Book Fun!

The current lockdown has given me lots more time to play with my books, including arranging my shelves to fit more in, and of course, buying plenty more. This helps with missing all the fun book events and festivals I normally would have gone to. I have recently been seeing lots of lovely book things on twitter and thought I would have a go too!

Spine poetry is fun and a great way to be creative, even if you're not normally any good at writing poems. Here are some of mine:

    

Another really beautiful thing to make is a book rainbow:

  

And lastly a very special TBR rainbow with some of my most anticipated books!

Can you make any spine poetry out of some of your favourite books? Be sure to share your book rainbows!

The Foundling - Stacey Halls

Bess has no option but to leave baby Clara at The Foundling, a hospital where children are raised and looked after until their mothers can come back for them if their situations ever improve. After 6 years of saving money, Bess thinks she finally has enough to get her daughter back but when she goes to claim her, she's told that Clara has already been claimed!

How heartbreaking it must be to have to leave your baby somewhere, even if you believe that they will be better cared for there than you could ever do. It seems like Bess has such a hard life, though even she is better off than some of the others leaving their babies. It's wonderful how her father, Abe's, care for Bess is described even though he seems so gruff and untalkative. On the other hand, her brother Ned talks as if he cares but doesn't actually do anything to help her or the family. The two men are so opposite in their behaviours.

There are so many mysteries, I never could have imagined how this would be resolved, but it does have a wonderful ending.

I really loved listening to this audiobook. It is full of such wonderful descriptions and heartfelt emotions and the narration is great, really bringing the story to life.

I've slightly adapted a Lost & Found Cocktail to fit the ingredients I have at home. Shake the following ingredients with lots of ice: 2 shots of gin, 1 shot of apple sourz, a dash of sugar syrup and 6 dashes of angostura bitters. Strain into a tall glass filled with ice and top up with soda.

Lockdown Book Haul

I'm sitting here trying to come to terms with the fact that I've had two book deliveries to an office that is now closed... and also my library closed before I could pick up my reservation of Gravemaidens by Kelly Coon 😭😭😭 So I have decided that I need to focus on all the great books I actually have received recently instead!

First up is Miss Iceland by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir which I was sent by Poppy at Pushkin Press, this one sounds really intriguing. Next, after seeing far too many good reviews and the gorgeous covers popping up all over the place, I had to order myself a copy of Potkin and Stubbs by Sophie Green, while I was online I also added Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez to the order. Then, an email to say A Small Fiction by James Mark Miller & Jefferson Miller had dropped in price made it irresistible.

Thankfully, I did manage to get a couple of library books earlier this month before they shut down. Spellhacker by M.K. England (another reservation) and Malamander by Thomas Taylor.

And of course there have been absolutely loads of ebook price reductions by publishers and authors this month. Here are some of my fantastic new Kindle books:

So, time to pick up a Quarantini to drown your sorrows and a book to escape them altogether! Have you read any of these books? What great bargains have you picked up since the lockdown?