Hi Everyone,
I've decided to start a new concept on my blog (again). As I already have a lot of these ideas and series, I am waving a tentative goodbye to quotes for a while. That doesn't mean there will never be quotes again just maybe less often. This series will only be running for the six weeks of the summer holidays because I don't have as much time to read when I'm at school. I've got lots of books I want to get to this summer so this will be a really good way of tracking what I've read! I may not do reviews just for the six summer holiday weeks but if I read something amazing I might do one anyway!
Monday 26th July
Today I have had a quiet day at home, getting a few things done. This included going to the post office to post a letter and while I was there, I had to have a look at their books! They sell used books for £1 and I found a collection of Agatha Christie stories, including Murder on the Orient Express which I've wanted for ages! It also has Death in the Clouds and Why didn't they ask Evans?, which both sound very good. When I found it, it had a rather ugly dust jacket but I got home and took it off because it was very yellow and worn and found this BEAUTIFUL edition! I had no idea it was this stunning and I love it so much! It was a wonderful find!
Last night, I started Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. I've picked it up multiple times in Waterstones before but always put it back in favour of something else. But now FINALLY I bought it and started reading it. So far, I am 50 pages through and I'll read some more tonight. I am loving it so much!
It is about Cath and Wren who are twins. They go to university together but while Wren wants to make lots of new friends, meet boys, go to parties and have the full 'university experience', Cath would rather be alone. But that becomes hard for her when she is forced to share a room.
That's all I've read for now but I can't wait to carry on!
Tuesday 27th July
I'm staying with my godmother for a few days this week, starting today. We went to Glastonbury which was very alternative and reminded me a lot of Diagon Alley!
We also went to Wells where...yes: I bought more books! We first went to Oxfam where I got Frenchman's Creek by Daphne du Maurier and a collection of her short stories. Frenchman's Creek in particular was an amazing find as it is as good as new; the previous owner must have not even read it! And on top of that it is in the same edition as my copy of Rebecca! After that we went to Waterstones. It was so nice because I always go to my local Waterstones, which is always pretty much the same so going to a different one was very refreshing! In Waterstones I bought four books:
1. This Is My Truth by Yasmin Rahman- this is by the same author as All The Things We Never Said and seeing as I loved it so much, I NEEDED more Yasmin Rahman! It was recently published so I can't wait to read it!
2. Carry On by Rainbow Rowell- this is a companion novel for the book I'm currently reading, Fangirl. Seeing as I'm enjoying Fangirl when I saw this I had to pick it up.
3. The Penguin Book of First World War poetry- I really want to read more war poetry, I've barely read any and I'm really excited to discover some.
4. The death of Ivan Ilyich and other stories by Leo Tolstoy- I recently read How Much Land Does a Man Need and really enjoyed it to I'm excited for another introduction to Tolstoy and his work.
We also saw the Wells cathedral and other historical buildings. It was beautiful!
I am now 180 pages through Fangirl and I'm still really liking it. It's a light and easy read which is perfect for the summer. There's also starting to be a bit of romance which is nice.
Wednesday 28th July
Today was amazing! We visited Bath which I've been to before but it was a while ago.
The first thing we did was go to the Jane Austen Centre!!! We listened to a talk on Jane and her family and another one on the different portraits of her and how reliable they are. We then went through the museum part of it, where I learnt a lot more about her life. We watched a film on the different places she's stayed at in Bath and I even got to try on some regency style clothes! All the staff were dressed up as different characters from her novels which was so cool! It was incredible to spend more time immersed in her world!
I recently did a post all about Jane Austen's life which you can view here!
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| The man deemed the most photographed man in the UK |
I have been wanting some particular books for a while now and when I heard they moved to Bath, I was very excited and this was the perfect opportunity to visit them. They are Persephone Books, an independent publisher who aim to publish books by primarily women authors that are underrated or have been out of print. I love this idea and Lucy Powrie (her again!) mentioned them in one of her recent videos. She says that one of her new favourite books is The Call by Edith Ayrton Zangwill and when I went in there and found it, I couldn't resist! I also found The Happy Tree by Rosalind Murray by chance but it sounds good so I'm excited to read them. Each Persephone book has a different pattern on the end papers with a matching bookmark. I think Persephone's books are very stylish and I can't wait to keep collecting them!
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| My beautiful Persephone books <3 |
We also visited the Assembly rooms, where Jane Austen would have danced! One thing that amazed me was the fact that the chandeliers were the originals so Jane Austen would have danced under them! The rooms were so beautiful!
In the same building as the Assembly rooms is the Fashion Museum. We went around all the different displays where there was regency clothing, followed by Victorian outfits all the way through to modern day clothes. Their current exhibition is all about shoes and I found it fascinating, especially the different shapes, sizes, colours and styles.
We walked around Bath too so I saw The Circle and all the other beautiful buildings.
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| The Circle (image from the internet) |
Overall, it was an amazing day full of many bookish and historical activities :)
Thursday 29th July
This was my last day at my godmother's house and we decided to visit a National Trust place. We went to Tyntesfield, which had a beautiful garden and house. We had a walk around the different parts of the garden, which included a rose garden and kitchen garden and had a tour of the house too, followed by the chapel (because yes, this family had a private chapel next to the house).
Each part of the house's exterior design seemed to have been carefully thought about, there were so many tiny details and intricate carvings that made the house look very grand and polished.
The gardens were absolutely magnificent! They were huge and had many, many different flowers and plants.
We then also went to the second hand bookshop! I found a small edition of Emily Dickinson's poetry. I have been wanting to possibly read some more from her and this was so cheap that I thought it would be very much worth it to give it a go.
I'm still enjoying Fangirl, although earlier I wasn't loving it but something happened that made me change my mind and I am back on track!
And so my amazing few days at my godmother's came to an end and it really was so fun! Overall, I bought 9 new books to add to my shelves (all in bold) and I've got no idea how I'm going to fit them on!
Friday 30th July
Today I'm having a slow day at home again! I was right in that fitting these books on my shelves has been a challenge. I've pretty much had to reorganise the whole lot, which sadly meant saying goodbye to my Jane Austen shelf for now as I needed room to extend my modern classics shelf. But I love organising my books so much so it was no bad thing!
I'm now 246 pages through Fangirl and although I love the story and the characters, I'm finding that it can't hold my attention for as long as some other books, I'm not sure if that's a bad thing but it's just something I've noticed with this one. I am hoping to finish it soon because I have a lot more that I would like to read before the end of the holidays and I can't believe I am nearly one week through already!
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I was going to include Saturday and Sunday too but I don't have much to say and this post is already very long! The highlight of this week was definitely the Jane Austen centre and buying lots of books! I'm going camping with my family next week but I will write in a notebook, ready to share with you all this time next week.
Just a small note on the times for these posts, they will all (hopefully) be released on the Sunday at the end of the week featured.
I hope you like this concept and thank you so much for supporting my blog! See you next week!
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