Bookmarked: Aunts aren’t Gentlemen by P. G. Wodehouse

Bertie Wooster will never fail to make me smile…

“After about ten hours of restful sleep I sprang from between the sheets, leaped to the bathroom, dressed with a song on my lips and headed for the breakfast table like a two-year-old. I had cleaned up the eggs and b., and got the toast and marmalade down the hatch to the last crumb with all the enthousiasm of a tiger of the jungle tucking into its ration of coolie, and was smoking a soothing cigarette, when the telephone rang and Aunt Dahlia’s voice came booming over the wire.”

-p. 36 from Aunts aren’t Gentlemen by P. G. Wodehouse

A bookish holiday

So, everyone knows how much I love the english countryside. I just love going for long walks down brambly lanes, through fields of wild flowers, in ancient, shady woods… It is no surprise then that I’m ridiculously excited for my upcoming long weekend in the countryside with my favourite walking companion, The Boy.

But this is not just an ordinary holiday. What’s special about it is that it’s a holiday inspired by a book! The Boy read Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome a while ago and kept saying how nice some of the places by the Thames sound. A few chapters in, and I agreed with him. Not only is the countryside really pretty, but there are numerous little towns and villages with quaint country pubs and parish churches, and there are boat rides on the river  and… basically my idea of heaven.

Before I had even finished the book, we had booked a holiday in one of the little towns mentioned in the book. I would be excited anyway; a few days playing in the country away from the phd are always welcome, but I just love that the idea came from a book. So I was wondering if this is a rare thing. Have you ever been inspired to visit a place because it was mentioned in a book? Do you think that a holiday following the steps of a literary character sounds like fun or is that just me?

A bookworm’s life… when the leaves are falling

I’ve come to the conclusion that autumn is my favourite season. It always feels to me that this is a time of new beginnings. This year I’ll be…

Making a point of jumping on crunchy piles of leaves. Baking apple pies. Frolicking in the English countryside, again. Wearing tweed jackets, argyle socks, chunky knit scarves, crested blazers, wellies and all things british. Finally buying a teapot. Reading lots of classics and enjoying girly movies on cozy nights in. Participating in the Readathon, again. Growing herbs in pots on my windowsill. Heading to the park with a cup of tea and a good book. Taking up dancing, again.

What are your plans for the next couple of months? Are you excited for cooler weather? What’s your favourite autumnal activity?

BBAW: Reading and Blogging

I wasn’t planning on participating in the Book Blogger Appreciation Week, besides reading great blogs and meeting lovely people on twitter that is, but I find today’s topic very interesting. Here it is:

“Book bloggers blog because we love reading. Has book blogging changed the way you read? Have you discovered books you never would have apart from book blogging? How has book blogging affected your book acquisition habits? Have you made new connections with other readers because of book blogging? Choose any one of these topics and share your thoughts today!”

So, I read a few posts today and noticed that a lot of book bloggers are saying that blogging not only changed how fast they read and how many books they read in a year, but it has also changed what kind of books they read. The former I totally understand, but I find the latter a bit strange since for me this has not been the case.

I’ve always liked reading the classics, and literary fiction books*. So it’s only very rarely that I’ll be reading a book that can be found in a ‘new releases’ list. Blogging has not changed that. I still read the books I would have read anyway. Which unfortunately means that I’m not reviewing terribly popular and ‘of-the-moment’ books, but I don’t mind that one bit.

Actually, I get a little peeved when all the posts in my google reader are reviews of the same newly released (or even not yet released!) book. And it more often than not happens to be a YA book. Which is totally fine, I’ve liked some YA books like The Great and Terrible Beauty trilogy, but isn’t there so much more than that? I know there are some brilliant bloggers (like Adam and Bina and Kristie) and a whole community out there who are not talking solely about YA books, I just think that we could have more variety. It seems to me that the majority of active bloggers like their YA literature a lot. So they are mostly talking about books I haven’t read and probably never will, which sadly means that I’m not as involved in the blogging community as I would like.

There also seems to be a lot of love for audiobooks, which I don’t share. I always felt that nothing beats reading a book, holding it in your hands and turning the pages. I know that audiobooks would allow me to ‘read’ a lot more books, which is something to think about, but for the time being I don’t mind that the number of books I read in a year is significantly smaller than that of other’s.

I suppose, basically, this post could be titled “On how stubborn I am” since I seem to be resisting any change to my reading habits. I would love to hear your thoughts on this. If you are a blogger, have your reading habits changed because of blogging? How?

*Of course, I do read books that belong to other genres occasionally.

Properly autumnal shopping list

I don’t know if you are still enjoying sunny, hot days, but in London summer is definitely over. Yes, I’m pretending we actually had a summer in the UK. The leaves are starting to fall and the air is crisp. Autumn is here. This brings up the need to shop for certain necessities: 

• Wellies. Upcoming trip to the countryside makes purchase of wellington boots a necessity. I don’t particularly care much for the deep puddles in London when it rains either. The problem is, The Boy, being a proper country lad, says that wellies shouldn’t cost more than £5, which makes buying the £70 Hunter wellies in dark blue that I wanted rather problematic. Any thoughts?
• Argyle socks. I’m currently loving the idea of pairing my wellies with a pair of argyle knee socks. Good to keep those toes toasty as well.
• Folders, notebook, pencils, pens. I have just returned from geek-camp, where I spent two weeks mainly feeling stupid compared to the other phd students but also studying obscure and relatively incomprehensible physics theories, so I have a lot of notes to organise. But really, I always feel like buying school supplies in September. And who doesn’t love the smell of pencils?
• Books. I’m very much looking forward to my next visit to the brilliant Bristol bookstore where all the books cost £2. I don’t really have specific books in mind, the stock is constantly changing and there are always some amazing finds. I’m thinking maybe this little shop has something to do with the mysterious increase in the number of books I own this year. But, anyway, the important thing is that rainy, chilly autumnal days call for staying in with a cup of tea and a book, don’t you agree?

Does autumn put you in the mood for specific activities, foods etc? Did you make any great autumnal purchases?

The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown

This was sitting on my local library’s new releases shelf the day I went to return War and Peace. Judging completely by its cover, I thought it was exactly what I needed: something light and fun and girly and to top it all off bookish!

Well, I was not disappointed. In fact I really liked this book, and I could tell I would from the very first few pages. The plot is not particularly original, three very different sisters find themselves returning to their parents house in the sleepy town they grew up in… What makes this book different is that this family is very literary, books and libraries and Shakespeare play a significant role in their life. I loved that they didn’t even own a TV and that half of the time they used quotes from Shakespeare’s plays when talking to one another. Even the title is a Shakespeare reference.

So, all in all, I really enjoyed reading The Weird Sisters. I think it was the ideal book to follow a big, heavy classic and I greatly enjoyed the bookishness of its characters.

Edit: Kristie and Michelle also reviewed this book, and guess what? They really liked it too!

Bookmarked – Three Men on a Bummel by Jerome K. Jerome

Because Jerome K. Jerome makes me laugh out loud in public places in the ridiculous way that makes other people think you are mental…

“It was a guide to English conversation for the use of German travellers. it commenced ‘On a Steamboat’ and terminated ‘At the Doctor’s'; its longest chapter being devoted to conversation in a railway carriage, among apparently a compartment load of quarrelsome and ill-mannered lunatics: ‘Can you not get further away from me, sir?’ – ‘It is impossible, madam; my neighbour, here, is very stout’ – ‘Shall we not endeavour to arrange our legs?’ – ‘Please have the goodness to keep your elbows down’ – ‘Pray do not inconvenience yourself, madam, if my shoulder is of any accommodation to you,’ whether intended to be said sarcastically or not, there was nothing to indicate – ‘I really must request you to move a little, madam, I can hardly breathe,’ the author’s idea being, presumably, that by this time the whole party was mixed up together on the floor.”

- p. 207, Three Men in a Boat & Three Men on a Bummel by Jerome K. Jerome