All booked up!

All booked up!

Anyone who knows me, knows I love to be surrounded by books! A few years ago, I sent many of my beloved books to charity. Mostly, fiction books but also, teaching resources. Since then, I have slowly re built up a good collection of books. There are little piles of books waiting to be read and loved, all over! 

This next quote is definitely true to me! In our house, books are everywhere! 

I love this quote from pinterest. It made me smile. A whole new meaning to the prifession of book keeping!

You see, just like in the next quote, I need more shelves! Not just for books either! For my pottery and my plants! They all look so lovely together too!

As a reader, I am also a book collector and as you book collectors know, the thrill of browsing, finding and buying a new book is just as good as then reading it. In a different way, of course. I can spend hours in bookshops and libraries. Hours. 

I love to look at past books I have read and enjoyed but I also like to look ahead to the books I will get around to reading! The possibilities that lay on those pages and the characters you have not yet met. 

I love to see a book stack, all different colours and authors. Here is one from last year. A nice selection here.

I love series of books and have yet to read the top three books. Two of my fave authors are in the pile, Maeve Binchy and Lisa Jewell. 

I love to have piles of books in colours too. On instagram and in my facebook book club, I like to post my books with cups of tea and coffee. I do try to match them too! I have been inspired by pinterest and I love these two.  

I love the pastel colours of these hardback books. These are so lovely too. 

I have many books and brews photos that I have shared to our book club on facebook or onto instagram. Here are a few of them.

Or for just one colour, I love these! Ruth Hogan is such a wonderful author and I love all of her books.

I do believe reading is therapeutic. I do suffer from anxiety and I find I am a much more calmer person when I am emerged in a book. I suppose it is a kind of mindfulness thing. When we are immersed in the world of a book and its characters, we are momentarily lifted away from things that might be stressing us. Just like a swimmer swims and a runner runs to shake off the everyday strains of life, a reader reads. Until they feel better.

This next quote is so true. When I feel a bit down or a bit frazzled, I know I can reach for my book and instantly start to feel ok. I can feel my mood change pretty much straight away.

Books do lift us. They are inspiring. I have read many inspirational stories by such talented authors. Mitch Albom is one of these. I loved his Tuesdays with Morrie and The five people you meet in Heaven. I have been recommended other deep books and they are on my TBR pile. 

Books are like friends. They are there for us always. We pick them up and carry on where we left off. We converse with them and listen to what they have to say. We always leave them feeling much better. A good friendship I would say! I love this from Becauseallthebooks I found on pinterest.

In fact, they are like a portable friend, taking them with you on adventures! You are never alone when you have a book on you!

In life, we all have things that make us happy. Books are amongst these things for me. My books and my brews!

Meeting my book club friends makes me very happy too! Meeting up with book loving folk who are so friendly and warm is fab. I look forward to our meet ups, where we swap books, talk about everything, have a laugh but also are genuinely intesterested in how other members are. I love our group, Suzy's books and brews so much. In person and on social media. 

I love also how there is no pressure to read a certain book, or even have read that month. We are a very laid back group. I love hearing about books and authors I would never have come across before. I love how people light up when they talk about a favourite author or a book that has moved them. 

Some books do stay with us. For different reasons. I have five books in particular, from different times in my life. My first is the series Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery. I saw the 1985 TV adaptation when I was at school and fell in love with Anne. I then read all the books and adored them.

I also read Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee when I was doing my A level English Lit and I loved every character in it. Such description and nostalgia! I loved the two grannies in the Wainscot who needed each other but couldn't abide each other! 

Then I read Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood whilst at uni and I loved it. Set in Canada, a woman coming to terms with being bullied as a child. Absolutely brilliant book.

My fourth and fifth were what brought me out of a dry reading period. The more stressed I got about not picking a book up, the worse it became. Then, at my friend's book club, I was introduced to Girl on a Train by Paula Hawkins and the reading bugvwas back. Followed by a friend lending me The Husband's Secret by Lianne Moriarty and I was well and truly back reading. 

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins.

The Husband's Secret by Lianne Moriarty.

Sometimes, when we have a lot going on in our minds, it is harder to concentrate on reading. Whenever I start to feel like this, I have my 'go to' authors, as we all do. I love mystery and suspense. My favourite authors are:

Lisa Jewell

Lianne Moriarty 

I love Claire Douglas, Claire McCintosh and Louise Candlish, all in this book pile.

Dorothy Koomson

Susan Lewis

All brilliant writers where I am involved on the first page and can't wait to get back to my book when I get home. 

I also love reading quirky, feelgood books. I love reading Ruth Hogan's books, the author of The Keeper of Lost Things. I also love reading Libby Page, who wrote The Keeper of Stories. 

There are so many quirky books out there. Such as, The curious quest of Arthur Pepper. All these really make me smile and I feel I am going off on an adventure with the main character. 

I love books set on the coast too, especially the East coast where I have spent lots of time on fab holidays with my family. This book, set in Scarborough is so lovely.

I really look forward to my favourite authors bringing out new books and follow them on social media. 

It is fab too, finding a series of books to follow. I loved reading Miss Read books when I was in my 20s and collected most of them, each telling a separate story of the characters who lived in the village. 

Whatever genre suits you, it is good to step out of your comfort reading zone. My lovely friend has made me want to read Stephen King, which I never thought I would do! She made me so intrigued by them! 

I love reading. I am happy when I have a book 'on the go'. I spend a lot of time in bookshops and at our local market bookstall. I love to nosy at people's bookshelves and if I see a magazine on a waiting room table, I have to pick it up!

I am a lover of words. I love to find new words on pinterest. One of my fave openers at school, when teaching is to find words within words. Or finding a better word. 

I love words and I love books! Right from being little when I loved reading Milly Molly Mandy, My naughty little sister and Enid Blyton books, especially Malory Towers. 

Another word I love from pinterest is this one. It suits me so much. I do love to wander, taking everything in. I like reading everything on signs and in shop windows, information boards and advertisements. I like to stop and take in the sights. Maybe it is the writer in me. I do have a good imagination and like to use it a lot!

Us readers can be alone. We love time just with our books, to think about our books and their characters. We are happy to sit and muse awhile. 

I do get hungry for books and like you get peckish, I do get bookish! I love this pinterest quote. Totally agree!