My Favourite Place // Barter Books

If you don't like books or an overload of photos then I would probably recommend not reading this post.

My favourite place in the world is Barter Books. Barter Books is a huge second hand bookshop in the old railway station in Alnwick, Northumberland. It truly is my happy place.

Basically they turned an old railway station into a huge bookshop complete with cosy sofa's by the fire and tea shops. What more could a book lover ask for?

Along the top of the bookshelves in one of the rooms are train lines with trains going along them, it's such a awesome nod to the buildings past and all the kids (and adults) love watching for the trains.

What follows now is a whole host of pictures of Barter Books. I won't be offended if you don't look at them all, there are quite a few. But there is no way to show this place off with only a few pictures. So book lovers (and train lovers) enjoy!

Look out for a Barter Books haul coming soon!

Kate // SK

Book Haul // January & February

I've picked up a few books in the past couple of months and I thought I would show you. These are a mix of Amazon marketplaces purchases and library books I've borrowed.

Bought

The Tiger in the Well - Philip Pullman

A Curious Beginning - Deanna Raybourn

How To Be A Woman - Caitlin Moran

The Suffragettes - Various Authors

Borrowed

The Recruit - Robert Muchamore

All We Shall Know - Donal Ryan

Asking For It - Louise O'Neill

It's only this month I've got my library card renewed and started using my local library again. I think it's important to use your local library and it will also save me money (double win!)

Kate // SK

Top 5 // All Time Favourite Books

I love lists and I love hearing lists about books, so I'm going to start a new little series which I'll do twice a month(ish).

Today I thought I would start off with my top 5 favourite books ever. You know something nice and easy (NOT).

My favourite books change all the time so this is my current top 5 favourite books.

The Little Paris Bookshop - Nina George

I've 100% talked about this book before. It's a book about books. Monsieur Perdu prescribes books as medicine for the hardships of life. This book follows him as he takes his bookshop barge down the canals of France to try and find peace with his past.

Silent In The Grave - Deanna Raybourn

I chose the first book in this series but really I don't know if I could decide between the first three books in this series.

The book follows Lady Julia Grey as she tries to solve the mystery of her husbands murder with the help of the mysterious Nicholas Brisbane.

The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett

This is classic children's book following Mary Lennox as she goes to live on the Yorkshire moors with her Uncle following the death of her parents.

The perfect book to read on a grey rainy day.

The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern

Le Cirque des Rêves arrives with no warning or advertisements. One day it's not there the next it is.

I'm not going to give anything away about this book but I've never met anyone who hasn't enjoyed it. The descriptions in this book are so vivid you feel as if you were there.

Eat Sweat Play - Anna Kessel

I haven't even finished this book but I already know it's going to be one of my favourites.

This is the kind of book that you have to read bit by bit because you keep stopping and just having to sit and take in what you're reading.

Kate // SK

NB: This Top 5 series is an idea I have nicked from Booktube. I think the Top 5 Wednesday videos started with Lainey at GingerReadsLainey and has spread since then.

February TBR // January Wrap Up

January Wrap Up

The Little Shop of Happy Ever After: Finished

I gave this book 3 stars, I thought it was good, it was just a bit cringy and I wanted more character development.

Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone: Finished

Need I get into it? 5 stars, I love it. The illustrated edition is absolutely gorgeous.

Binocular Vision: Started

I'm enjoying this collection of short stories I just find that it takes me longer to read because I don't get sucked into it in the same way I do with a full length novel.

A Lineage of Grace: Started

I absolutely love this book, it's such a clever way of telling the stories of well known bible characters.

Audio Book: I finished The Book Thief this month and really enjoyed it. It's a beautifully written book and so well read but it's devastating.

February TBR

As well as finishing A Lineage of Grace and Binocular Vision I'm hoping to get to:

Moranthology - Cailtin Moran

Caitlin Moran gets chatty about everything from political to social issues. I cannot wait to read this.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - J.K. Rowling

The second book of the series, it's been a good while since I read this one.

Silent in the Grave - Deanna Raybourn

This is one of my favourite books. It follows Lady Julia Gray as she looks into the death of her husband with the help of Nicholas Brisbane.

Redeeming Sex - Debra Hirsch

The tag line for this is "naked conversations about sexuality and spirituality". This is a book written by a Christian and looks at a biblical vision of sex and gender that honours God and offers good news to the world.

I have already started this book a few months back but it was borrowed so I had to return it. I was really enjoying it so far so I'm looking forward to getting back into it.

Kate // SK

Bookish Opinions

I've been talking a lot about books recently. Whenever I talk to a fellow book lover the conversation inevitably comes around to our bookish opinions. It's a conversation that can easily become heated. We book lovers are an opinionated lot! So I thought today that I would tell you my opinions.

New books or Second hand books?

I love both. My collection is probably made up of around 50% new books and 50% second hand books. I love bookshops of all shapes and sizes. But there is something about second hand bookshops that I just absolutely adore.

Hardback or Paperback?

Generally I prefer paperbacks for 3 reasons: they're cheaper, they fit on my shelves better and they're much more comfortable to read.

Bookmarks or Dog Eared?

Bookmarks. I am totally fine with battered old copies of books but I CANNOT STAND when people fold over the corners of books to mark their spot. I don't know why it bugs me so much but it just does.

Collecting sets?

I love collecting books in sets. I love the red spine vintage classics as well as the children vintage classic collection. My absolute favourite books are my Penguin Clothbound Classics, they are beautiful beyond description.

Annotating books?

Nope, I can't do it. I wish I could but I can't. Maybe this will change one day but at this time in my life I just can't bring myself to do it!

Where do I buy my books?

Usually I buy my books second hand from the Amazon Marketplace, new books I generally buy at Waterstones. Ideally I would love to be able to go to a little independent second hand bookshop but there just isn't one near me (sob!). There is a small independent bookshop in my town which I have started using.

I would love to hear all your opinions on this. Even if they do disagree with mine!

Kate // SK

BlackOut Poetry

I can honestly say that I never thought I would be making a blog post about poetry. As you probably have gathered by now I am some what of an avid reader. I claim to read pretty much anything. Poetry has never been included in that. I don't read poetry. I don't get it and I don't enjoy it.

Recently, however, I've been thinking about how unfair that is of me. I hate when people say they don't like reading but they've only ever tried reading one or two books all of the same genre. And that's what I'm doing with poetry isn't it?

It seems to me that there is a new wave of poetry that I can try. So try I will.

Expect a poetry book haul in the next month or so!

I was watching a booktuber by the name of Ariel Bissett, she's someone that I dip in and out of watching but recently it's been more a dip in than out. In the video Ariel was talking about blackout poetry.

Blackout poetry is a method which uses already written work in order to make poetry. So in theory you could turn to any page in a magazine, newspaper or book and blackout words in order to highlight the words which would form your poem. An Instagram account that shows this beautifully is Colette Love Hillard.

Now if you read my post a few weeks ago about how I treat books then you will know that I am not generally comfortable with the idea of writing in my books. So when I decided I wanted to give blackout poetry a go and I wanted to do it a book I had to decide to find a book to "ruin".

I decided to go to a charity shop and buy a second hand book to use.

Now I took this one step further than most, while some would just buy any old second hand book I decided I wanted to buy: a second hand book, a second hand book that I had previously read, a second hand book that I had previously read and enjoyed and finally a second hand book that I had previously read, enjoyed and was in a particularly ugly edition.

All of this of course was to assuage my guilt at "ruining" a book.

So I have chosen a particularly boring edition of Dracula by Bram Stoker.

I am absolutely loving making this poetry. Never did I think I would be able to make poetry and actually enjoy it.

This poetry is written for me not for anyone else. Sharing it doesn't feel comfortable but this form of expression has helped me so I want to share it in the hope that it may help others.

As I am now determined to find my niche in the world of poetry I would love some recommendations!

Kate // SK

January TBR

One of my new year promises to myself is to make time to read.

As part of this I am going to do a monthly TBR; hopefully by actually deciding ahead of time what books I should read I will be more likely to actually pick them up.

A Lineage of Grace - Francine Rivers

This book follows the lineage of the woman in the line of Mary (mother of Jesus) and the powerful impact they had on their surroundings. I first read this 5 years ago and it inspired me so much. I've been through a lot since then and I have a feeling I'll get even more from this book now.

Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone - J K Rowling

Another re-read, this one if just a good start to the year. I haven't read these books in years but I have listened to them many many times on audio book.

Binocular Vision - Edith Pearlman

This is one that has been on my shelf for a while now. It is a collection of stories. I always like reading collections at this time of year because you can so easily dip in and out.

The Little Shop of Happy Ever After

I nice easy romance to start off the year. It's also a book about books so I'm happy.

And that's my January TBR. My reading goal for the year is 52 which would equal out at one book a week which I think is an achievable goal for me. While I would love to read more I'm trying to be realistic. We'll see how it goes!

Holiday TBR Update
What I wanted to read: Let It Snow, The Outrun, A Christmas Carol, The Christmas Mystery
What I read: Let It Snow, A Christmas Carol and I started The Outrun
Favourite Read: A Christmas Carol

Kate // SK

My Year In Books // 2016

A quick sum up of all the books that filled my 2016. Hopefully next year there will be far more books to choose from!

2016 Stats

Number of Books Read: 23

Total Pages Read: 7,022

Shortest Book Read: The Fox and the Star 64

Longest Book Read: The Christmas Card 496

Average Book Length: 305

Favourite Books of 2016

Least Favourite Books of 2016

And that's it for my quick wrap up of the books I read in 2016.

The idea for this blog post came from The Bookish Blog, which is an amazing blog run by people who are truly passionate about all things books.

Kate // SK

Books I Want To Read In 2017

2017 is almost upon us and I've decided to have a good think about what books I want to read in the coming year.

Every year I set a reading goal on Goodreads. Last month I deleted my goodreads and created a new one. I just felt like my old account was messy and unorganised and in all honesty I could not be bothered sorting out. So, I decided to start again fresh.

So this coming year my Goodreads reading goal will be 52 books. I'm not going to list all 52 books I want to read because I don't know them all. I don't want to lock myself into that sort of commitment.

What I do want to do is reduce my TBR pile, I want to end 2017 with less books on my TBR than I started with. Fingers crossed.

Re-reads

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

2. Harry Potter series - JK Rowling

3. A Lineage of Grace - Francine Rivers

4. The Fault in Our Stars - John Green

5. The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

DNF's

1. The 13 1/2 lives of Captain Bluebear - Walter Moers

2. Redeeming Sex - Debra Hirsch

3. Everyday Sexism - Laura Bates

4. The Hourglass Factory - Lucy Ribchester

5. Belgravia - Julian Fellowes

TBR

1. Moranthology - Caitlin Moran

2. Nicholas Nickleby - Charles Dickens

3. Robinson Crusoe - Daniel Defoe

4. Us - David Nicholls

5. Atonement - Ian McEwan

And there we have it my 2017 reading goals.

Now all I need to do is actually hold myself to it...

Kate // Sk

Christmas Holidays TBR

Sorry to bang on about it again but we've moved house.

With this house move comes something truly wonderful for any book lover. Bookshelves. I now have a dedicated space with multiple matching bookshelves where all my books can happily live without being in piles in front of other piles. The next day off I will definitely be spending time organising them into an order that makes sense for me.

With all my books now out of boxes and in view I figured it was about time I got back into reading regularly.

With that in mind I have made myself my first ever TBR (to be read) list for over the festive season when I may actually have time to read.

There are 4 books on my TBR and fingers crossed I'll get through them all.

Let It Snow - John Green, Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle

I've had this book for a couple of years now and every year around this time I remind myself that I haven't read it yet and that I really should. Hopefully this year is finally going to be when I get round to it.

I know nothing of the plots of any of the three stories which is how I prefer it!

 The Christmas Mystery - Jostein Gaarder

This is a book I read at this time of year every year. It's about a little boy called Joachim who reads a secret story every day in his advent calendar telling the story of a little girl called Elisabet who was travelling across Europe and back in time to Bethlehem and birth of Jesus. Sounds complicated but it's a beautiful story that flows naturally.

The Outrun - Amy Liptrot

I read the first few pages of this book while very very tired a few days ago an remember precisely nothing. I think it deserves another go. I've heard nothing but good things about this book so I'm looking forward to diving in.

A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

I was watching A Muppet Christmas Carol yesterday when it occurred to me that I actually haven't read the original book. Shocking. In fact I haven't read any Dickens. This is something I think needs to be remedied. I obviously know the basic plot of this story from the Muppets film. The story follows Scrooge, a mean spirited man who is visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future and his life is changed forever.

So there we have it, my Christmas TBR.

I'm going to go and read now, clearly I have a lot of books to be getting on with!

I love reading Christmas books so if you have any recommendations please tweet me @SimplyKarah10

Kate // SK

A/W Reads // SK Books

Something about the last few months of the year makes me want to read more. I like reading new books and old favourites. It's the dark nights when there isn't much on TV that make me want to curl up with a blanket and a cup of tea and escape into another world.

These are some of my firm favourites that I like to read at this time of year. They're beautiful, immersive books that drag you in and keep you until you finish the whole book.

 This book is one of my all time favourites. It was first published in 1992 and when this copy was bought it cost £3.99 (don't you wish books still only cost that!?). So Far From Skye is about a pair of siblings Morag and Allan MacDonald who are forced to emigrate from the isle of Skye to Australia in the 1850's. It follows them as they are uprooted from their home and have to adapt to an entirely new home.

Rooftoppers is a book I pre-ordered (which I never do) because I loved the sound of it so much. Rooftoppers follows the life of Sophie who is in an orphan and her discovery of the children who live under the radar on top of the rooftops of Paris. What an idea. 

This is another book that I have loved for a very long time. I first got this out of the library when I was in primary school and since then I have purchased my own copy as the library no longer has it. Ragboy, Rats and the Surging Seas follows Silas, a rag and bone boy, who discovers a mermaid lying injured on the beach one morning and decides to rescue her. 

The Secret Garden is one of my all time favourites (I feel like I'm saying this about every book in this post). When I was a child I was enchanted with the idea of a secret garden, I wanted my own so much that I asked my mum for a bit of garden of my own, needless to say me gardening my own little bit didn't last very long. Unlike my gardening efforts my love for this book has stayed strong. Mary Lennox is orphaned and sent off to live with her Uncle, she's a contrary little girl who isn't interested in anything, until she discovers a garden that has been locked up for years. 

First off, how beautiful is this copy of Wuthering Heights. I got this copy for my 21st birthday and I am still in love 2 years later. Wuthering Heights is such a dark tale but the descriptions of the moors are perfect for a cosy night in. This book is about the family that lived at Wuthering Heights as told by housekeeper Nelly to a visitor to the area 30 years after the events unfolded.

The Fox and the Star is a beautiful illustrated book about a fox and (you guessed it) a star. I don't want to go into the plot because it's short and there isn't much I could say without ruining the book. All I will say is that the images in this book are incredible and while it only takes 5 minutes to read it sticks with you for a long time after you put it down.

What old favourites do you like to read at this time of year?

Kate // SK