September Review: Blood, Books, Bananarama and Other Random Waffle…

Good evening, fellow Bookworms!

Chief Bookworm blogging on a soggy Saturday in September, lol, as it is time for yet another monthly roundup of what on earth’s been mentioned on here during the course of 30 days. Those are not my books, by the way, just a picture I found on t’internet, but I do like the pompom bookmarks!

So, what have I read this month? Four books – two about the Lake District, one poetry anthology and a music memoir. My current total for the number of books read this year is 51 so only nine more to fill up the virtual bookshelves in volume 1 of this year’s book journals! As I think I may have mentioned, though, I do have a spare spread at the back of my purple “Penny Doodles” journal for more virtual bookshelves should I need to create some with my stencils, so it’s not the end of the world if I get to 60 before the year is out.

I also went into town and gave a pint of my O positive to the Vampires this month, and was Rickrolled while I was reclining there at the donor centre, lol! My pint of blood was given to Hull Royal Infirmary, as I was notified by text a week or so later.

First book finished off in September was Lost in the Lakes, by Tom Chesshyre and that was followed by 36 Islands, by Robert Twigger, so with two books about the Lake District finished I thought we’d have a picture of Bowness on Windermere on this blog to mark the occasion! I do have another book about the Lake District, but that one is still one of the Ongoing Concerns, so I will give you an update later as there has been progress made.

Third finish for the month, and fiftieth for the year, was Ten Years in an Open Necked Shirt, by John Cooper Clarke, so that increases the poetry quota for 2023, lol! There’s been a bit of poetry this year, and let’s not forget that my year-long project is a poetry book, again an update coming later when I do the OCs. I actually have his autobiography, I Wanna Be Yours, so might start that soon, or it might, at least, be one of my new starts in 2024.

Last, but by no means least, in my finished books for September, we have Really Saying Something, by Bananarama, which I would definitely recommend, especially to fellow fans of 80s music! Appropriately enough, being finished this month meant that the Bananarama book was listed on my banana-themed gonk bookmark from Oops a Daisy! The forthcoming bookmark for October’s finishes is the autumn leaves one.

Right, before I get on to the Ongoing Concerns, it’s stationery time, and the above photos are from the Rowan Berry Box I couldn’t show you in the previous blog as it was too soon. I can now show the contents of the “Stationery” box and I plan on doing a stationery-themed setup sometime early in the new year in one of the journals, book or general, I’ve not decided which yet.

I’ve had a fair bit of stationery this week, actually, with happy mail from Lellybean Studio, Stationery Pal, Hubman & Chubgirl, and Kellylou. The Stationery Pal stuff came in a pretty big box, ha ha! Mind you, it did have a couple of stationery “mystery bags” and for one of those, the contents came in a lovely tote bag!

Tote bag and contents shown below. Really nice, eh?!

Right, guess I’d better get on with the Ongoing Concerns, then, starting with Days Like These, by Brian Bilston, which is 74% read and will reach its next OC milestone on 2nd October when it will be three-quarters read! After that, the only milestone left will be when I finish the book, which I plan to do between Christmas and New Year.

Moderate Becoming Good Later, by Toby and Katie Carr, is now 67% read, so I am aiming for an early October finish for that one – this is the book where Toby is kayaking the sea areas of the Shipping Forecast, although the book was finished off by his sister Katie as Toby had a life-limiting medical condition and sadly passed away while doing his project.

Next up, we have our other Lake District book, the one that didn’t get finished off this month. That book is Summit for the Weekend, by Pete May, which is now 34% read, and is also responsible for sending me down the hurdy-gurdy rabbit hole the other day!

You can’t say you don’t get unusual subject matters on this blog, can you?! The things that have cropped up on here… Economics for Babies, barometers, pomanders, carboys and now hurdy-gurdies! And all because Pete May met up with a repairer of medieval musical instruments who had repaired a hurdy-gurdy for Pete Townshend of The Who! Fascinating instrument, actually, but I might be a biased musician, lol!

I’m pretty sure I own a novel called Hurdy Gurdy, actually! It’s either in the book case in the conservatory or it’s in the Book Chest in the garage. Maybe I should try to find it and give it a read. The author is Christopher Wilson.

Back to the OCs now, and Blood, Iron & Gold, by Christian Wolmar, is currently 26% read, as I did manage to read a little bit of it when we were coming home from the match earlier. Crap result, crap weather. Actually, to use that well-known technical term, it was shite! At least I had a book to read on my Kindle when I got back to the car. I plan to get a bit more of it read after I’ve finished this blog and published it.

Still wondering what the Bookworm of Bramall Lane was reading last weekend when her team were stuffed 8-0 at home by Newcastle. If anyone finds out what the book was, please let us know! You can always comment on the blog to tell me the answer!

Two books remaining on the OC List, both at 10%. One is Curious Scotland, by George Rosie, and the other is Brilliant Isles, by James Hawes, and that is the latest addition to the OC list, only started yesterday, and it is about the history of the UK as revealed through various art forms.

As I finished the Bananarama book this week, there is now a vacancy on the Ongoing Concerns list, so I will have to make another decision on what to read next, lol!

I think that’s probably everything covered now and this month is done and dusted. We’re into October tomorrow and I can’t believe how quickly 2023 is whizzing by! My nephew will be seven soon, and, no, I can’t believe that either! I will be back with the usual waffle soon enough, but until next time, take care and Happy Reading!

Joanne x x x

Books mentioned in this blog entry…

• Lost in the Lakes – Tom Chesshyre
• 36 Islands – Robert Twigger
• Ten Years in an Open Necked Shirt – John Cooper Clarke
• I Wanna Be Yours – John Cooper Clarke
• Really Saying Something – Bananarama
• Days Like These – Brian Bilston
• Moderate Becoming Good Later – Toby & Katie Carr
• Summit for the Weekend – Pete May
• Economics for Babies – Jonathan Litton
• Hurdy Gurdy – Christopher Wilson
• Blood, Iron & Gold – Christian Wolmar
• Curious Scotland – George Rosie
• Brilliant Isles – James Hawes

Blood, Bananarama and the Bookworm of Bramall Lane…

Good evening, fellow Bookworms!

Chief Bookworm here again with yet another blog for your reading pleasure. Quite a bit of progress has been made on the Ongoing Concerns since the previous blog and we had another finished book so I will come on to my third finish of the month shortly – it’s also my 50th finish for this year so far.

You may recall a couple of blogs ago, I had been at the donor centre on Norfolk Street in town, giving a pint of my finest O positive to the Vampires, and getting Rickrolled while doing so, lol! Anyway, as the Blood Service have been doing for some time now, they sent me a text the other day to tell me where my blood had gone, and that my armful of O positive has been given to Hull Royal Infirmary. I love the fact they tell you where your pint has gone to.

When I was donating, I was reading Blood, Iron & Gold by Christian Wolmar, but an update on the progress of the OCs is coming later. The book I finished last week was Ten Years in an Open Necked Shirt, by John Cooper Clarke, so that one is my fiftieth finish of the year I turned fifty!

Obviously, I will be continuing with the reading, but it’s good to be able to say I’ve chalked up a half century of finished books in 2023, let’s see how many more I polish off by the end of the year.

I think I mentioned my choir journal in my last blog and the fact that I needed to set up October. Well, that has now been done and the chosen song is “The Colors of My Life” from the musical Barnum. Have to say that I didn’t know this song until I had joined the choir, although I have seen a production of Barnum donkey’s years ago, and, of course, Torvill & Dean skated to “Barnum on Ice” way back in 1983!

As my chosen song for my theme is about the colours in nature, I gave it an autumnal look.

On Saturday I had happy mail from Under the Rowan Trees but I can’t show that yet due to no spoiler rules. However, what I CAN now show you is the “Click It” technology theme of the most recent monthly Mini One from Oops a Daisy…

Have you tried turning it off and on again? The age-old question when it comes to computers, ha ha! I love this theme and also like the fact that there are little coffee cups on the washi along with the cursors and monitors and mice… I have had a theme idea for this already, but it will be one for 2024 now as I’ve only got December 2023 to do in my two main journals, book journal and general journal, and those themes are going to be distinctly festive rather than technological, lol!

I love that font! I know that comes as no surprise to the journaling community who already know I am a total font queen, lol, but I have actually been hoping for a “computery” font for quite some time! Might even use it for my Blog Logs in my next book journal!

Talking of books, though, about bloody time I wiffled on about reading matter…

Bookworms here in the UK have probably seen this since yesterday as it seems to have gone viral. She was spotted during her team’s absolute hammering as Sheffield United were stuffed 8-0 at home by Newcastle United. Loads of home fans had already had enough and left the stadium, sick as the proverbial parrots, but despite the heavy defeat, at least this lady was happy because she had a good book with her!

Rumour has it that the Newcastle goalie read it first and then passed it over to her when he’d finished, lol!

Actually, call me a nosey bookworm, but I want to know what she was reading! What book was it, love? We’d love to know on here! Legendary comedian, Sir Billy Connolly, got onto the topic of footy years ago during his stand-up routine and about some of the obvious stuff people come out with at matches.

A player had missed a penalty and someone had asked “Did you see that?” so Connolly’s sarcastic response was “No. I was reading Wuthering Heights. I just couldnae put it down. I always bring a good book with me just in case there’s a penalty in the last minute!”

Yes, it’s true I take my Kindle with me to some games, but that’s if I’m going to the match with our Ellie, and the Kindle stays in the car for when we get back after the match. I can get a bit read if we’re stuck in post-match traffic. I don’t actually take a book to Old Trafford, although maybe I should have done from 2016-2018 when the Bus Parking One was manager and the football was about as exciting as watching tectonic plate movement, lol!

I’ll be taking the Kindle this coming Saturday when United are at home to Crystal Palace in the Premier League.

Anyway, Ongoing Concerns now! About time I got on to those, and you already know that the John Cooper Clarke anthology was polished off last week, so what about the rest of the books?

Really Saying Something, by Bananarama, is now 80% read so there’s a good chance that will be finished very soon and I’ll have a fourth finish for this month. Really enjoying this book!

Chocolate from the fair trade stall on Saturday – Mum and I were on the white elephant stall at the Party in the Paddock at Holy Angels. You may recall mention of this event in my blogs this time last year – check out my September 2022 blog archives – it seems to be a regular thing. With this, though, the items for the stall are at the venue, so it’s not like our church fairs at St Thomas’s where Mum has fancy goods and I have books, CDs and DVDs. Talking of which, the Christmas Fair will be on 2nd December, so if you’re anywhere near Salford, pop along and check it out!

Next up after Bananarama on the OC List is Days Like These, by Brian Bilston, and that one is now 73% read, getting very close to the next milestone which will be reached next Monday, 2nd October! Yay!

Moderate Becoming Good Later, by Toby & Katie Carr, is now 50% read so that’s in a decent position to be finished soon. If not by the end of this month, it’s a good shout for an October finish. Blood, Iron & Gold, by Christian Wolmar, is currently 25% read, but at least some more progress will be made with that one soon, especially as I’ll be taking my Kindle on Saturday for a post-match read after United v Palace as I mentioned earlier in this blog.

That leaves two books. Summit for the Weekend, by Pete May, is now 18% read, so I am aiming to get that to 25% shortly, possibly even 33%. Funnily enough, when I was reading it the other night, it led to a bit of a You Tube rabbit-hole moment, as there was a bit where Pete gets talking to these other hikers and one is a repairer of medieval musical instruments and once mended a hurdy-gurdy for Pete Townshend of The Who! This resulted in me looking up hurdy-gurdies and watching a video as I wanted to hear what one sounded like!

That is a hurdy-gurdy. You turn the handle and press the buttons to play it. Apparently, they had a liturgical purpose originally. They were used in the church before the invention of the pipe organ! It’s not every blog where you can come on to read about books but also find out a bit about hurdy-gurdies as well, is it?!

Back to the OCs now. Last, but by no means least, is Curious Scotland, by George Rosie, which is 10% read so that’s all the Ongoing Concerns accounted for, but with the poetry having been polished off last week, I do need to start a new book this week and I’ve not decided on that one yet. I’ve got until the end of Saturday though, lol!

I have pretty much covered everything now. Well, apart from the box from Under the Rowan Trees, but I’ll be able to show you that at the weekend when I do the monthly review blog as it’ll have been over a week since dispatch by then and the “no spoilers” embargo will be over.

Until then, take care and Happy Reading! If anyone finds out what the Bookworm of Bramall Lane was reading, please let me know!

Joanne x x x

Books mentioned in this blog entry…

• Blood, Iron & Gold – Christian Wolmar
• Ten Years in an Open Necked Shirt – John Cooper Clarke
• Wuthering Heights – Emily Brontë
• Really Saying Something – Bananarama
• Days Like These – Brian Bilston
• Moderate Becoming Good Later – Toby & Katie Carr
• Summit for the Weekend – Pete May
• Curious Scotland – George Rosie

Down Around the Corner, Half a Mile from Here…

Good evening, fellow Bookworms!

Chief Bookworm here again with another blog full of the usual waffle and book news. I last blogged on 10th September, so got a week and a bit to catch up on since then, including a few curries and a couple of finished books! Yay!

The photo above was taken earlier when I was at Wandering Palate having a coffee and a read of Ten Years in an Open Necked Shirt, by John Cooper Clarke, which is a new addition to the Ongoing Concerns, but as it’s a fairly slim poetry anthology, I have read 35% of it already! Don’t think it’s gonna take too long to finish that one, so there is a very good chance that it will be my 50th finish for the year!

So, which books have become Chief Bookworm’s 48th and 49th finishes for 2023? Well, they’re two of the Lake District books that were on the OC list. Lost in the Lakes, by Tom Chesshyre, was my first finish for September and my 48th book of the year, thus book number 49 was 36 Islands, by Robert Twigger. I still have Summit for the Weekend, by Pete May, on the OC list and I need to get on with that one, but as the late great Meatloaf would put it, two outta three ain’t bad, lol!

Before we get on to the other Ongoing Concerns, this arrived today in plenty of time for Halloween, ha ha! It’s a countdown to Halloween with spooky-themed stationery stuff from Sugar & Sloth, so you’ll get to hear a bit more about that in October. I could do with a token “Halloween” book, actually. You know I’m a wuss and don’t do horror, so I want something that’s vaguely linked to 31st October and a bit of spookiness, but something interesting or funny rather than scary.

In previous years, I have read Funnybones, by Janet & Allan Ahlberg, and A Tomb With a View, by Peter Ross, so as I hinted, something amusing or interesting that is Halloweeny but that is not going to scare the shit out of me!

Right, before we get back to the Ongoing Concerns, some stuff from last week, including the above photos of my November setup in my book journal… Just One More Chapter! I picked this for November as that is when my Ongoing Concerns go to bed for a month or so, to be resumed in the new year, although obviously a certain poetry book is being finished off in December so I will get the OC list down from 7 books to just four or five and then most of them will hibernate in December while the year-long poetry book is finished off.

Last week also saw me enjoy three curries in one week! Two of them were microwave meals here at home, but the third was a Nepalese Fish Curry at Deurali in Swinton as I went out with my workmates on Friday evening!

I also saw the fattest pigeon ever! No word of a lie it was a chonky bird, lol! It was perched on our back wall and I had to wonder how it could even fly as it was so massive! In true footy fan style, I serenaded this epic pigeon with a chorus of “Who ate all the pies?” – it had to be done, lol!

My latest Mini One from Oops a Daisy also came, but due to the no spoilers rule, I can’t show the contents of that on here just yet as it was only dispatched on Thursday so I will probably show it if I blog at the weekend. I can show the Halloween box from Sugar & Sloth in this blog as you can’t see what’s in the packets, that’s still a surprise.

Remember earlier in the year when members of Pulp met their yarn-based lookalikes on a post box topper? Well, now Kylie Minogue has met her yarn-alike too! She was performing in Leicester at a Radio 2 event and someone had made a topper to mark the occasion!

Well, better stop wittering on about knitted pop stars and start talking about the Ongoing Concerns, hadn’t I?! Days Like These, by Brian Bilston, is now 72% read, it won’t be long until it reaches another milestone – 2nd October will be the day it reaches 75% so there’s a date for your diaries!

As mentioned before, Ten Years in an Open Necked Shirt, by Salford poet John Cooper Clarke, is now 35% read, and not far behind, on 33% read, is Moderate Becoming Good Later, by Toby and Katie Carr, about Toby’s quest to kayak his way around the sea areas of the Shipping Forecast.

Actually, there is a significant anniversary coming up in 2024 for the Shipping Forecast, and I think it’s possibly 100 years of the forecast being on BBC Radio, so I am thinking I might have a re-read of Attention All Shipping, by Charlie Connelly, next year to celebrate the centenary.

Next up on the Ongoing Concerns is Blood, Iron & Gold, by Christian Wolmar, about the history of trains and rail travel. That is now 25% read, and it is the reason for my blog title. I had been reading the part about trains in the USA and railroads (as they call railways over there), and Wolmar happened to mention the Illinois Central. As I’m sure many other music buffs might know, the Illinois Central, along with the Southern Central Freight, is mentioned in the lyrics of “Long Train Runnin’” by the Doobie Brothers, so tonight’s blog title is the opening lines of that song.

* sings * Down around the corner, half a mile from here, you see those long trains runnin’ and you watch them disappear… Without love, where would you be now? Without love…

To complete our Ongoing Concerns, we have three books on 10% read, those being Summit for the Weekend, by Pete May, Really Saying Something, by Bananarama, and Curious Scotland, by George Rosie. I actually started that one in 2021 but only read the intro, so the book was just 5% read. It is now 10% so it has become an OC now. It was a book I bought in Wigtown from the shop run by Shaun Bythell!

I think that is probably about all for now. I have pretty much covered everything and you now know what November looks like in my book journal! Very bookish, actually, lol! Just December to go in my book and general journals now, and then I can do some sort of reviews for 2023 and get new journals ready for 2024. I do need to think about October in my choir journal, though, which song I am going to have as my theme for that month… so far we’ve had “Seasons of Love” (from the musical “Rent”) and “From a Distance” which is probably best known as a Bette Midler song.

I’ll be back again soon enough with yet more random waffle and book news, lol, but until then, take care and Happy Reading!

Joanne x x x

Books mentioned in this blog entry…

• Ten Years in an Open Necked Shirt – John Cooper Clarke
• Lost in the Lakes – Tom Chesshyre
• 36 Islands – Robert Twigger
• Summit for the Weekend – Pete May
• Funnybones – Janet & Allan Ahlberg
• A Tomb With a View – Peter Ross
• Days Like These – Brian Bilston
• Moderate Becoming Good Later – Toby & Katie Carr
• Attention All Shipping – Charlie Connelly
• Blood, Iron & Gold – Christian Wolmar
• Really Saying Something – Bananarama
• Curious Scotland – George Rosie

Rickrolled At the Donor Centre!

Good evening, fellow Bookworms!

Greetings from the Costa del Salford! We’ve actually had a bit of rain today, but the temperature has still been decidedly above average for September! Chief Bookworm has had several nights of sleeping on top of her bed and with a fan on as it has been far too boiling to get under the duvet!

Was in town yesterday and it was absolutely roasting! I had gone to give a pint of my finest O positive to the vampires, and to get a bit of shopping in, and it was so damn hot! Did manage to give blood this time, though, unlike back in June where I was a tad short on the haemoglobin front.

I was actually attended to by a member of staff with the same birthday as me! Alejandro said he’d been waiting to assist a donor with the same birthday as him and he’d had some 22nd and 24th April ones, but finally got to assist a fellow birthday person. I asked him his year, which was 1988, so I was 15 when he was born.

They have the radio on at the donor centre on Norfolk Street. Dunno which station it is, probably something like Smooth FM or whatever, but it does play a fair bit of 80s music, so I was reclining in my chair, reading my Kindle as an armful of O positive was collected from me, and what comes on the radio? “Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley! Seriousy! Rickrolled at the donor centre!

I came up with that last weekend. It’s in my general journal after the October stuff, so I thought I should put it in as my nod to Halloweeny stuff, before I moved on to my November setup, which is coming up in a bit, but firstly, we need to have an update on some of the Ongoing Concerns…

Lost in the Lakes is now 75% read so I will be looking to get that one finished off. Days Like These, by Brian Bilston, is currently 69% read, but that is an ongoing project as most of you probably know, and the next milestone will be reached in early October. After that, we have 36 Islands, by Robert Twigger, which is 59% read, so I will be looking to get that to the 67% mark fairly soon. I want those two finished this month.

As this is the first blog in September, I should let you know that I recently started Blood, Iron & Gold, by Christian Wolmar, on my Kindle and that one is currently 17% read, and Really Saying Something, by Bananarama, was also started this month and that one is 10% read. Sara Dallin even mentions her love of books and trips to the library when she was a kid in the 60s, so it’s good to know of another bookworm in the music world!

Blood, Iron & Gold is about the history of the world’s railways, but it seemed appropriate enough to read a book with blood in the title when I was giving a pint of mine yesterday, and I’ve since read a bit more of it today. I want to get it up to at least 20%, but preferably 25% as that would be the next milestone as an Ongoing Concern.

I did promise you my November setup in my general journal, so here it is, and the theme is Snail Mail! A postal theme with added snails, lol! I have made a start on November’s setup in my book journal, but that one needs more work, so it’s not ready to appear on here yet.

As it will be November, that will be the month where the Ongoing Concerns are put to bed at the end of that month to be resumed in January. I will therefore be getting books off the list and not replacing them so that I only have three or four books to pick up again in the new year. The only OC staying up late, so to speak, will be Days Like These, as I will be finishing that one off before we let in 2024.

November has also seen me continue what I started with October’s autumnal “As Seen on TV” setup – the self-care corner and the “watched this week” box for my You Tube viewing. I watch quite a variety of stuff, including other journalers, and there’s a couple from the southern hemisphere which makes it very interesting when it comes to seasonal themes! I’m setting up autumnal themes, but Erin Smith and Jashii Corrin are setting up spring themes as Erin is from Australia and Jashii is from New Zealand.

Back to this month, though, and my current reading, I would like to finish off the “Lake District Books”, so that’s Lost in the Lakes, 36 Islands and Summit for the Weekend. While two of those are at an advanced stage, the Pete May book is only 10% read, so I’ll need to get on with that.

The latest Big One from Oops a Daisy, “Wild Journaling” hence the leopard print pattern on some of the stuff! I’ve used the pouch to store the Koi brush pens that I’ve had with mini ones and big ones. I also have a theme in mind, possibly for early in the new year, which will include the leopard print stuff. Weirdly enough, my Kindle has a leopard print patterned holder, but I’ve had that for ages! When I bought a previous Kindle from a colleague, it came with that holder included.

By the way, the Haribo mug, with the cherries on, which is at the top of this blog, was bought from the Haribo shop at Cheshire Oaks when Mum and I had been in Chester on our short break and went to Cheshire Oaks before heading home.

Had a very quick delivery today, considering I only made the purchase on Amazon yesterday evening – The Radium Girls, by Kate Moore. You may remember that it had been recommended by Rebecca Struthers in her excellent book, Hands of Time, about timekeeping and watch-making. These were the ladies who painted the glow in the dark green dots on the dials of clocks and watches in the early twentieth-century during and after World War I.

It was a fun job for them at the time, and very well-paid for the day, but as the years passed, the ladies started suffering from mysterious and crippling illnesses – the radium paint from their job was slowly killing them.

I think that’s probably about all for now. Hope to have more book updates next time, maybe even a finished book or two, and possibly the November theme for my book journal. I will say that it’s a theme about books, appropriately enough! Until the next time, though, take care and Happy Reading!

Joanne x x x

Books mentioned in this blog entry…

• Lost in the Lakes – Tom Chesshyre
• Days Like These – Brian Bilston
• 36 Islands – Robert Twigger
• Blood, Iron & Gold – Christian Wolmar
• Really Saying Something – Bananarama
• Summit for the Weekend – Pete May
• The Radium Girls – Kate Moore
• Hands of Time – Rebecca Struthers