Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts

Life as Fiction

Dear Internets, oh how I've missed you! *Sigh*

I'm reading lots of books, and saving money, because I have rediscovered the library!

And there are these great places like Goodreads and LibraryThing where I find books and get recommendations.

Then I search my local library's catalogue (online, from the comfort of my house *cough* bed *cough*!).

Everything I Knew

I've just read Everything I Knew by Peter Goldsworthy: fabulous story of adolescence that is far more complex than just a crush on the hot new schoolteacher.


Elsewhere

I'm also reading Elsewhere and 13 Little Blue Envelopes. YA fiction rocks!

I'm lucky to have friends who are English teachers and Teacher-Librarians who know everything and make great recommendations.

So thank you Internets, bloggers and books, for keeping me sane.

Make and Do

A new Make and Do book, this time not from my childhood. But it would have been right up my alley when I was about 9.

I think this caterpillar pencil case looks like a great idea. Just a little inanimate (for an inanimate object!). Could do with some perking up.

I've never come across a coal glove before. Is it as traditional as a stocking?

But I'm stumped by the reins for a baby doll!

Books and Blogging and Giveaways

the creative family

I'm having a book giveaway: The Creative Family. It's brand new and there's nothing wrong with it; in fact it's lovely. But I'm giving it away. More about that later.

About books. I'm having such fun with Good Reads. I'm accumulating a few books, noting some I've read already and reading those that friends recommend. OK, I only have six friends but I'm not much good at the social networking thing. I also love the trivia bit (you can skip questions, thank goodness!). I'm finding it good encouragement to read.

I'm completely under the spell of my latest read: Hidden Lives by Margaret Forster. I can't put it down. It's a beautiful family memoir by someone who can write. It's a fabulous thing to have an interesting story to tell but if someone isn't much of a writer, it can be hard going. But Margaret Forster is a beguiling writer and makes the lives of her grandmother and mother (and herself) interesting. The only other thing I've read of hers is Georgy Girl. So I must dig out her other books.

I'm glad to say this was a second-hand book because this is where I get to the non-thrifty bit.

Today I received a huge Amazon order plus a couple of books from Social Club Books. Here's some (not all) of my purchases:

Sew U Home Stretch (stretch fabric terrifies me so I want to give it a chance) and Sew What! Skirts

This is London and This is Paris: no chance of finding these in my local oppy!

Underbelly

And The Creative Family

I intended posting about books but the giveaway was a late inclusion. Because I ordered two copies of The Creative Family!

At first I thought Amazon were being exceedingly generous but then the invoice showed, dear reader, that I had ordered two.

So for my inattention, I'm giving one away. Just leave a comment.

And I'll draw a random name next Sunday and post it on the blog that evening.

Back to my book...