Good evening, fellow Bookworms!
Blogs are like buses, sometimes… You wait absolutely ages for one, and a couple come along at once! Not sure this is going to be the usual double-decker though, just one of those little buses, but we shall see…
It’s just that I have some quite big news on the book front for all of you who have read my blogs and know that I’ve been acquiring the Gallagher Girls series of YA novels about girls at a spy school over the past year or so, and have been doing so by getting them from local charity shops. In my previous blog the other night, I had managed to get my mitts on Book 4 from the Age UK shop on Monton Road, and just had Book 5 to get…
Well, I got it this afternoon from The A Word, a charity shop in Eccles in aid of an autism charity. There were a few books from the series, actually, but Out of Sight, Out of Time, by Ally Carter, was one of the Gallagher Girls books available in that shop, and only a quid, so my series is now complete and I have been able to do it by acquiring them from local charity shops, mostly in Monton and Eccles.
All part of a pretty good day, really. Started by getting certain things sorted for the end of the year – I have said I will be busy around new year, and so the List Challenges lists associated with my reading for the year, and the books I’ve mentioned on here during the course of 2019, may well be published before my unavailability. If I remember, lol, I will let you all know in January what that was all about!
Got my bus and tram pass, so that got sorted for another few weeks. Also had a little look at the Christmas markets that are based in Piccadilly Gardens. Manchester looking very festive! Bought some stroopwafels from one stall and some cheese from another – it’s actually charcoal cheese. Yes, it’s black, but do not let that put you off! It tastes like Mini Cheddars! UK readers will know what I mean! They’re made by Jacobs and they’re a savoury snack, diddy cracker-type things that are mildly cheesy and very pleasant! That’s for my Transatlantic friends – my best description of what Mini Cheddars are. If you have any shops that import British food, you might be able to find them. Anyway, this particular cheese tastes like those do.
And then I got a tram back to Eccles and had a mooch round there, and found the Gallagher Girls book in that charity shop I was telling you about.
After returning home for a short while, it was time to head off to Tim Horton’s for tea – Mum and I do this at least once a month, although we hope to fit another visit in before the end of the year. It has been the Manchester Derby today, albeit across town at our neighbours’ ground, not at OT, but it clearly didn’t matter to our lads that they were the away side as we won 2-1! Yay! Jingle bells, Jingle bells, jingle all the way! Oh what fun it is to see United win away! City 1 United 2. Marcus Rashford from the penalty spot on 23 minutes and then Anthony Martial on 29 minutes. City got a goal back with 5 minutes to go, but we held on for the win.
From the last blog, in which I was talking about getting around to it, or even a round tuit, lol, I can now start on the Gallagher Girls series knowing that I’ve got all the books. However, I might draw up a shortlist, or longlist, of some books I feel I’ve had for ages, which could be priorities for the Getting A Round Tuit List…
English Passengers, by Matthew Kneale, would probably have to be quite high up on that list, as I have said on a few occasions that I have had that book for a while and not got round to it yet. Same goes for Bel Canto, by Ann Patchett, and Mister Pip, by Lloyd Jones. Another one I could add is Nocturnes, by Kazuo Ishiguro, which is a book of five short stories about music and nightfall. He’s Japanese, but has lived in the UK since he was 5. He is now 65, so that’s been quite a while now, lol!
I could even try to give The Luminaries, by Eleanor Catton, another go. I did try it some years ago, but didn’t get very far. However, I was having a bit of a book slump at the time, so I don’t know if it was that the book wasn’t right for me, or whether it was just that it was a bad time for me to try to read it.
Resuming C. J. Sansom‘s Shardlake series could be another thing for the Around Tuit list… I did read the first book, Dissolution, a year or so ago, but really need to get back to the series and start on Dark Fire. Especially as there are 7 books in that series and I have quite a way to go, lol! For the record, the others are Sovereign, Revelation, Heartstone, Lamentation, and Tombland. Quite a lot of reading material there, especially as it’s historical fiction and quite chunky! Tombland definitely looks like a chunky monkey of a book!
While we’re on chunky monkeys and historical fiction… Ken Follett! The Pillars of the Earth definitely needs to go on the A Round Tuit list!
Right, gonna break off and resume in a bit. Match of the Day is coming on soon, and the Manchester Derby is the first match on it, so once I’ve seen our 2-1 away victory over City, I shall resume this blog!
* goes off to the loo, then settles down in front of the telly for the footy… *
Right, back again! Telly is still on, but the derby has been on and I have watched our victory, so I am back at my laptop again! Before I went off to watch highlights of City 1 United 2, I was mentioning my A Round Tuit list of books I’ve had for some time and probably should get around to trying. One of those could be Norwegian Wood, by Haurki Murakami. I have definitely had that one knocking around here for donkey’s years.
Might be worth exploring under the laptop, actually, as there are several piles of books under Computer Corner! I think I’ve got Angela’s Ashes, by Frank McCourt under there, and I have definitely had that one a long time without reading it yet, so I could add that to the list. Not arsed if it’s fiction or non-fiction, I’m investigating stuff that I’ve had around for quite a while, whatever form of published writing it takes… Fiction, non-fiction, poetry, short stories, etc… If I see a book that I recognise as having been hanging around here for a substantial length of time, then it can go on the list!
Think of it as a branch of the TBR Pile, but perhaps a priority list for some of those which have waited patiently enough to be read, ha ha! Shantaram, by Gregory David Roberts, definitely needs to be added to the list. Here I am finding more books for the A Round Tuit list, and the “small bus” blog starts to look a lot bigger! Got a few chunky monkey historical fiction novels by Edward Rutherfurd under Computer Corner, including New York and Dublin. Those have been around for some time! The Forest is there, too, but I read that some years ago for the former Waterstone’s book club. I also have Paris, and pretty sure I have Russka, too.
I think that’s probably about it for now, or I might start waffling on about more historical fiction novels. I can save those for the next blog, lol! Trust me, there are more, and most of them are pretty damn chunky! I’ve got 153 books on the list of things I’ve mentioned on here this year. Yeah, that’s not a lot compared to past years, but given that I only started reading and blogging again in April after a book slump and the early months of my bereavement, it’s not too shabby. There will be 4 pages of books as things stand. Each page on List Challenges has 40 books. Might get it to a 5th page, providing I break the 160 book barrier! Not unfeasible given what I’m like when I get going and find books to mention on here!
If I can’t get around to blogging before Christmas, I wish you all the very best for the season, and I hope to be in touch between Christmas and New Year to get a few more books mentioned and review stuff from the year from the books I have managed to read. It’s been the year of the Object Lessons, really! Still got plenty more of those lined up so I hope to get through some of them in 2020.
Until the next blog, have a very Merry Christmas and I hope you get plenty of books, or at least gift cards for book shops!
Happy Reading!
Joanne x x x
Books mentioned in this blog entry…
- Out of Sight, Out of Time – Ally Carter
- English Passengers – Matthew Kneale
- Bel Canto – Ann Patchett
- Mister Pip – Lloyd Jones
- Nocturnes – Kazuo Ishiguro
- The Luminaries – Eleanor Catton
- Dissolution – C. J. Sansom
- Dark Fire – C. J. Sansom
- Sovereign – C. J. Sansom
- Revelation – C. J. Sansom
- Heartstone – C. J. Sansom
- Lamentation – C. J. Sansom
- Tombland – C. J. Sansom
- The Pillars of the Earth – Ken Follett
- Norwegian Wood – Haruki Murakami
- Angela’s Ashes – Frank McCourt
- Shantaram – Gregory David Roberts
- New York – Edward Rutherfurd
- Dublin – Edward Rutherfurd
- The Forest – Edward Rutherfurd
- Paris – Edward Rutherfurd
- Russka – Edward Rutherfurd