Library Loot #1

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Linda from Silly Little Mischief that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.

Whilst I am a newbie blogger I have been following Library Loot for yonks now and am excited to join in! I nearly always get book ideas from checking the Mr Linky too.

Off topic, Leeds Libraries have started putting all the "classics" together, randomly near the Sci Fi in Central, which seems peculiar. Because it's too hard to look under G for Gaskell etc.....?

This week I've checked out from the library:

• Dr Jeckyll & Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stephenson. J has reminded me we might actually have a copy of this in the house. Anyway it's a short 80 pages and I'm rather ashamed I haven't read this.
• The Peculiar Life of a Lonely Postman by Denis Theriault. A lonely postman steams open letters to create his own soap opera of characters. He gets caught up in the correspondence of a long distance couple who converse in haiku and so begins an obsession. 
• The Explorer by James Smythe. Sure I've heard about this on The Readers podcast or a blog somewhere and it sounded really interesting and a bit outside my usual reads. It's supposed to be a Sci Fi thriller about one of the first manned space missions and the body count slowly rises.
• The Whole Day Through by Patrick Gale. I read Notes on an Exhibition recently and liked it enough to want to read more by him. This was the only one the library had and it's probably a bit more romance-y than I'd normally read. Plot is woman returns home to care for elderly mother, she runs into an old lover who's now married but does a spark still exist between them...
• Fire Spirit by Graham Masteton. I've read some of his teen work as point horrors (those were the days!). So wanted to try an 'adult' work by him, hopefully it won't scare my pants off too much. 

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

Incoming Books #1

All incoming books this week are internet second-hand shopped. Having recently sorted out my shelves and discovered just how many TBR books I have I should be more restrained ... Not going to happen though!

• Eye For An Eye, Frank Muir: This is a Scottish crime thriller, and I'm really loving Scottish crime novels at the moment. Just started reading the Rebus novels and James Oswald's series is one of my favourites.
• Cold Spring Harbour, Richard Yates. I have previously enjoyed two of Yates' books; Revolutionary Road and The Easter Parade. Having exhausted the Yates novels the library have available I bought this when a cheap copy appeared.
• The Weed That Strings The Hangman's Bag, Alan Bradley. Second of the Flavia De Luce series. She's a precocious child amateur sleuth and the first book was a lot of fun to read.
• The Shadow Of The Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafon. People who love books are supposed to adore this, heard a lot of good things on blogs and podcasts and I keep seeing the second of the series in charity shops.

Hello There!

To be honest, I don't imagine many/any people to read this, most especially because I don't have the energy to promote it widely. But it's for me, and that's more than good enough.

What will this blog be about? Well books mostly, but also things linked (and not so linked): bookcrossing, phonebox libraries. book club ...

Also as this post goes up I am only a tiny bit shy of 4 months to my 30th Birthday. And I'm deciding if I want to set any 'challenges' - more a list of things I want to achieve/see/do before age 31 rolls around. I definitely want to do a series of 'Weekend Wanderings' posts as part of a determination to get out *every* weekend even if it's just for a short walk down the canal.

Looking forward to seeing where this goes.