WWW: Wednesday 9th September 2020 What are you reading at the moment?

WWW Wednesday is a meme hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words. It’s open for anyone to join in and is a great way to share what you’ve been reading!

Current Read:

A Village Affair by Joanna Trollope

It’s a slow ol’ read, and I’m a bit disappointed as it’s my first Trollope book, and I had hoped for something more…

Recently read:

The End of Men by Christina Sweeney-Baird

My 5 star book of the year!

Sliver by Ira Levin

Another disappointing one, I usually LOVE Levins’ books, but this was too full of waffle!

Next Read: Bunny by Mona Awad

I’m joining in with the Ladies of Horror Fiction Group on Goodreads with this one! It’s been described as ‘demented’ so I’m REALLY looking forward to starting it!

The Regrettable Actions of my Bookish Younger Self

So today I’ve decided to take a trip down Book Memory Lane. You know what us oldies are like for reminiscing about days gone by, all nostalgic, when times were better…

As you’ve probably all experienced in your own lives, us book lovers simply run out of shelf space. Unless of course you’re one of those lucky sods with a massive spare room/library to house every single book you’ve ever owned. (No bitterness or jealousy at all there.)

I’ve done many a charity shop donation with books I just didn’t have room for. Okay, admittedly, some I was glad to see the back of, but most were ‘I doubt I’d re-read, but I still like yous’. I have been known to *ahem* buy them again if seen for a bargain somewhere though.

In superb technicolour, here are the actual editions I have loved and lost.

[Click on the covers to find out more!]

And there we have it. A mixed bag of books from my past that I would love to have back on my bookshelves. Did any of these ring any bells? If you were a child/teen of the 80’s, I’m sure some of these covers will take you back!

Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend folks!

Films on Friday

Hello folks! Today I’m steering away from books (for five seconds!) and wanted to share with you one of my many favourite films.

(Click on the picture to see the details on imdb)

 

This is one of the very few romance movies that I absolutely LOVE! After all, what’s not to love about Richard Gere in an ice-cream mans outfit? It’s action-packed, dramatic, and funny in places, and the acting is superb. I watched this for the first time on Betamax Video, the player being one of those HUGE piano key styles that was state of the art! This is the exact same one that my parents had circa 1984! What a monstrosity!

I so wanted to be Debra Winger….

And all these years later, Mr Gere is still looking pretty dapper!

He’s 68!

Thanks for dropping by my lovelies! 😍

13,569 Pages Later (A bookish Zombie Apocalypse movie)

Ok, ok, so it’s nothing to do with Zombies, but I liked that title, so I went with it!

Aahh, this was nice to see on Goodreads, the lowdown on my 2017 journey. I’ve read some truly brilliant books this year, and I’m excited to get stuck in to many more in the New Year.

My TBR shelf is as enormous as ever, but I still NEED to buy one or two (87) that I’ve been pining for over the last year.

THESE. For starters.

 

Anyway, this is (probably) my final post of the year, so I’m off now to eat shit-loads of fantastic food, get pissed, play Monopoly and read inbetween. Not much reading will get done because I can’t read under the influence…

And finally, Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year to you all, you lot make this blogging malarky so worth while. Thank you 😍

Ok, I’m done. Is 10.22am too early for a bevvy? 😯

 

 

My Books Smell Funny…

Every day I’m coming across Grady Hendrix’s Paperbacks From Hell, whether it’s on Goodreads or Twitter or here on WordPress. I don’t actually own it at the moment, but I will be getting it soon. Very soon. (Update: I now own it. And LOVE it!)

I absolutely love the horror genre, particularly stuff from the late 70’s and early 80’s, and seeing so many posts about vintage horror books had me causing utter chaos amongst my bookshelves.

The disarray was well worth it though, because this is what I wanted to share:

Isn’t it just a sight to behold?

As you’ve probably noticed, it’s ALL by James Herbert. (Apart from the ones ABOUT Mr Herbert!) And what I noticed when I was organising the books is that my Magic Cottage is missing! (Not my REAL magic cottage, you understand, just the book. To misplace my real magic cottage would be very careless. And impossible, as I don’t have one.) I’ve loaned it to somebody and I can’t remember who. I’m mortified, so I’ll have to replace it, but I want the same edition as before, naturally. Anyway, now I’ve come to terms with the fact I’ve lost track of one of my FAVOURITE books and have mopped up my tears, lets discuss the smell.

If only I had a scratch and sniff option on my blog! (Although if I saw someone scratching my beloveds, I wouldn’t be best pleased, so I guess it’s a blessing really.) Some of these beauties have been sat on my bookshelves for over 30 years. They’re yellowing and dotted with mould. Some pages are falling out, the spines are ripped, but they’re loved. They have that smell that I struggle to describe, nothing I can think of can compare. It’s not a ‘oooh let’s get a Glade Plug-in like that’ smell, it’s more of a WONDERFULLY GRUBBY AROMA that oozes the stench of my first horror adventures.

Oh how I love you my fabulous fousty friends!

So, from fousty friends, to bookish friends. Fancy sharing some smelly old reads that are close to your heart and catnip for your nose? I’d love to see more photos, especially if any are by (IMO) The Master of Macabre himself.

In memory of James Herbert OBE 1943 – 2013.

I’ll finish on a lighter note, James’ dad was called Herbert. Yep, he was Mr Herbert Herbert, what crazy parents he must of had! Or just lazy!😂