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| Photo by Tom Hermans on Unsplash |
What are you reading right now? If you read the side bar of this blog I list my current read and the last five books I have read. There have been a lot of LJ Ross on there lately. This is because I do a swap with a friend. We are both reading the DCI Ryan series. I picked up four of her books in a charity shop and my friend bought some. I was the one who started it as I read LJ Ross' first book. The place it was set (Holy Island) interested me because I have visited the island. All the books are set in Northumbria, a place I love, but haven't been back to in ages.
The storylines can vary, but I love the characters and the humour between the detectives. I like it when I find an author with a series I can get into. How about you?
I read, on average, a book a week. Apart from swaps with friends, I buy in charity shops and bookshops. I always ask for book vouchers for my birthday and Christmas. In the past, I have been given Amazon vouchers too.
What do you do with your books when you've read them? Mine go to charity or for swaps. Do I keep any? Usually, only non-fiction, but that's getting out of hand! Recently I was going through my read books, the ones I had decided to keep. I thought maybe now was the time to pass some on. Oh, it was hard, and in the end I shut the door saying, 'I can't deal with this now!' I have far too many books that I can't seem to pass on. Some are reference books. I have several, okay, more than several, about London, including London in Victorian times. Then there are art books, mainly from exhibitions, and some I've not yet got round to reading. I have nature books, poetry, language books (yeah, like I'm ever going to master German, but there's always that sneaking feeling that I just might go back to it). What is a poor bookaholic to do?
In my writing room I have a shelf of books which include a huge Chambers Thesaurus, some magazines in which I have been published, art, a whole series of walking guides (Thames Path, Capital Ring, London Waterways, The Lea Valley Way, South Downs Way and Isle of Wight walks). I have more of these downstairs! Then there are my files and books on writing and lots of notebooks, though most of the notebooks are in a drawer. In this room is also most of my art materials. I have a big box under the chest of drawers with sketch books on top. I never seem to have time to draw, paint or whatever, and Rue the dog has chewed some of the edges of the sketch books (he was a puppy then).
My books are snuck under the bed in my writing room, in a cupboard in the bedroom and downstairs on various shelves. I really must make an effort to reduce my haul because I know I will add to them, however much I try not to buy another book on walking routes. My haul is getting out of hand.
I try not to let my fiction TBR pile build up these days and I've stuck to that....somehow! But oh, how I love bookshops. There's always another book I want to buy. I love touching books, and I love raised images or letters on covers, adore little maps inside books and the odd Spotify playlist to go with a book. I also love author interviews about how they got into writing/what made them write this book and so on.
Because I read a varied mix of genres, I've found it hard to pinpoint my favourite genre, but I think I've found that I often crave for a crime/thriller or psychological thriller. I enjoy fast paced books with plenty of tension with those great chapter endings that make you want to read on. But I also enjoy a little humour (and I write a lot of it). Bob Mortimer's books are fun, and the classic Cold Comfort Farm is brilliant. Yet I will delve into the odd YA, literary and even a bit of sci-fi, though it has to be just the right thing. I quite like cli-fic and apocalyptic stories too. A little horror is okay as long as it isn't gory, and I like gothic.
At the moment I have two Ann Cleeves books waiting to be read (swaps), a Sarah Moss, a poetry book, a non-fiction book on the Thames Estuary and a huge book about the Thames (definitely a dip in and out of book) by Peter Ackroyd. Oh, and I still have an LJ Ross book (of course).
Now my book pile is so low, I hope to visit the library soon and start borrowing again, but passing a bookshop is a struggle. I want to go in and surround myself with books....my happy place. Even the writing group meets in Waterstones for its free-writing sessions, and I've already spotted a book I want!
