Autumn

Cold, dark and very autumnal when I left the house at 7.30 this morning. When I popped out at lunchtime it was lovely out; bright sunshine, blue skies even a bit of warmth to the sun, could even probably have gone without a jacket. Left work at 5.00 pm and it was dull and cloudy with a bitingly cold wind.

I have all my unread kindle books in a folder called 'to read' but the books all still appear on the main/home screen under the list of folders I have. Not quite sure how else to explain it unless I can take a screenshot or something. I saw that actually, and am thinking of downloading it at the weekend and having a play around on it. Although it's very reasonably priced I need to figure out if it is something I am going to use long-term. I know, tell me about it. I don't know of anyone else who does what I do with regard to page counts, but I was really hoping that if there are any other people out there who do what I do then I'd find them on here! The weird thing is I'm pretty sure at one time or another moving them into a folder did remove them from the home screen as it was easier to keep track of my unread books, genres etc. but all of a sudden it seems to have changed. I have an older keyboard version of the Kindle so I don't know if it's something to do with that. I don't think there are any settings on the actual Kindle itself that can be changed but I didn't think about looking at my Kindle settings on my Amazon account. It would be great if it is something simple like that because the way it is at the moment is super annoying and with 700+ books on my Kindle it looks a bit cluttered.

Ah okay, I thought I was doing something wrong there for a minute. Yeah, I googled it earlier and had a bit of a browse round the site but thank you so much for leaving a link to your page as it's really difficult to get a sense of what it actually looks/works like just by reading the 'about' pages. Not going to lie, that looks seriously AMAZING! I take it you have the Pro account then? I can see how it might be quite time consuming - I love the fact that it's online and on your computer though. Brilliant idea! Okay, page counts are something which I am really OCD about. You see I don't go by the figure on the last page of the book. For example, quite often books actually start on page 8 and the first 7 pages are taken up by title page, copyright, dedication pages etc. so I don't actually count that as part of the book and deduct those pages from the overall total. Same goes for blank pages in between chapters and pages that just have 'Part 1' etc. written on them. (Told you I was OCD!!) So the fact that you can populate this field yourself is my idea of heaven!

Yeah, LibraryThing is definitely not as pretty and overall I do like the look and feel of GoodReads and it seems relatively easy to use. I'm just put off a little at having missing/wrong covers and wrong information etc. I'm not planning on using GoodReads for anything other than cataloguing books either so if I can get over having to have the correct edition (cover, page count etc.) then it would still work for me in that sense. It just would have been nice to have everything matching. Totally off topic I know, but one thing that annoys me about my Kindle is that when you place a book in to a folder it doesn't just appear in that folder but in the main list too (do you get what I mean?). Anyone know if there is there a way around that?

I've been searching by ISBN rather than title so I assumed the edition would be the correct one. Book Collector sounds interesting. How does it work? Is it a website/online or is it software you download to your own computer? * goes off to do Google search *

So I signed up for an account yesterday afternoon and spent about an hour adding books - overall I like the site but I'm not sure if I'm actually going to use it or not. My main complaint is that some of the books I tried to add either had no cover image or the wrong one, page counts were off (sometimes by a fair amount of pages) and one or two of them had their synopsis in a language that wasn't English. I know these things may not bother the majority of members but I'm not one of them. I'm a bit OCD about things like this and although I could add a different edition to the one I own/have read I think it will annoy me too much. I may just stick to an old school method - pen and paper. I just thought it would be nice to have some kind of online record too. I do like the fact that you can click on an authors page and see what other books by that author you still have to read. Same goes for books in a series etc. I'm assuming that similar sites like LibraryThing would have the same problem?

I bought it a few weeks ago myself after giving in to the hype surrounding it, plus I'd really like to read the book before seeing the movie which I'm sure I'll do at some point. I haven't gotten around to actually reading it yet though; I think I'm putting it off in case it doesn't live up to my high expectations for it.

This pretty much sums up my plans for the weekend too. Are you sure we don't work for the same company? This whole scenario is very similar to one we've had recently at my place of work.

I love this!

I haven't got anything against erotica, just never read any myself. It would probably make me blush!

I used to keep a Word document listing all the books on my TBR pile but when my computer crashed a few years back I lost it and although I did have a printed copy of it I never kept up with it and it is long since out of date. However, with all the physical books I have and over 700 on my Kindle I'm thinking it's way past the 1,500 mark. I think I'm going to focus on getting that number down as much as I can throughout 2017 so I'm putting a book buying ban on myself and I'm going to read books solely from those I already own. I really need to sign up on GoodReads and start adding all my books on to the 'to read' shelf so that I can finally see exactly what I have. It's a bit of a daunting job to do but I think it would be worth it. I might actually get started on that this weekend.

I'm so sorry you're going through so much crap at work just now, Talisman. I feel your pain, I really do. There is nothing worse than being miserable at work. Been there, done that. My job situation has improved somewhat since my chat with one of the owners on Tuesday. All the owners and my immediate supervisor had a meeting yesterday and I'm not sure what was said but I was called into a 40 minute meeting with my immediate supervisor and was basically told that the changes to the teams/shifts, which was pretty much a done deal two days ago, are now not going to happen. Oh, and the staffing issues I was having to deal with are now (hopefully) not going to be my concern anymore which is even better news. I was also told that I'm good at my job and that everything I do is really appreciated by everyone (him, the owners and my colleagues) which I have to admit was nice to hear. It's not often we get any feedback unless it's negative and it's nice to feel appreciated now and again. Mind you they could just be telling me what they think I want to hear to calm the situation down, rather than face the upheaval of me giving it up and having to find someone to replace me. I never actually got an answer as to whether giving up the promotion was an option or not but we'll see how things go over the next few months and I'll take it from there. Friday tomorrow, yay!!

That's what I'd like to. Go to work, do my job, come home at the end of the day and forget about it until the next. I'm just not sure a quiet, stress-free job actually exists.

I love Joanne. Now that Aliona has left she's my favourite female.

Believe me I have been thinking long and hard about whether giving up the promotion is the right thing to do or not. It's been on mind on and off for months and I have kept putting off taking it any further or even broaching the subject with anyone because there is a huge part of me that doesn't want to give it up because I think I've done a pretty good job in very difficult cirucmstances over the past year. But at the same time I'm not prepared to go down the road of being miserable all the time, which is what I was 6 months ago. I love my job, I love my bosses (I have one immediate supervisor and 6 bosses who own the business), they have always been really good to me. I also love (for the most part) my team of staff; we get on really well, especially now that the 'problem' staff member has left. But the thing is the staffing issues I'm having to deal with (or at least be a part of) is NOT part of my job and never has been a part of it even before I took over. My predecessors never had to deal with it, certainly not to this extent anyway. It's sort of been foisted on me and it's not something I have ever been comfortable with because at the end of the day I work with these people on a day-to-day basis (they're my friends) so it puts me in a really awkward position. I had a good chat with one of the actual owners today, rather than my immediate boss, and she's totally on my side with the whole situation and is going to discuss it with the others so we shall see what happens. I feel better now that I've discussed it with one of them, although I was a little surprised that she didn't know there were further issues!!

I've had a quick look at the books she has listed on her website and I've read Nineteen Minutes, The Tenth Circle (didn't enjoy this one), My Sister's Keeper (I thought the ending was a cop-out), Perfect Match and The Pact. I have a few others on my TBR list that I've still to get around too. Haven't read any of her books for a while though, so I may move one up to the top of the pile.

Wow Athena, I can't believe how many books you have gotten through so far this year. Mind blowing! I've only read a few Jodi Picoult books but out of the ones I have read Nineteen Minutes is definitely a firm favourite. It's one of those books I'd like to re-read at some point... if I ever find the time.

I think he might have been in Hollyoaks at one point.

Afternoon all. Hope everyone is having a great weekend. Sorry I haven't been around much over the last week or two but everything at work is kicking off again and to be honest I just can't be bothered doing anything at the moment. Things have been tough at work over the last couple of years with problem staff and people just generally not being very happy. Last year a couple of people left, I was talked into a promotion I wasn't really sure I wanted and the first 6 months was tough... really tough and I was pretty miserable for most of it. Things have slowly been getting better and a couple of months ago a member of staff (who was quite literally a waste of space and really should never have been working there in the first place) finally left before having to face a disciplinary hearing. From the moment she left the atmosphere lightened and things were really beginning to look up. People were actually happy and content again.. including me. For the first time in over a year I went back to work after a week's annual leave and not one person complained about anything. It was fantastic and a real turning point. Yeah, I should have known it wasn't going to last. Three days later a member of staff asked to talk to me in private and other issues were raised. However, my boss, rather than dealing with said issues is taking the easy way out and moving people from different teams/shifts to avoid certain people having to work with each other. Which on the one hand is fine, but doesn't actually tackle the issues. Not to mention there are two sides to every story so at the very least he should at least be talking to the people concerned, but nope, not going to happen. Now that everyone is aware there are going to be changes, other people are getting unhappy and I just know things are going to spiral out of control real fast. I've been thinking about potentially asking to give up the promotion I was given because I just can't stand the thought of becoming as unhappy as I was previously, but on the one hand would I be shooting myself in the foot because the job itself (as in the additional workload) is fine and dandy, I just can't be bothered having to be involved in the staffing issues? I don't really know what to do to be honest. I don't even know if my bosses would even allow me to give up the promotion so I'm thinking of asking if it's possible before making a final decision. Anyway, sorry for the rant. Just wanted to let you know why I haven't been very active lately. Hope everyone is having a better time of it than me. I have to play catch up with the end of the last thread and this one!

I can't believe 10's have been given out in week 4 The scoring this year is so inconsistent with previous years. I actually think it's time Strictly took a break or at the very least has a bit of an overhaul with the format etc. because it's turning into a bit of a joke now. I'm beginning to think all those rumours about it being a fix might actually have some truth to them. Don't think I'm going to be watching it for much longer to be honest as it's all getting a bit tired.

I haven't been keeping track but I'd probably say anything from about 50-60. Not bad but not great either; stupid reading slump has gotten in the way. Next year I'm going to keep track properly - probably on GoodReads and quite possibly in a notebook too - and I'm going to aim for 150.

Really sorry to see Benjamina go this week, but overall I think it was the best decision. I love Selasi but I think I want Candice to win. Her comments and facial expressions are so funny and overall she has been fairly consistent (although admittedly she has had a few near misses). Her peacock this week was pretty darn amazing!

Shows I'm currently watching are Cold Feet (I am loving this new series and really hope it will be back), The Great British Bake Off (I usually only see the occasional episode here and there but I've really gotten into it this year) and Police Interceptors (I'm not going to lie; I love watching the bad guys get locked up, but the oh-so-lovely, easy-on-the-eye hot cops are also worth watching!). I'm also looking for my next new addiction and after narrowing it down I think I'm going to go with Pretty Little Liars. I don't actually know all that much about it other than that it's based on a book series, but people really seem to love it, so I think I'm going to give it a go and make a start on it this weekend.

Thank you! That might have been a better way of doing it actually, although no doubt you would still get people complaining.

Okay, you both have me intrigued. What happened?