TBR – Peony Denim

Spookathon TBR

I’ve decided to join in with #spookathon this year! Spookathon is a readathon hosted by BooksandLala, running between the 15th and 21st October where you read spooky books to fit these five challenges:

1. Read a thriller
2. Read a book with purple on the cover
3. Read a book not set in the current time period
4. Read a book with a spooky word in the title
5. Read a book with pictures

So!

Here is what I shall be reading:

Thriller: The Death of Mrs Westaway by Ruth Ware

I actually managed to get a signed edition of this – perks of being a bookseller and getting first dibs on new books, hehe. Super excited to read it after seeing that Kayla from BooksandLala enjoyed it. Haven’t read any other Ruth Ware so let’s see how it goes!

Purple book: A Pinch of Magic by Michelle Harrison

Managed to pick up a proof of this at the BA Conference a couple of weeks ago – thanks Simon & Schuster! Unfortunately it’s not out until February 2019 but at least I’ll be able to tell you my thoughts on this one before it comes out! How exciting!

Historical Setting: Hallowe’en Party by Agatha Christie

Because we can’t do a readathon without a bit of Agatha, can we.

Spooky Word: An Unremarkable Body by Elisa Lodato

This one’s been on my radar for so long I thought I’d use Spookathon as an excuse to get around to it! I’ve heard so many good things!

Book with Pictures: Nimona by Noelle Stevenson

Because I don’t read enough graphic novels and this one has a mad scientist in it?

Let me know what you guys are reading! Can’t wait for it to start!

Laters,

Amy x

Books, Excursions

I went to the Booksellers Association Conference 2018 and here are some photos

I went to the BA Conference in Aston last weekend and thought you might like to see what we got up to! Here’s a sneak-peek of the “book bus” which came in very useful when transporting all our goodies home!

First up was the Gardners Tradeshow where publishers shared with us what they were loving and promoting for Christmas. We found our good friend Adele Nozedar’s new book “Foraging with Kids” on the Watkins Media stand!

After the Tradeshow, we got treated to Afternoon Tea with Harper Collins as they introduced us to some of their new titles – I got my proof of Pages & Co: Tilly and the Bookwanderers signed by Anna James and really can’t wait to read it!

We then had a dinner provided by the Independent Alliance, who are a group of UK publishers including Atlantic Books, Faber & Faber, Granta Books and more. We got to hear from speakers like Robin Ince and Tiffany Watt Smith – it was a great evening!

Breakfast saw Vaseem Khan talking about his newest Inspector Chopra mystery – I’ve loved these so far and am so excited for the new one!

We then got to hear from TED speaker Margaret Heffernan and poet Benjamin Zephaniah – both were great speakers, very inspiring!

After some workshops, we got treated to a dinner by Pan Macmillan to celebrate their 175th Anniversary and got to meet Marianne Power, Alex T Smith and Kate Morton talk about their new books, another fab evening! (Do people say fab anymore?)

Should have brought a bigger suitcase.

Can’t wait to share with you all what I’m loving out of what was generously shared with me, watch this space!

Thanks for reading,

Amy x

Books

My Pre-Holiday/Library Book TBR – July 2018

So I have accidentally managed to accumulate quite a few library books over the last couple of weeks that I need to/want to return before I go on my holidays. I also have some proofs/ARCs I need to return to work so as not to be the greedy bookseller who borrows all the good proofs and goes on holiday, haha.

So, I have 9 days to read six library books and three proofs. Now, I have a feeling I’ll be DNF’ing one or two of the library books anyway because I’m just not feeling them right now, and because 9 books in 9 days seems a bit impossible.

But we’ll give it a go!

So, I have…

The Perks of Being a Wallflower – Stephen Chbosky
Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda – Becky Albertalli
Tipping the Velvet – Sarah Waters
When God was a Rabbit – Sarah Winman
My Name is Lucy Barton – Elizabeth Strout
Hidden Figures – Margot Lee Shetterly

The Water Cure – Sophie Mackintosh
Normal People – Sally Rooney
The Mystery of Three Quarters – Sophie Hannah

Wish me luck!
Have you read any of these? What are your thoughts on them?

Laters,
Amy x

Books

My Read-eh-thon TBR

I’ve decided to participate in my first readathon!

As a regular viewer of BooksandLala on Youtube, I found out about the Read-eh-thon that’s happening between the 1st July (tomorrow) and the 8th July (a week tomorrow) and decided its about time I do one of these things.

The Read-eh-thon is all about celebrating Canadian authors and literature with these five challenges:

• Read a book with red on the cover
• Read a book by a Canadian woman
• Read a book with “E” and “H” in the title
• Read a book by an indigenous author
• Read a book set in a province you’ve never visited

I will be honest – I just could not find a book by an indigenous Canadian author that I wanted to read and would have arrived in time, but I do still have five books to read this week!

And so, my TBR…

The Lonely Hearts Hotel
Heather O’Neill
• Read a book by a Canadian woman
• Read a book with “E” and “H” in the title
• Read a book set in a province you’ve never visited

I bought this back when it first came out in paperback just because I thought the cover was so nice – I’m glad I finally have an excuse to read it!

Murder on the Canadian
Eric Wilson
• Read a book with red on the cover
• Read a book set in a province you’ve never visited

Love a bit of cosy crime! So glad this one is only 94 pages though because reading five books in 8 days might be a bit unrealistic otherwise, haha. It’s also a children’s book and has illustrations, we might do it!

Station Eleven
Emily St. John Mantel
• Read a book by a Canadian woman
• Read a book set in a province you’ve never visited

Haven’t even looked into what this is about, it just keeps catching my eye in the bookshop so I had to squeeze it into the read-eh-thon didn’t I, once I found out the author’s Canadian.

Girlfriend in a Coma
Douglas Coupland
• Read a book set in a province you’ve never visited

Another one I’ve been meaning to read because it keeps catching my eye in the bookshop – it also got recommended to me by another bookseller once so now’s its chance!

Life of Pi
Yann Martel

This one’s been sitting on my shelf for a while waiting to be read so since finding out Martel is Canadian, I’ve decided to add it into this week’s TBR – yay! Even though it doesn’t seem to fit any of the challenges – we’re doing this thing our way!

So that’s it! That’s what I’m reading this week (hopefully) – let me know if you’re participating in the Read-eh-thon and/or what you’re reading this week!

Amy x