Blogger Tag (Interrogation)

Good afternoon,

I just had an urge to do another totally pointless yet weirdly fun-to-write tag. As always, I tag anyone who wants to do this as well, not before you've read mine though!

1. How many times do you check your email everyday?

I'm logged on to my work email all day, and pick it up at the weekends now too (yep, I'm starting to become one of those people). My personal is lesser used, but I do try to look at that one when I remember.

2. How many times a day do you go on Goodreads?

First of all, find me on Goodreads here!

I don't go on Goodreads every day, but I do like it, as the reviews are helpful, and I love reading them after I've finished a book to see if other people thought the same as I did. I find though, it encourages me to see the books I've read as 'just a number' and I always want that number to be bigger than it is!

Goodreads is quite helpful for my job sometimes; most recently the book quotes pages have been useful.

3. How long does it take you to edit your posts?

In my typical lazy fashion, after I've written my posts, I do the quickest of skim-throughs and then press 'publish'. I like looking at my post on the actual blog, rather than on the view you see when you're editing it, so then when I do have a look, I usually notice a ton of mistakes and go back and edit! I'd have made a terrible editor!

4. What kind of laptop do you use?

My own laptop died a death in a very untimely fashion during my university dissertation! I have since been using an ancient hand-me-down which is a HP (not sure which specifically but it has pretty swirly patterns on the top and the inside!).

5. How often do you check Twitter?

I go through phases of being massively into it and then not so much. Most of the time I'm on there pretty regularly and it gets quite addictive! I've been on it more recently now, because there is a lot of Tweeting and Twitter checking I have to do at work. So much so, that I had to get Tweetdeck the other day, which confuses me slightly, but I'm sure I'll work it out sooner or later!

6. Why do you use Blogger, Wordpress, etc?

Obviously I'm on Blogger at the moment, and I chose this platform because all the blogs I tended to be reading were using this one too. I like it because it's relatively easy to use and I think it looks quite good.

I've actually had a blog on a ton of platforms over the years, including WordPress (it still exists, but I'm going to leave you to find it for yourselves).

7. Are you good at keeping up with your reviews, tags, etc?

In a word: no! I definitely go through phases; some weeks I'll be great and other weeks, work just gets on top of me and I just can't find the time, unfortunately. I do love blogging though, and book reviews are always fun to write. The longer I leave them, the harder they are to actually write, as I just forget what I really thought of the book!

8. How many times a week do you post? 

It's really not regular, and I don't stick to a schedule for blogging at all! If I made one, I would only fail at keeping it! The aim is to get better though!



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Book Review: Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding

I hope you're all having a lovely Easter weekend!

I thought I'd stop by with another book review. I bought Bridget Jones's Diary a few years ago whilst I was at university, and somehow it took this long to make its way into my hands again. Most of my reading time occurs on the train to and from London for work. If like me, you read in public spaces, let me warn you now, you will laugh out loud and you won't be able to control it!

Bridget writes to us in diary entries for a year, detailing her hysterical exploits in love, work and friendship (I'm sure you've seen the film...who hasn't!). Despite knowing all the words to the film backwards, it was nice to read the book, as there were some differences in plot! In the book, Bridget's mother gets into quite shocking situation with a criminal who relieves the family and friends of all their money, leaving Mark Darcy to save the day!

I loved this book, and although some of the references now are rather outdated (confusion over how to use the TV recording set and lack of mobile phones), it doesn't affect the story at all! In fact, I think I really read this book at the right time as I am about to move to London, and I have just got a job in Publishing, like Bridget! So from that perspective it was fun to read!

I recommend this book if you have done a lot of 'heavy' reading recently and want something lighter for a change!

I am rating this book 5 stars because Bridget Jones is the ultimate chick-lit novel! It doesn't really come better!

A Month In Book-World

So much has happened in my first month of work in PR, it's madness! I thought I'd share some of it here, in case it helps anybody who is thinking of working in books, publishing or PR to find out what goes on. My first month was quite events-heavy (no complaints, I met some amazing people!).

The first thing on the schedule was the YA Book Prize, an event to celebrate and recognise the growing success of young-adult fiction. This was the first year that it has run, and I think all will agree, it's a fantastic idea. 

The event, hosted by The Bookseller, was held at Foyles in Charing Cross and was a fantastic evening. Most of the authors including Sally Green (Half Bad), Non Pratt (Trouble) and YA Book Prize winner Louise O'Neill (Only Ever Yours) were there to celebrate. 

Highlights for me were spending the evening amongst such a talented bunch and meeting some really lovely people, including Rosianna from YouTube (I fangirled a little bit), who was on the judges' panel and was there to announce the award! 

Rosianna Halse Rojas announcing the winner

Louise O'Neill accepting her award

 The shortlisted books on display in Foyles, Charing Cross

The Shortlistees

A few days later the British Library held The Folio Prize Fiction Festival. Panels of shortlisted authors (a favourite of mine was Jeanette Winterson) were given a topic to discuss (conflict, desire, betrayal etc.). Watching these was fantastic, as they all had thought-provoking, insightful things to say on their topics, and it was interesting to watch the small panels of authors bounce off each other. The floor was then opened for the audience to ask questions, which was a nice idea.

From a work perspective, the main job was to look after the authors and running the book signings after each lecture. Having this responsibility was a first for me, and the experience of meeting authors I love was incredible! A couple of the authors really stood out to me during their lectures, and I definitely want to check them out based on how they came across; Colm Toibin (Nora Webster), Ali Smith (How to be Both) and Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor (Dust).

I took lots of photos of the weekend, but here are a few of my favourites...

Book signing with Yvonne, A M Homes and Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor and Jeanette Winterson 

 Press photos 

 Colm Toibin 

 Ali Smith

 Lecture: On Inheritance with A M Homes, Jeanette Winterson and Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor in conversation with Mark Lawson

 Lecutre: On Endings with Jon Dunthorne, Jon McGregor, Justine Picardie and Suzi Feay in conversation

On Betrayal: Ben Lerner 

The Monday after the Folio Prize Fiction Festival weekend, was prizegiving event. This was held at St Pancras Rennaisance Hotel, and was a very fancy affair with frocks and cocktails! The main job here was to welcome guests through the doors, helping the authors sign the books and being on hand when they went up on the stage. Congratulations goes to Akhil Sharma for winning the Folio Prize on the night, for his book Family Life! I will leave you with this picture of the team (I am on the right!).   

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Book Review: The Insect Farm by Stuart Prebble

I have never really dabbled in crime or thriller fiction before. I started The Shining by Stephen King, and freaky though it was, for some reason or another, I never got to the end (nothing against Stephen King, if anything, it might just have been 1) the fact that it's a HUGE book and 2) it gave me nightmares). I certainly didn't have that problem with The Insect Farm. The plot is so brilliantly strange, that it kept me eagerly reading as fast as possible so I could find out what happens. 

Two brothers, Jonathan and Roger each have an obsession; for Jonathan it is his talented and beautiful girlfriend, Harriet. For Roger, it is the ecosystem of butterflies, beetles and creepy crawlies that he has collected which inhabit the shed at the bottom of the garden. Tragedy strikes in the family, leaving Jonathan to look after Roger on his own. However the circumstances of the tragedy are curious, and Jonathan is left to try and understand what really went on. The story tells the tale of how far we go to protect those we love. 

I was gripped from the very beginning of this novel. It starts: "If you have been lucky enough to be able to tell the truth for most of your life, you probably cannot imagine how exhausting it is to spend forever living a lie". I love this line as an opening sentence because right away it forces you to reflect and look inwards. In some ways I think the way it does this to start with, then allows us to almost understand how the strange and horrifying events which subsequently occur could actually really happen. 

For me, as the plot unfolded, I was more and more horrified at the uncovered truth, but it is like looking at something really foul but being too intrigued and mystified to look away. I had to carry on reading! 

Buy The Insect Farm by Stuart Prebble from Amazon 

Published by Alma Books

This was 5/5 for me!! Let me know what you think!

What I'm Wearing

I'm about to start work in London tomorrow, at the PR company I previously had an internship with. As I was sorting out what I was going to wear (trying to be organised and do it the night before as my brain barely functions when I get up at 6.30am!), I thought I'd share it.

Laying out my outfit on my bed is a thing I've done forever - does anyone else do this? I even tuck things in on the bed so I can see how it'll look. After I photographed this outfit I even put tights underneath the skirt to make sure they'd go! To clarify, the top is a mustard colour but I don't think it came out very well in the photos - I don't want to start another 'blue/black or gold/white dress' situation!

I haven't decided what's going to go over the top of this yet, because if the weather is anything like it has been today, I'll need about six layers!!

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Top - Warehouse, bought in the sale
Skirt - Monsoon
Necklace - Vintage

xx

Mother's Day

I hope you all had lovely Mother's Days!

I love to make Mum breakfast on her birthday or on Mother's day, as it's a simple way of doing something nice! I made poached eggs with salmon and hollandaise sauce on brioche toast this morning for Mum, of course with a cup of tea!

We then went for a lovely walk in the town of Buckden, where Mum grew up, not too far from us. We went to the church where she and Dad got married and had a little look round.

For lunch we took Mum out to East Restaurant in Peterborough, which is actually on a boat, which I find really cool! They do wonderful pan-Asian food; things like crispy noodles, Singapore curry, tempura vegetables, all so delicious!

 Mandarin Toast (above) 

After this delightful lunch, we came home to our dessert (after a rest!). I made orange and almond cake with passionfruit icing. This seemed to go down a treat, especially with a cup of tea (again, essential!). The recipe for the cake came from This Morning on ITV, the details of which can be found here. I definitely recommend this one, it was easy, and that's coming from me!!

I sprinkled some freeze-dried raspberries on the top, which wasn't in the recipe but I went a bit crazy down the cake aisle of Waitrose! I had no idea which petals they were on about in the video (linked), but I couldn't find them, so I went for some delicate little iced rosebuds.

The cake seemed to be generally appreciated by the whole family, evidenced by the above picture!

I hope you all had a lovely time and managed to celebrate in some way! Let me know in the comments or link your blog if you posted anything, as I'd love to read about it!


xx

Book Review: The Peculiar Life of a Lonely Postman by Denis Thériault

Wow, this book...! It is probably one of my favorite books to date!

The story follows Bilodo, a French postman who earnestly delivers post, has his lunch in a little café after his shift and then promptly comes home to his quiet little flat to some alone time, rarely breaking his routine. However he has a secret. The thing sustaining Bilodo is the time he spends steaming open and reading the letters between a long-distance couple, who write to each other in only beautiful Haiku poetry. For Bilodo these letters are a curious feast for his guilty eyes, but his obsession becomes his undoing.

The poetry of the writing combined with the intense and curious plot and the genius ending meant that this book stayed with me for a good while after I'd read  it. As well as being swept up in the goings on in Bilodo's life, I liked the fact that we learn, along with Bilodo, about elements of Japanese culture and tradition, of course, all written stunningly. This book was truly a pleasure read from cover to cover, and I would recommend it to anyone (in fact, my Mum has it now, hence why I have not managed to take my own photo!).

The last thing to say is that this has been wonderfully translated by Liedwy Hawke, especially the Haikus!

♥♥♥♥♥ (5/5!)




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