Coffee with Amy from Golden Books Girl

Joining me for coffee this week is the lovely Amy from Golden Books Girl I’ll be drinking a Tanzanian filter coffee from Steampunk Coffee, whilst Amy (not a coffee drinker) will be having a refreshing glass of water. Amy is sharing with us her favourite signed books, so grab yourself a drink and enjoy!

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Hi everyone! So excited to be over here on Charlotte`s blog today. Hope you enjoy my post 🙂  despite my lack of signed book photos (I don`t currently have access to them to take photos. In no particular order, my favourite signed books are…

1. Murder Most Unladylike series by Robin Stevens– I met Robin before Murder Most Unladylike was even published (even though I can`t quite remember how) and we`ve kept in touch ever since. I`m lucky enough to have almost this whole series (except for my finished copy of the first book) signed, and it just makes me love reading them even more to see Robin`s lovely messages in the front.
2. Adventure Island by Helen Moss- As I plan to speak about in a blog post later this week, this series means a lot to me in a lot of ways, so winning signed copies of the entire series in the Authors for the Philippines auction (along with the chance to meet Helen, who I`d already chatted with via email for a few years, in person)
3. Geek Girl series by Holly Smale– I met Holly at her signing after watching her excellent talk at the Edinburgh Book Festival last year, and got all the books that were out at that time signed. I`m a massive Geek Girl fangirl in general, so it`s pretty surreal that I got to meet someone I think is so amazing (and Holly was lovely) and have her write lovely messages.
4. Karen McCombie books– I`ve met Karen quite a few times at the Edinburgh Book Festival, and I have quite a lot of my (very extensive!) Karen McCombie collection signed. A particularly treasured one is my copy of Angels in Training, which is dedicated to me .
5. A Home for Shimmer by Cathy Hopkins– As you might know if you follow me on Twitter my older dog is called Shimmer, and the name of the dog in this book is no coincidence. I`ve known Cathy ever since I devoured her books and got in touch with her, and I was so thrilled when she decided to use my Shimmer as the inspiration for her`s. This book is also dedicated to me (and Shim) so my signed copy is very special to me. 
   

And here’s a photo of Shimmer, who I’m sure you’ll agree is completely adorable!

Thanks so much for a wonderful chat Amy! 

I hope you all enjoyed reading about Amy’s favourite signed books as much as I did! My own favourites include my signed Jasper Fforde books (particularly the one where he wrote Happy Birthday), Strange the Dreamer and my lovely signed copy of The Devil’s Poetry. 

Do you have any treasured signed books to tell us about? 

 

 

 

Blogger Recognition Award

I’m bringing you a break in my usual happy Monday post because the lovely Rebecca of This Booky Place nominated me for a Blogger Recognition Award. I’m really new to this and completely surprised anyone reads my random thoughts, so Rebecca’s nomination really touched me: thank you!

 

The rules are:

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you and provide a link to their blog (see above)
2. Write a post to show your award (you’re reading my post now)
3. Give a brief story of how your blog started.
4. Give two pieces of advice to new bloggers.
5. Select 15 other bloggers you want to give this award to.
6. Comment on each blog and let them know you have nominated them & provide the link to the post you created.

How My Blog Started

I wish I had a great story for this, but basically I joined a readathon on Twitter over Easter weekend and everyone was posting about what they’d read over on their blogs. I wanted a blog. I made one.

Two Pieces of Advice for New Bloggers

Being really new to this myself, I feel a bit of a fraud giving advice, but here it is:

• Be yourself. Don’t try to copy someone else just because you think that’s what people want to read. It’s better to have a handful of followers that want to read what you have to say than hundreds who are following you because you sound like someone else. That way madness lies.
• Think about what you want to do in advance: I gave no real thought to this beyond “blog. I want one”. I ended up switching from Blogger to WordPress after a few weeks and it took me longer than I should have to start planning what I wanted to do. I’m still doubting it now. I wish I’d thought more about what I was trying to do before just jumping right in!

15 Bloggers I Want to Nominate

This is a crazy amount and I’m assuming a lot of these have already been nominated, but here goes:

• Louise Book Murmuration and Amy from Golden Books Girl for being lovely, helpful and supportive new bloggers. I’d have given up a while ago without these two.
• Zoe from no safer place for being so kind to newbies in the blogging community and allowing me to be her personal stalker!
• Liv from That Fiction Life  for being my long lost book twin – it’s nice to find people who share your unpopular bookish opinions.
• Steph from A Little But A Lot and Cora from Tea Party Princess  The first bloggers I met in real life who were lovely and welcoming when I gatecrashed their trip to see Patrick Ness.
• Cait from Paper Fury and Grace from Almost Amazing Grace who both run amazing blogs that I read long before blogging about books myself.
• Lucy from Queen of Contemporary and #ukyachat and Rachel from 100 or Less and #sundayya for their awesome chats which introduced me to the book blogging community
• Rebecca from This Booky Place, Sarah from Sarah Withers Blog ,  Lia from Lost in a Story, Faye from A Daydreamer’s Thoughts and Donna from The Untitled Book Blog for being so welcoming of newbie bloggers and for the awesome Twitter chats.

And everyone else who reads this, you’re all wonderful! 

Slaying My TBR…July 21st

Here’s what I’ve been reading this week. Let me know your thoughts in the comments or over on Twitter @charlottesburns 

The Marriage Pact by Michelle Richmond

Adding this to this week’s TBR is a bit of a cheat as I read the ARC a little while ago. It is published on Tuesday, so I can finally share my review with you!

The Marriage Pact is dark, twisty and impossible to put down. We know from the very opening that The Pact is something sinister and that given the chance again, Alice and Jake would not have joined it, but it is a while before we learn exactly what The Pact is and how they became involved. The Pact is a wedding gift that promises a lifelong, happy marriage but is that what it delivers? It sounds appealing but it is much more sinister and we don’t discover how sinister it is until we get towards the very end. Michelle keeps us guessing and even when we think we know what’s going to happen next, there’s another surprise around the corner. Alice and Jake’s marriage is continuously compared to those around them, in The Pact and in the couples that Jake works with (he is a therapist). Throughout the book, I found myself comparing their marriage and The Pact’s idea of marriage with my own and wondering how my husband and I would fare under such strict rules. At times I found myself agreeing that some of the rules could make for a happy relationship, but the methods they use are old-fashioned and brutal. I would suggest proceeding with caution if torture is a triggering issue for you. Jake is an interesting narrator and I often wondered what the story would be like told from Alice’s point of view as Jake’s  is often clouded by his doubts and insecurities. The Marriage Pact is a brilliant thriller. It is never predictable and the twists, betrayals and unexpected events keep you hooked until the very last page.

When Dimple Met Rishi

When Dimple Met Rishi is one of this summer’s most hyped novels. Dimple is a modern girl with a passion for coding and doesn’t want to settle down and find the Ideal Indian Husband her mother wants her to; she has career goals. Rishi is traditional, he wants to make his parents happy and settle down with a compatible wife. When they meet, he introduces himself as her future husband and she throws her drink at him. It’s a scene that’s gotten Dimple a lot of criticism, but I say fair play: in her shoes I’d have thrown a drink too. The rest of their story is about Insomnia Con and trying to code the perfect app and the relationship of Dimple and Rishi. It was very predictable and at times both characters really annoyed me and made me want to bang their heads together, but I suppose it did give me feelings. I enjoyed this one, but didn’t love it as much as I expected to from the rave reviews I’d seen. I think maybe I’m broken. 

Nemesis by Brandon Reichs

I was sent a copy of this by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

This was gripping from start to end. Min is murdered every alternate birthday. But she wakes up somewhere outside of town alive. Noone seems to believe her. Then strange things start happening around the town and she discovers the sinister Project Nemesis. I don’t want to say too much about the plot because it would be easily spoiled and it’s so brilliant that you just need to read it. I loved the twists and suspense, and the story being told from different view points. It keeps you hooked until the end and had me screaming for the sequel. Read it. You won’t regret it. 

I Know Where She Is by S.B.Caves

I finished this one last night and am looking forward to sharing my thoughts with you as part of the blog tour on 21st August. 

That’s my week in reading. What have you been reading? 

Coffee and… Ice-Lolly Book Tag

It’s summer! And, whilst I’m usually one of the “Argh! Daylight! It burns!” people, I am very partial to a nice summery ice-lolly or (tub of) ice-cream whilst reading. Amy (of Golden Books Girl), Louise (of Book Murmuration) and I got chatting about which books we would match with each ice-lolly. I’m taking a lot of credit here – Amy and Louise did a lot of the thinking and I chirped in my 20p worth at the end! But still, one random bookish conversation and this tag was born. So that’s this week’s Coffee and…

The Coffee: I’m drinking a Kenyan filter coffee from Steampunk with a side-order of Ben and Jerry’s Caramel Chew Chew. Don’t even talk to me about not having coffee in the summer. My dark heart needs it.

The Books: 

If you’re tagged, please tag four other bloggers to do this and link back to Amy, Louise and me as we’d love to see what you’re all posting and if you enjoyed doing this tag as much as we did! Feel free to use our graphics (header by Amy and naff ice-cream drawings by me, with some editing help from Louise!)

Fruit Ice Lolly- Left on the Shelf

I think the basic fruit ice lolly gets a bad rep. I love one of these on a sunny day, but am the first to admit that I leave them in the freezer when there’s something more exciting around. My left-on-the-shelf book is Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Like every avid Potter fan, I rushed to get a copy when it first came out, but I haven’t got around to reading it yet. Partly because I’ve heard so many mixed-reviews about it, but also I just haven’t gotten round to picking it up amongst all the other books I’ve read.

Calippo – Work Hard to Get the Good Stuff Out

We’ve all been there with the ice-lolly: it tastes good but it takes a lot of effort to eat. I’m pairing this with A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving . This was a book that a trusted friend lent me and for about half of it, I thought she’d lost her marbles. It was a hard slog, but then something changed and it became one of the best books I’ve ever read. I’m pleased I persisted to the end because it was so rewarding to get there.

Rocket – More Exciting From The Outside

I almost hate to do this, but for me it was When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon. My feelings for the humble rocket ice-lolly are that it’s good, but never as great as you expect it to be, and that was this book for me: it was lovely, sweet, and summery but somehow just didn’t live up to the hype. I liked it, but I didn’t love it.  

Rainbow – Favourite LGBTQIA Read 

It has to be Noah Can’t Even by Simon James Green because this book kept me up until the early hours, laughing until the very end. I loved it!

Crunchie Blast – A Great Spin-Off or Re-telling

I don’t often (knowingly) read spin-offs or re-tellings, and I don’t know why that is. My pairing for this is Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman which is a brilliant and, at times hilarious, retelling of Norse Myths. I loved this one.

Nobbly Bobbly- A Gritty Subject With a Sweet Message

Release by Patrick Ness takes this ice-lolly. It’s a story with an important subject and a lot to sink your teeth into, but with a lovely, sweet and hopeful message that sometimes people are genuine and wonderful, and that you can be truly happy if you surround yourself with the right ones.

Fab – A Weak Ending

I hate doing the negative ones. I don’t want to hurt any of my books! I’m probably interpreting this a little differently to others but I’m going with the new (and supposedly exciting) ending to the Divergent trilogy which was released earlier this year: We Can Be Mended by Veronica Roth. Because, no. No. No. No. That’s just not an okay ending to the trilogy: it was disappointing and it didn’t add anything. For me, it took the shine off a little, so I am now in a state of refusal to acknowledge its existence.

Cornetto – A Hidden Surprise at the End

Personally, I’ve never been a fan of a Cornetto, but I do love a surprise ending to a book. The one that I’ve been thinking of since we discussed this tag is Ask No Questions by Lisa Hartley because that ending just blew me away and left me begging for the next in the series.

Ben and Jerry’s – Most Versatile Author

I’m giving this to the fabulous Alice Hoffman whose writing I loved so much the first time I encountered it, that I ordered almost her entire back catalogue in one go. I don’t know many other authors who can go from magical YA books (The Foretelling) to magical adult books (Practical Magic) and gritty realism (Blue Diary) and be amazing at them all.

Boss Double Strawberry – Book by an International Author

I’d never even heard of this ice-lolly until Louise mentioned it, which is probably fitting for my international author tag. This one is 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami. Not a book for the faint-hearted or those that like their books short and easy to follow, but it is a fantastic epic fantasy and I love it.

Magnum – A Classic

I struggled to think of this one, so I’m going with one of my all time favourite classics Jane Eyre by Charlote Bronte. I read this for the first time aged 7 (when I thought reading classics was the height of cleverness, if not coolness) and I have adored it ever since. Every re-read I get something new out of it, but Helen always breaks my heart and I am always on edge wanting Jane to find her way back to Edward.

Choc Ice – The Book You Don’t Want to Admit You Love

My choice for this is slightly inspired by the recent spin off #SundayYA where a group of us got to discussing unpopular book opinions. Mine is Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. It’s one that most people hate: other readers turn their noses up at you when you tell them you enjoyed it and every one seems to enjoy pointing out all the problems with it. I love it.

Mint Choc Chip- Either Love it or Hate it

I love mint choc chip ice-cream, so long as it’s not green. Ironically, the cover of my book choice for this is green. The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde which has divided opinion amongst everyone I’ve ever recommended it to. People either love it or just don’t get it at all. I’m in the love it camp.

Magnum Tub – Weird but Good

I’m giving this to Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor because it is weird (a girl who screams moths that feedback what they can see to her brain, yeah, that’s weird) but is is also exquisite and wonderful. Everyone should read it.

Mini Milk – Short and Sweet

Mini milks always remind me of being young and eating ice-cream at my Grandparents’ House. My book choice for this is a short and sweet book I enjoyed reading when I was little Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter a lovely story about a girl who tries to find the happiness in every situation and encourages a whole town of people to do the same.

Solero – Light and Fluffy

We’ve established that I am dark and twisty, yes? So light and fluffy reads do not come easily (or often) to me. I scrolled back to last year in my Goodreads list trying to find something. This one is going to the not-yet-published To Provence, With Love by T. A. Williams which I will be reviewing here on the blog on 27th July.

Phew! That was harder work than I thought it would be! I’m tagging in some of my favourite and newly discovered bloggers: Rebecca from This Booky Place , Liv from That Fiction Life, Rachel from Rachey Ragdoll and, because I would love to see her answers to this (and whether she can survive sunshine), Cait from Paper Fury

 

 

Moments of Happiness 4

It’s me again with the happy things! As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments or over on Twitter (@charlottesburns)

 Books Despite the Ban

If you read my Sunday Stats post, you’ll know that I am currently under a book-buying ban. Despite this, this week I have manage to obtain a rather large pile of books from friends clearing their shelves, giveaways and receiving ARCs that I cannot wait to read. Book people are the best people!

These Bookmarks

They’re probably a tad risque for posting on my blog, but a friend sent me these two bookmarks this week and I love them! I have the most amazing friends.

Lunch and Ice-Cream

This week I had lunch and ice-cream out with a lovely friend. We don’t spend a lot of time together without our husbands or child so it was lovely to have a lunch out, ice-cream and a wander around in the sunshine.

Sports Day

On Thursday I went to my boy’s sports day. He had a great time and his team came third overall. Then we did the parents and kids race and came 4th (out of 4) but we had fun and the little one loved his stickers!

Paper Fury Followed Me On Twitter

And she is basically my social media hero so that’s nice. 

That’s it for this week. How’s your week been? 

Slaying TBR …16th July

I’m a little later posting my round-up this week due to being on the blog tour for the brilliant Ask No Questions. This week I’ve mostly been reading  books with LGBTQ themes as part of the LGBTQ Month Readathon being organised by The Royal Bookshelf and Blue Eyed Demon X

Release by Patrick Ness

Every time I pick up a Patrick Ness book it slays me. Release is no exception to this. As the parent of a young boy, I found reading about how Adam’s parents treated him utterly heart-wrenching. They do not accept his sexuality, try to pray it away, and they clearly have conditions on their love for him. His dad saying to him “You have no idea how much I have to work to love you” brought a genuine tear to my eye; I cannot imagine ever feeling that way about my own son. The stark contrast between their treatment of him and of their heterosexual son, and his dad’s assumption that Adam is responsible for the despicable actions of his manager really emphasises their lack of care and support. Ness writes Adam’s story beautifully: “You could only instinctively trust someone who had been there, who had seen it first-hand“, and we see in this how the actions of his parents and brother impact his life: his inability to love the person who is kind to him, the assumption that he is not good enough and his doubts about his own sexuality: “A single red rose. Could he buy it? Was that something that was ok? That boys did?” The positive that I took away from it was that Adam had forged his own supportive and loving family with his friends, who clearly care deeply about him and accept him unconditionally, and I loved that the story ended with Adam being with this family and being happy. The story running alongside this has been criticised by some reviewers, but I loved it. I think it helped that I guessed quite early on what was going on, but the two types of release running alongside each other added another, very clever, dimension to an already outstanding novel. If you haven’t read this yet, I really cannot recommend it enough.

 

Noah Can’t Even by Simon James Green

Noah Can’t Even is laugh out loud from the very beginning. I started reading it at bedtime and finished it in one sitting it was THAT good. I read it, in bed, trying to laugh silently so as not to wake the rest of my household. Noah is adorable and clumsy, not at all one of the popular kids; he seems to have no idea of socially acceptable conversation which is awkward for him but hilarious for those reading. The characters in this novel are very colourful. Noah’s mum and her Beyonce tribute act nearly killed me laughing. Harry is a lovely, warm-hearted character who wants to protect Noah, even as he faces his own social challenge of publicly acknowledging his sexuality at school.  Noah’s gran was probably my favourite: she is funny, wise and generally wonderful. When Noah is worried about what others will think of his changing relationship with his friend Harry, she gives him the best advice: “…ask yourself: in the grand scheme of things, in the total insignificance of our tiny lives in this massive universe, who gives a shit?” and I think it is her encouragement that gives Noah the confidence to be with Harry. I loved that the author didn’t put labels on this relationship: that is was just a relationship that happened and Noah accepted that he loved Harry without defining himself in any way, which really fit with his general aura of confusion and self-doubt. I hope that in the sequel, we get to see Noah grow into himself a bit more. This really is a wonderful book: not many drive me to sleep deprivation. I really recommend you read this if you haven’t already. It’s one of my new favourites and I am excited for the sequel!

All Things New by Lauren Miller

This one doesn’t fit into the LGBTQ Readathon, but I have been reading this review copy in readiness for it’s publication at the start of August. Keep an eye out for my review being posted on the blog when it’s released!

That’s my week in books. What have you been reading? Have you read any of these? 

Blog Tour: Ask No Questions by Lisa Hartley

” Excuse Me. No. No, it cannot end like that. WHERE ARE THE REST OF THE PAGES? There better be a sequel.”

These were my thoughts as I finished the last pages of this book.

Ask No Questions, the new book from Lisa Hartley opens with a really strong, graphic image and we find ourselves immediately thrown into two stories that we know link together, but it takes until the very end of the novel to work out how and why. It took me a while to get into this, but once I did, I was hooked.

Caelan Small was involved in an operation which went wrong. Badly wrong. A young boy died and no-one seems to know what happened. Caelan lost someone she cared about, and retired from the force. Now, their main suspect is back and Caelan is ordered out of retirement to track him down. She takes her eye off the target for a minute and disaster strikes. Caelan becomes a suspect and as the story unfolds, so does everyone around her. It is impossible to know who to trust.

Caelan is a really strong character. At times, she reminded me of an early Lisbet Salander. She is something of a loner, she is extremely clever, can pull off any disguise, likes to be in control, and manages to outsmart most of the people around her. And yet, she also ends up as one of the main suspects in both cases. Everyone is a suspect. Noone can be trusted.

The novel has been described as a “nerve-shredding crime thriller” that “keeps you guessing until the very end” and I could not agree more. I had no idea where this was going and I loved that no matter how many times I thought I knew how it would end, no matter how obscure my own theories, I was always wrong. There are so many twists in the story that are unpredictable, but never unbelievable and this made the book for me. I like to be kept on my toes and surprised. This is one of those books that has you sitting up until the early hours whilst you read “just one more chapter”.

If you want to enjoy this thriller (and you should), you can find it here:

Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35486880-ask-no-questions

Amazon Link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B072X2MY21

* I received an ebook copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. Opinions are my own genuine thoughts and not in any way influenced by this. My thanks to Lisa Hartley and Faye Rogers for the copy and inclusion in the book tour.*

About the Author

Lisa Hartley lives with her partner, son, two dogs and several cats.She graduated with a BA (Hons) in English Studies, then had a variety of jobs but kept writing in her spare time. I am beyond thrilled to hear that she is working on further books in this series. 

You can catch up with the rest of the blog tour here:

 

Coffee and… My Latest Book Haul

Recently, I have obtained a ludicrous number of books (hence my book ban), so grab yourself a (large) coffee and join me in exploring my latest hauls!

The Coffee: this week I’m drinking Huye Mountain, a lemony tea-like Rwandan filter coffee from the fabulously named Steampunk Coffee. In an actual posh coffee cup because I’m trying to look like I actually have some parts of my life together.

The Books

Ravenclaw House Edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

I got this one from Seven Stories Bookshop which I visited as part of Independent Book Week, where I also collected the limited edition Harry Potter tote bag. Every self-respecting Ravenclaw should have a copy of this in their house colours. Shout out to the Seven Stories team for enduring my over-excited tweets whilst trying to get hold of one of these bags. Whilst I was there I also grabbed three more books, because what else is a sad bookworm to do in a book shop?

 

Who Runs The World? 

I’ve had my sights on this one for a while and recently heard so many amazing things about it that I couldn’t not get a copy.

 

Girl of Ink and Stars

How beautiful is this book? I’ve heard so many rave reviews and the illustrations throughout sold it to me. I love a book with this kind of attention to detail.

 

The Lost and the Found

I don’t think anyone can ever have enough Cat Clarke on their shelves, and the yellow section of my rainbow shelf was in need of some love. That’s my excuse and I am sticking to it.

Lovely Pile of Review Copies

Next up on my hauls were these treasures from the wonderful Faye at A Daydreamer’s Thoughts who had to part with some of her preciouses as part of a house move, so they have found their new home on my shelves and I’m thrilled to have them.

 

Noah Can’t Even

I got this one in a giveaway, signed by the author and I’ve heard so many great things that this is going to be my next read!

You would think by this stage in the month I would have got enough new books. Whilst out for tea one night Husband mocked me for buying our son some books and not bringing any home myself. So I promptly left the restaurant and headed to the book shop, where I got

 

If Birds Fly Back and Truth or Dare

Both of these have been on my radar for a while and have been raved about during the #SundayYA chat, so I added them to my collection.

Then my local Waterstones tweeted about having signed copies of Patrice Lawrence’s latest. Having absolutely adored Orangeboy, I asked them to save me a copy and whilst I was there…

 

Indigo Donut and Hole in the Middle

They were on a buy one, get one half price offer, so obviously I had to get two. these both sound fantastic and add to my colourful rainbow shelf.

 

The Fallen Children

My beautiful, rare golden egg, and the last book of my haul before the dreaded buying ban began. I found this one whilst browsing the Waterstones YA collection. I wasn’t going to leave it there. No self-respecting book worm would.

What do you think of this latest haul? Have you read any of these?

Moments of Happiness…3

This week, most of my happy moments have been book-related. What can I say? I live books.

I GOT A GOLDEN EGG

Yes, yes I am shouting. Loudly and very excitedly. This is amazing! I already have a copy of this book in my favourite shade of purple, but what book lover would pass up a golden egg when they found one? This egg was hiding amongst the other books in the YA section of my local Waterstones, nowhere near it’s siblings. I saw it, squealed, clutched it to my chest and scurried off to the checkout. This was also the last book I bought before my book ban started. So, I went out on the highest of highs.

I Can’t Even

Never mind Noah, I can’t even. I won this baby in a giveaway and it landed on my doorstep this week in the most stunning blue envelope with bonus Haribo sweeties and a bookmark that I plan to laminate pronto. Best book post ever! It put a smile on my miserable face for the rest of the day.

This Furry Face

This face. How could this face fail to make you happy? His sorrowful “why you won’t let me have your ice-cream” face is one of my favourite, also referred to in our household as the “can you spare £2 a month face”.

Look, Look At Those Waves

Yeah. This one’s a tad narcissistic. I washed my hair and it dried itself into these perfect waves and I loved it. Shame it never does this any other time and I wasn’t leaving the house that day.

The Book of Dust Window Display

This display in Watersones window made my little bookish heart happy. I wanted to hug the window, but I did not because that would have been weird. His Dark Materials were THE books of my childhood and I cannot wait to get my hands on the new installment.

And my favourite bit, my 5 year old’s happy moments this week:

• Getting a Lego Ninjago set
• Having tea out after a good school report
• Reading The BFG
• Having an ice-lolly for my sore throat
• Watching Toy Story 3

What’s put a smile on your face this week? Let me know in the comments or tweet me @charlottesburns 

Stats on Sunday

Who doesn’t love some good number crunching on the weekend?

I’m linking in with the Sunday Books Meme at Caffeinated Book Reviewer for the first time (with thanks to Evalina at Avalinah’s Books for the tip)!

This week, Husband accused me of having too many books (whatever that means), so I decided some organising was in order. Turns out, he might have a point.

My Current TBR- 300 books (yes, you read that right)

Physical Books: I have 114 unread physical books on my (very beautiful) bookshelf. I have 2 more books on order and since one of those is part of a buy one get one half-price deal, there’s a good chance that my shelf will be up to 117 by next week.

E-books: Usually I ignore these. When I was in the depths of my post-natal mental health issues, I spent many nights wide awake downloading some seriously strange free e-books. This week, I have sorted them out. After removing all those I will never read and archiving the ones I have read and want to keep, I have 172 on my Kindle TBR. And right after I finished this, my kindle died. So, that’s nice.

Advanced Review Copies: I have 6 currently on my list and one more on the way.

Library Books: Because apparently it’s not enough that I buy ALL the books, I also have to borrow them all. I have 7 library books. Bringing my overall total to a deliciously neat 300 books.

Reading Challenges

Goodreads Bookbuster Challenge

This is a group challenge for the Goodreads group I’m in. Designed like the Blockbuster board and you read books whose author’s name starts with the letter in the block – completing a row or line, or, if you have issues with over-committing as I do, the entire grid.

Number of books I committed to: 28

Number of books I’ve read: 21

Thoughts: I’m quite pleased with this, although some of the 7 I have left to read are the tricky letters (and suggestions for letters V, U, Z, O, I, D and Y would be great).

Goodreads Number Challenge

Another group challenge where we read two books of our own choosing with a number in the title and one group read.

Number of books I committed to: 3

Number of books I’ve read: 0

Thoughts: Clearly, this one isn’t going so well, but also it only started this week.

Overall Goodreads Challenge

Number of books I committed to: 120

Number of books I’ve read: 62

Thoughts: I’m one book ahead of schedule, so I’m happy with this. It looks like I finally set myself a sensible target.

Conclusion

I’m pretty happy with where I’m at in my challenges, but I clearly have a book buying problem. So…*deep breath* I am going on a self-enforced book buying ban. Sensible people start this at the beginning of a calendar month and end it at the end. I’m not sensible. I’m starting my book buying ban today and I will not be buying any more books until after my surgery on 22nd August. So, it’s a little over a month. Husband will be thrilled.

This only applies to buying books though. It doesn’t mean I won’t be requesting more ARCs, entering giveaways or visiting the library. Just so Husband doesn’t get any crazy ideas.