My A - Z of books

Week three and we arrive at 'C' on my A - Z of books journey, and so to Caitlin Moran.

Author, journalist, feminist, and Sherlock lover, there is no better combination in my mind!  Her books; How To Be a Woman, Moranthology and The Chronicles of Narmo approach a broad range of topics including feminism, botox, shoes, Sherlock, kids, the workplace, strip-clubs, love, and Topshop with a sense of humour that resonates with me.  

Her books made me re-engage with feminism and acted as a launchpad for me reading a range of modern feminist articles and books.  I understand her humour isn't for everyone but I would urge you to read her books, in particular How To Be a Woman.

Here is a recap of my A-Z so far:

• A
• B

#100happydays

Wow I can't believe I'm 40 days in!  I'm really enjoying this challenge, it has me instagraming all the time, and really taking the time to notice those little nuggets of happy surrounding me.  So here are days 31-40:

31. What, what is this?  Sunlight?  I can't be sure I haven't seen it for so long...

32. Mewster has taken to hanging out on the back of the sofa whilst MozzyMr and I are sat on it, she also sleeps on the bed more these days.  She may well become a lap cat yet....

33. The weekend after MozzyMr's Birthday I arranged for an old Uni friend of ours to visit as a surprise for Moz.  The look on Moz's face when he answered the door was ace, an evening of catching up, playing Scrabble and Trivial Pursuit ensued.

34. So many weekends recently have been a wash out, so I've been forced to stay under the duvet drinking coffee and reading Ship of Theseus.  It's a real shame.

35. This little beast is so damn cute sometimes.  Whilst I shower in the morning she will hang out on the bathmat having a wash waiting for me to finish and lavish her with attention.

36. MoMa made this ragdoll for me when I was a very little girl, I can't remember her name unfortunately but I love her outfit and hair.  She sits on my chest of drawers so I get to see her everyday.

37. Meeting up with friends for a Friday lunchtime gossip, rounded off with epic ice creams on chilly days!

38.  MozzyMr is always drawing pen tattoos on me, this was Saturday's masterpiece.

39. Last burn on the allotment until October *sad face*.  It was a glorious day on Saturday, perfect burn weather, the whole process is so much easier with Bernie our incinerator.  We went a bit over board and burnt everything that we could get our hands on.

40. So, damn, exciting... I love this time of year!  Every windowsill in the house has collections of seedlings, I've had to bring some house plants to work just to make room.  Here we have some butternut squashes going in!

#100happydays round up:

• Days 1 - 10
• Days 11 - 20
• Days 21 - 30

My A - Z of books

Welcome back to my A - Z of books, these posts are to celebrate being chosen as a World Book Night 2014 book giver and to celebrate all things books!

A scan of my copy of the BFG.  You can see the remains of 'The Walt Disney Company' transfer stickers on the cover.  I applied those transfers to everything I owned!

And so to 'B' on my list....it had to be The BFG by Roald Dahl, this was the first book I bought with my own money and I adored it.  We were on holiday in York, I can't remember how old I was when I bought it but whilst curled up on my camp bed in the hotel room breathing in new book smell and feeling like a proper grown up for having bought a book I lapped the story up.  I plan to visit the Roald Dahl museum at some point, my nieces report that it is pretty good!

Standard practice, writing my name over everything, I've even gone with 'I like the BFG'.  Never one to exaggerate apparently.

Almost everyone I know adores Roald Dahl books, which did you first own and which is your favourite?

Here is a recap of my A-Z so far:

• A

Allotment Geekery

Well I haven't had the opportunity to write an Allotment Geekery post for a while, happily Saturday was sunny and warm.  It was also the last burn day on the plot until October so we burnt ALL THE THINGS!

Not long now until we get purple sprouting broccoli (which takes forever from planting to harvesting), we missed out last year because... well I forgot to plant any.  Awkward.  They're so tender and delicious, three plants provide more than enough for the two of us.

Check it!  Broad beans, planted in the autumn and finally peeking through the soil!  I didn't think these would work because it has been so wet, but 15 little seedlings are poking through with the weather slowly getting drier and warmer it shouldn't be too long before broad bean pesto again! 

Life lately

1. Things getting serious last Saturday...

2. My first (but by no means last) attempt at baked cheesecake, so nom

3. Fleeting visits to London and finding a completely empty tube station, never seen that before!

4. Mewster hiding amongst the towels in the airing cupboard

5. Mewster selfie using the Catsnaps app!

6. Mewster (again!) snuggling into a sleeping bag, forgetting her tongue is hanging out

7. Buying special trainer socks and being perturbed that they have 'L' and 'R' embroidered into them...

8. These have seen some hard graft recently, I will be beach ready, I will be beach ready!

9. Pulling a calf muscle badly enough I had to hobble about like a pirate for five days. Le Sigh.

My A - Z of books

Woo hoo!  I am so chuffed to be chosen as a World Book Night 2014 book giver.  I was a book giver in 2012 with The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak which is one of my all time favourite books.  When I saw that Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch was listed I had to apply again, I adore his Peter Grant books and can't wait to share Rivers of London with friends and strangers alike!

To celebrate I thought I would write a series of weekly posts outlining my personal A - Z of books, showcasing authors and books that have influenced me in my *cough* 32 years.

So lets begin with A:

It seems appropriate enough to start with 'Aaronovitch' as my A on this list.  A friend at work recommended this to me, once I had finished it I was hooked on the series.  A symptom of writing my old 'A Month of Reading' posts on this little blog was that I read books that I thought I should read rather than books I really wanted to read.  Rivers of London was one I really wanted to read and from that point onwards I stopped writing the posts and started reading everything I wanted to whether high or low brow.

I hope you'll join me next Tuesday for 'B' on my A-Z of books!

Fantasy office

*Sigh* I would love to have an office in our house.  The spare room is currently taken over with a small desk for MozzyMr (he works from home a lot) and shelves of stuff we need to comb through and get rid of.  If I did have my own office it would have to include the following:

1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7 // 8 // 9