Incoming Books #2

A riddiculously bumper sized edition of incoming books this week ....

First the 2 from Waterstones Leeds

• Therese Raquin by Emile Zola. This is a new translation published by Vintage and I've been waiting for the paperback to be released.
• Faithful Place by Tana French. Third book in a series, mostly bought as it was one of their special £2.99 books and that would take me to over £10 with the Zola to get a stamp on my card.

Then the 3 from Headingley, well one was picked up from the post depot as too big to fit through the letterbox.

• Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay, picked up from Mind in Headingley. First in the Dexter series that also got made into a TV series, been keeping half an eye out for this for a while.
• The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Anne Brone. Picked up from the Martin House Hospice Shop in Headingley, have so far only read Wuthering Heights so thought I should give some more Bronte output a try.
• The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins. Read and loved The Moonstone a long time back and Autumn into Winter always seems to be the time for a ghost story.

 Then 5 from Scarborough ....

Taylors Cafe and Books, a nice cafe that has some reasonably priced books upstairs. As always with book cafe's it can be a bit awkward browsing near the tables but luckily we sat near the majority of the books(!).

• Work Suspended by Evelyn Waugh. Really like Waugh's writing and I'm trying to get all his books in these fun Penguin editions.
• Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman. Absolutely loved this film as a teenager and had no idea it was also a book.

Mrs Lofthouses Secondhand Book Emporium,  fairly standard secondhand book shop. Emphasis probably most on crime/thrillers and older paperbacks. Prices reasonable and even better standard, unlike the shops where you can pick up 3 copies of the same book and get different prices! Slightly starting to veer onto the disorganised side, piles of books on the floor and the ordering of the books is muddled in places.

• Still Missing by Beth Gutcheon. Read this as a Persephone re-issue and would like to re-read. Can't say I enjoyed it as it's very harrowing about a missing child, but it's a very good book.
• The Sittaford Mystery by Agatha Christie. I am working on owning and reading all of Christie's books, I collect the old pan or fontana copies and this one was in really nice condition.
• Strip Jack by Ian Rankin. Also working on reading all the Rebus novels and this is number 4, I'm up to 3 which I also have a copy of.

Then 4 from Whitby ....

• Hawthorn and Child by Keith Ridgway from Oxfam in Whitby. This has sort of been on my radar and looks quite interesting.
• Death in August by Marco Vichi, also from Oxfam. Have a soft tooth for cosy crime even though I'm often disappointed.
• The Vodi by John Braine. Excuse the dodgy late 70s cover. I have read A Room at the Top from this author and enjoyed it. This came from Endeavour Books. A small secondhand bookshop that seems to have disproportioantely more crime/thrillers than general fiction but always worth a look in.
• Ripley Under Ground by Patricia Highsmith from Mind in Whitby. Second in the Tom Ripley series and I have been looking for a copy for quite a while.

Then 4 from Yorkshire Quality Paperbacks in Pickering. I love this shop, always has a nice selection of older paperbacks  for a quid and newer books are good value at about £2.50 too.

• Island by Aldous Huxley. Another of my favourite authors and a book I don't have yet.
• By the Pricking of My Thumbs, Agatha Christie. Another to add to my collection.
• The Last Tycoon, F Scott Fitzgerald. Again a favourite author and a book I didn't own.
• The Edwardians by Vita Sackville West. Gorgeous really good condition 1936 orange penguin. Wanted to read some of Vita's books having read a book about their family history earlier this year.

The 4 swapped books ...

•  Granta Crime, swapped from the bookshelves at Boggle Hole when I left a bookcrossing book.
•  Tuesday's Gone by Nicci French. Second in a series, I have the first yet to read. Swapped from the phonebox book exchange in Marton-Cum Grafron when I left some bookcrossing books.
• Paris Noir, as above.
• The Unbearable Lightness of Being in Aberystwyth by Malcom Pryce, as above.

And 2 more have arrived recently in the post that I haven't snapped photos of ....

• Year of the Ladybird by Graham Joyce. Next choice of the Hear Read This podcast. A ghost story set in the boiling summer of 1976. Summer & ghost story, will that work?
• The Lost Girl by DH Lawrence. First ever winner of the James Tait Black Prize. And I currently have a strange notion to read this list (slowly). Separate post on that to come.

Weekend Wanderings #1

 My first "Weekend Wanderings" post features one of my favourite places, how serendipitous! And even better we were so lucky with the weather, it's absolutely bucketing it down now on a very cold and dreary Monday.

This weekend we went to stay at YHA Boggle Hole, a lovely Youth Hostel tucked away near Robin Hoods Bay in Yorkshire. I love this place, it's warm and cosy and has a fabulous cove beach to explore. I just always feel so refreshed and relaxed after a visit.

We set off from Leeds a little later than we wanted to due to having to do a bank appointment and decided as it was a bit gloomy and rainy we'd head to Scarborough first as we hadn't been. Our drive was a bit complicated as part of the A64 was shut for works so a short notice detour took place. I liked what we saw of Scarborough and would like to go back for a longer visit as we only really stopped for a lunch break. Lots of nice independent shops and we didn't even make it as far as the main attractions of North Beach.

Scarborough Beach

Fun looking cable car down to the Beach

Lovely indie music themed cafe

In Scarborough we found a cafe that also sold books for our lunch stop and a fun music themed cafe for a coffee and giant slab of flapjack. I definitely want to eat lunch there next time as they have such fun names like Sergeant Peppercorn Burger. We also found a another secondhand bookshop which was good though edging towards disorganisation, piles on the floor and the order starting to fail. [I'll cover books in my incoming books post later in the week, expect a bumper edition!].

We then headed off to check in to Boggle Hole and luckily the rain had stopped and the tide was going out so we were able to have a nice walk before dinner. Boggle Hole is a great bay for rock pooling so you always see children with nets. It's quite a long beach, towards Robin Hoods Bay to the left and Ravenscar to the right, it's also on the Cleveland way so there's walking right on the doorstep.  It's always absolutely stunning and I was quite grumpy I forgot to charge my proper camera.

Boggle Hole Bay

Lots of seaweed

J attempting to skim stones

'Knitted' rock

Atmospheric end of day shot

One of the best things about hosteling is that a lot of them provide meals as well as the usual self catering options. The meals are 'home cooked', really reasonably priced and by buying them you are putting money into the charity. We had a beef and a vegetable lasagne followed by a chocolate brownie sundae and an apple flan. Really yummy and so reasonable at £9.95 each. Then we settled down in the lounge with a drink and our books. YHA's are such a good base not only for walkers/cyclists but general travelers.

Sunday morning was beautiful and sunny, and we had a very quick stop in Robin Hoods Bay for a coffee. Sometime in the future we need to do a proper stop here to explore some of the little museums. Robin Hoods Bay is so picturesque with it's steep hill and little red cottages.

Robin Hoods Bay

Fun big gnome in one of the gardens

Then we set of to Whitby parking up by the Abbey at the top of the 199 steps. This is our third visit to Whitby and we seem to have favourite things we always do now but we had quite a wander too and it was really nice to be there when it was little quieter than the absolute manic-ness of summer season. We had a scone and tea in Sherlocks which is a fun victorian themed cafe and does the loveliest scones (at a crazy low price too). Then we went to find some bookshops and record shops before getting take away fish n chips from Magpies Cafe and eating them on a bench overlooking the abbey.

Final stops of the weekend were at Pickering for (another) bookshop and a bit of a stretch as it had been slow driving and Marton-Cum-Grafton to visit the book exchange in a old phonebox. [Post on phonebox libraries to come at some point].

All in all a really excellent weekend, just wish it was longer!

Whitby

Scones at Sherlocks

Fish n Chips

Phonebox Library at Marton-Cum-Grafton