World Book Night 2013

Happy World Book Night everyone!

This year was my first year taking part in World Book Night as a giver. With a mixture of excitement and nerves!

World Book Night (for those who don’t know) is sort of like World Book Day, but for adults. The idea is to get people who wouldn’t normally read to read. Events take part up and down the country and half a million books are given away, some by givers (like me) and some are given directly to hard to reach areas.

I gave away 20 copies of Jasper Fforde’s The Eyre Affair which is a favourite of mine. I picked it because it is easy to read, it’s engaging, it’s funny nd exciting, and it has a little bit of everything. Plus it’s the first in a series which makes it easy to go on from there, as well as being related to Jane Eyre, which is another way to continue your reading.

I was giving away copies to parent and staff at the nursery where I work, which is in a deprived area of Birmingham. It actually went much better than I expected. Not one parent who I offered a book to refused it, and a couple of staff took books too.

I actually found that quite a few of the parent like reading, I don’t tend to know the parents that well and it was interesting to see something new about them. One parent in particular was really interested to the book. He was asking me what it was about and about the rest of the series, he said he would definitely read it, but that it was his wife who should read more. Another told me she was reading The Help at the moment but would read The Eyre Affair next, then pass it on to her Mum who she said was also a reader. One of the grandparents seemed unsure at first but once she found lut there was a crime element, and it was also connected to Jane Eyre she changed her mine- and said she would pass it on to Mum. Quite a few seemed to think they needed to pay for them, or make a donation, maybe adults are just not used to getting free stuff, these seemed to be particularly gracious when they found out it was theirs to keep for free.

Some of the kids actually seemed interested too, which is good in a role model sense. The granddaughter of the grandparent I mentioned before asked why she got a book, and got the reply “because I was a good girl”. Another kid insisted on ‘reading’ the book himself. And another actually picked up a book for his parents, claiming it was about “George’s Day”, probably because it is St. George’s Day today.

 

The Book Jar

So today I have been making my book jars. An idea I first saw on Laura’s blog, Devouring Texts and she saw on Alex in Leeds.

I made two. The bigger clear one is for my paper books and the little orange one is for my kindle books. To make an extra distinction (and because they’re pretty) I made my paper book options into paper cranes.

Basically the idea is for a book jar to be a sort of lucky dip. On each piece of paper is written a book from your to be read pile. Not sure what to read next? Pick a piece of paper and read the book written on that paper. Mine isn’t colour coded like Alex’s, the colours just for prettiness.

I think it’s going to give a good chance to those books I’ve had for a long time but somehow never read. I just wish I’d had it during my post Life After Life reading flunk.

For fun here’s a tutorial on how to make an origami crane. They’re pretty easy, the only origami I can make actually (although I have managed to make a parrot a couple of times with lots of instruction.). This is the only video I could find that used the exact same method I do- but I’m sure other methods work.

Literary Giveaway Hop 9-13th February

 

This giveaway is now closed

 

Today is my birthday, and it also happens to be the week of a Literary Giveaway hop so I thought I would share the love by joining in.

I’m making it pretty simple this time. 1 entry each and no ways of getting extra entries (but feel free to follow me, tweet, add me on facebook, comment, whatever!)

The rules are:

1) I’ve listed 25 books below, one which has been published in each year of my life (except 2013, because I haven’t read any books published in 2013 yet) you can choose one of the books from this list to win- I’m giving away one book only.

2) To enter fill in the form, answers are only visible to me and your information will not be used for any purpose other than this giveaway

3) To enter you must live in a country to which The Book Depository offers free delivery.

4) You don’t have to be a blogger to enter, you don’t have to be subscribed to my blog, following me on twitter, liking me on facebook or a fellow participant in the hop- but do feel free to do any of those things!

5) Entries are open from now until 23:59 GMT on 13th February

The List:

2012: The Secret Keeper- Kate Morton

2011: The Lover’s Dictionary- David Levithan

2010: Room- Emma Donoghue

2009: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet- Jamie Ford

2008: The Graveyard Book- Neil Gaiman

2007: Sarah’s Key- Tatiana de Rosnay

2006: The Elegance of the Hedgehog- Muriel Barbery

2005: The Big Over Easy- Jasper Fforde

2004: My Sister’s Keeper- Jodi Picoult

2003: The Historian- Elizabeth Kostova

2002: Middlesex- Jeffrey Eugenides

2001: Life of Pi- Yann Mantel

2000: Q & A- Vikas Swarup

1999: The Perks of Being a Wallflower- Stephen Chbosky

1998: Chocolat- Joanne Harris

1997: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone- J.K. Rowling

1996: The Beach- Alex Garland

1995: Northern Lights- Philip Pullman

1994: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle- Haruki Murakami

1993: Birdsong- Sebastian Faulks

1992: Regeneration- Pat Barker

1991: The Liar- Stephen Fry

1990: The War of Don Emmanuel’s Nether Parts- Louis de Bernieres

1989: Like Water for Chocolate- Laura Esquivel

1988: Matilda- Roald Dahl

1987: Norweigen Wood- Haruki Murakami

Want chances to win some other books? Have a look at the rest of the blogs on the hop…

Linky List:

Leeswammes The Book Garden Sam Still Reading Candle Beam Book Blog Ciska’s Book Chest Too Fond Alex in Leeds Under a Gray Sky Bibliosue The Book Club Blog Fingers & Prose Lori Howell Rikki’s Teleidoscope Girl vs Bookshelf Lizzy’s Literary Life (Europe) Booklover Book Reviews The Blog of Litwits Reading World (USA/Can) Seaside Book Nook Curiosity Killed the Bookworm The Book Diva’s Reads Breieninpeking (Europe) 2606 Books and Counting Giraffe Days Lucybird’s Book Blog

Roof Beam Reader The Relentless Reader Read in a Single Sitting My Diary (Malaysia) Heavenali Dolce Belezza (USA) The Misfortune of Knowing My Devotional Thoughts Nishita’s Rants and Raves Book Nympho Kaggsysbookishramblings Quixotic Magpie Lost Generation Reader BookBelle Under My Apple Tree (USA) Mondays with Mac Page Plucker

Review of the Year 2012- Best Non-Fiction

As only one non-fiction scored 5/5 this year I’m going to list all that scored 4/5 or above. Of course the one which scored 5/5 is the winner!

How To Be a Woman- Caitlin Moran

Is a collection of the thoughts of Caitlin Moran on being and experiences of being a woman.

Dave Gorman Vs. The Rest of the World- Dave Gorman

Is a book where Dave Gorman travels around the country playing different games with different people, some familiar, and some less well known.

Sick- Jen Smith

Is a story of drugs and domestic violence.

 

The Fry Chronicles- Stephen Fry

Is the second of Stephen Fry’s autobiographies and chronicles his rise to fame.

And the winner is…

How to be a Woman- Caitlin Moran

I loved this book. Caitlin is funny and easy going. I really just wanted to be her friend whilst reading How to be a Woman. It’s advertised as a feminist book, I wouldn’t say it was a major point to the book however, although it did have some feminist areas.

Review of the Year 2012- Fiction

This year I read quite a few books which scored 5/5 so could be my best fiction book of the year.

The Secret Keeper- Kate Morton

As a child Laurel witnessed her mother stabbing a man, as her mother is dying years later Laurel begins to wonder who that man was, and what had driven her mother to do such things. As with Morton’s previous work it’s a story of family history, family secrets, and family love.

Charlotte Street- Danny Wallace

Completely different to The Secret Keeper Charlotte Street is a romantic comedy. A chance meeting on Charlotte Street leaves a man with a woman’s camera and sparks off an adventure across London- and the wider UK area- to find her. It’s a funny book and reminds me a lot of Nick Hornby’s writing

The Brooklyn Bites Books 1 & 2- Scott Stabile

I’ve been championing these beautiful short stories all year. The imagery of food is beautiful, and the relationships well written, I am eagerly anticipating book 4.

 

The Last 100 Days- Patrick McGuinness

The Last 100 Days is a story of the last 100 days in communist Romanian. It took a while for me to get into but was very realistic.

 

The Hunger Games books 1 & 2- Suzanne Collins

Every year in Panem 2 children in each district have to fight in a battle to the death in the annual Hunger Games. In The Hunger Games Katniss is the tribute for district 12 and the story continues in a further 2 books. After initially being sceptical I ended up loving these books, I even have 2 copies of the first one, one on my kindle and one in paperback.

It’s a bit difficult to really compare these books. they are all so different. One mystery, one comedy, one short story, one historical, and one young adult. However looking at them it’s obvious which one sticks out for me…

Scott Stabile’s Brooklyn Bites Series

I never thought I would say that the best book(s) I had read all year were short stories. I generally find that short stories lack something- like they don’t go into enough depth. The Brooklyn Bites stories however are pretty simple plotwise, and that means that more words can be devoted to things like building character and atmosphere. All the stories are about food, and they’re all about people. Stabile does fantastic work in really giving a good sense of the characters and their relationships, combined with mouth-watering descriptions of food. I recommend these pretty much every time I get a chance, plus they’re only 77p on the kindle, so you can’t really say you can’ afford it!

The third books A Pickle and Carrot Cake is also very good, just not quite as fantastic as the previous 2

Review of the Year 2012- Challenges

The Rory List (ongoing challenge)

This year I have read 5 (arguably 6) books from the Rory List

The Crimson Petal and the White

The Great Gatsby

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Pride and Prejudice

(Grimm’s Fairytales- I had already read a different version of this)

The Virgin Suicides

I beat last year’s total, which had been my aim, being able to get some for free on my kindle has helped.

Haruki Murakami Reading Challenge 2012

Didn’t do well on this one at all this year, only one book. I had aimed to read 5, but I struggled with 1Q84 and I have an edition with books 1 & 2 together so I wasn’t allowing myself to get another Murakami until I had finished that- which I still haven’t done. The site doesn’t appear to be as active this year either so I don’t know if it will be happening next year.

1Q84 (Book 1)

Next year I am really excited for my own challenge The Out of Your Comfort Zone Challenge. The idea is that you read books you wouldn’t usually read, and hopefully find something new to love.

I’m also participating in the Wishlist Challenge 2013.

Review of the Year 2012- Overview

Image from goodreads

I’m doing things a little different again this year, I’ve decided not to do a post of disappointing books, but as last year I will do a post on challenges, and separate posts for fiction and non-fiction

This year I have read 78 books, that’s 15 more than last year:

• 8 have been non-fiction, 66 have been fiction
• No re-reads this year
• 4 (arguably 5) have been read as part of reading challenges.

My wishlist currently contains 116 books (oops, more than last year!) and my To be Read Pile totals up to 44 books (well if we go by this year’s numbers that should probably last me until October-ish)

8 books have scored 5/5

40 books have scored 4/5

25 books have scored 3/5

2 books have scored 2/5

0 books have scored 1/5

So generally this year I have been reading more enjoyable books (hooray!)

Children’s Hour: Christmas Giveaway!

It’s almost Christmas whooop whoop, and of course that is the perfect time for a giveaway.

Earlier this year Random House sent me 2 beautiful copies of The Nutcracker. The old story was re-written by E.T.A Hoffmann and is accompanied by illustrations by Maurice Sendak. One copy for me to review, and one for my lovely readers.

I accepted the books with Children’s Hour in mind, however it’s not really suitable for the children I work with so I am planning to read it myself over Christmas and use it for my Children’s Hour post on Boxing Day. You can see the amazon page for this book by clicking the image above.

However as I wanted to make it a Christmas Giveaway I’m opening for entries today.

Unfortunately as I have to send the book myself (and it’s a rather large hardback) this giveaway is only open to those in Europe however I will accept other entries provided you are happy to pay for your own postage, just let me know in comments.

To enter just fill in the Rafflecopter by clicking the link below

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Out Your Comfort Zone Challenge

Hi everyone.

After debating it last year (but never actually doing anything about it) I have decided to set up the Out Your Comfort Zone Reading Challenge for 2013. I would love it if you would like to join in.

The idea is that you read genres that you wouldn’t normally read, and hopefully find something new which you love.

I’ve set up a new blog especially for the challenge and you can sign-up there.

Bookish Gifts

Last year I did a whole series of posts on bookish gifts, this year I’m going for one longer post. Some of the links on the old posts are still active, so it’s worth a little look if you like this sort of thing.

These are things you could buy for the bookish people in your life which aren’t books.

This George’s Marvellous Medicine mug from The Roald Dahl Museum has the lovely art of Quentin Blake and words from Roald Dahl. There are also mugs with he BFG, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Fantastic Mr Fox, The Twits, James and the Giant Peach, The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me, The Enormous Crocodile, and The Witches on, but I think George’s Marvellous Medicine fits a mug more.

 

 

One of the kids at work had this Gruffalo Hoodie and it’s one of the cutest things ever. The horns on the head turn your little monster into a monster. It looks lovely and warm too. It comes from Debenhams

I loved The Tiger Who Came to Tea as a kid (and I still do now really). Now the art is one of my favourite things so I really like this print avaliable at Waterstones.

 

Ok so half of what I love about this necklace from Keoni Design @ etsy is that it has a bird on, but I also love that it has a book and it’s a locket (so you can be really stalker-ish and put  in photos of your favourite authors. Or you know maybe of the lovely people you love just as much as your books

 

 

This simple but still very lovely cat bookmark puts me much in mind of Haruki Murakami. Also available from Waterstones.

 

An Out of Print hoodie was included in my list last year. This year I’m going for a ebook cover. I’m quite partial to the Pride and Prejudice cover but this Alice in Wonderland one is my favourite. It’s avaliable for the Kindle Fire, Nexus 7, and iPad

Back to etsy. AppleBeads85 will make you any miniature book charm you request, great ways to show off your favourite book. Do look to see what she already makes before putting in your order as she may already make the book you want to request.

 

If you’re feeling very generous you could buy your favourite bookist (me, right?) a chair-come-bookcase on wheels. Then you can wheel me them around as they read! This is on sale at (smow). In addition tp shelves there is a reading lamp and secret compartments for writing implements

 

 

Feeling a bit more broke? Why not make an inverted bookshelf instead?

The Etymologicon: A Taster

I thought in honour of The Etymologicon (which I reviewed yesterday) I would post a sort of taster of the types of things contained within its pages by posting my tweets from while I was reading it.

All tweets are in my own words. Please forgive the errors, most I posted using my phone which has a slightly strange auto-correct function, and  don’t always pick up what it has done until it is to late.

Anyway, enjoy!

Here worth should say with, and loss should say lots I have yet to find a reason to use polyorchid unfortunately, although actually I can see it suggesting the opposite of someone having a lot of balls as most people would think of a delicate flower. (Have you ever tried to take care of an orchid? Very difficult flowers!)

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No wonder us Brits are supposedly obsessed with the weather. We’re probably still trying to prove to the Vikings that the sky isn’t always cloudy,

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Well at least we know the internet isn’t the only reason for procrastination, right?

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Seeing as psychology is so often linked with emotions, and the soul is too it kind of makes sense.

Oops more typos ad, not add.

The Greeks actually believed that butterflies were the souls of the dead flying around earth. Hence the word for soul and butterfly is the same.

And again. Is, not us.

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With, not worth

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Correct grammar…what the hell a correct granger is I do not know

If anyone understood that sentence without an explanation you can have a cookie.

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I sort of like this idea, it’s like binding your heart to another person. However I now want to know why a man’s engagement ring is wornk on his little finger, not his ring finger whilst a lady’s is.

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Does this make anyone else like Starbucks more?

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Excellent motivation for Harry. Don’t fear the dragon, it’s just a worm.

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Find out more about The Hydrogen Bomb and Bikini Atoll.

Anyone else suddenly feel disgusted by the idea of wearing a bikini?

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The end of another #bloggiesta

Oh I do not want this bloggiesta to end! I am so close to finishing my whole list!

The things I have left to do are things which I will end up having to do anyway this week so it shouldn’t be to bad! I purposefully left them for next because I wouldn’t be able to put them off for to long anyway.

I have got lots done:

• Cross-posted my reviews to Amazon
• Contacted a couple of people about the possibility of making me a new header
• Updated my masterlists
• Cleared out my google reader- I was sad to see how many bloggers are no longer blogging
• Sorted out my blogroll to make sure all the links are of active blogs/sites and that all the bloggers I follow are listed.
• Written and scheduled the next 2 Top 10 Tuesday posts
• Updated my review policy
• Updated me Children’s Hour Page
• Added links to other reviews on reviews as far back as February
• Sorted out my twitter list, unfollowing some people, creating groups.
• Visited lots of other blogs
• Taken part in Smash Attack Read’s Grade Yourself Mini-Challenge and been very proud of my score of 89
  
• Updated my Goodreads reviews
  
• Taken part in 2 twitter parties.
• Replied to outstanding comments
• Responded to author/publicist e-mails, and cleared out my inbox
• Backed-up blog
• Written a custom message for e-mail subscribers

The next bloggiesta is provisionally scheduled for March 29th-31st.

Thank you to the 1stdaughter and Suey for hosting, for everyone who has visited my blog and offered support this weekend. And to everyone who has participated. Roll on March!

 

Bloggiesta Day 2

It’s day 2 of bloggiesta. I’m quite happy with the amount I got done last night, but I’ve done most of the easy things now!

So far I have:

• Contacted a couple of people in regards to making a banner for my blog.
• Updated my Children’s Hour page so all my children’s hour posts are listed, and to add a bit of explanation
• Whittled down my twitter list- basically deleting authors whose books I haven’t read/don’t plan on reading. This should mean my twitter feed is made up of more of what I’m interested in. I have yet to create groups.
• Visited and commented on a few other blogs
• Responded to outstanding comments- although I have more to reply on which were posted while I was sleeping.
• Updated my Goodreads reviews
• Updated my Amazon reviews
• Read and responded to author/publicist e-mails
• Taken part in 1 mini-challenge. I did Smack Attack’s Grade Yourself Challenge. My grade came out as 89 which I’m really chuffed with. The only things it said was that I don’t have enough of my posts tweeted or shared on facebook, and that I could add more tags to my photos. The first I’m not sure how to go about improving. With the second I’m unsure whether I can add tags without breaking my amazon affiliate links

How did your first day of bloggiesta go?

Bloggiesta Starting Line

Hia you guys! Yay bloggiesta has finally arrived, I’ve been getting this post ready all month.

Bloggiesta is an event held over this weekend where bloggers get together to work on their blogs. If you would like to join up, or visit other blogs joining in then have a look at the starting point post over at There’s a Book.

I really enjoyed the last bloggiesta (my first) and have plenty I need doing for this one!

Anyone who is visiting for the first time. Hello. I’m Lucy. Feel free to look around my blog. I mainly post contemporary reviews but I review a children’s picture book once a week (I’m a nursery nurse, so it seem appropriate) and I post on musings about books and reading too. Leave me a comment and I will give you a visit.

So, without further ado, and in no particular order here is….

The List

• Cross-post reviews to Amazon
• Make a banner/ sort out getting one made (if anyone can recommend someone who can do this for me that would be awesome. I’ve contacted a couple of people who never got back to me and have one to look into)
• Update masterlists
• Sort out google reader
• Sort out blogroll
• Write outstanding reviews – Going Out
• Write future Children’s Hour posts
• Look at Top 10 Tuesday topics, possibly write posts
• Update review policy
• Update Children’s Hour Page
• Create new introduction for Children’s Hour
• Add links to other reviews on reviews
• Sort out Twitter list (possibly create groups)
• Visit some other blogs
• Take part in some mini-challenges (Have completed Smash Attack Read’s Grade Yourself Mini-Challenge)
• Update Goodreads reviews
• Take part in a twitter party/some twitter parties.
• Reply to outstanding comments
• Respond to author/publicist e-mails.
• Back-up blog
• Write a custom message for e-mail subscribers

I’m going to be crossing things off as I go along, and possibly adding stuff too.

BBAW: What Book Blogging Means to Me

I’m taking part in Book Blogger Appreciation Week this week, and today we’re all looking at what book blogging means to us.

I started this blog just over three years ago (my blogiversary was at the end of August) but I’ve had a bookish presence online for quite a lot longer than that. Firstly it was more about Harry Potter, I am a member of The Chamber Of Secrets Forums where I used to spend a lot of time. I’m not going to go into the relations between my online life and Harry Potter (it would just make this post last forever) but I have made a post on it in the past that you can read if you are interested.

Really though by book blogging life started with The Book Club Forum where I had my own thread for book reviews, as well as joining in with discussions about books. Quite a few members on there have their own blogs and my thread eventually became Lucybird’s Book Blog.

I discovered the wider book blogging community through the book blogger hop (hosted by Jennifer @ Crazy for Books) which one of my forum friends took part in. That’s when I really got going.

Well that’s my favourite thing about book blogging really. Discovering new blogs, and with it new books. I’ve read some really fantastic books thanks to other bloggers. I’ve discovered different blogs. I’ve found inspiration for my musings posts from things other bloggers have written, and from comments and conversations started in different posts I’ve made. I got introduced to twitter, which is just a fantastic way to meet new bloggers- and to find out about blogging events.

Ultimately blogging for me is about sharing my love for books with the world. I hope I inspire people to read with my reviews and/or posts- or even just help them to find a book they love.

BBAW: Appreciation

Hia guys. It’s Book Blogger Appreciation Week. Whoop whoop!

Book Blogger Appreciation Week is just that, a week to appreciate your favourite book blogs, to find out more about them, and to find great new blogs.

Welcome to anyone who is visiting for the first time. Feel free to have a look around. Comment if you want to. I’d love it if you want to follow me too.

Today is all about giving a shout out to your favourite blogs. I’m going to list five, but I also want to direct you guys to my blog roll, all great blogs which you should check out just not my very, very favourites right at this moment in time (although it can change from day to day). I would love you to give those guys support too but if you’re pressed for time have a look at these 5.

1) Judith @ Leeswammes’ Blog Judith’s tastes are very similar to mine, which is pretty much why I read her blog. If I like the synopsis of a book she is reading and she has enjoyed it I am almost guaranteed to enjoy it too. My wishlist is full of books I read about on Leeswammes’ Blog. Judith’s reviews are always very detailed too, so you can be sure you know what you’re getting into. Judith is also the host of The Literary Giveaway Hop which I have participated in a few times, and is great fun.

2) Ellie @ Curiosity Killed the Bookworm I originally discovered Curiosity Killed the Bookworm through twitter, and ‘i probably still ‘interact’ with Ellie the most that way. Technically I shouldn’t like Curiosity Killed the Bookworm. Ellie mainly reviews YA, which I very rarely read. However her reviews are so enthusiastic that when she does read something I might be interested in I can’t help but want to read it too. That’s how I discovered Charlotte Street which I went crazy over a couple of weeks ago. I also love Ellie’s blog layout, it’s probably my favourite looking blog on my blog list.

3) Sam @ Sam Still Reading  I’ve been following Sam Still Reading from not long after it was set up and I love how similar Sam’s progress has been to my own. Sam reads a lot of similar books to me (although maybe a bit more historical fiction). Her reviews are quite similar to mine as well, simple but they cover everything I would want them to cover. It’s almost like Sam Still Reading is tailor made for me.

4) Anna @ TwoOrThreeThingsIKnowAboutHer I only discovered Anna’s blog this weekend when she commented on one of my posts. She hasn’t been blogging for long (her blog only has 5 posts at the time of writing) but I enjoyed reading all the posts. I like that her reviews aren’t so much reviews as thoughts about the books she’s read, has been reading, or is yet to read. I also love that she takes her own photos for all her posts.

5) Chris @ ChrisbookaramaThe main thing I like about Chrisbookarama is Chris’ Friday Bookish Buzz feature, I get probably about 90% of my book news from this feature (the rest comes mainly from bookriot, and occasionally from The Guardian or twitter), even when my reader is out of control I stop scrolling for Bookish Buzz. I also like how varied Chris’ reviews are, there’s pretty much something for everyone.

 

Bloggiesta is back.

Bloggiesta is back this month. September 28th-30th and I will be participating again.

Bloggiesta is an event to work on your blog. Anything you’ve been meaning to do but somehow haven’t gotten around to. Lots of bloggers will be posting guides and blog ideas. You can join in twitter chats and visit other blogs.

I got a lot done during my last bloggiesta and am looking forward to doing it again.

You can sign up here.

Blogiversary Giveaway Winner

So my first blogiversary giveaway is over, and it’s time to pick the winner……

 

Loni @ The Eye of Loni’s Storm

 

Loni has picked How to be a Woman and it will soon be winging its way to her. Well done Loni. (An e-mail is on its way).

 

Haven’t won this time? There is still a chance to enter my Children’s Picture Book giveaway.

A Migraine Account

This week is Migraine Awareness Week here in the UK. So I’m taking some time from my usual schedule of book blogging to make a more personal post.

Over 8 Million people in the UK suffer from migraines. That means that there are more sufferers of migraine than there are of epilepsy, asthma, and diabetes combined. However migraine if still not understood fully by doctors and awareness of the real effects of migraine is low in the general population.

Migraine is characterised by severe or cluster headaches but can also include nausea, visual disturbances, sensitivity to light, vomiting, lethargy,  speech disturbances, auditory disturbances, pins and needles, weakness, dizziness, and vertigo. In rare cases sufferers can become disorientated, suffer memory loss, fainting and paralysis.

When you look at that list of possible symptoms my migraines actually seem pretty mild, but they still effect me enough to not be able to do anything but lie in a dark room when I am in the middle of an attack.

My migraines started when I was about 10. Initially I used to call them fuzzy feelings as the main thing I noticed at the time was the pins and needles around my mouth and in my hands. I get these less rarely now but still find them rather upsetting. Gradually my migraine have got worse. Now a ‘standard’ migraine starts with me feeling kind of spaced out, or detached. Followed by spreading zig-zag lights starting in one corner of my right eye and spreading until it is close to impossible to see- especially as by this point I have such high sensitivity to light that it’s painful to keep my eyes open.

During this time I will occasionally get problems with my speech- usually getting stuck on one word, sometimes I will be nauseous too, and I usually feel a little faint. Actually it usually feels like it would be a relief to faint.

I went from a few a year, to one a month, up to 1 or 2 a week. Once I got to one a month I started taking preventative drugs (sanomigran) which helped for a bit, but then the frequency would start increasing again so I upped my dose, and again. Then the doctor decided to switch from sanomigran to amitryptaline. Which lets face it is an anti-depresent, not something I really wanted to take, but I felt I had little choice. I was lucky if I was managing to get a couple of weeks at work uninterrupted by migraines, and that was with migraines over the weekend. So I accepted the amitryptaline, then upped the dose, and again. I’m dreading amitryptaline stopping working, I’m not allowed up up my dose again.

There are other things too. I gave up tuna, that seemed to help. If I get enough sleep that seems to help, or if I’m not stressed. (However if I don’t get enough sleep, or am stressed it’s usually when I relax that I get the migraines).

Work wise I’ve been quite lucky. I had a lot of trouble with migraines my first year but my manager was (and is) very understanding. Obviously when I had lots it was frustrating for her, but she understood that I was trying to sort things out- and eventually *fingers crossed* I did. In fact the only trouble I’ve had with work other than having to take time off was when one member of staff suggested I just had a headache, and I must have known it was coming. I was on a bus to work when my migraine struck. I literally couldn’t have called a moment sooner. There is no warning with my migraines, they just appear. I understood I’d put her in a difficult position because I was meant to be in work in the next half hour; and when you work with kids staff numbers really matter. If I’d gone to work though I would have been unsafe. I was literally on the phone in tears, apologising.

When the same member of staff actually saw me with a migraine however I think she understood. So maybe it came good in the end?

—–

If you would like to find out more about migraine visit The Migraine Trust. Where you can also donate money to help fund research into migraine and raise awareness.

Coming and Going

Well two days ago I wrote a post about the last year on this blog and what has been popular. Today (which is the actual day of my blogiversary) I want to look at the new things that have happened this year, and what I’m hoping to see happen next year.

I’d love to know if there’s anything you guys have enjoyed this year, anything you’d like to see more of, or even see some of!

So what has happened this year? (In chronological order, most recent last)

• I’ve started using Amazon Associates on my blog with the idea of getting money together for giveaways, and hopefully for paying for a self-hosted blog. I’ve made a little bit but no really significant amount. If you fancy supporting me through amazon however you can click any link to amazon and anything you buy on there will give me a small percentage of revenue. It doesn’t have to be the thing you click the link for.
• I got a Kindle! I was still unsure about reading from what is basically a computer, and imagined I would only really use it outside the house but I was quite positive about the idea. In reality? I liked it more than I expected. I find I read faster on it, or at least seem to. It’s easy to carry around- being fairly small and light. I can get cheaper books for it, and lots of (mainly indie author) books are avaliable only as e-books. I still prefer the experience of reading from a paper book. Owning an e-book seems like less of a possession, I don’t treasure it the same. I feel more like I’ve achieved something from seeing all the paper books I’ve read than from looking at a list of kindle titles. Sometimes the formatting can be a bit off on the kindle too.
• I took part in my first Bloggiesta and got a lot done! I really enjoyed it and am already looking forward to the next one in September.
• I set up a facebook page as a new way for readers to follow my blog. My twitter is certainly more active but my number of likes is certainly going up too.
• I’ve changed my banner again, and again, and again. Still not satisfied though.
• I started using netgalley. Great site for free review books which I can now use easily because of my kindle. This has meant a lot more review books.
• I started a new feature, Children’s Hour, where I review children’s picture books which I’ve read to the kids at work. This is probably my favourite new thing I’ve done on the blog this year.
• I joined in with the occasional Top 10 Tuesdays meme. I’m not a big meme fan, I prefer original content and often memes seem like making a post for the sake of it, but I was always quite fond of reading Top Ten Tuesday posts so thought I would have a go at writing some.

So what next…?

• Another new header. Hopefully one I like this time. I’m looking into getting it done for me because I have next to no knowledge of graphics (if you can recommend someone that would be awesome).
• I’d like to take part in a read-a-thon although most seem to happen while I’m at work.
• Hopefully more musing posts, I don’t feel I’ve been posting many recently.
• More reviews!

Children’s Hour Blogiversary Giveaway

This giveaway is now closed. Thanks to everyone who entered

Two giveaways in one week, aren’t you lucky, lucky people?! It must by my Bloggiversary!

I thought that Children’s Hour is pretty much my only schedueled post, and a pretty big part of what makes Lucybird’s Book Blog what it is. However the giveaway opened earlier this week was completely devoid of anything related to children’s picture books.

So I’m having a whole other giveaway devoted to children’s books. You can win from a selection of books mentioned in Children’s Hour. Unfortunately not all the books are still available but you can choose from any of the following. One books, one winner.

Owl Babies

I’m not Cute!

Titch

You’ll Soon Grow into Them, Titch

Giraffes Can’t Dance

One Mole Digging a Hole

I Want My Mum

I Want my Potty

Hungry Hen

Walking Through the Jungle

A Squash and a Squeeze

Splat the Cat

Meg’s Eggs

Kipper

Take Turns Max and Millie

Not Not Bernard

Elmer

Two Monsters

Alfie and Annie-Rose

Commotion in the Ocean

Anyone can enter but you must be in a country where the book depository delivers for free. You can get extra entries by following in various ways and tweeting. The contest will close next Thursday 6th September

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Most Popular Posts

It’s Blogiversary Time so that’s a great time for looking back, right?

A perfect opportunity to see which the most read posts have been on my blog have been this year.

So without further-ado here are the Top 10 Posts to be read on this blog over the last year. I’ve taken out giveaways and Page posts as these are popular for reasons other than themselves.

1) When God was a Rabbit- This was one of my first ever requested review. It’s a book I really enjoyed and it gets a lot of traffic from search engines.

2) Harry Potter Merchandise- I loved making this post for Harry Potter Week. It’s lots of different Harry Potter related items you can buy- mainly from etsy.

3) About a Boy- I went through a bit of a Nick Hornby phase (set off by the Rory List). This review is interesting because I do a lot of comparison to the film. Usually I write film reviews and compare them to the books, not the other way around.

4) Film Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (part 2)- Personally I like this post just for the troll comment, however it’s also probably one of my more extensive film reviews.

5) How Winning the Lottery Changed my Life-  I’m not particularly fond of this review, possibly because I was less than impressed by the book. I think it’s the title that gives me the hits.

6) The War of Don Emmanuel’s Nether Parts- I’m glad this is a popular post. It’s one of my favourite books, and I’m quite happy with the review too. I imagine a lot of the hits have to do with me giving it away (twice),  naming it as one of the best books I have read since starting this blog and it being my book of the year last year

7) Sputnik Sweetheart- Another favourite author, although this is not my favourite Murakami. No idea why this particular post is popular actually.

8) Half Blood Blues- This is a book which was nominated for a few awards which explains why people could be interested in a review. The post has a couple of pingbacks too which helps. Not my favourite book but the review is quite good I think for a book I wasn’t bowled over by.

9) 50 Shades of Grey and Decency- I think that this is quite a recent post and the only musings post in this top 10 really says something about how people feel about 50 Shades of Grey. I love all the debate on this post too.

10) The Whereabout of Enea’s McNulty- The only reason I could see for this post being popular is because of the popularity of The Secret Scripture which this is a prequel of.

Kicking it off (with a Giveaway)!

This Giveaway if now CLOSED. You can still enter my Children’s Picture Book Giveaway however.

Hey it’s that time of year again! Blogiversary time!

It’s my blogiversary this week (the 31st to be exact) so as part of my celebrations I am hosting a giveaway of one of the Top 10 Books I’ve read since starting this blog. That is:

Pop Co.- Scarlet Thomas

Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism- Natasha Walter

Brooklyn Bites Series- Scott Stabile*

The Lucifer Effect- Phillip Zimbardo

Handle with Care- Jodi Picoult

How to be a Woman- Caitlin Moran

The War of Don Emmanuel’s Nether Parts- Louis de Bernieres

Kafka on the Shore- Haruki Murakami

Mockingbird- Kathryn Erskien

Middlesex- Jeffery Eugenides

Anyone can enter so long as The Book Depository delivers free to your country.

You don’t have to be a follower to enter (just fill in the Rafflecopter and leave a comment saying which book you would like) but you can get extra entries by following my in different ways or tweeting about the giveaway.

Entries are open until next Tuesday 12:01am EST.

*Brooklyn Bites is only available for kindle, so you must have a kindle to choose this prize

This is my first time using rafflecopter so if you have any comments or problems do let me know, I’d like to know if it’s worth doing again.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Blogiversary Image is adapted from icons at bella_sol

Book Blogger Hop

It’s Friday, and the Book Blogger Hop started yesterday. I actually have a chance to sit down and write a post so thought I would join in this week (despite to fact I have a couple of reviews waiting to be written…shhh).

This week’s question suits e quite well as I’ve been in a bit of a rut recently- although I seem to be coming out of it now.

Who is your go-to author when you are in a reading rut?

Well I tend to more go for a style than anything else. Most books I can just read through a rut with, but when I’m really struggling I know if I find an easy read I should be okay. For this reason I tend to only read Chick-Lit when I’m in a reading rut, (generally speaking) the writing style is easy to understand, the stories aren’t too complex (although they can often be rather predictable), you never really have t think when you’re reading chick-lit. I also find that Jodi Picoult rarely fails to draw me in- her books do make me think, but the writing style is easy and there tends to be a great need to know what’s going to happen next. The other thing is my Harry Potter books. I know them pretty much off by heart but they still excite me.

Related Reviews:

Harvesting the Heart- Jodi Picoult

Sing you Home- Jodi Picoult

Handle with Care- Jodi Picoult

House Rules- Jodi Picoult

Songs of the Humpback Whale- Jodi Picoult

Picture Perfect- Jodi Picoult

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

The Tales of Beedle the Bard

Bookcrossing: Good Book Karma

I have been a Bookcrosser on and off for 8 years. I tend to go through phases when I do a lot of Bookcrossing and phases when I do none. Since recently sorting out my bookshelf I’m on a bit of an on phase at the moment. While today I was registering books and it suddenly occurred to me, I should do a post on Bookcrossing. I really don’t know why the thought had never occurred to me before.

Bookcrossing is basically a way of sharing books with the world. A Bookcrosser will register a book on The Bookcrossing Website before passing it on, or (and this is where it gets fun!) leaving it somewhere for someone to find. Within each book will be contained a little note saying where the book has come from, what Bookcrossing is and with a BCID (or BookCrossing IDentification). Once someone has read the book they enter the BCID on the website and leave a note saying what they thought about the book and where they are sending it next. In this way one book can be shared all around the world!

I love leaving books all over the place and imagining who might pick them up. I especially like to put books in a place where I can watch (e.g. another table in a cafe, a different seat on the bus) and see who picks it up, who looks at it, who takes it. There’s a certain thrill to it, especially when it’s a book you want to share with the world. What I love the most is when I hear back from a book, unfortunately it doesn’t happen as often as I would like, but maybe that’s what makes it special. I’ve had some really nice comments back too.

There was:

The Dutch girl who read her first book in English

The woman who found the book the day before she moved to Spain

The girl who found a new author

I’ve tried to do a few funky releases too. I left Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in a branch of Thorntons for one. My favourite though is the book I released by balloon (I just wish I had heard back from it!). I’m also a fan of releasing favourite books, I am on somewhat of a mission to release all the Harry Potter books (I’ve only got Deathly Hallows to go), and I’ve released a few copies of Captain Correli’s Mandolin, plus copies of Birdsong. I figure if you’re going to share a book you may as well share one you love.

I’ve found books from Bookcrossing too, which is just as exciting. This is the first one I found….as I was leaving another Bookcrossing book! There are such things as Official BookCrossing Zones (it’s where I found Big Fish and Olivia Joules) but while they are a good way to know that your book will be picked up by someone who values it I find it lacks the excitement of a wild release.

You can find me on Bookcrossing as Lucy-bird.

Find out more about Bookcrossing:

The Bookcrossing Website

Wikipedia

Guardian Article

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Guest Post: What Need Does This Meet?

Today Lucybird’s Book Blog is hosting our first guest post (mucho excitement!). John Vorhaus is the author of Lucy in the Sky which I reviewed yesterday

*****

I’m reading a thousand-page history of World War II on my iPhone. It seems ridiculous to try to absorb so large a work on so small a screen, but it works for me. Works better, anyway, than carrying around a book the size of a cinderblock.

Meanwhile, I have a friend who’s reading a thousand-page work of Japanese fiction. He tried to read it on his Kindle and failed completely. After fifty pages or so, he gave up on the ebook, bought the print book, and reports having a “very satisfying read.”

These two different experience got me thinking about the question, “What need does this meet?” in regards to what we read and how we choose to read it in this modern world, where print is not the only option. My goal in reading about World War II was “to acquire information.” I know the story of World War II very well already, and gaining new insights – gathering new data – was something I could easily do, even in bits and pieces, even one small screen at a time. My friend, on the other hand, was after something different: the specific experience of getting lost in a story. For him, the e-reader was not adequate to the task. It didn’t meet his need.

I bring this up because, of course, much thought is being given these days to the question of whether the “dead tree model” (ink on printed page) is doomed to die. It seems pretty clear to me that it is not, not so long as the act of reading continues to meet different needs – and not so long as one of those needs is “to have the book experience.” Good as ebooks are at delivering information, they’re not particularly good at delivering that tactile, page-turning, ink-sniffing experience. They’re getting better at emulating it, of course, and over time print versions and e-versions will continue to converge. But in the meantime, I think it’s helpful to writers and readers alike to understand what a reader’s need is for any given book, and what’s the best way to meet that need.

If your need is to acquire information, clearly the ebook is more efficient than the printed page. You can get the content more quickly, store it more flexibly, and transport it more easily (i.e.,  you don’t have to lug around a cinderblock). But if your need is to have a fulfilling “take me someplace I’ve never been” book-reading experience, the e-version remains (at least as of now) a less adequate alternative.

This is not to praise nor condemn either version. I’m neither a luddite nor a digital crusader. I’m just an author trying to make sense of the post-paper world, and trying to find my place in it. From the realm of creative problem-solving I understand that it’s damn difficult to solve a problem if you can’t first state it, so in order to judge whether the printed word or the e-word is a better platform for my own reading, I start by asking, “What need does this meet?” and go forward from there. It’s a strategy I commend to your attention, not just for deciding whether to read the electronic version or print version of a book, but in confronting all of life’s complexities. When we understand the need we’re trying to meet, we’re already halfway to meeting it.

Which brings me by roundabout means to my new novel, Lucy in the Sky. It’s a coming-of-age tale set in Milwaukee in 1969, and has been described as “a real sixties trip for young seekers and old geezers alike.” It’s available in print and e-book versions, and I can’t tell you which version you’ll enjoy more. I can only say that if your goal is to acquire information (“What was it really like growing up in the sixties?”) then the e-version will suit your needs. If, however, you want to have the “curl up with a good book and travel back in time” experience, then the print version, with pages you can turn and a spine you can crack, will serve you better. (If you like your stories read out loud to you, well, the author-narrated audio version is totally awesome, but that’s a discussion for another time). If you’d like a free taste of my dear Lucy, I direct your attention to www.tinyurl.com/lucy1969, where you’ll find sample chapters and ordering information for the print version and the ebook version alike. For that book – for every book – start by asking yourself what your need is, and whether your chosen format is suited to meeting that need, and you’re well on your way to having the peak reading experience you seek.

John Vorhaus has published five novels and many books on poker. His comedy writing text, The Comic Toolbox, is considered a classic how-to book for writers, and will be making money for someone long after he’s dead, buried and gone. He tweets for no apparent reason @TrueFactBarFact and secretly controls the world from www.johnvorhaus.com.

Literary Givaway Hop

This Giveaway is now closed. Thank you to everyone who entered and of course to Judith for hosting.

Hi guys. I’s been a while since I’ve done a giveaway and when I saw that Judith was hosting the literary giveaway blog hop again it seemed the perfect reason to do one.

The giveaway starts today and ends on Wednesday 27th June.

This time around I have 2 prizes up for grabs:

1) Copies of all the Brooklyn Bites series of short stories for you kindle (This one is one of my favourites so far this year. You can see my reviews here- 1, 2, 3)

2) A copy of The War of Don Emmanuel’s Nether Parts in paperback (This was my favourite read last year- see my review)

Both giveaways are open internationally (but for the 2nd you need to be in a country to which The Book Depository delivers for free).

To enter just comment saying which prize you would like. You can enter for both if you wish. However if by some strange coincidence the same person is picked for both prizes I will only give them one (they can choose which) just to spread the love a bit wider!

There are around 60 bloggers participating in this hop- why not visit them all?

Leeswammes Candle Beam Book Blog Musings of a Bookshop Girl The Book Whisperer Book Journey (US/CA) breieninpeking (Dutch readers) bibliosue heavenali I Read That Once… The Parrish Lantern The Bibliomouse (Europe) Tell Me A Story Seaside Book Nook Rikki’s Teleidoscope Sam Still Reading Nishita’s Rants and Raves Readerbuzz Books Thoughts Adventures (North America) 2,606 Books and Counting Laurie Here (US/CA) Literary Winner (US) Dolce Bellezza The House of the Seven Tails The Book Diva’s Reads (US) Colorimetry Roof Beam Reader Kate’s Library Minding Spot (US) Silver’s Reviews (US) Book’d Out Fingers & Prose (US) Chocolate and Croissants Scattered Figments Lucybird’s Book Blog The Book Club Blog

Lizzy’s Literary Life The Book Stop Reflections from the Hinterland (US) Lena Sledge’s Blog Read in a Single Sitting The Little Reader Library (UK) The Blue Bookcase (US) 1morechapter (US) The Reading and Life of a Bookworm Curled Up with a Good Book and a Cup of Tea My Sweepstakes City (US) De Boekblogger (Europe, Dutch readers) Exurbanis Sweeping Me (US/CA) Living, Learning, and Loving Life (US) Beauty Balm Uniflame Creates Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book (US/CA) Curiosity Killed The Bookworm Nose in a book (Europe) Sharon’s Garden of Book Reviews (US) Giraffe Days Page Plucker Based on a True Story Read, Write & Live Devin Berglund (N. America) Ephemeral Digest Under My Apple Tree (US) Annette Berglund (US) Book Nympho A Book Crazy, Jane Austen Lovin’ Gal (US) Love, Laughter, and a Touch of Insanity

Armchair BEA: Introductions

I’m a little late for Armchair BEA this year since I’ve been away over the weekend but I don’t think it’s too late to start!

Yesterday was introductions day and I thought it’s probably a pretty important thing to start off with so without further ado….

1. Please tell us a little bit about yourself: Who are you? How long have you been blogging? Why did you get into blogging?

My name’s Lucy, I’m 25 and I live in Birmingham, UK. I’ve had this blog for almost 3 years now although it’s only been in the last couple that I’ve really gotten into the  blogging community. I started off with a review post on The Bookclub Forum but I waanted to expand it to include general musings and news about books so I started this blog, I’ve not looked back since..

2. What are you currently reading, or what is your favourite book you have read so far in 2012?

At the moment I’m reading The Good Angel of Death by Andrey Kurkov on paper, and a review copy of The Whipping Club by Deborah Henry on my kindle. I’m finding The Good Angel of Death a little difficult to get into, despite really enjoying the other Kurkov novels that I have read. I’ve only just started The Whipping Club so I’m not sure on that one yet.

As for my favourite books this year? I’ve really enjoyed Scott Stabile’s Brooklyn Bites series of short stories, and How to Be a Woman gave me a bit of a girl crush of Caitlin Moran
3. Tell us one non-book-related thing that everyone reading your blog may not know about you.

My older sister gave birth to my first nephew a couple of weeks ago, and I went to see him last weekend. He is absolutely gorgeous.

4. What is your favorite feature on your blog (i.e. author interviews, memes, something specific to your blog)?

I’m quite liking my Children’s Hour feature at the moment, but generally I like writing musings, I would like to write more of hem though!
5. Where do you see your blog in five years?

Oh I really don’t know. I suppose as long as I still enjoy writing it, and people still enjoy reading it I will keep going!
6. Which is your favorite post that you have written that you want everyone to read?

Oh just one? Umm personally I like my musing on series but my post about how a book’s popularity might effect your reading of it has been one of my most popular posts, and I’m quite proud of that!
7. If you could eat dinner with any author or character, who would it be and why?

Hmm I think dinner with Stephen Fry would be very interesting and fun.
8. What literary location would you most like to visit? Why?

You know what I don’t really have any. Or does the libaray from Beauty and The Beast Count?
9. What is your favorite part about the book blogging community? Is there anything that you would like to see change in the coming years?

I like how people support each other. I’ve had a lot of help when I needed it on twitter, some fantastic recommendations  and referrals from fellow bloggers, and sometimes just a nice chat.
10. Have your reading tastes changed since you started blogging? How?

Not by a great deal. I read more indie authors now, mainly because that’s who I get review requests from. I probably read a few more young adult books as well, although it still takes a fantastic review to get me to read a YA novel most of the time.

Literary Giveaway Blog Hop back again

Judith is again running the Literary Giveaway Blog Hop on her blog Leeswammes’ Blog. This time it will take part from the 23rd to the 27th June.

The Literary Blog Hop is different because bloggers only give away books with ‘literary merit’. No romance, no Y.A and no urban fantasy. I like this because often I find giveaways fall into these genres, and they aren’t the genres I tend to read. I guess you can say it’s a breath of fresh air.

I think it’s been a while since I last did a giveaway too so I’m looking forward to this one.

If you want to join in sign-ups are open until 20th June here at Leeswammes’ Blog

It’s (not!) Fridaaaaay

…and that means the Book Blog Hop is here!

And this week’s question is a bit difficult, ’cause I don’t really know the answer

How many books do you own? This can include books in your to-be-read (TBR) pile(s) and books you have already read that are on your keeper shelf.

As far as books I own, I have no idea at all. I recently packed up the books in my room, and that was about 6 boxes, not to mention my other books around the house. My TBR pile in paper books is at about err 20 books and I have I think about 10 on my kindle…possibly a few more. It’s actually quite big for me, I usually at least attempt to stay in single figures…

Note: for some reason this didn’t post properly on Friday…but I thought it had. I apologise for anyone who tried to visit only to find the link didn’t work

The Book Blogger Hop is Back!

Oh it’s been such a long time hasn’t it? Jennifer @ Crazy for Books has decided to revive the Book Blogger Hop. She missed it and I have to say I did too. The rules are the same as always except now the hop runs from Friday to Thursday rather than just over the weekend, so there’s plenty of time to join in. I only found out it was back last night so that’s why I didn’t post on Friday.

This week’s question is….

Who is your favorite book character? I’ll give you a maximum of two choices, but they have to be from different genres!

Oh that’s a difficult one! I always liked Luna in the Harry Potter series. She’s obviously clever, and stramge, wonderfully so. I love that she doesn’t really care what anyone else thinks of her.

Connect

Seeing as this blog now has ‘outlets’ all over the place I thought it would be about time to make a list of how and where you can connect with the blog.

E-mail Subscription

You can sign up to get e-mails of my blog updates via the widget in my sidebar. Just enter your e-mail address. E-mail addresses are only used for the purposes of. You can also contact me via e-mail at lucybirdbooks@gmail.com

RSS Feed

You can also subscribe to Lucybird’s Book Blog through your favourite feed reader. RSS feed can be found here or at the handy widget in the sidebar (again!). Alternatively add http://lucybirdbooks.wordpress.com to your subscriptions. You can also follow my blog’s rss via blog lovin’

Twitter

All my blog posts automatically cross-post to twitter, as do my goodreads updates. I also sometimes post interesting articles and make observations- generally about books. Plus twitter is a good place to find me for a chat! Follow me @lucybirdbooks or by clicking the twitter feed on my sidebar.

Facebook

This is the newest way of connecting with me. As with twitter all my posts automatically cross-post to Facebook. From Facebook you can send me a message or make general comments on the blog quite easily. I post the occasional article from other places and also talk a little about my reading, although for chat you’re better to follow me on twitter. A good advantage to facebook is that you can message me without giving away your e-mail address (but why wouldn’t you want to right?!). You can Like Lucybird’s Book Blog here

Goodreads

All my reviews are cross-posted to Goodreads (although the scoring has to be adapted when I use half stars) plus you can see how far along I am with my current reads. I’m a member of a few groups as well and as with facebook you can message me over there. You can find me as Lucy over there.

Amazon

You can also find my reviews on Amazon UK

Bloggiesta Summery Post

It’s getting late here so time for my bloggiesta to end

I’ve actually really enjoyed it despite some of my task being boring, and being driven crazy trying to find a new banner (which I still haven’t really succeeded in). I’ve loved visiting other blogs and hanging out on twitter, and feel like I’ve got a lot done.

Today I feel I have done less but maybe that’s because I have had larger tasks on my list.

Today I have:

• Changed my header about 3 time and still not managed to find 1 I really like!
• Cross posted review to Amazon as far back as June last year
• Made sure all my reviews for this year have been posted to goodreads and tagged as being read this year
• Commented on some blogs
• Completed the last of 3 mini-challenges I set myself to complete
• Written and posted a review of The Psychology of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Over the whole of the weekend I have:

• Attempted to sort out my header
• Posted reviews to Amazon as far back as June last year
• Update reviews masterlists& add links to reviews of the films
• Checked and update links to other blogs
• Looked into and set up Facebook page
• Looked at adding internal letter links to my masterlists and found it can’t be done on WordPress.com
• Updated review policy
• Taken part in  3 challenges (1,2,3)
• Written a review of The Psychology of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
• Backed-up blog
• Written post for Murakami Challenge
• Added challenges category to challenge posts
• Made sure all my 2012 books are tagged on Goodreads
• Commented on other blogs
• Joined in with a twitter party

I hope everyone else had as productive and fun a bloggiesta.

 

Bloggiesta Update 1

So today (oops I mean yesterday) has been pretty productive I think. I’ve got lots of little jobs done on the blog, but that leaves quite a few big tasks for tomorrow!

So what have I done today?

• Updated my review masterlists and added films
• Created a Facebook page (as part of a mini challenge)
• Updated my review policy
• Attempted (and failed) to find out where my cover image came from (this took much longer than I expected!) and changed to a temporary cover image I know I’m allowed to use
• Backed up my blog (as part of a mini challenge)
• Visited a few other participating blogs
• Taken part in my first twitter party!
• Updated my blogroll
• Added a challenge category and listed posts under it
• Written and posted a post for The Haruki Murakami challenge

Considering how long that header task took it is certainly time for bed now! Goodnight all

Facebook

Image via CrunchBase

So Bloggiesta and the mini-challenge @ Sockets and Lightbulbs has helped me set-up a shiny new facebook page for this blog. Just another way to follow my blog and keep in touch. Do Hop on over and ‘like’ me. You can either use the handy widget on the side bar or click the above link.

Bloggiesta Starting Line

I’m a little ate kicking things off but have decided to take part in Bloggiesta this weekend. Bloggiesta is hosted by Suey @ It’s All About Books and The1stDaughter @ There’s a Book. Bloggiesta is designed as a weekend for bloggers to work on their blogs and get everything done which they had been putting off. Head over to It’s All About Books to sign up and find out more.

What I intend to work on: (this list will be updated as I go along)

• Update reviews masterlists & add links to reviews of the films
• Check and update links to other blogs
• Try and cut down my feeder reading pile
• Look into/set up Facebook page
• Add internal letter links to masterlists (if anyone can help me with this one it would be appreciated, not even sure how to do it!) (not possible of wordpress.com apparently, ah well once I have saved enough to self-host)
• Update review policy
• Try and find out where I originally got my header from and link to original picture Couldn’t find it *sob*
• Take part in at least  3 challenges (1,2,3)
• Transfer reviews to Amazon and Goodreads
• Write review of The Psychology of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
• Write musing about review requests
• Write musing about changing book names
• Back-up blog
• Write post for Murakami Challenge
• Add challenges category to challenge posts
• Make sure all my 2012 books are tagged on Goodreads
• Create new header (this may take longer than this weekend) (in the pipeline)

I will be tweeting all the way using the tag #bloggiesta feel free to follow me @lucybirdbooks

Happy Bloggiesta Everyone!

So, J.K Rowling is writing again.

Image from The Telegraph

JK Rowling announces new novel – for adults | Books | guardian.co.uk.

Not much to tell really…barely makes an article. J.K will be releasing a new book which is aimed at adults and “very different” from Harry Potter. She is going with a new publishers, supposedly to separate her new novel from from her Harry Potter novels.

In the past I remember her talking about the possibility of writing a crime novel after Harry Potter (although I can’t seem to find the interview so I could be wrong), which isn’t actually a genre that far from Harry Potter, what with the solving of mysteries that tend to happen especially in earlier Harry Potter books- Chamber of Secrets leaps to mind. However in the past Rowling has said that she would want to write crime under another name- maybe she has abandoned this plan, or has been persuaded to- I am sure her name adds a lot to the prospects of a book selling, at least her first novel for adults anyway. Or maybe she already has done this and now that no new Harry Potter books are coming out she has decided to start using her names to sell things.

I don’t really care about her motives for choosing to use her name- or not as the case will be, I am however intrigued to see what she has come up with away from Harry, and it she can pull off writing for adults. Personally I’ve always thought that her writing style had more to it than you would initially see. This I suppose is from years of dissecting Harry Potter on The Chamber of Secrets Forum.

The real question I suppose is will I read it? And that, well, to be honest I really do not know.

There is a part of me that really wants to. The part of my that wants to see what a different novel by J.K. is like. The part of me that wants to read it just because it could be just as good as Harry- and that doesn’t want to miss out on that possibility.

Then there is the bit of me that says, but what if you don’t like it? Won’t that be a great disappointment? The part of my that says I should just judge it as a book rather than a book by the author of Harry Potter.

The thing is can I judge it just as any other book? Even if I try to do into it open minded won’t there still be the bit of my that’s squeeing to have a new book by J.K. Rowling…because I always wanted more Harry, and well isn’t this the next best thing? Will I ever be able to get past comparing it to Harry Potter, when he has been in my life for so many years, and been a big part of my life for some of that?

I would love to walk in to a bookshop, maybe see a book I like the look of, read the synopsis and like the sound of it and not know right till the end that t was by J.K. that way I would have no preconceived ideas. But that’s not going to happen is it?

Related Links:

J.K. Rowling’s New Book: Clues Suggest a Turn to Crime Fiction (Guardian online)

Chamber of Secrets Forums

J.K Rowling’s Site

Accio-Quote (Quotes from interviews)

I’m back.

I am back from Venice. Had a fantastic time although it was very cold. Even snowed the last day, apparently for the first time in about 30 years.

Have lots of reviews to write, so expect that starting from either later today or tomorrow.

On Hiatus

I am off to Venice today so you won’t see me around until at least next Sunday. Hopefully I will have a couple of reviews to write when I get back.

If you write/see a post you think I should read this week do let me know here or on twitter.

Bye for now

The Waterstone’s 11 2012

Last year was the first year of the Waterstone’s 11, 11 new authors with 11 new books to be released that year. This year they are doing it again, which is rather exciting.

Last year I said I would read the previews of each book which were given on the Waterstone’s website, and I pretty much failed, although I did get round to reading the whole of two of the books, and one was one of my top reads of 2011. I am hoping to do a bit better with that plan this year.

This year’s list is:

The Art of Fielding- Chad Harback

Shelter- Frances Greenslade

Care of Wooden Floors- Will Wiles

The Snow Child- Eowyn Ivey

Absolution- Patrick Flanery

The Land of Decoration- Grace McCleen

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry- Rachel Joyce

The Lifeboat- Charlotte Rogan

Signs of Life- Anna Raverat

The Age of Miracles- Karen Thompson Walker

The Panopticon- Jenni Fagan

 

Related Posts:

Waterstone’s 11 2012 (on the Waterstone’s website)

When God was a Rabbbit (here)

Pigeon English (here)

You can also find my reviews of extracts from last year’s Waterstone’s 11 picks by searching Waterstone’s 11 or clicking the tag for Waterstone’s 11

Protect the Internet

You may or may not have noticed that my blog was blacked out yesterday. This was part of WordPress’ campaign again SOPA and the PROTECT IP acts.

I am not going to go into some long spiel because I think you can probably get the information better elsewhere but I will give a quick outline.

SOPA is designed to stop illegal sharing of copyright materials. Whether or not you think this should be illegal or not there are already acts which protect copyright online. The problem with SOPA is how far it goes, and a lot of what it could effect are innocent sites. Places like blogs, fansites, social sites, and even search engines. Basically anything which displays copyright material would be blocked or sued. Ever taken a video while a piece of music is playing? With SOPA you could be sued for putting it on facebook. Used a picture from a book cover on your blog…not with SOPA. When it comes down to it it’s just censorship.

To sign a petition against SOPA you can click the banner on the right hand corner of this page, where you can also find more information.

Still don’t get it, this video explains better than I can.

Review of the Year 2011- Non-Fiction

Seeing as I only read 4 non-fiction books in 2011 it seems a bit silly to choose a favourite and least favourite, even if they do exist. Two of them really deserve a re-mention though so I shall list all my non-fiction (as before) and then highlight the two which I want to highlight.

That Day in September- Artie Van Why

Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism- Natasha Walter

The Hare With the Amber Eyes- Edmund de Waal

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius- Dave Eggers

The two I wanted to mention again are Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism and That Day In September (click for Amazon links)

That Day in September is a 9/11 survivor’s story. It beautifully written an incredibly moving. Certainly worth a read.

Living Dolls I think is a must read for women. IT makes you see things in a different perspective and certainly brought out a bit more feminism in me.

Review of th Year 2011- Disappointing Fiction

I didn’t rate any books at 1/5 this year but I have a few rated at 2/5. So those are my nominees for ‘Disappointing fiction’. I’m sorry I just can’t say worst!

The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty- Sebastian Barry
One Day- David Nicholls
A Week in December- Sebastian Faulkes
Dragon’s Pupils: The Sword Guest- Martin Shui Chu

This year the title Disappointing Fiction is actually a little more appropriate than it was last year. Some of the nominees this year are actually worthy of the title disappointing, Sebastian Fawkes and Sebastian Barry are both authors who have written books which are among my favourites. I would even describe Sebastian Fawkes as one of my favourite authors. So I expected a lot from their books, that’s what really makes something that is not up to scratch disappointing. Really though I can’t say they’ve been my least favourite books this year. That…honour… goes to…

Dragon’s Pupils: the Sword Guest

This was one I read for review. Really though I wished I hadn’t accepted. It took a lot a lot of effort to keep reading. I could see that it wasn’t all bad but the style was just so unfinished and it was really annoying me by the end. I gave it a 2 for the idea, it wasn’t completely hopeless, and it didn’t give me such hatred that Twilight did but I disliked it enough to reject a reading of the author’s new book.

As before click the link at the top to read my review and the second link to buy on Amazon.

Review of the Year 2011- Best fiction

This year I read quite a few books which scored 5/5 so could be my best fiction book of the year. I have left out the Harry Potter books as they were re-reads but that still leaves a good few books:

War of Don Emmanuel’s Nether Parts- Louis de Berneries

When God was a Rabbit- Sarah Winman

Shades of Grey- Jasper Fforde

Everything is Illuminated- Jonathon Safron Foer

The Help- Kathryn Stockett

Oh how much I loved all these books. It’s very difficult to choose just one. They are all quite different. But when it comes down to it I just have to go with my heart. And my heart says…

War Of Don Emmanuel’s Nether Parts

A lot of my decision is really down to personal reasons rather than reasons why people generally would like the book. Yes it’s fabtastic. Funny. Moving. Fantastically written. When it comes down to it though it’s a book which meets up to my expectations of Louis de Berneieres which were set by Captain Correlli’s Mandolin. it might, might, even be…better. *Shock! Horror!* For so long I have been reading Louis de Berniere’s books to try and find something which at least partially meets up to how much I love Captain Corelli’s and so far had been disappointed.

I can’t wait to read the next in the series.

For my whole review click the link at the top. To buy The War of Don Emmanuel’s Nether Parts from Amazon click the link at the top of this section.

Review of the Year 2011- Challenges

The Rory List (ongoing challenege)

This year I have read just 3 books from the Rory List

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius

Everything is Illuminated

Grimm’s Fairytales

Am hoping to get a few more of these in 2012.

Take a Chance Challenge 2011

I have read 8 books for this challenge. I missed out the What Should I Read Next? choice (number 7) and failed to finish the staff picks book.
I am Number Four- Pittacus Lore
The Siege- Helen Dunmore
The Hare with Amber Eyes- Edmund de Waal
About a Boy- Nick Hornby
The Terrible Privacy Of Maxwell Sim- Jonathan Coe
The Earth Hums in B-Flat- Mari Strachan
The Graveyard Book- Neil Gaiman

Haruki Murakami Reading Challenge

I read 2 books for this challenge. which gives me Hijami level of participation:

Sputnik Sweetheart

A Wild Sheep Chase

Review of the Year 2011- Overview

This year I have read 60 books:

• 3 have been non-fiction, 57 have been fiction
• 6 have been re-reads, 54 have been new reads
• 11 have been read as part of reading challenges, and 6 have been read as part of a read-a-long

My wishlist currently contains 103 books and my To be Read Pile totals up to 29 books (which is not great seeing as I have been saying all year that I cannot buy more books until I am in single figures…whoops.)

11 books have scored 5/5

24 books have scored 4/5

18 books have scored 3/5

4 books have scored 2/5

0 books have scored 1/5

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Well it’s Christmas Eve. So I think it’s probably the ideal time to wish everybody

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Here is a little gift from me to you all. Enjoy

Bookish Gifts- Paraphanalia

Here we go again! Probably the last in my series of bookish gifts, this time I’m looking at little odds and sods.

CB Perfume make a number of scents based on real life smells. One of which is In the Library. It is designed to smell like old leather bound books and wood polish. It’s not something I can ever imagine wearing myself but is certainly an interesting idea.

Penguin makes a number of book related items, mainly based on their classic cover design. I wanted to include something simple in this post, like a mug or a bag (both of which are available) but when I looked at the Penguin site I came across The Great Penguin Bookchase, and just had to include it. What could appeal to a collector of books more than a game you win by collecting the most books?

 

I think I should wear this badge made by beanforest on Etsy everytime I enter a bookshop. That was I may actually succeed in cutting down my To Be Read pile!

How about some Scrabble Fridge Magnets? You might not get the board but surely have less space restrictions makes Scrabble easier?

Not such a fan of Scrabble? How about some fridge poetry
instead?

 

 

 

 

 

Related articles

• Bookish Gifts- Book Accesories. (lucybirdbooks.wordpress.com)
• Bookish Gifts- Clothing (lucybirdbooks.wordpress.com)

Bookish Gifts- Book Accesories.

It’s my second gift post. You can also have a look at my bookish clothing list.

You know what I could quite happily buy half the stuff in Paperchase given the money! I really like magnetic bookmarks simply because I am awful for loosing bookmarks and magnetic ones are so much harder to loose. I have a set of Russian Doll ones from Paperchase (which you can see if you explore the site) but this set based on The Owl and the Pussy Cat poem are a bit more bookish I think.

I think these bookends by MijMoj @ Folksy are a fantastic idea. Each book end holds a little vase for a single flower. Beautiful, and you can change the flower so it never gets old! Be warned though American buyers, shipping is on the expensive side.

 

 

M-Edge is completely focused on covers for e-readers. A lot of them (as the one displayed) are based on books (and many are designed by Out of Print, who I mentioned in my last gift post), and there are also lots based on New Yorker covers. None of them take your fancy? Well they also have a section where you can design your own.