Is it Saturday already? This week seems to have sped by. Anyway welcome to the latest of my Bookish Bits today I don’t have a link of the week I have a few, I look back over January at my resolutions, some sympathy parcels come in and some of you win some books.
I did have a link for week and now I cannot for the life of me remember what it was so I thought that I would mention a whole list of people who have moved from Blogger to WordPress and become part of my neighbourhood. I love the migration as Blogger is a nightmare to comment on sometimes if you aren’t on Blogger and also WordPress is just so easy to use. Anyway the lovely blogs that have moved (and I should have changed the links of in my list) are Su(Shu), Kiss a Cloud, Bookssnob and Gaskella. Do pop to their new homes and say hello.
Its been rather a haul of books for the postman this week, I will be writing about most of them on Tuesday but I wanted to say a special thanks for four that have arrived. One from the above mentioned Gaskella who I won a copy of ‘The Girl With The Glass Feet’ by Ali Shaw which is one of my choices for Not The TV Book Group. Ooh speaking of the NTTVBG don’t forget its just over a week until the first online meeting, hope you have managed to get some copies of Brodeck’s Report. Anyway, the sympathy supplies…
As well as the recent win from Gaskella, I also received three parcels from some very kind people two who don’t blog and one who does. My first arrivals were ‘If The Spirit Moves You’ by Justine Picardie which I was sent ‘because you loved Daphne and I know you are fascinated by the spiritual… and you need to read more non-fiction’, I was also sent ‘A Rope of Sand’ by Elsie Burch Donald because ‘the cover is very you, the book is a bit dark and mysterious and Kate Atkinson has a quote on the front’ these do both sound very me. I also had a gift all the way from America as the very kind Kristen M sent me ‘A Reliable Wife’ by Robert Goolrick after I commented on another blog how much I would like to read about a ‘poisoning wife’ sounds quite sensational. A big thank you for these, most kind.
These all of course make the book buying ban I embarked on from the 1st. I have to say so far I haven’t found it too hard. I have even been in some second hand shops, and visited my favourite old book binge haunt to give them a few hundred of mine and left with none. I even dared to have another mooch. As it’s the end of January almost I did wonder what about my other resolutions? Recently my whim reading has slightly wobbled so that needs sorting, am still reading short stories not in one go just working through a collection between books or when I fancy a quick read. Translation books are going better however I have as yet not read a Brazil based book, so that’s something to change for February. How are you all getting on with your resolutions?
Is it me or does it feel like a funny old week? Not the world of blogs just in general, they do say it’s the most depressing week, I think the word is melancholic. Well hopefully I can bring some joy into two people’s lives. In last weeks Bookish Bits I said anyone who commented would be thrown in for a signed copy of the latest Agatha Raisin. Well congrats to Verity and Kirsty who have both won one each… let me have your addresses and they will be in the post sharpish. If you didn’t win do keep your eyes peeled over the next couple of months as we have some huge Agatha Raisin giveaways to come so that’s something to look forward to.
So how have your weeks been? Any nice new books in your household? How are your New Year’s resolutions going? Who is joining in with next weeks NTTVBG? What have you read in the last week that you have loved?
Savidge Reads 
Ooh, thanks that’s wonderful! It will be good to encounter Agatha, and by coincidence today is my first day of two months of not buying books…haha, I just need to enter lots of competitions. Happy weekend Simon!
Oh very good coincidence there Verity! Agatha is a great read if you go into it with an open mind which of course I know you will hee hee. Have a lovley weekend too Verity!
Thank you for all the links etc. I know wordpress is going to be fun – I haven’t got the hang of making links work in posts yet, but I’ll get there.
I’ve found a Brazilian book for you – the newest one in the Canongate Myths series is called Orphans of Eldorado by Milton Hatoum (from Manaus). It’s out in Feb. I requested an ARC from Canongate and they kindly obliged …
My resolutions are going fairly well – I’m reading books published before I was born, and started the Myths series – the TBR pile keeps growing though.
Ooooh I didnt know that the latest myth was set in Brazil. One of the recent arrivals in the house is also based in Brazil and I think that it will probably be the first Brazilian based book that I read this year, I do have some goodies lined up though I just havent gotten round to them yet!
Glad all resolutions are going well with you and that you love your new wordpress home so much!
Weee I got A Reliable Wife a few months ago from another blogger too. I look forward to reading that one.
It is so nice when bloggers send another blogger a book, it does make me a little worried about the prospect of popping my book thoughts down about it though, what if you don’t like it? Having said that A Reliable Wife sounds just my cup of tea!
I don’t know about you, but my week has been chaotic. It has been all I can do to keep up with the blogs and my reading. I am currently in the middle of My Cousin Rachel, which is fabulous, but I’ve been distracted so it isn’t going quickly. I also finished Agassi’s memoir Open on audio, which was very enjoyable.
I am saving My Cousin Rachel as my last Daphne read as am worried with having read Rebecca and Jamaica Inn all the best ones will have been read and done with. Glad you are enjoying it despite being sidetracked, this week has been a somewhat crazy one.
It was definitely a rather awful week for me and I’m glad to see it done. Still trying to decide how to celebrate its end – a trip to pick up books at the library? My copy of The Girl with the Glass Feet has just arrived. Or perhaps just curl up with my tea and The Making of a Marchioness. Clearing, some big decisions ahead of me.
Oh no Claire, how comes it was so awful, wello dont feel you have to share over the net as you might not want everyone knowing, hope the weekend makes up for it. So pleased you have The Girl with the Glass Feet ready for three weeks time. Cups of tea with any book helps after a cruddy week!
I’m glad to hear your resolution is going so well, mine is to keep in touch with friends and family better. Just downloaded Skype which should help a lot, especially for a my friend in India!
New books have entered my home, two for £5 in ASDA had to be done. So I got The Picture of Dorian Gray and All Quiet on the Western Front, both of which I’m very excited about!
It has been a funny old week, however the sun has come out today here and I’m just realising how much I’ve missed it. Heres to a brighter week next week aye.
I heard Asda have started to sell classics now as a way of promoting them for quite reasonable prices! I need to read All Quiet on the Western Front. My Gran bought it me and its been lingering on the TBR pile for a good few years – oops. Same her with thoughts about the sun, lets hope it stays the weekend!!
I’m glad you received the book and it’s okay if you end up not loving it!
I got my copy of Brodeck (the U.S. title) from the library so I will get to that soon. I’m on the waiting list for The Girl With Glass Feet but if my turn doesn’t come up soon, I will probably just go buy a copy. I don’t want to miss that one!
I received a copy of Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters this week which I’m excited about and I used a gift credit to purchase some recent books that I loved that were library reads. I love that I have books coming into the house that I don’t have to read immediately. My TBR pile won’t get bigger this time. 🙂
Did you get my thank you email (it might be in my drafts its been one of those weeks)? I was so thrilled to receive it and it was very kind so thank you very much.
Glad to hear you have Brodeck safe and sound, mine hasnt arrived (The Converted One has been ordering away) yet so I will have to get a wriggle on when it does. I have high hopes that The Girl With The Glass Feet is going to be quite a special read.
I havent read Sense and Sensibility but think the idea of this new series of zombie/monster spin offs is both hilarious and horrific in one, look forward to your thoughts on that.
Thinking about the week and realise it’s traditionally one of the best in the new year for me. When I lived in shetland we had Up-Helly-Aa which is a huge deal up there – very much a party to look forward to, and always the last tuesday of january. For the last 3 years I’ve celebrated burns night which has also become a bit of an institution to brighten up the last week of Jan – good (cheap) food, good Whisky, good company, and a night spent reading poetry with some proper racy bits – I’m not sure what I’d do without it.
Hope next week is less melencholic for you.
Well at least its a great week for someone. I love the idea of an Up-Helly-Aa, I wonder if I could starta trend with it her in the capital, what do you think? Maybe I should just make up a celebration on this week in future years, mind you next year I might be on a brazilian beach so am thinking that would cheer me up in itself.
Poetry with racy bits… that might help with my pleeding post a while back for poetry recommendations!
Just finished two mysteries: Death Wore White by Jim Kelly (very clever puzzle plot–how was a driver killed when his car was snowbound but there are no footprints to or from the vehicle) and Dying Light by Stuart MacBride (from a series set on the mean streets of Aberdeen). Both very good with meaty plots, large cast of characters, and real sense of place (King’s Lynn and Aberdeen, respectively).
BTW, I always ask people who are reading Daphne du Maurier if they have read The Parasites. I think it’s her best book–an extended flashback told by three siblings narrating simultaneously. Unfortunately, readers don’t seem to love it they way they love Rebecca and My Cousin Rachel and Don’t Look Now so it doesn’t get the love and attention it deserves. If you haven’t read it, seek it out. If you have, what did you think?
I havent heard of either of the books you have mentioned Deb! I have to say that Death Wore White sounds like a great book when you want to work out a real mystery, and we like a nice meaty plot now and again dont we all?
I have read The Parasites and I did enjoy it very much, not as much as Rebecca or Jamaica Inn but its a great novel, mind you I think all her work is genius. If you click on the Daphers link on the left you should be able to see it.
Congratulations to the winners of the indomitable Agatha Raisin 🙂
If you like Agatha Raisin there are some brill competitions coming up over the next few months!!
I’m curious, what is the book If the Spirit Moves You about? I’m always on the lookout for good non-fiction, and the title sounds interesting enough.
I’ve also just got A Reliable Wife out of the library, so am looking forward to reading that as well. =)
If The Spirit Moves You is author Justine Picardies tales of how after the death of her sister she tried to contact her and all the questions behind spirituality and mediumship from what I gather, its supposed to be a really quite remarkable read.
I think lots of people are getting A Reliable Wife at the moment so will be interesting to have lots of lovely people to discuss it with on the blogosphere!
Dear Simon, I greatly enjoy your blog but don’t usually have the time to comment; ( have small children). Just wanted to say that after Liasons Dangereuses you should try the gorgeous “No Tomorrow” by Vivant Denon, another 18th C seduction story, only this one is very short and also has a happy ending. I think of these stories as a great pair – both historic, French, aristocratic, tastefully erotic, one tragic, one idyllic. No Tomorrow is like seeing a beautiful Poussin painting and having the story behind the picture.
It has been reprinted last year by NYRB with a gorgeous cover but you can get secondhand penguins of it it you look around.
http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/book/9781590173268/No-Tomorrow
Hi Merenia, thank you so much for tsaking the time to pop by and to leave a comment, I understand life can get hectic and know that not all my readers leave comments (though I wish they did). I am currently on a book buying ban so I will have to look out for No Tomorrow at the library as am definitley intrigued. Either that or hope some freiend/relation/reader sees a copy and sends it over. Hee hee arent I cheeky!
I forgot to include this link of No Tomorrow from NYRB Classics – it gives more of a description than bookdepository;
http://www.nybooks.com/shop/product?usca_p=t&product_id=9213
Oooh thank you nfor the second link. I have to say I am quite naive about NYRB, I have never bought one of theirs.
Simon, thanks for the link love! 🙂
And what would you do without nice people sending you books, eh?
I know its very kind of people. Mind you as you will see on Tuesday maybe I dont deserve too much sympathy hee hee.
Hope you are still loving wordpress, its a dream!