Friday, 11 May 2012

New books!

And so... I had a birthday on Tuesday. I hate to think of the number of years I seem to have notched up but there you go... nothing to be done about that except be grateful it's not the alternative! My birthday was spent in Cornwall. To be precise exploring some of the Cornish coast... here's a quick look at precisely the sort of views I had:




This is Godrevy Lighthouse on the north coast of Cornwall.


Anyway, this is not a post about that... that's for later... this is a post about my new books. I did quite nicely for my birthday, some years I don't get any, but this year I got four.





A close friend gave me Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, neither of which I've read and both of which I want to at some stage. And my youngest daughter gave me A Tiny Bit Marvellous by Dawn French... probably my favourite commedienne but I've never read any of her books.

My husband bought me this:



I fell in love with John Brett's paintings after our trip to Cardiff in March. He travelled the coast of Britain painting the scenery back in Victorian times and this is a book of his Cornish artwork. It's stunning.








I'm so thrilled with this gorgeous, beautiful, amazing book.

So why would I need more books after that lot? Well, I was in Truro and they have a nice Waterstones there, very friendly staff and and a great collection of books. Quite honestly I could have stayed there all day. And no way was I going to come out of there with no books! Pigs would take to the air first! Here's what I bought:




For some reason they're all non-fiction. I don't know why. I got The Victorians by Jeremy Paxman to go with my dvds of the same name. Up With the Larks by Tessa Hainsworth I've had on my radar for some while, and where better to buy a book about Cornwall than in Cornwall... Scribble, Scribble, Scribble by Simon Scharma was, literally, a random grab from the essays section and is, of course, a book of essays on various random subjects.

So that's it. Thrilled with all my new books and they will be added to the mountainous tbr pile, but hopefully not to languish there *too* long.
~~~oOo~~~

11 comments:

Kailana said...

Happy Belated Birthday!!

Enjoy your new books. :)

DesLily said...

wow.. I've thought about the game of thrones but thought I'd rather watch the dvd's as they come out LOL..

I kept the photo from cornwall...what's the countryside like? (I absolutely see why the coast is gorgeous).. is cornwall mostly vast country or a bunch of city/towns??

Anonymous said...

What a gorgeous picture of that lighthouse. So beautiful. Enjoy your books, Cath! The coffee table art book is so nice and I love the pages that you showed us.

Jo said...

Up with the Larks is a great book, makes you want to do what Tessa did. I have just picked up her latest book.

Dawn French's book is also excellent, very cleverely done and funny.

Enjoy all your books! Belated birthday wishes too.

Margaret @ BooksPlease said...

Belated Birthday wishes, Cath!

What a lovely selection of books - I'd be thrilled too, especially with the John Brett book and I'm keen to know what you think about Scribble, Scribble, Scribble!

fiction-books said...

Hi Cath,

I am glad that you had such a nice birthday, Cornwall is one of my most favourite places and it looks as though the weather wasn't too bad.

I love the look of the John Brett book, although he is a new name to me.

Also, although I am not a fan of memoirs, I have to say that 'Up With The Larks' is an intriguing and alluring story.

The pull of the coastline is always present for me, and the opportunity to have the dream fulfilled of living there one day, is a persistent one.

It is Saturday evening and we have just returned from visiting Dunster and Minehead, where we have had to fix a couple of broken clues on our 'Treasure Trails'. Such beautiful weather all day, can't believe it is the same country as this time last week!

Yvonne

lifeonthecutoff said...

That's my kind of birthday, Cath; the presents and the scenery. Happy Birthday - and many more.

Cath said...

Kelly: Thank you!

Pat: I've never been interested in the TV series as I'm no fan of Sean Bean. LOL!

For me, Cornwall is all about the coast but the countryside is nice too. There're moors, wooded valleys and so on. A few towns, one small city - Truro - the smallest city in England I think, and loads and loads of beautiful little fishing villages.

Kay: More photos to come once the decorating is finished.

Jo: Thank you!

Glad to hear those two books are good, always nice to know. Did I tell you how much I loved Living Dangerously? I'm reading another of hers at the moment, Love Letters, and will do a two book post when I've finished it.

Margaret: Thank you!

I just couldn't resist Scribble, Scribble, Scribble and I'm not sure why. In the mood for essays I think. I've also just ordered The Devil's Chaplain by Richard Dawkins.

Yvonne: we had two nice days in Cornwall and one wet. It didn't matter as we arranged our activities accordingly - on the wet day we visited Truro museum.

Yes, I'm always drawn to the coast too, a result of growing up in Penzance I suspect. I always thought we would retire to the coast but it hasn't happened. Still, retiring to the Devon countryside is hardly a hardship. LOL!

You know we used to live in Minehead, don't you? Lovely area but just a tad too cut off for our needs.

Penny: Thank you. Yes, it was rather a magical birthday this year.

Nan said...

I wouldn't mind going to Cornwall on my birthday or any old day. :<) We actually went there the year we got married and stayed in Lamorna Cove. (did I already tell you that?)
I'm interested in The Victorians and Up With The Larks.
A belated happy birthday to you!!

Judith / Leeswammes said...

Popping over from Scene of the Blog!

Happy belated birthday - you did well with books. I loved The Hunger Games but Dawn French' book was a just-OK book for me, although she is also one of my favorite comedians. Hope you'll like it better (it was probably just me).

Cath said...

Nan: Yes, Cornwall is always good for a visit, I agree. I'm so lucky to live so close, even if I can't actually live there. No! I didn't know you stayed in Lamorna Cove. One of my all-time favourite places. I have a print of a painting called 'Tiddlers' by Samuel 'Lamorna' Birch on the wall and love it to bits.

I would recommend The Victorians in dvd form but I happen to know it's not available in The States. You can see it on YouTube though.

Thanks for your b/day wishes.

Judith: Thanks for visiting my blog!

I know The Hunger Games is extremely popular so look forward to that. It'll be interesting to see how I like the Dawn French. I gather from interviews that she's fallen completely in love with writing.
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