The Books That I Read in October

 

Super Easy One Pounds Meals by Miguel Barclay

As usual just click on the links to Amazon to read more about these books, and to get other peoples views on what I read last month. 

For the past month I have been determined to look through my cookbooks in an attempt to really downsize the collection.  I'm finding that these days I am cooking more and more simply, and I am just not following recipes as much as I used to.  Some books are worth keeping for ideas, but a lot of them I have already taken what I needed to from them, and if there has been just one or two things worth saving I have photographed the page and added it to my Recipe file on the computer.

Donated

Green One Pound Meals by Miguel Barclay

Another of Miguel's books, yes I used to have the full set but one by one I have been whittling them down.  It was a good book to look through, but nothing caught my attention enough to make me need to keep it.

Donated

Fast and Fresh One Pound Meals by Miguel Barclay

There's a real theme developing here isn't there. 😄

I took a couple of photographs and then this came with me to Booths when we went for a coffee last Friday.  By the time we came downstairs my books had been snapped up and were nowhere to be seen.  Hopefully, someone will really love them and find something useful in them.

It's good to share books, and even better when sharing them raises money for charity in the process.

Donated

An Everlasting Meal - Cooking with Economy and Grace by Tamar Adler

In a bid to break away from reading through cookbooks, which while though very satisfying is a very samey thing to do over and over, I decided to try this book.  It was recommended to me a long time ago and I bought it soon after.  At first I was really into it, but then I found myself not in any rush to pick it up again.  So it's gone back on the shelf so I can give it a fairer trial another time.

Kept

Bish, Bash, Bosh by Henry Firth and Ian Theasby

It's funny but I don't remember buying this.  It's a signed copy and a special edition with extra recipes at the front, so you would think I would remember getting it.  Their recipes are very good but tend to use a myriad of ingredients to develop the great flavours that they create, I'm a much more simple soul these days.

Someone is going to get a real bargain on the Booths charity book table.

Donated

And that was it for my October reading, the month seems to have flown by and tomorrow we will be in November, and with the move coming up very soon, I doubt there will be too much time for reading.

Sue xx

I would just like to point out, that although I provide links to Amazon for all the books that I read each month, not all my books are bought from Amazon.  If they are some of them were bought from the Used section rather than full price.  

I share the links so that you can learn more about the books that I write about for yourself, or read reviews from others that have read them.  Of course most of the books I talk about would also be available from your local library, and if you are very lucky you might even find them in charity or thrift shops.  

There are so many ways to bring books into your home if you love reading. 📚

Reading BIG Books

For one reason and another I have not done a booky post for ages, so I thought it was about time to recitfy this and get back to my Monthly Reading lists. 

My reading mojo left me completely for a while, then it returned in a slow motion fashion and I took ages to plough my way through the books that I was reading. It didn't help that for some reason I was determined to read books that I didn't think I really wanted to keep, purely in a bid to reduce numbers by the time we move home.

Now as any reasonably normal person will tell you, reading books that you don't think you are going to like reading is not a sure-fire way of encouraging any sort of reading mojo to return, so she hid away and my reading almost came to a standstill ... although it did mean that numerous books were donated to the charity book table in Booths mostly half read and not worth writing about.

So, in a bid to keep me on track I have switched to a new way to choose my reading material.  I am now having a few weeks of reading mostly fiction books and BIG books.  If they are fiction and BIG then even better.  I rarely keep fiction books once I have read them, it's easy for me to part with them as usually they have cost less than a pound to buy and they have to be really special to warrant a second reading.

And if they are BIG books they will take up more space in the boxes when I come to pack away all my treasured books, so they will really have to earn their keep.

So here are the books that I read in July.

One Good Thing by Alexandra Potter

I really enjoyed this book, a good story line that all made perfect sense and not too formulaic. 

  Fiction - Donated

 The Mysterious Bakery on the Rue de Paris

I took this book on our weekend away in July and enjoyed every page, it was a really good story.

 Fiction - Donated

Going Dutch by Katie Fforde

I really enjoyed this one, living right beside the canal as we do reading about boats, both narrow, wide-beam or Dutch barges is nearly always going to be interesting.  I'll miss the canal when we move.

 Fiction and Big - Donated

Simplicious Flow by Sarah Wilson

This was a really good book, but one that I read thoroughly when I bought it in 2019 and then again this month, but one that I really don't need to keep going forward.

Big - Donated

Now I know who to blame for making me take all my extra napkins home every time that we eat out.  😄

That's it for last month, lets see what August brings for my reading mojo, and I will definitely be concentrating on BIG books.  

Sue xx

I would like to point out, that although I provide links to Amazon for the books that I read each month, not all my books are bought from Amazon.  If they are, some of them were bought from the Used section rather than at full price.  You do not need to spend a fortune to read good books. 💖

I share the links so that you can learn more about the books that I write about for yourself, or read reviews from others that have read them.  Of course most of the books I talk about would also be available from your local library, and if you are very lucky you might even find them in charity or thrift shops. 

There are so many ways to bring books into your home if you love reading. 📚

The Books That I Read in December

At the start of December I went through all my shelves and fished out all the Christmas themed books for reading over the Christmas period, it's the only time I like reading them.  Then a few days after this photo had been taken I added to the pile with another couple of books.  

I knew there was no way I would be able to read through them all but it was nice to have them out on top of the small glazed bookcase ready to pick from and read as and when I had the time ... and of course they added to the Christmas decorations in a way that only books can.  🎄 📚🎄

Our LadBaby Journey by Mark and Roxanne Hoyle

This one was read as soon as December began.  It's a really simple read with it being written as though they are being interviewed or simply chatting to each other, which I suspect is how it was actually done as they are both dyslexic.  It was nice to hear their story in their own words and find out how they managed to raise all the money that they did for both the Trussell Trust and Band Aid.

A Child's Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas

This was a re-read from last year and which I suspect will happen again next year.  A nice simple little books by one of my favourite poets.

The Christmas Guest by Peter Swanson

Another re-read and I'm glad I did, I had forgotten some of the story, perhaps I read it when I was tired last time.  It's a brilliant little book.

This Year It Will Be Different by Maeve Binchy

I absolutely loved this book. 

 It's a collection of short stories written really well by an author I used to read, but for some reason have not read for a while.  Usually I feel a bit short changed by a short story, but these pull you in and get you hooked from the first page and then are rounded off really well, each and every one of them.

The Thirteen Days of Christmas by Jenny Overton

This is a funny little book.  It's based on the Christmas song The Twelve Days of Christmas ... as you might have guessed from the title.  The gifts are all actually bought and delivered on each of the days and the ensuing chaos is described beautifully.

And So This is Christmas by Brian Bilston

Yet another re-read, and a good one at that.  I do love Brian's sense of humour and his poems are easy to read and clear and concise.

Grimm Tales for Young and Old by Philip Pullman

The dark side of fairy tales comes through in this re-working of the Grimm Brothers tales by the inimitable Philip Pullman.  With a potted history of each tale and how it has been rewritten over the years at the end of each story.  It's a good book to read on a not too dark night if you are well over the age of ten, although I suspect that I would have devoured it at eight!!

An Ideal Husband by Erica James

And finally, what has turned out to be my final book of December as I am only a third of the way through and here we are at the last day of the old year.  It's already turning out to be a really good read, written from a whole families perspectives of the sudden breakdown of a marriage on Boxing Day.

3 Books Kept, 1 Saved to be handed onto a family member and 2 Donated.

Now it's time to check my tickets for tonight's New Year celebrations and chill out for the rest of the day.  It's been a hectic year one way and the other and personally I am glad to see the back of it.  But with each passing year we learn and grow, and hopefully I have done some of that this year.

Thank you to everyone of you who have followed along on this blog over the course of 2024 and I will be welcoming you back next year hopefully.

Sue xx

I would like to point out, that although I provide links to Amazon for all the books that I read each month, not all my books are bought from Amazon.  If they are, some of them were bought from the Used section rather than at full price.  You do not need to spend a fortune to read good books. 💖

I share the links so that you can learn more about the books that I write about for yourself, or read reviews from others that have read them.  Of course most of the books I talk about would also be available from your local library, and if you are very lucky you might even find them in charity or thrift shops. 

There are so many ways to bring books into your home if you love reading. 📚

The Books That I Read in August

 

The first book of the month, a week into August actually, was this one ... of course I had to 'style' it a little bit for the photo.  😄

Life Unstyled by Emily Henson

I used to read a lot of 'house' and 'style' books when my job involved merchandising shop windows and laying out the interiors of both the shops that I managed and the shops that I owned, mostly borrowed from libraries as some of them were very expensive volumes.  But over recent years I really haven't wanted to.  I barely remember buying this, but it was nice to have a read through it.

For now it's back on my shelves, but it may not stay there.

The Marmalade Diaries by Ben Aitken

Next I read this book, it is highly recommended and I took my time, savouring the laugh out loud moments and his brilliant and very observant writing.  Set out in diary format it was an easy book to pick up and put down over the course of a very busy month.

A definite keeper, I have all his books.

How I Lived a Year on Just a Pound a Day by Kath Kelly

My final book of the month was this one, a re-read that I really enjoyed. (It's only available in the used section on Amazon now though.)  Last time I read it I remember acting on many of her suggestions in the run up to Christmas.  I have just looked up when we did the 'free nights out' and it turns out that this was a re-re-read.

Here is my first re-read on my other blog.

I wonder if it is still possible to do this sort of thing, I bet it is, but living on just £1 a day ... virtually impossible even just for food I think.  But I might give it a go again.  😀

Not many books this month, but two of my favourites are now vying for the top five spot that I will be choosing at the end of the year.

Sue xx

I would just like to point out, that although I provide links to Amazon for all the books that I read each month, not all my books are bought from Amazon.  If they are some of them were bought from the Used section rather than full price.  

I share the links so that you can learn more about the books that I write about for yourself, or read reviews from others that have read them.  Of course most of the books I talk about would also be available from your local library, and if you are very lucky you might even find them in charity or thrift shops.  

There are so many ways to bring books into your home if you love reading. 📚

The Books That I Read in July

 

Landlines by Raynor Winn

I started the month by trying to get into this book, and failed.  I loved both her previous books, but maybe with everything that's going on here at the moment I just couldn't settle into this one, so I gave up about a third of the way in.  

I will pick it up and try again another time.

How to Eat 30 Plants a Week by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.

So I decided on something completely different to get me back on my reading journey.  This is a really good book by one of my favourite cookery and lifestyle authors and I really enjoyed it.

Lots of recipes and lots of nice clear information about how and why to bring 30 plants a week into your diet.

Starting Over at Acorn Cottage by Kate Forster

I really enjoyed this book, it is a multi-layered story with a few strands that are all linked up very simply and nicely.

  There were a few glaring mistakes made by the author that jumped out of the page at me.  Wrong ages mentioned for when the main character did something, saying one person was pregnant when it then went on to be someone else ... that sort of thing really rankles with me.  Even if the author got this wrong surely it was proof-read by someone!!  I don't want to be reading a book that pulls me back into my day job.

But overall I enjoyed it and it made for a pleasant two day read in the sun on the patio, what more do you want from fiction.  It's already gone back onto the charity bookshelf in Booths for someone else to buy and donate a pound to a good cause.

The Tasha Tudor Family Cookbook by Winslow Tudor

Then bouncing back to food and non-fiction I read this lovely book by Tash Tudor's grandson.  It's a nice book, with simple recipes ... or 'Receipts' as Tasha called them.  A nice quick read and a book that is staying on my bookshelves for now.

The Little Library Year by Kate Young

My final read of the month was this one, a really good read.

Kate writes well, her recipes are easy to follow, the photographs in the book are gorgeous and she links her food to books, what more could you want from a book about food ... and books.

As the tagline for my blog is 'Just Food, Books ... and the Simple Life', it really was the perfect book for me.

You've got to love a book with endpapers like these ...

... just perfect.  

And it has a ribbon bookmark sewn in.  😃

What to read next I am wondering?  

The idea of a whole new month of Summer book reading stretching before me is bliss, and I have absolutely no idea at the moment which book I am going to pick up next, so I will be as surprised as you might be.

What are you reading at the moment?

Sue xx

I would just like to point out, that although I provide links to Amazon for all the books that I read each month, not all my books are bought from Amazon.  If they are some of them were bought from the Used section rather than full price.  

I share the links so that you can learn more about the books that I write about for yourself, or read reviews from others that have read them.  Of course most of the books I talk about would also be available from your local library, and if you are very lucky you might even find them in charity or thrift shops.  

There are so many ways to bring books into your home if you love reading.

The Books That I Read in June ... and the Shopping Totals

 

I started the month reading The Wartime Kitchen Garden by Jennifer Davies 

I have to admit to never reading it from cover to cover before even though I have owned it for years, I always just dipped in now and then to find certain things.  It was absolutely fascinating and I really enjoyed it and learnt so much more about the war years.  I also watched the accompanying series on YouTube.  Both are highly recommended.

Next I read Foster by Claire Keegan, it is another very powerful short book by this brilliant author.  I love her writing, words used so well are captivating.  I found this book so moving that I immediately went on to watch The Quiet Girl, an award winning film based on the short story.  This was equally good.

My third book of the month was Poor by Katriona O'Sullivan, which was another great read.  I do seem to be on a roll reading some of my best books this month.  All these books are keepers and have gone back on their various bookshelves.

My final read of the month, and one that has taken me quite some time over the course of a couple of weeks to finish is The Dandelion Years by Erica James.  She's a good writer and I've read a few of her books in the past, this one took me a couple of chapters to really get into but then I was hooked.  I have to be honest and say that I still have the last chapter to read ...  but I think I can guess the ending. 😀

I don't read a lot of fiction so I am quite ruthless in what I keep for a re-read, as I bought this from the £1 charity book table in Booths that's where I'll be dropping it off again next time I'm in there.  It was a good read on these pretty chilly Summer days that we've been having.

Finally to bring us bang up to date for the end of last month, my final two shopping trips.  This little lot was from Booths and cost me £18.18.  As you can tell we are still in sandwich and snack territory while we continue to visit Mum regularly.

I got another little freebie because of being a Booths cardholder, seemingly worth 50p.  It meant one load of clothes got washed last week at no cost to me.

My final shop of last week and of the month of June, was this one costing me £19.73 from Sainsbury's.  Typically just as I treated myself to some ice-cream and Cornetto's which were on offer, the weather turned cold and so they are still in my freezer.

In total last week I spent £37.91. 

The grand total for the month of June was over my monthly budget at £117.51.  

So half way through my £100 a month year I have £44.57 in my little change pot,  thank goodness I did so well and got ahead in the first few months, it's a good little buffer to try and keep me on track.

Sue xx

I would just like to point out, that although I provide links to Amazon for all the books that I read each month, not all my books are bought from Amazon.  If they are some of them were bought from the Used section rather than full price.  

I share the links so that you can learn more about the books that I write about for yourself, or read reviews from others that have read them.  Of course most of the books I talk about would also be available from your local library, and if you are very lucky you might even find them in charity or thrift shops.  

There are so many ways to bring books into your home if you love reading. 📚

The Books That I Read in May

 The Farmer's Wife by Helen Rebanks

 I didn't read anywhere nearly as much as I would have liked to  do in May.  Life and busy-ness just got in the way, and in the evening collapsing in front of the television binge-watching Silent Witness seemed to take over.  I must do better ... for my sanities sake, I dreamt I was looking for forensic clues in a huge pile of sofa cushions the other night!!

To the books, the first book I read this month was The Farmer's Wife and I absolutely loved it.  The blurb on Amazon talks about it so much better than I could. 

With honesty and grace, Helen shares her life in days--sometimes a wonder and a joy, others a grind to be survived--weaving in stories that read like a well-written pastoral novel. The Farmer's Wife is a book about the love of life, the nourishing simplicity of everyday work, and sharing stories around a family table full of good food.

Full of gentle wisdom, this book is an honest portrait of rural life and an authentic exploration of both the hard work and reward of keeping a home and raising a family--even though the job is often thankless and invisible.

Also included are simple recipes and dozens of guilt-free "Survival Mode" meal ideas.

The recipes, hints and tips are really good and I enjoyed the mix of autobiography and recipe book in one.  The time-line jumping was easy to cope with as it was so well written.

I highly recommend it, and it is now available in paperback.

A Ration Book Childhood by Jean Fullerton

Next I read the book I bought off the charity shelf in Booths, with the one pound coin that Alan found. 

 I didn't know if I liked this at first, it's one of those books when occasionally a whole paragraph is used when a simple sentence would have sufficed, but chapter by chapter I got into it more and more and by the end I found myself really enjoying this read.  The only slightly strange thing was that it seemed to have a very sudden ending.

Recipes from an Old Farmhouse by Alison Uttley

This is an absolutely delightful book, originally written in 1966, my edition is a 1978 reprint ... coincidentally the year I first got married ... and is really showing it's age.  I had to be careful reading it to keep the pages from disengaging from the spine.

But it was worth being careful for.

The illustrations before each new section were beautiful.

The attention to detail amazing.

And believe it or not that is the total number of the books that I read in May. However, I'm not being harsh on myself as this wasn't all I read over the course of the month, as there was lots of proof reading for my day job too, but compared to the books that I choose to read that sort of reading is complicated and deathly boring!!

I must do better in June, so I think I will start off with a couple of old favourites to get me back on the straight and narrow.  For once I am going into the next month with no book on the go, what are you reading at the moment?

Sue xx

I would just like to point out, that although I provide links to Amazon for all the books that I read each month, not all my books are bought from Amazon.  If they are some of them were bought from the Used section rather than full price.  

I share the links so that you can learn more about the books that I write about for yourself, or read reviews from others that have read them.  Of course most of the books I talk about would also be available from your local library, and if you are very lucky you might even find them in charity or thrift shops.  

There are so many ways to bring books into your home if you love reading. 📚