s320/discworld.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">We have lots of fun bookish stuff in store for you and fellow bloggers will be hosting events throughout the year. If you'd be interested in hosting a readalong, themed month or anything else get in touch as there are a couple of hosting spots open still. We're also looking to do lots of giveaways throughout the year so if you'd like to donate a prize towards that please fill in the form below:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScBJqQhbHL7WodzK2S0m_JOz1sBAxnvTpb9V-kXTveEa7HqIg/viewform" target="_blank">Discworldathon Giveaway Donation Form</a></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;">The below schedule is just for structure for those who want it to help guide their reading or know where to start with a huge series. The event is <b>only </b>about celebrating Discworld so you can do that in whichever way you want and your reading doesn't have to fit in with the themes at all, it's entirely up to you. However, we're here if you want to join in! All year we'll be using #Discworldathon on social media - if you're participating why not tweet your intention using the hashtag then we can all follow each other and talk! At the moment the schedule is thus:</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">January: <b>In the Beginning&nbsp;</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>(hosted here at anarmchairbythesea.blogspot.com)</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">There are many places to start with the Discworld series and it's generally accepted that this is one of the cases where 'at the&nbsp;beginning' isn't always the best option, so this month I'll be talking about all the first books. If you're not aware the series is made up of lots of mini series (sort of, although they can all be read in pretty much any order) featuring different characters, and I'll be discussing the first in each series in a brief kind of way and hopefully other participants will be weighing in with their favourites and thoughts about reading order. If you're new to the series this will hopefully be a helpful month for you!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">We also have board game tie ins throughout the year which will be over at <a href="https://tametheboardgame.com/" target="_blank">Tame the Board Game</a>. If you own the board games you can play them during this month &nbsp;(or sometimes over a couple of months) and feed back your thoughts about them, or you could see if any other participants live near you and organise game night!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>The game for this month is Ankh Morpork.&nbsp;</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">February:&nbsp;</span><b style="font-size: x-large;">Wizards</b><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b>(hosted by <a href="http://anovelhaul.wordpress.com/">anovelhaul.wordpress.com</a>)</b></div><div style="text-align: center;">This month will be about all things wizards so head over to Louise's blog to see what she has in store.<br /><br /><b>Board Game: Guards Guards!</b></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">March: <b>March Magics&nbsp;</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>(hosted at <a href="http://webereading.com/">webereading.com</a>)</b></div><div style="text-align: center;">Kristen is hosting her annual month of reading Terry Pratchett (and Dianna Wynne Jones but we'll let that slide and I might even use it as a chance to finally read my first DWJ book!) and there's all kinds of awesome involved. Nearer the time there will be lots of info on her blog, so head over there to find out more!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">April: <b>Small Gods</b></span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>(hosted by <a href="http://spiritblog.net/">spiritblog.net</a>)</b></span><br />This month will be all about the standalone books, with a readalong of <i>Small Gods </i>and some other discussion hosted by Heather. It's been ages since I've read this one so I'm really looking forward to it!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">May: </span><b style="font-size: x-large;">The Watch&nbsp;</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>(hosted at&nbsp;</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><b><a href="http://doddyaboutbooks.com/">doddyaboutbooks.com</a></b></span><b>)</b><br />The City Watch books are possibly my personal favourite of the series, and I adore Sam Vimes! Head over to Sue's blog for a month of Watch related fun!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><b>Board Game: Thud</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">June: <b>Tiffany Aching&nbsp;</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>(hosted by <a href="http://gotmybook.booklikes.com/">gotmybook.booklikes.com</a>)</b></div><div style="text-align: center;">A perfect series of books to get you into Discworld if you've not yet made the leap, spend a month with the Nac Mac Feegles. There will be a readalong of <i>The Shepherd's Crown </i>later on in the year so this month will focus on the first four books.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Board Game: Witches</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">July: <b>Witches</b></span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>(hosted by <a href="http://joyisabella.com/">joyisabella.com</a>)</b></span><br />It seems fitting to follow Tiffany with the Witches! Joy will be hosting and is new to the series so she'd appreciate all the pointers you can give her!<br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">August: <b>Moist von Lipwig</b></span><br /><b>(hosted by <a href="http://janecrowley.co.uk/">janecrowley.co.uk</a>)</b></div><div style="text-align: center;">This month is dedicated to crook turned reluctant entrepreneur Moist von Lipwig. All sorts of fun stuff going on this month so head over to Jane's blog to find out all about it.<br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Board Game: Clacks</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">September: <b>Pyramids Readalong</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>(hosted by&nbsp;<a href="http://www.twitter.com/shutupbanks" target="_blank">@ShutUpBanks</a> on twitter)</b></div><div style="text-align: center;">Come and read <i>Pyramids </i>with us (and marvel over how it took me almost an entire book to realise that it was jelly baby the first time I read it). Use #Discworldathon.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">October: <b>Discworld Inktober</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>(hosted by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/cnickartist/" target="_blank">C. Nick</a>&nbsp;on Instagram)</b><a class="OYKEW4D-ic-a" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" kind="click"></a></div><span style="text-align: center;">If you're not familiar with Inktober, the idea is that you draw each day for a month. Artist C.nick will be hosting a Discworld themed inktober over on Instagram (but you can participate on twitter too I'm sure) all you have to do is draw, and share it using #Discworldathon!</span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Board Game: Cripple Mr Onion</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">November: <b>Graphic Novels &amp;&nbsp;<i>The Shepherd's Crown </i>Readalong</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>(hosted by <a href="http://anarmchairbythesea.blogspot.com/">anarmchairbythesea.blogspot.com</a>)</b></div><div style="text-align: center;">We're going to be co-hosting this month, my husband and I. He'll be talking about all the graphic adaptations of Discworld, and I'll be hosting a readalong.</div><div style="text-align: center;">I haven't yet plucked up the courage to read Terry Pratchett's final book yet and I feel like I'm going to need moral support for it, so during November we'll be reading <i>The Shepherd's Crown </i>together. I'll post a schedule closer to the time, but I hope you'll join me!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">December: <b>Hogswatch Month</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>(hosted by <a href="http://curiositykilledthebookworm.net/">curiositykilledthebookworm.net</a>)</b></div><div style="text-align: center;">Ellie will be hosting Hogswatch on her blog, which is pretty much the most exciting thing! Watch this space (and her blog) for details closer to the time!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Readalongs:&nbsp;</b></span>We'll also be running readalongs throughout the year and we'll be taking votes for titles to read. If you have any suggestions for any you'd particularly like to read as part of a group please leave them below and I'll add them to the polls for the relevant months, going up soon! This will be just for those who like the motivation of group reading and discussion so don't feel you have to participate!<br /><br /><b style="font-size: x-large;">Twitter Chats: </b>There will be some twitter chats during the course of the year. If you're hosting a month and would like to have a twitter chat as part of that that would be great, just let me know and I'll put it in the schedule!<br /><br /><span style="font-size: large; font-weight: bold;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/205759-discworldathon-2017" target="_blank">Goodreads Group</a>: </span>Although lots of discussion will take place on blogs and twitter, I've also <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/205759-discworldathon-2017" target="_blank">made a Goodreads group that you can join</a> if you'd like to where we can talk about the books and all other Discworld related stuff and get to know each other a bit better!<br /><br />So that's it for now! If you want to post/vlog etc about the event that would be excellent, and don't forget to use #Discworldathon. See you in January!<br /><br /></div>Bex Hugheshttps://plus.google.com/113325858220271902301noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3246380981479604275.post-91513126940787890022016-12-01T09:00:00.000+00:002016-12-01T09:00:05.508+00:00#Runemarks Blog Tour<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-C8IXO9sfxhM/WD9FCD0ZDhI/AAAAAAAAEO8/ri2mqV6QHKE4s-zPgz3-1Lp1D3xz1NyYwCLcB/s1600/Joanne-Harris-2016-blog-tour-day-11%2B%25282%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-C8IXO9sfxhM/WD9FCD0ZDhI/AAAAAAAAEO8/ri2mqV6QHKE4s-zPgz3-1Lp1D3xz1NyYwCLcB/s320/Joanne-Harris-2016-blog-tour-day-11%2B%25282%2529.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Today it's my turn on the <i>Runemarks</i> blog tour, for which I am the most excited because Joanne M Harris is one of my favourite authors. If you're not familiar, she's the author of <i>Chocolat </i>and many other excellent books, and <i>Runemarks </i>is a retelling of Norse mythology. Retellings are my favourite!<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aOr4wjC3_IM/WD9FSk07v1I/AAAAAAAAEPA/QpVG2Ppe3m8fp1k-RpJVa3IKwsfATmIBACLcB/s1600/Runemarks%2BHB%2B%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aOr4wjC3_IM/WD9FSk07v1I/AAAAAAAAEPA/QpVG2Ppe3m8fp1k-RpJVa3IKwsfATmIBACLcB/s320/Runemarks%2BHB%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 14px; padding: 0px;">It's been five hundred years since the end of the world and society has rebuilt itself anew. The old Norse gods are no longer revered. Their tales have been banned. Magic is outlawed, and a new religion - the Order - has taken its place.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;">In a remote valley in the north, fourteen-year-old Maddy Smith is shunned for the ruinmark on her hand - a sign associated with the Bad Old Days. But what the villagers don't know is that Maddy has skills. According to One-Eye, the secretive Outlander who is Maddy's only real friend, her ruinmark - or&nbsp;<i>runemark</i>, as he calls it - is a sign of Chaos blood, magical powers and gods know what else...</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;">Now, as the Order moves further north, threatening all the Worlds with conquest and Cleansing, Maddy must finally learn the truth to some unanswered questions about herself, her parentage, and her powers.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;"><b>From the bestselling author of CHOCOLAT and THE GOSPEL OF LOKI comes a fantastical tale of magic, adventure and Norse mythology.</b></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;">If this sounds intriguing there's an extract being run across all the blogs taking part. You can read yesterday's excerpt at <a href="http://nutpress.co.uk/2016/11/joanne-m-harris-runemarks-blog-tour/" target="_blank">Nut Press</a>&nbsp;and then come back for mine:&nbsp;</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;">THEY MET IN THE SUMMER OF Maddy’s seventh year. It was Midsummer’s Fair Day, with games and dancing on the green. There were stalls selling ribbons and fruit and cakes; there were ices for the children; Mae had been crowned Strawberry Queen for the third year running and Maddy was watching it all from her place at the edge of Little Bear Wood, feeling jealous, feeling angry, but nevertheless determined not to join in.&nbsp;</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;">Her place was a giant copper beech, with a thick, smooth bole and plenty of branches. Thirty feet up, there was a fork into which Maddy liked to sprawl, skirts hiked up, legs on either side of the trunk, watching the village through the crook of her left thumb and forefinger.&nbsp;</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;">Some years before, Maddy had discovered that when she made this fingering and concentrated very hard, she could see things that could not normally be seen. A bird’s nest underneath the turf; blackberries in the bramble hedge; Adam Scattergood and his cronies hiding behind a garden wall with stones in their pockets and mischief on their minds.&nbsp;</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;">And it sometimes showed her different things – lights and colours that shone around people and showed their moods – and often these colours left a trail, like a signature for any to read who could.&nbsp;</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;">Her trick was sjón-henni, or truesight, and it was one of the cantrips of the rune Bjarkán – though Maddy, who had never learned her letters, had never heard of Bjarkán, nor had it ever occurred to her that her trick was magic.&nbsp;</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;">All her life it had been impressed upon her that magic – be it a glamour, a fi ngering or even a cantrip – was not only unnatural, but wrong. It was the legacy of the Faërie, the source of Maddy’s bad blood, the ruin of everything good and lawful.&nbsp;</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;">It was the reason she was here in the fi rst place, when she could have been playing with the other children, or eating pies on the Fair Day green. It was the reason her father avoided her gaze, as if every glance reminded him of the wife he had lost. It was also the reason that Maddy alone of all the villagers noticed the strange, dark man in the wide-brimmed hat walking along the Malbry road – walking not towards the village, as you might have supposed, but in the direction of Red Horse Hill.&nbsp;</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;">Strangers were not often seen in Malbry, even at a Midsummer’s Fair. Most traders were regulars from one place or another – bringing with them glass and metalware from the Ridings; persimmons from the Southlands; fish from the Islands; spices from the Outlands; skins and furs from the frozen North.&nbsp;</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;">But if he was a trader, Maddy thought, then this man was travelling light. He had no horse, no mule, no wagon. And he was going the wrong way. He could be an Outlander, she thought. She had heard that Outlanders travelled the Roads, where all kinds of people traded and met, but she had never actually seen one for herself; those savages from the islands and the oceans beyond World’s End, so ignorant that they couldn’t even speak a civilized language. Or he might be a Wilderlander, all painted in blue woad; a madman, a leper, or even a bandit.&nbsp;</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;">She slipped out of her tree as the stranger passed and began to follow him at a safe distance, keeping to the bushes by the side of the road and watching him through the rune Bjarkán.&nbsp;</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;">Perhaps he was a soldier, a veteran of some far-off war; he had pulled his hat down over his forehead, but even so, Maddy could see that he wore an eyepatch, which hid the left side of his face. Like an Outlander, he was dark, his skin burnt brown by the summer sun, and Maddy saw with interest that although his long hair was going grey, he did not move like an old man.&nbsp;</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;">Nor were his colours that of an old man. Maddy had found that old folk left a weak trail; and idiots left hardly any trail at all. But this man had a stronger signature than any she had ever seen. It was a rich and vibrant kingfisher-blue; and Maddy found it hard to reconcile this inner brilliance with the drab, road-weary individual before her on the way to the Hill.&nbsp;</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;">She continued to follow him, silently and keeping well hidden, and when she reached the brow of the Hill, she hid behind a hummock of grass and watched him as he lay in the shadow of a fallen stone, his one eye fixed on the Red Horse and a small, leather-bound notebook in his hand.&nbsp;</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;">Minutes passed. He looked half asleep, his face concealed by the brim of his hat. But Maddy knew he was awake; and from time to time he wrote something in his notebook, or turned the page, and then went back to watching the Horse.&nbsp;</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;">After a while, the Outlander spoke. Not loudly, but so that Maddy could hear, and his voice was low and pleasant, not really what she’d expected of an Outlander at all. ‘Well?’ he said. ‘Have you seen enough?’</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;"><b>Read more tomorrow at </b><a href="http://teenlibrarian.co.uk/">teenlibrarian.co.uk</a></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yy_d_4GuxQc/WD9IaBI_o7I/AAAAAAAAEPM/P5x0SQt8EVYKoSgr9GWLe2yHX6taUglZgCLcB/s1600/RUNEMARKS-blog-tour-poster%2B%25282%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yy_d_4GuxQc/WD9IaBI_o7I/AAAAAAAAEPM/P5x0SQt8EVYKoSgr9GWLe2yHX6taUglZgCLcB/s320/RUNEMARKS-blog-tour-poster%2B%25282%2529.png" width="210" /></a></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;"><br /></div>Bex Hugheshttps://plus.google.com/113325858220271902301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3246380981479604275.post-51987468577011551942016-11-30T07:30:00.000+00:002016-11-30T07:30:11.708+00:00Beginning to Read the World<span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;">I've been talking about diversity for a while and I've even mentioned wanting to read a book from every country in the world more than once in the past on the blog, but now I'm actually going to do it. With a little nudge from my friend Louise I've been inspired to join her in her <a href="https://anovelhaul.wordpress.com/category/read-the-world-project/" target="_blank">#readtheworldproject</a>.&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;">I'm planning to read a book from every country in the world by the time my 35th birthday rolls around in 2022 (eek it sounds so far away!), so this is an ongoing project... I am going to include a couple that I've read fairly recently but mostly I'll be starting from scratch. The idea is that in as many cases as possible I'll read books by authors originally from that country, but where that proves difficult or impossible then I'll be going for books set in that country instead.&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;">For inspiration I'm reading Ann Morgan's <i><a href="https://wordery.com/reading-the-world-ann-morgan-9781846557873?cTrk=MzA4ODY4NDJ8NTgzZTA3YjdhNjI2MDoxOjE6NTgzZTAzNGNlOTc3NjguNTMyOTc2NDY6MzU5ZWRkYjg%3D#oid=1308_1" target="_blank">Reading the World</a></i>&nbsp;and her blog, <a href="https://ayearofreadingtheworld.com/" target="_blank">A Year of Reading the World</a>, along with other things.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;">First up I'm ticking <b>North Korea </b>off my list because in the last couple of weeks I finished <i><a href="https://wordery.com/in-order-to-live-yeonmi-park-9780241973035?cTrk=MzA4ODY5MDJ8NTgzZTA3ZTAzODQ4MzoxOjE6NTgzZTAzNGNlOTc3NjguNTMyOTc2NDY6YjQ1OGVlNjk%3D#oid=1308_1" target="_blank">In Order to Live</a>; </i>Yeonmi Park's incredible, inspirational memoir of how she and her family escaped from North Korea.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;">Today I went to my bookshelves and pulled off everything I could see that I owned which fit in with the criteria. I felt good about it until I realised that this pile represents less than 10% of the countries in the world... I have a lot of reading to do! I thought it would be good, since I've been such an absent blogger of late, to post about this challenge in small stages and set myself smaller, more achievable goals. A TBR of 15 doesn't seem too overwhelming to keep in the corner somewhere, so here's my starting line of countries!&nbsp;</span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_hwEuqV5qJY/WD38PlL_rlI/AAAAAAAAEOs/_0_jO12BdAcNyXg8Osj8klPgtyMCwlTpwCLcB/s1600/rtwp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_hwEuqV5qJY/WD38PlL_rlI/AAAAAAAAEOs/_0_jO12BdAcNyXg8Osj8klPgtyMCwlTpwCLcB/s320/rtwp.jpg" width="194" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Argentina :&nbsp;</b><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://wordery.com/the-motorcycle-diaries-che-guevara-9780007172337?cTrk=MzA4ODYyMDB8NTgzZTA2MTFlYzEwMToxOjE6NTgzZTAzNGNlOTc3NjguNTMyOTc2NDY6ZWJjYmNkY2M%3D#oid=1308_1" target="_blank">The Motorcycle Diaries</a>&nbsp;</i><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;">by Ernesto Che Guevara</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;"><b>Canada : </b><i><a href="https://wordery.com/how-should-a-person-be-sheila-heti-9780099583561?cTrk=MzA4ODYxNzN8NTgzZTA1ZmE0NGMyYzoxOjE6NTgzZTAzNGNlOTc3NjguNTMyOTc2NDY6ZTNhMjcyYmM%3D#oid=1308_1" target="_blank">How Should a Person Be?</a> </i>by Sheila Heti</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;"><b>China :&nbsp;</b><i><a href="https://wordery.com/empress-orchid-anchee-min-9780747568339?cTrk=MzA4ODYxMjV8NTgzZTA1ZGJlNTA1MDoxOjE6NTgzZTAzNGNlOTc3NjguNTMyOTc2NDY6NmUyMzBmOTg%3D#oid=1308_1" target="_blank">Empress Orchid</a>&nbsp;</i>by Anchee Min</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;"><b>Croatia : </b><i><a href="https://wordery.com/girl-at-war-sara-novic-9780349140988?cTrk=MzA4ODYwNjV8NTgzZTA1YmZiZjhmNDoxOjI6NTgzZTAzNGNlOTc3NjguNTMyOTc2NDY6N2I0M2ZhMTA%3D#oid=1308_1" target="_blank">Girl at War</a> </i>by Sara Novic</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;"><b>Finland :&nbsp;</b><i><a href="https://wordery.com/moominland-midwinter-tove-jansson-9780140305029?cTrk=MzA4ODYwMDJ8NTgzZTA1YTgwZmY1NToxOjE6NTgzZTAzNGNlOTc3NjguNTMyOTc2NDY6N2IxNWI3MTA%3D#oid=1308_1" target="_blank">Moominland Midwinter</a>&nbsp;</i>(or anything else by her, really) by Tove Jansson</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;"><b>France :&nbsp;</b><i><a href="https://wordery.com/the-outsider-albert-camus-9780141198064?cTrk=MzA4ODU5Mjd8NTgzZTA1ODgxZGUxZToxOjE6NTgzZTAzNGNlOTc3NjguNTMyOTc2NDY6ZTM5MjBmMTU%3D#oid=1308_1" target="_blank">The Outsider</a>&nbsp;</i>by Albert Camus</span></div><div><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;"><b>Germany :&nbsp;</b><i><a href="https://wordery.com/look-whos-back-timur-vermes-9781782067832?cTrk=MzA4ODU4OTd8NTgzZTA1NzUxNGVhZjoxOjI6NTgzZTAzNGNlOTc3NjguNTMyOTc2NDY6MzNiYjdjY2I%3D#oid=1308_1" target="_blank">Look Who's Back</a>&nbsp;</i>by Timur Vermes</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;"><b>Ireland :&nbsp;</b><i><a href="https://wordery.com/philomena-martin-sixsmith-9781447245223?cTrk=MzA4ODU4MTN8NTgzZTA1NTEwNDFhMzoxOjI6NTgzZTAzNGNlOTc3NjguNTMyOTc2NDY6MjI4ZTgwYjc%3D#oid=1308_1" target="_blank">Philomena</a>&nbsp;</i>by Martin Sixsmith (I will probably find another book actually by an Irish author to read for this as well)</span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;"><b>Italy :&nbsp;</b><i><a href="https://wordery.com/the-periodic-table-primo-levi-9780141185149?cTrk=MzA4ODU2MTh8NTgzZTA0Zjg0MmUwMDoxOjE6NTgzZTAzNGNlOTc3NjguNTMyOTc2NDY6Y2RhMzExNDU%3D#oid=1308_1" target="_blank">The Periodic Table</a>&nbsp;</i>by Primo Levi</span></div></div><div><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;"><b>Malaysia&nbsp;</b>:&nbsp;<i><a href="https://wordery.com/the-garden-of-evening-mists-tan-twan-eng-9781782110187?cTrk=MzA4ODU1NDl8NTgzZTA0ZDM3YjcwODoxOjE6NTgzZTAzNGNlOTc3NjguNTMyOTc2NDY6NmMxZjczZTQ%3D#oid=1308_1" target="_blank">The Garden of Evening Mists</a>&nbsp;</i>by Tan Twang Eng</span></div><div><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;"><b>Mexico :&nbsp;</b><i><a href="https://wordery.com/ill-sell-you-a-dog-juan-pablo-villalobos-9781908276742?cTrk=MzA4ODU1MTB8NTgzZTA0YmY0YTRlZDoxOjE6NTgzZTAzNGNlOTc3NjguNTMyOTc2NDY6ZGI4YWU5YWQ%3D#oid=1308_1" target="_blank">I'll Sell You a Dog</a>&nbsp;</i>by Juan Pablo Villalobos&nbsp;</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;"><b>Native American :&nbsp;</b><i><a href="https://wordery.com/the-bingo-palace-louise-erdrich-9780006547099?cTrk=MzA4ODUzNTF8NTgzZTA0N2NhZWMzODoxOjE6NTgzZTAzNGNlOTc3NjguNTMyOTc2NDY6MWUyM2RhOWQ%3D#oid=1308_1" target="_blank">The Bingo Palace</a>&nbsp;</i>by Louise Erdrich</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;"><b>The Netherlands/Australia/Scotland :&nbsp;</b><i><a href="https://wordery.com/the-crimson-petal-and-the-white-michel-faber-9781782114413?cTrk=MzA4ODUwNjZ8NTgzZTAzZmQyN2QwYzoxOjE6NTgzZTAzNGNlOTc3NjguNTMyOTc2NDY6NmE3MTYxNTQ%3D#oid=1308_1" target="_blank">The Crimson Petal and the White</a>&nbsp;</i>by Michel Faber (who has a whole section on his nationality in Wikipedia because it's so confusing!)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;"><b>Nigeria : </b><i><a href="https://wordery.com/americanah-chimamanda-ngozi-adichie-9780007356348?cTrk=MzA4ODQ5NDN8NTgzZTAzYmJjNTg5ZToxOjE6NTgzZTAzNGNlOTc3NjguNTMyOTc2NDY6ZGE0YmI4ZGM%3D#oid=1308_1" target="_blank">Americanah</a> </i>by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;"><b>Non White/Immigrant Experience:&nbsp;</b><i><a href="http://mza4odq4otv8ntgzztazowu0zmmxyzoxojm6ntgzztazngnlotc3njguntmyotc2ndy6ndixmdy5ymu/#oid-1308_1" target="_blank">Sketcher</a>&nbsp;</i>by Roland Watson-Grant,&nbsp;<i><a href="https://wordery.com/the-namesake-jhumpa-lahiri-9780006551805?cTrk=MzA4ODQ4NDF8NTgzZTAzODFiMjdhOToxOjE6NTgzZTAzNGNlOTc3NjguNTMyOTc2NDY6NTdlOWRlYWQ%3D#oid=1308_1" target="_blank">The Namesake</a>&nbsp;</i>by Jhumpa Lahiri</span></div><div><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;"><b>Spain : </b><i><a href="https://wordery.com/the-shadow-of-the-wind-carlos-ruiz-zafon-9780753820254?cTrk=MzA4ODQ3OTN8NTgzZTAzNWFkNzUwOToxOjI6NTgzZTAzNGNlOTc3NjguNTMyOTc2NDY6MmYzMDNmYTY%3D#oid=1308_1" target="_blank">The Shadow of the Wind</a> </i>by Carlos Ruiz Zafon</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;"><b>Thailand : </b>(unpictured)&nbsp;<i><a href="https://wordery.com/the-sad-part-was-9781911284062?cTrk=MzA4ODYzMDV8NTgzZTA2M2NmMTA0MDoxOjE6NTgzZTAzNGNlOTc3NjguNTMyOTc2NDY6MDQ2NWU1OTI%3D#oid=1308_1" target="_blank">The Sad Part Was</a> </i>by Prabda Yoon</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;">I'm looking forward to the London Bookshop Crawl in February to stock up on some titles from other countries. Feel free to leave me any and all recommendation in the comments!&nbsp;</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>Bex Hugheshttps://plus.google.com/113325858220271902301noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3246380981479604275.post-92085426665296891532016-11-11T22:32:00.000+00:002016-11-11T22:32:14.375+00:00#DiversityDecBingoI've been doing lots of talking about books on twitter recently and I stumbled across this diversity bingo running in December. It's a constant quest of mine to read more diversely and events like this are brilliant for that. I'll be posting about it mostly on twitter and it's pretty low commitment- you just have to complete a line of the bingo chart below.<br /><br />I've picked a pile of four titles but only need to read two since three of my books fill three different criteria (sneaky, I know).<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l--YwXQMwkI/WCZDSFPgwZI/AAAAAAAAEOA/snbsEBcoGDo1EfoFx9WXRyI7Vy9gOQPmwCLcB/s1600/diversity%2Bdec%2Bbingo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l--YwXQMwkI/WCZDSFPgwZI/AAAAAAAAEOA/snbsEBcoGDo1EfoFx9WXRyI7Vy9gOQPmwCLcB/s640/diversity%2Bdec%2Bbingo.jpg" width="425" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Secretly I want to read something for every category (and if you need suggestions there are some awesome ones on <a href="https://twitter.com/search?f=tweets&amp;vertical=default&amp;q=%23diversitydecbingo&amp;src=typd" target="_blank">#DiversityDecBingo</a>), but in the interests of actually being able to do the challenge I've picked the middle row. I have several choices, and I picked from my shelves because I have SO MANY BOOKS and need to read some of them, so here we go.&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Mental Health Awareness: <i><a href="https://wordery.com/the-silver-linings-playbook-matthew-quick-9781447219897?cTrk=MjgzODAxNTJ8NTgyNjQ2NGJhZDU2NToxOjE6NTgyNjQ2NDEyNzU2YzguMDM4MTEwMTM6NWJhYzlkOGE%3D#oid=1308_1" target="_blank">The Silver Lining's Playbook</a> </i>by Matthew Quick (I may also watch the movie)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Asian Main Character/Own Voices/Non-Western (real world) Setting - <i><a href="https://wordery.com/in-order-to-live-yeonmi-park-9780241973035?cTrk=MjgzODAxNzl8NTgyNjQ2NjUzYWUwMDoxOjE6NTgyNjQ2NDEyNzU2YzguMDM4MTEwMTM6ZDI1Y2U1YmU%3D#oid=1308_1" target="_blank">In Order to Live</a> </i>by Yeonmi Park/<i><a href="https://wordery.com/the-garden-of-evening-mists-tan-twan-eng-9781782110187?cTrk=MjgzODAyNDJ8NTgyNjQ2ODYzODI1YjoxOjE6NTgyNjQ2NDEyNzU2YzguMDM4MTEwMTM6ZGIxNjNmYTc%3D#oid=1308_1" target="_blank">The Garden of Evening Mists</a> </i>by Tan Twan Eng/<i><a href="https://wordery.com/the-namesake-jhumpa-lahiri-9780006551805?cTrk=MjgzODAyODd8NTgyNjQ2OWIzZGUxOToxOjE6NTgyNjQ2NDEyNzU2YzguMDM4MTEwMTM6Njc2MWM5MzE%3D#oid=1308_1" target="_blank">The Namesake</a> </i>by Jhumpa Lahiri&nbsp;</div><br />I'm probably going to compile a list of all the recommendations I come across during the event too,so look out for it! Let me know if you're taking part and where I can follow you to keep up with your diverse reading. So exciting!Bex Hugheshttps://plus.google.com/113325858220271902301noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3246380981479604275.post-55283307969288322212016-11-02T17:05:00.002+00:002016-11-02T17:05:13.693+00:00#LittleHouseRAL: On the Way Home & November Link up!<div style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4XZ32muKl6A/VkT2WP7HGeI/AAAAAAAADzw/y4YfHUWEoVQ/s320/little%2Bhouse%2Breadalong%2B2.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Keeping with the tradition of this read-along I finished <i><a href="https://wordery.com/on-the-way-home-laura-ingalls-wilder-9780064400800?cTrk=MjcxODIxMDV8NTgxYTFiYTA4NzVjNjoxOjI6NTgxYTE5NzQ3ZjlkNDcuOTMyNDk2NjI6M2U1ZWM3OGI%3D#oid=1308_1" target="_blank">On the Way Home</a> </i>early last month and then totally forgot about it until I picked up <i><a href="https://wordery.com/west-from-home-laura-ingalls-wilder-9780064400817?cTrk=MjcxODIxNTN8NTgxYTFiYzA2ZmYwMzoxOjE6NTgxYTE5NzQ3ZjlkNDcuOTMyNDk2NjI6MjEyOTZlYmI%3D#oid=1308_1" target="_blank">West from Home</a> </i>to read yesterday!<br /><br />So here's the deal: <i>On the Way Home </i>was much more enjoyable to me than <i>The First Four Years</i>, but still nowhere near as enjoyable as the rest of the series had been. It's Laura's diary of their trip from De Smet to Missouri and it's pretty much just what they did each day. How far they travelled, who they saw, how hot it was etc, and it's fine but I wasn't enthralled. I miss the storytelling of the earlier books if I'm honest, but they're short so I'll get through <i>West from Home </i>pretty quickly I'm sure.<br /><br />Link up your posts about <i>West from Home </i>here. Just two more months to go, guys - next month we're reading <i><a href="https://wordery.com/pioneer-girl-laura-ingalls-wilder-9780984504176?cTrk=MjcxODE2NDl8NTgxYTFhNTc5NGVkNDoxOjE6NTgxYTE5NzQ3ZjlkNDcuOTMyNDk2NjI6ODBiNTljZDg%3D#oid=1308_1" target="_blank">Pioneer Girl</a>, <a href="https://wordery.com/a-wilder-rose-susan-wittig-albert-9781477849606?cTrk=MjcxODE3ODF8NTgxYTFhYWZjMTc5NzoxOjE6NTgxYTE5NzQ3ZjlkNDcuOTMyNDk2NjI6M2M3YjU3OTQ%3D#oid=1308_1" target="_blank">A Wilder Rose</a> </i>by Susan Wittig Albert or your choice of Laura related book!<br /><br /><link href="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/styles/default.css" media="all" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"></link><script src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/loc_en.js"></script><script src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/opt_defaults.js"></script><script src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/misterlinky.js"></script><script src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/autolink.php?mode=standard&amp;owner=anarmchairbythesea&amp;postid=02Nov2016" type="text/javascript"></script>Bex Hugheshttps://plus.google.com/113325858220271902301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3246380981479604275.post-40767878773139854432016-10-26T20:14:00.004+01:002016-10-26T20:14:52.217+01:00Book ChatHi friends! I'm still here, busy as always with <a href="http://www.theninjabookswap.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Ninja Book Swap</a> and wrapping a hundred things for the first <a href="http://www.ninjabookbox.com/" target="_blank">Ninja Book Box</a>, but here. My office space for the box is right next to my big bookcase of unread books, which means I've been getting a bit distracted but also really inspired to read my own books!<br /><br />Lots of what I'm reading is still secret, but I wanted to finally mention a couple of books I read during DiverseAThon all those ages ago and haven't talked about here yet. Firstly I picked up <i><a href="https://wordery.com/everything-i-never-told-you-celeste-ng-9780349134284?cTrk=MjYzMDAxNjh8NTgxMTAwNTUxYzgzNDoxOjE6NTgxMGZlNGY2ZjMxMDYuNzMyMDkzNTU6MDQ3ZTI1OGU%3D#oid=1308_1" target="_blank">Everything I Never Told You</a> </i>by Celeste Ng, the story of a girl, Lydia, from a Chinese-American family, whose body is found in a lake. The book is about the ways that her different family members react to her death, and how their experience of their father being Chinese play into that. It's a really well written book and had an ending that I didn't see coming. Each of Lydia's family members has a really distinctive voice, and there's also flashbacks to when Lydia herself was alive so we get to see how the family functioned before her death, and how their father's feelings about his ancestry affected his relationship with his children. I bought it on the London Bookshop Crawl last year and I'm really glad I finally read it. Not an absolutely favourite, but a solid, recommendable book.<br /><br />I also read <i><a href="https://wordery.com/sorcerer-to-the-crown-zen-cho-9781447299462?cTrk=MjYzMDAwMTV8NTgxMGZmY2IzMzc0ZToxOjE6NTgxMGZlNGY2ZjMxMDYuNzMyMDkzNTU6N2UyZmJhODY%3D#oid=1308_1" target="_blank">Sorcerer to the Crown</a> </i>by Zen Cho, which they've been talking about on the All the Books podcast for ages now. I picked it up in Bath (apparently Diverseathon was my time for reading books I bought on bookshop crawls!) and although I don't think I loved it as much as some of the Book Riot crew did, I did very much enjoy it and am looking forward to the next book in the series! Zacharias Wythe is the Sorcerer Royal in a regency London very similar to our own, except that it obviously has magic. However fairyland has been cutting off the flow of magic to England and Zacharias sets out to find out why. He has some assistance from the excellent Prunella Gentleman, and lots of stuff goes on. They also face a lot of bullshit along the way (Zacharias is black and Prunella is mixed race) that's sadly entirely believable. People are shit. Rhys is reading this now and keeps asking me if stuff will be explained, and I'm like 'well, lots of stuff is explained but lots of stuff is not...' so bring on book two!<br /><br />In unrelated book news, Nonfiction November is (I think) not happening this year, but I've decided since I've loved it so much the past couple of years, to have a little unofficial event myself and make a pile of nonfiction to read next month. I think I'm probably going to start with <i><a href="https://wordery.com/reasons-to-stay-alive-matt-haig-9781782116820?cTrk=MjYzMDAyMjh8NTgxMTAwODUxZDFmZDoxOjE6NTgxMGZlNGY2ZjMxMDYuNzMyMDkzNTU6MmE1MzliNzg%3D#oid=1308_1" target="_blank">Reasons to Stay Alive</a> </i>or <i><a href="https://wordery.com/man-up-jack-urwin-9781785780691?cTrk=MjYzMDAyNjF8NTgxMTAwOTlkODc3YzoxOjE6NTgxMGZlNGY2ZjMxMDYuNzMyMDkzNTU6Yjc4M2Y5MGI%3D#oid=1308_1" target="_blank">Man Up</a></i>. I'm really excited about it - I've got far too much unread nonfiction!<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QmEh3hfer3c/WBD-COhlMWI/AAAAAAAAENo/gRBh_PFs32ITcB7YF0ay0bTkW4JH6v3uACLcB/s1600/nonfic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QmEh3hfer3c/WBD-COhlMWI/AAAAAAAAENo/gRBh_PFs32ITcB7YF0ay0bTkW4JH6v3uACLcB/s320/nonfic.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />That said, I'm also thinking about putting myself back on a mad book buying ban again for 2017 and trying to get my TBR down to a manageable number (currently it's about 350). I'd have to make exceptions for the bookshop crawls though, and obviously books would still come into the house through swaps, but I'm thinking about it...<br /><br /><br />What bookish things have you been up to?Bex Hugheshttps://plus.google.com/113325858220271902301noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3246380981479604275.post-4100581161814547702016-10-15T20:09:00.001+01:002016-10-15T20:09:49.845+01:00A Response to All the Twitter Hate. Before we start: everything in this post is serious. You're not missing any sarcasm or different meanings. What I am writing is what I mean, and I'm writing it just because I feel the need to somehow respond to the daily pain I see people going through out there in the blogosphere and on social media.<br /><br />I know people say stupid things like 'I don't see skin colour, I just see the person'. The fact of the matter is that when you first meet someone you take them on face value. When people meet me they think 'ginger'. When I met my sisters boyfriend I thought 'black guy'. The importance for me is not attaching anything extra to those judgements. While a person's skin colour is part of their story it's not all of it and I'm not interested in seeing people only by race, gender identity, sexuality or any other way society can categorise them. <br /><br />I care about people's stories, but honestly? I don't care who you love, as long as it's fully consensual just go ahead! I don't care whether you're a cis woman or a trans woman (or man), it's none of my business unless you want it to be. I don't care where you're from, just whether you're a good person. I mean, obviously that's not true because I care about people. I read to find out about experiences I'll never have, and I'm interested in understanding people's stories and empathising with their problems. I'm deeply interested in standing up for people when I can use my voice to affect some change or help someone out. What I'm not interested in is stupid people defining 'all black/trans/gay people' because why?<br /><br />Since the whole Brexit thing here in the UK I've been fuming to the point of throwing inanimate objects whenever anyone uses the phrase 'the British people' to describe people who wanted out of the EU, people who are giant assholes/racists/ignorant twats or basically anyone else who is using the referendum result to say or do anything stupid or offensive. I hate that a tiny majority means that they think they speak for all of us when the reality is they haven't got the first fucking clue what I think. I want to tear myself away from it and shout and shout and shout at them that they don't speak for me, that I don't think what they think, that we couldn't be further apart in what we want for our country. So I think that even the idea that you <i>could possibly </i>be speaking for all of any group is just ridiculous. Before you bad mouth anybody for any decision they've made that hurts nobody and has no effect on you and that's probably been way harder for them to make because they know that far more people will have an opinion about it than say if I, a white, straight cis woman, were to make the same decision, maybe we should all take a step back and try to understand a bit more. About the context of where they're coming from, sure, but also about them <i style="font-weight: bold;">as a fellow human being.&nbsp;</i><br /><br />I needed to get this off my chest because it's been stewing for a while. I see people shouting (on twitter, it's almost always twitter) about how sexual harrasment doesn't happen and gay people are 'asking' to be assaulted and my friends having to stand up for their friends again and again for things that are <b>nobody's goddamn business </b>and it makes me mad, so I just wanted to say... I don't know. That I don't understand because I don't have your experience, and I don't know as much as I should know about race issues, gender issues, or LGBTQ+ issues but I'd like to know more, and that to me you are a person first and foremost, and your business is your business.<br /><br />And that's it.Bex Hugheshttps://plus.google.com/113325858220271902301noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3246380981479604275.post-16859797670755022262016-10-08T09:33:00.002+01:002016-10-08T09:33:27.051+01:00Currently: All the ProjectsYou could be forgiven for thinking that this blog is being sponsored by reading events and blog tours lately, since it's been a while since I've posted about actual books and I really apologise for that. Because of Ninja Book Box I've been doing a lot of secret reading and there's not been all that much that I can actually talk about, but also I've just been really busy promoting and working on Ninja Book Box plus planning a few other fun things and also getting on with daily life, looking after the boys and adjusting to autumn, but this is my attempt at getting back into talking about more general things here on the blog!<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7ZlCrbZ_avU/V_ivS-FZduI/AAAAAAAAENM/DSPmZLvJmdwbLaxtbcGMbXc8hZ9Gex9cwCLcB/s1600/pratchett.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7ZlCrbZ_avU/V_ivS-FZduI/AAAAAAAAENM/DSPmZLvJmdwbLaxtbcGMbXc8hZ9Gex9cwCLcB/s320/pratchett.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><b>Reading: </b>I'm reading something for inclusion in a future <a href="http://www.ninjabookbox.com/" target="_blank">Ninja Book Box</a> (please keep buying them so I can keep making them, it's so fun!) as well as re-reading the title for November's box so as is becoming the norm, nothing I can talk about there! However when I need a bit of relief from 'required' reading I'm dipping in and out of <i><a href="https://wordery.com/letters-of-note-shaun-usher-9781782112235?cTrk=MjQyNjAxNDV8NTdmOGFkNDljYzM0ZToxOjE6NTdmOGE4YjhhMWZlYjIuMTIzNDQwODA6ZjVjZGUzMzg%3D#oid=1308_1" target="_blank">Letters of Note</a> </i>still. It's lovely because you can just pick it up and read one letter and then put it down again. I'm doing a similar thing with <i><a href="https://wordery.com/happiness-matthieu-ricard-9781782394815?cTrk=MjQyNjAxMTV8NTdmOGFkMzBhMzYyNDoxOjE6NTdmOGE4YjhhMWZlYjIuMTIzNDQwODA6NzAzZDNhZjM%3D#oid=1308_1" target="_blank">Happiness</a> </i>by Matthieu Ricard - a good reminder of what's important! This week I also announced my DiscworldAthon 2017, so I thought I'd prepare for that by finally reading my sister's copy of <i><a href="https://wordery.com/a-slip-of-the-keyboard-terry-pratchett-9780552167727?cTrk=MjQyNTkyOTl8NTdmOGE5ZDM0ZGY3MToxOjE6NTdmOGE4YjhhMWZlYjIuMTIzNDQwODA6ZmEwNzg4OGU%3D#oid=1308_1" target="_blank">A Slip of the Keyboard</a> </i>by Terry Pratchett (because every time I go to her house she says 'have you read any of those books you borrowed yet?' and then sighs). It's a collection of all of his non-fiction; journalism, speeches he gave, and other writings, and as expected it is hilarious and crazy and so wise and every other page I am sad that there will never be a new book by him again. What a loss.<br /><br /><b>Eating: </b>Last week we randomly won a box of food at the supermarket and it had loads of Pick Up bars in it, which I hadn't had before but they're like a sweet biscuit with a massive layer of chocolate sandwiched between it and I am addicted to them! We also harvested a whole load of apples from our allotment so I've been doing things with them. At the moment there are apple chips in my oven - we'll see how they turn out!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bbrnwyyzEeE/V_OsVzobYDI/AAAAAAAAEM0/FBs-iQPiiYMBefbBoQF-3uIC14IUO6V1gCLcB/s320/discworld.jpg" width="320" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><b>Blogging: </b>This week I posted this month's link up for the <i><a href="http://anarmchairbythesea.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/littlehouseral-first-four-years-on-way.html#oid=1308_1" target="_blank">Little House Read-Along</a></i>&nbsp;and wrote about how I didn't really get on with <i><a href="https://wordery.com/the-first-four-years-laura-ingalls-wilder-9780064400312?cTrk=MjQyNTkwOTJ8NTdmOGE4ZmM4MmMyNDoxOjE6NTdmOGE4YjhhMWZlYjIuMTIzNDQwODA6YjE1MDI2MWU%3D#oid=1308_1" target="_blank">The First Four Years</a></i>. So far I'm doing much better with <i><a href="https://wordery.com/on-the-way-home-laura-ingalls-wilder-9780064400800?cTrk=MjQyNTkwNzF8NTdmOGE4ZTA5YjI2ZToxOjI6NTdmOGE4YjhhMWZlYjIuMTIzNDQwODA6OWI2MTg0Nzc%3D#oid=1308_1" target="_blank">On the Way Home</a></i>, so we'll see. Along the same lines I also wrote the announcement post for <a href="http://anarmchairbythesea.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/a-discworld-reading-event-2017.html" target="_blank">DiscworldAthon 2017</a>, a whole year of celebrating, reading, and talking about all things Discworld and Terry Pratchett. I'm seriously so excited to spend a year revisiting something I love so much but have read so little of lately. I haven't read <i><a href="https://wordery.com/the-shepherds-crown-terry-pratchett-9780552574471?cTrk=MjQyNTkwMjZ8NTdmOGE4YzFhYzMzYzoxOjE6NTdmOGE4YjhhMWZlYjIuMTIzNDQwODA6ODJiYmEyODc%3D#oid=1308_1" target="_blank">The Shepherd's Crown</a> </i>yet and am sort of planning to do a readalong of it in December, more to give myself emotional support than anything! I'm planning all sorts - themed reading months, readalongs, giveaways, you name it. If you're interested in helping out with organization in any way (I need people to help with everything, from generating ideas to promoting the events to hosting themed months and holding giveaways - anything you can think of!) please fill in the <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd1cmEudpaHC2fEmRdcgIVFfhmyiEUhlbMX2bSJ7AcY-hhaxw/viewform" target="_blank">form here</a>. You also don't have to already be a die-hard Pratchett fan - everyone's welcome, whether you've ever read any Discworld or not!<br /><br /><b>Loving:</b>&nbsp;We gave in to twitter pressure this week and started watching <i>Stranger Things </i>and it turns out people were right. I don't usually like creepy stuff but everything about it is just so well done that it's impossible not to love it I think. I'm not a Winona Ryder fan but oh my goodness she is&nbsp;<b>&nbsp;great </b>in this series! We just finished episode 5 last night and it's getting seriously weird now! I'm also revelling in having Netflix and actually being able to watch <i>Once Upon a Time </i>episode by episode. At this point I'm too invested in the series to give up, but it is a little bit eye-rollingly ridiculous at times, however Hook is still there so I'm still happy :-D<br /><br />I've also really been getting back into podcasts and listening to Spotify - if you're interested <a href="https://open.spotify.com/user/1150681240/playlist/3jjaHSxQxNbsfu72XLvzmJ" target="_blank">here's a playlist of every song I've ever thought was awesome</a> (that I've remembered so far!). I've been really inspired by <a href="http://theartofsimple.net/thepodcast/" target="_blank">The Simple Show</a> this week.<br /><b><br /></b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ywr1oLMZ7yU/V_ivDBlmOtI/AAAAAAAAENI/-hIiyeqJOSADDuO5fGaOiYE4dQnEcIDhQCLcB/s1600/Mini%2BBox%2B2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ywr1oLMZ7yU/V_ivDBlmOtI/AAAAAAAAENI/-hIiyeqJOSADDuO5fGaOiYE4dQnEcIDhQCLcB/s320/Mini%2BBox%2B2.png" width="271" /></a></div><b><br /></b><b><br /></b><b>Promoting: </b>Until the end of Monday you can get 10% off the <a href="http://www.ninjabookbox.com/product-page/c8539b66-7a44-fe18-affc-afec4be8562a" target="_blank">November Mini Ninja Book Box</a>. This is a side product I added for those who don't want or can't afford the full box (which is now sold out anyway) and it just contains an excellent independently published book plus one gift and access to any additional online content. It's £15 which includes UK postage, so get it for £13.50 using SURREAL10 at checkout.<br /><b><br /></b><b>Organising: </b>I need this section to keep everything straight in my head! I've started shouting about London Bookshop Crawl 2017. It'll be either the first or second weekend in February and everyone's welcome! The only criteria is that you want to come book shopping with us - you don't have to be able to afford to buy lots of books, and please don't worry about not knowing anyone - last year almost nobody knew anybody, and a lot of us are fairly socially awkward. It's just a day of great fun, great bookshops, shoving the books you love into other people's hands, and often some fun extras and discounts. If you're at all interested in coming I'd love it if you'd add your email and any bookshop preferences <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfg6SF5t5iOc5GYCvJ7VAqUlISr6ZJmQtSpK7TAHtHFaEluZA/viewform" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /><br />Also organising DiscworldAthon, as mentioned above, a bookish advent challenge for Instagram, and Ben's fourth (how??!) birthday next week!!<br /><br />Autumn <a href="http://www.theninjabookswap.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Ninja Book Swap</a> sign up just closed so I'm doing some shopping for that, and today is Bookshop Day so we're hopefully heading out to meet Rhys from work later and do some bookshop supporting!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Image result for bookshop day" 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" /></div><br />I'm also going to be reviewing the books I receive for Ninja Book Box consideration over on the book box blog instead of here, just to keep them a little separate, so look out for them there (and make sure you're following the box on <a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/ninjabookbox-18267365" target="_blank">Bloglovin</a>!)<br /><br />What have you been up to recently?<br /><b><br /></b><b><br /></b>Bex Hugheshttps://plus.google.com/113325858220271902301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3246380981479604275.post-29266191227010078252016-10-04T14:21:00.000+01:002016-10-07T10:20:23.922+01:00A Discworld Reading Event 2017<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bbrnwyyzEeE/V_OsVzobYDI/AAAAAAAAEM0/FBs-iQPiiYMBefbBoQF-3uIC14IUO6V1gCLcB/s1600/discworld.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bbrnwyyzEeE/V_OsVzobYDI/AAAAAAAAEM0/FBs-iQPiiYMBefbBoQF-3uIC14IUO6V1gCLcB/s320/discworld.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/bms0tvyrebd0ka0tewlu.jpg" target="_blank">Image credit</a></td></tr></tbody></table>You guys know how I like to take words, add 'athon' and turn them into hashtags right? Welcome to #discworldathon 2017! The details for this are by no means finalised yet, but my general idea is that I want to read a lot of Terry Pratchett's books in 2017. I've really enjoyed our Little House Read-Along this year and I want to stick with the theme of reading a series.<br /><br />However, as you're probably aware if you're at all familiar with Terry Pratchett, giving this event structure is a bit of a tall order as there are fourty one Discworld books, and so I've decided to just...not. Well, not really.<br /><br />Basically I'd like the event to just be a year long celebration of the genius of Terry Pratchett. I want to read lots of his excellent, hilarious books, talk to lots of other people who love his work, probably watch and listen to lots of adaptations of his work (maybe as a group via twitter or something) and give away lots of great and gorgeous Discworld related stuff. I don't want people to get caught up in rules and regulations, so pretty much sign up if you want to read lots of Pratchett and talk about it with people!<br /><br />That said, for those who like the rules and challenges, I will probably be coming up with different levels you can complete and/or themed months and such over the next couple of months so watch this space! This post is really just general thoughts and a place to register your interest! If you'd like to be involved with organisation (such as it is) or hosting giveaways etc please let me know in the comments or get in touch on twitter!<br /><br />Whether you blog, tweet, vlog, instagram, loiter round the internet, whatever, whether you've read everything Terry Pratchett ever wrote, never read any of it, or tried one once and gave up, you're welcome to join! Just link up to some kind of place we can find you in the linky below so we can all say hi and chat.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b>****UPDATE****</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Because I'm planning this to be a full on extravaganza that lasts all year it would be great to have some help with that! If you'd be interested in helping out in any way, from co-hosting the whole event, a particular themed month, contributing to giveaways or just helping out behind the scenes or with promotion of the event please add your details to the <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd1cmEudpaHC2fEmRdcgIVFfhmyiEUhlbMX2bSJ7AcY-hhaxw/viewform" target="_blank">form here</a> and I'll be in touch!</b></div><br /><link href="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/styles/default.css" media="all" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"></link><script src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/loc_en.js"></script><script src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/opt_defaults.js"></script><script src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/misterlinky.js"></script><script src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/autolink.php?mode=standard&amp;owner=anarmchairbythesea&amp;postid=04Oct2016" type="text/javascript"></script><br /><br />Bring it ooooooonnnnnnn! <br /><br /><br />Bex Hugheshttps://plus.google.com/113325858220271902301noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3246380981479604275.post-47888231557710842982016-10-01T08:19:00.001+01:002016-10-01T08:19:35.856+01:00#LittleHouseRAL: The First Four Years & On The Way Home Link Up<div style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Mkv55KK4SxU/Vkct8XIxWpI/AAAAAAAAErY/WglnPIdbKOM/s320/Little%2BHouse%2BRead-Along%2BMeme%2BJPG.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>This has been the first month of this read-along that I really haven't had the motivation to finish the book. Yes I've been pretty busy but that's not it - I just wasn't gripped by this one in the same way as all the previous books in the series. I think it's probably because Laura didn't fully prepare it for publication so it's essentially (according to the introduction in my edition anyway!) just her draft of the story and the style is quite different, particularly in the beginning, which I found a little jarring. By the end of it I was pretty engrossed, but I just didn't have the same compulsion to keep picking it up as I usually do!<br /><br />If I get a chance today I'll be going around checking out everyone else's thoughts - sorry I've been terrible at that, just very limited spare time at the moment! How's everyone else finding the series?<br /><br />This moth is <i>On the Way Home </i>which is Laura's diary from the family's trip from South Dakota to Missouri, with commentary by her daughter, Rose. As with most of the rest of this series, I haven't read this before so I think it will be interesting! I can't believe how far we are through the year now!<br /><br />Check out <a href="http://books-n-music.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">Lynn's blog</a> for her introductory post and link up your thoughts below!<br /><br /><link href="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/styles/default.css" media="all" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"></link><script src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/loc_en.js"></script><script src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/opt_defaults.js"></script><script src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/misterlinky.js"></script><script src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/autolink.php?mode=standard&amp;owner=anarmchairbythesea&amp;postid=01Oct2016" type="text/javascript"></script>Bex Hugheshttps://plus.google.com/113325858220271902301noreply@blogger.com1
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