#JustSaying

There are times in life when everything feels like it's getting away from you. 

I'm in the middle of one of those times right now. 

(At least, I hope it's the middle and not just the start of something bigger!)

My head space is full of routine stuff, life stuff, work stuff, planning stuff, organising stuff and I'm finding it hard to find time for creative stuff, reflection and personal growth.

Every time I think about my blog, I experience stress. 

Reviews are piling up - I'm simply not in the right space to write them. 

But I want to write something. 

I need to write.

Could my inner creative side be in revolt? 

No more reviews; it's time to write something else? 

Except a huge part of me wants (CRAVES) this place that helps me keep track of my reading life. 

I like having this 8 year old record of my book journey. 

I'm reading much more mindfully than I ever have before and I'm loving it. 

But I'm making more time for reading, than I am for reviewing. 

What I need is to find a way to make this easier for myself.

I need to let go some of the stuff cluttering up my head space.

And I want to write something, anything; even if it's just another list!

Books Read But Not (Yet) Reviewed

Narrow Road to the Interior by Matsuo Basho

My Purple Scented Novel by Ian McEwan

The Annotated Persuasion by Jane Austen & David M, Shapard

Just Flesh and Blood by Jane Caro

Books I'm Halfway Through

The Secrets She Keeps by Michael Robotham (by next book club book)

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo x3  (readalong)

Last Stories by William Trevor

The Best Short Stories by Guy de Maupassant

Love and Freindship and Other Youthful Writings by Jane Austen

The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things by Paula Byrne

Books I've Just Started

The Compete Maus by Art Spiegelman

The Nice and the Good by Iris Murdoch (readalong)

Stalled

Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father by John  Matteson

Inglorious Empire: What the British Did to India by Shashi Tharoor

12 Rules For Life: An Antidote to Chaos by Jordan B. Peterson (perhaps I should uninstall this one!)

Basho The Complete Haiku

Mirror Sydney by Vanessa Berry

Bookish Things I'm Looking Forward To

Readers Imbibing Peril (R.I.P XIII)

Seasonally speaking, this particular event always feels a little wrong to me. 

In Sydney, spring is desperately trying to make itself known.
The days are lengthening, I'm being woken by bird song every morning and the bulbs & blossoms are suddenly popping open.
There's a sense of waking up, emerging, and a sense of all things fresh and new.

Reading gloomy, dark, spooky stories feels like a good wintry thing to do; not a good sunny days, bursting with the joy of new life thing.

I'm sure we will have another bout of cold weather before true spring arrives; another grey, gloomy weekend when reading a gothic thriller will be just what the doctor ordered AND if that happens, then I will gladly, willing tackle Peril the Third and read one book for this 2 month challenge. 

#Victober

I discovered this on Goodreads and thought it might be a nice way to read another book from my CC List #2. The Victorian era goes from 1837-1901. I have 3 possibilities. 

A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle (1887)     (this could also help me with R.I.P. XIII)

Little Doritt by Charles Dickens (1855 - 57)

Basil by Wilkie Collins (1852)

The 1944 Club

I've never been organised enough to join in this challenge before, but I have 2 books on my TBR pile first published in 1944.

The Headmistress by Angela Thirkell

The Golden Fleece by Robert Graves

FrankenFest

A chance to read Frankenstein in October (another R.I.P. XIII possibility)?

A copy has just made it's way onto my TBR pile, so maybe....

Tags

I was recently tagged on Twitter to name 3 books that made me stay up reading long into the night (thanks Kate).

Last night I read until 1:30am because I finally got to the exciting part in The Secrets She Keeps.

Last week it was The Annotated Persuasion.

But then I would have to think long and hard to remember a third....

On Instagram Fanda challenged me with this list:

Favourite Fantasy:
The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings trilogy

Favourite Sci-fi:
anything by John Wyndham

Favourite Contemporary:
Liane Moriarty

Favourite Romance:
The Ladies of Missalonghi

Favourite book from 10 years ago:
is this favourite book that I READ in 2008 or favourite book first PUBLISHED in 2008?
2008 is pre-blogging days and I simply cannot remember everything I read back then.
I remember rereading Jane Eyre for my book club and I started Max Gallo's Napoleon series.
I also read Geraldine Brooks People of the Book (I went to a local book event and got a signed copy).
Published in 2008 but read and loved later, were The Hunger Games and Olive Kitteridge.

Favourite book from the last 100 days:
Too hard to pick just one, so here's five favourites.
Taboo
Lenny's Book of Everything
Northbridge Rectory
Sugar Money
Pachinko

The thought of hunting down these books to take a pic of them was too much to bear!

Feel free to consider yourself tagged.

Phew!
That's not in my brain any more.

Maybe there will be some space for creativity, reflection and personal growth today?

#justsaying

Book Blogger Confessions

This is a fairly new meme hosted by For What It's Worth and Tiger's All Consuming Media.

Book Blogger Confessions is a meme that posts the 1st and 3rd Monday of every month, where book bloggers "confess" and vent about topics that are unique to us. Feel free to share, vent and offer solutions. Just keep it respectful - no bashing authors or other bloggers!


This weeks question is:

We have created a blogging time machine! Pretend you can start over. Knowing what you know now about blogging – what do you wish you did differently when it comes to creating/running your blog?

Honestly, I'm not sure I would change anything.

I started my blog for fun.
I had started a new job in an Independent bookshop and for the first time since my Uni days, I suddenly had time to read a lot of books.

(I've always made time to read, but working full-time for 18 years in a fairly stressful and demanding job meant that most weekends and nights I was too tired to do more than read a couple of chapters before dozing off!)

So, a new job, time and the right environment to access lots and lots of books - heaven!

But how to get started?

I began by reading other people's blogs. I built up a personal list of things I liked and didn't like about designs, styles and posts. One of my colleagues already had a blog, so I asked her advice.
And then I started with what I knew.

I knew children's books. And I knew teaching.

So my blog began as a teacher/parent guide to books - was the book good or not, any dubious content or controversial issues, age group that it would suit the best etc.

My blog and my approach to blogging has changed over the 3 years. And I'm sure it will continue to change and evolve as the years go by.

Now my blog is more personal.

I now include adult books. I write the occasional negative review, so my readers can get a fuller picture of my reading habits.

This year I wanted my blog to be more interactive and I set out to learn how.
There were oodles of posts on ways of doing this.
The main thing I got out of it was 'communicate'. If I wanted readers that left thoughtful comments, then I had to go out and find like-minded bloggers and leave thoughtful messages on their blogs!

The same rule applied to blog hops and memes. Find the memes that appeal to you, use them sparingly, then take the time to comment thoughtfully and follow-up with the other participants.

I also joined a couple of blogging groups like Book Blogs and Linky.

As a result I now feel a part of a book blogging community. I love the comments and interest from my readers and I enjoy seeing what other bloggers are reading.

I've learnt html, how to schedule, link, use badges and create templates.

I'm sure this level of enthusiasm and dedication will wane at times, but that's life. It will just be another phase, another evolution in the history of Brona's Books!

Happy Reading xo

P.S. My motto, that has saved my butt several times on this blogger journey, is Keep It Simple & Be Authentic.