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chesilbeach

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  1. I know, but it’s my main hobby so I read a lot during the week - lunch breaks, evenings and weekends, I listen to audiobooks on my commute and I never go anywhere without at least one book, so any waiting time is always occupied with some reading. Plus, my sewing machine has been out of action this year, so I haven’t had that to split my hometime either.
  2. I’m currently reading Doctor Who: In The Blood by Jenny T. Colgan on my kindle, Less by Andrew Sean Greer in paperback and Adventures in the Screen Trade by William Goldman in hardback. I’m listening to The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar in audiobook.
  3. Lovely to have the forum back. Thanks @Hayley
  4. 154 so far, and four on the go at the moment, although my reading always slows down from October until after Christmas, so I think I’ll probably end up around the 170 mark by the end of the year, which I think would be my second best year ever.
  5. This might be sacrilegious to say here, but I genuinely think it’s better to see Shakespeare performed rather than read - that’s what it was written for after all! Kenneth Branagh’s film and theatre adaptations are all excellent, and Baz Luhrman’s Romeo + Juliet was outstanding, so I’d recommend watching the films instead.
  6. That’s fine, but you used to get points for every pound spent, so if I had a coffee in the cafe I would get points for that but now only if I spend over £5, which I never do as I’m usually on my own. I would have preferred to stop the stamp cards and just stick with points.
  7. Hello, I’m still reading, just haven’t been posting much. I’m am on Goodreads although I tend to rate rather than write reviews there, but I also tweet and post about books on Instagram too (where I probably say more than on Goodreads!). I finished The Seabird’s Cry the evening before the winner was announced. I did enjoy it a lot, but my favourites from the shortlist were The Salt Path and Hidden Nature, but I suspect they were both quite similar types of books to The Outrun from a couple of years ago, and I wonder if they didn’t want to pick a similar book so close to that win. I thought this year was really strong - I’ve still got one of the long listed books left to read - but there hasn’t been a book I haven’t enjoyed this year, so I have no problem with my favourites not winning
  8. Thank you Michelle for a brilliant forum where I’ve nade some lovely friends. I’m not on Facebook so I’ll miss chatting to most of you about books, but if you know me on other social media and book sites, I’m sure we’ll continue to keep up our bookish nattering. Best wishes to you all, and thanks again Michelle
  9. June stats: Books read: 14 Pages read: 3941 Authors: Female 7, Male 7 Fiction: 8 Non-fiction: 6 Format: Hardback 4, Paperback 7, Kindle 3, Audiobook 0 Been an excellent month. Favourites are easy this month - non-fiction is The Salt Path by Raynor Winn, fiction is A Sky Painted Gold by Laura Wood. That brings my total books read this year to a nice round 100. Have been online much less recently hence the lack of reviews and posts here, but also the increased reading! As we're halfway through the year, here are my year to date stats too: Books read: 100 Pages read: 32493 Authors: Female 69, Male 31 Fiction: 78 Non-fiction: 22 Format: Hardback 18, Paperback 45, Kindle 28, Audiobook 9 Round Robin challenge: 9 Waterstones Children's Book Prize challenge: 12
  10. Oh, that is interesting. Thanks for letting me know. I'd not spotted that there was no naturalist on the panel, in fact, looking at the panel, it's two television presenters, a book buyer and a business man - not much expert opinion in there. The prize is actually nature and travel, so I can see how the two television presenters can cover those areas, but two business people does seem to be pushing it a bit, despite their personal interests in the subject. They might as well ask you or me! Such as shame that A Shadow Above hasn't even been longlisted.
  11. After this post, I had a few things going on that meant I didn't keep up with the swimming, but a couple of weeks ago, I ventured back into the pool, and I've managed seven swims in two weeks and my fitness had not deteriorated much, so after my first return to swimming of only 24 lengths, I'm back up to 32 already. Now I'm getting back into a routine, I'm going to add a couple of lengths to each swim, and aiming for a total of 50 lengths per session eventually. I'm still alternating between front crawl and breast stroke, and don't need to stop for a breather too often either. I'm also thinking of moving from the slow lane to the medium lane as my speed is picking up too.
  12. For a variety of reasons, I've had more free time this year than for a long time, and I can't deny, I've been escaping into books for a lot of it. I finished book 92 this morning. I know it's a lot more than a lot of people here read, but it's been my saviour for the last year.
  13. Had a day out at the seaside today - chips for lunch, ice-cream to follow and then spent £2 and half an hour in the amusement arcade on the 2p drop machine, from which I won a key ring and 20 tickets! Just like being a kid again
  14. I've finished six books so far this month (some were already in progress before the start of the month, so not as many as it sounds ): A Shadow Above by Joe Shute - brilliant, absolutely loved it (gutted it hasn't made the Wainwright longlist) The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde - re-read for book group The End We Start From by Megan Hunter - unusual style but enjoyable Heartburn by Nora Ephron - funny, but a bit sad too, although gorgeous new edition from Virago to celebrate their 40th anniversary The Great Greene Heist by Varian Johnson - quick, fun middle grade read. I love a good heist story! Reader, I Married Him by Tracy Chevalier (Editor) - collection of short stories inspired by Jane Eyre. Mixed bag, most very good, a couple excellent, and a couple I either disliked or have forgotten. I've been buying the books from the 2018 longlist for the Wainwright Prize for the best UK nature and travel writing which was announced this week. Of the thirteen books on the list, I've already read six and owned one more (which I'm reading now), so my forward planning has paid off, and I've bought another five this week already, with one left to get which wasn't in stock otherwise I'd probably have bought that one too! Seven books to read over the next two months is eminently more achievable than the whole list which is what I've tried to do for the last couple of years.
  15. Like you, I thought A Shadow Above was fantastic, and I was surprised not to see it on the list so I checked the submission rules and it was eligible for the award this year. I honestly can’t see why it wouldn’t make the list unless it wasn’t submitted by the publisher? They don’t have any other books on the longlist and I can’t see any limitations on the number of books they can submit (as in they might have had to chose between a number of books), so I’m at a loss as to why it isn’t there. Although I’ve enjoyed all the books I’ve read so far, I’d pick this one above at least three others so far, if not all.
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