Sunday Spree: A Collective Book Haul

I mentioned a few blogs back that I had been on a book buying spree. A few weeks ago I realised that I wasn't making full use of my spare time and that I needed to be reading more, in particular catching up on the classics that I have never read (which is a lot!). So here are four of the books that I have accumulated in the past month:

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee:

I first read To Kill A Mockingbird as a fifteen-year-old schoolgirl and much of it went straight over my head, so when I saw this beautiful 50th anniversary paperback edition by Arrow I decided it was a chance to right some wrongs and give it another go.

Christmas Books by Charles Dickens:

This is a Wordsworth Classics edition of collected Christmas stories by Dickens, which of course includes A Christmas Carol. Can't wait to read it for the first time nearer Christmas time.

I Capture The Castle by Dodie Smith:

This new Bodley Head hardback edition of the classic was just released on 7th November 2013. It is beautiful and was so happy to get it in the post after pre-ordering it a month before. Unfortunately it doesn't come with a dust jacket, which I think lets it down slightly.

The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde:

I have definately trumpeted the genius of Fforde's work on this blog before, so again, I was tempted to add to my collection of the Thursday Next series with this, the third in the set.

What have you been reading this month?

Carpe Diem xx

Review: Lost In A Good Book by Jasper Fforde

UK cover art

A couple of weeks ago when my frenzy of book buying/reading/borrowing began I realised with horror and delight that I still had half of my favourite literary series to read. I quickly became obsessed with Jasper Fforde's book after a recommendation from my best friend. Shortly after I read every Jasper Fforde book in my local library. The problem was that they didn't have all of the Thursday Next series and so I only read half of it (and in non-chronological sequence). Thanks to Waterstone's I found two and the missing books that I was looking for. Lost In A Good Book is somewhat jumpy and spasmodic. BookWorld detective Thursday Next  (a pleasingly strong and rare female protagonist) moves from Great Library, to the opening of Great Expectations, to The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe. The idea is endlessly fantastical and represents a high-point of fantasy fiction. A female James Bond-style main character hunting criminals within the pages of nineteenth and twentieth century classics? Come on..... who wouldn't want to read that?

US cover art

Carpe Diem xx

Reorganise How To: Get Rainbow Bookshelves

Step 1: Empty your bookshelves/library of every book/ornament/piece of clutter

Step 2: Dust/polish/repair your empty bookshelves

Step 3: Store or chuck any ornaments and junk that you don't want to display

Step 4: Sell or donate any books that you have outgrown, won't read again and don't want to keep

Step 5: Organise the books and DVDs left over into colour piles (green spines, pink spines, yellow spines, etc.)

Step 6: Set up your new shelves by lining up your books in rainbow order. Within each colour organise your books by category (non-fiction, crime fiction, etc.), height

Step 7: Finally, add pretty decorations, display items or candles. Finish with fairy lights, rainbow Nepalese prayer flags, etc.

Your done, now sit back and enjoy!

Carpe Diem xx

Title Tuesday: The Woman Who Died A Lot

"The seventh book in the Thursday Next series by Number One bestselling author Jasper Fforde. 

The BookWorld's leading enforcement officer Thursday Next is four months into an enforced semi-retirement following an assassination attempt. She returns home to Swindon for what you'd expect to be a time of recuperation. If only life were that simple. Thursday is faced with an array of family problems - son Friday's lack of focus since his career in the Chronoguard was relegated to a might-have-been, daughter Tuesday's difficulty perfecting the Anti-Smote shield needed to thwart an angry Deity's promise to wipe Swindon off the face of the earth, and Jenny, who doesn't exist. And that's not all. With Goliath attempting to replace Thursday at every opportunity with synthetic Thursdays, the prediction that Friday's Destiny-Aware colleagues will die in mysterious circumstances, and a looming meteorite that could destroy all human life on earth, Thursday's retirement is going to be anything but easy . . ."

Whilst fantasy fiction might not be for everyone, and at times have questionably childish aspects to their plots, Jasper Fforde is an original. His work might well appeal to lovers of Monty Python and Douglas Adams alike, but his Thursday Next series might likely entrance Austenians and readers of other genres. Fforde's genius weaving of adventurous plots, witty humour, intelligent puns and animated characters makes BookWorld literary detective Thursday Next and friends part of a fantasy fiction classic. I might go as far as to say, in other words, it is 'unputdownable'!

You may find yourself catching up on the first six books, and even anticipating the forthcoming series finale in 'Dark Reading Matter'.

Carpe Diem xx

Top 5 All-time Book Series for Children and Young Adults

The Worst Witch - Jill Murphy

A series of books about the adventures of trainee witch Mildred Hubble at Miss Cackle's Academy. Great for all those obsessed with everything witchcraft and wizardry.

Reading age: 7-9 years

Sherlock Holmes - Conan Doyle

A series of short stories, first published in 1892, telling the mysteries discovered and solved by Sherlock Holmes in the words of his faithful friend Dr Watson.

Reading age: 13+ years

Harry Potter - J.K. Rowling

World-renowned 7-part book and film series charting wizard Harry Potter's and friends progress through Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and his battle with The Dark Lord. Can be read on many levels and great for children and adults alike.

Reading age: 11+ years

Thursday Next - Jasper Fforde

Literary crime detective Thursday Next's adventures in BookWorld among fictional literature-related crimes. Great fantasy fiction and intelligent plots.

Reading age: 13+ years

The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkein

Bilbo Baggins out-of-the-ordinary adventures as told in Tolkein's classic trilogy of 1937. Like Potter, can also be read on different levels by children and adults.

Reading age: 11+ years

Carpe diem xx