Tag: reading

Favorite Summer Beach Book
book blogger hop

Favorite Summer Beach Book

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The Book Blogger Hop was originally created by Jennifer from Crazy-For-Books in March 2010 and ended on December 31, 2012. With Jennifer’s permission, Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer relaunched the meme on February 15, 2013. Check out the hop here!

Each week the hop will start on a Friday and end on Thursday. There will be a weekly prompt featuring a book related question. The hop’s purpose is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, befriend other bloggers, and receive new followers to your own blog.

The Question of the week is: July is the month for reading by the pool or on the beach. What’s your favorite summer beach book, and why is it suitable for a sunny day?

I’m not a seasonal reader, to be honest, and don’t think of books in terms of being a beach read or anything similar. So my pick of a book for reading at the beach would be basically whatever I was currently reading when I head for the beach – it could be a chick lit, it could be a horror, a sci-fi, or a European History textbook. I’ve been known to take my study materials and notebook and sit and read in the park, just as much as I have any other fiction book.

What makes it suitable for a sunny day is that it’s a book I’m reading in the sun. g

And heading for the beach with a book is something I’m hoping will happen much more with the amount of time I’m spending down in the South West. I’m not quite back to the beach I grew up reading on, but I’m not far away at all which is so awesome

Three Fun Facts About Myself
weekly wednesday blogging challenge

Three Fun Facts About Myself

Cassie3 Comments

This week’s Weekly Wednesday Blogging Challenge is one that I actually really struggled with, and ended up asking Li for some help to answer. That tricky topic? Three Fun Facts About Myself

I tend to over-think this topic – what’s fun? what’s interesting? what have I shared to death?

1) I could read and write before I started nursery school.
I don’t remember not being able to read, or learning to read. I have been told the story of I used to spend most of the time in the nursery in the book corner reading. I remember my dad taking me to the library every Saturday morning.

2) I met my fiancée Li through fanfiction
I found her SG-1 fic on AO3 in October 2020, started reading and leaving comments as you do. Then looked her up on social media and a couple of months later, found the confidence (and this is very out of the norm for me) to message her… that was December 2020 and we haven’t stopped talking since!

3) Li says I have to say how I can always predict who’s going home on competition shows
I never used to watch any of them, but with Li I watch Masterchef, Bake Off, and many many more. It’s competence porn combined with people sharing the thing they love which is always happy making. But yes, I can always say who’s going home. Even when I say I don’t know… I can still say it just a beat before the judges do!
(I honestly think it’s basic pattern recognition, but Li loves this mundane super power of mine)

What’s a fun fact about you that you feel comfortable sharing?

Weekly Wednesday Blogging Challenge & Book Blogger Hop
book blogger hop · weekly wednesday blogging challenge

Weekly Wednesday Blogging Challenge & Book Blogger Hop

CassieLeave a comment

And, once again, I find myself needing to catch up on both Weekly Wednesday Blogging Challenge and Book Blogger Hop, so without further ado:

The Weekly Wednesday Blogging Challenge questions are:

Films to watch when you’re having a bad day
I’m generally not a big film person, I usually turn to TV shows rather than movies although my go-to movies will always be Star Wars and Jurassic Park. TV wise it’s Buffy, Leverage, Stargate and Supernatural.

My thoughts on small talk
I hate it, I find it incredibly painful to do. It’s bland, it doesn’t mean anything, it’s pointless and it’s boring. I’d rather have a conversation about something important or exciting, I love talking with people about the things they care about, or are passionate about.

And for Book Blogger Hop we have:

Have you ever read with a book light?
Not that I recall. I didn’t do the torch under the covers as a kid either – I don’t recall not being allowed to read, even well past my bedtime, I just had the light on. It’s the same now as well, and I do still read well past my bedtime. I do appreciate the backlight on my Kindle though!

Have you tried a reel on Instagram
Nope, I don’t generally watch them either although I love watching TikTok videos. I don’t like seeing/hearing myself on video and I don’t know enough about editing to do any of the other kind of videos.
I am figuring out using my book instagram though – I’m using the May Photo a Day challenge as well as trying to remember to post the books I’m reading as I finish them

Have you ever been told that you have an excessive number of books? If so, what was your reaction?
Oh many many times, and that I read too much. I’ve heard that SO many times. I now generally just laugh and I’ve learned over the years that anyone who harshes my squee on that isn’t someone who’s worth having in my life – the people who matter understand that it’s important to me and encourage my love.

Sunday Post #4
sunday post

Sunday Post #4

Cassie1 Comment

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted at the @ Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead

Life
It has been a very busy – but very fun – week.

Wednesday, as I mentioned earlier, Li and I went to Exeter for the day. We went to the museum, Yo! Sushi, Waterstones, and Build-A-Bear.

Thursday I had my ADHD assessment – they said they had ‘no problems’ in diagnosing me and that some of my scores were ‘off the chart’.

I followed this up with a free taster massage at a place in town because my shoulder’s been aggravating me. It feels like there’s a huge knot and it’s resting on a nerve, making my fingers go tingly – definitely feels muscular. I went for the taster session because I’ve never had a massage before and I’m generally not a fan of people touching me, but I was in so much discomfort that I was willing to get it done. It was heavenly, I could move my neck and arm without things going crack, and I’ve already signed up for a full hours massage after payday.

Today is Li’s birthday, she’s streaming some Stardew this morning and we have a lazy afternoon planned.

Blogging
I have posted catch-up posts on Weekly Wednesday Blogging Challenge and Book Blogger Hop so I am now up to date on both of those – and hoping to stay on top of them, at least for a couple of weeks. I even managed a Stacking The Shelves yesterday.

This coming week I am aiming to stay on top of the Top Ten Tuesday, Weekly Wednesday, WWW Wednesday, and Book Blogger Hop. I also want to post some drive-by book reviews – I’ve read 25 books this year and have written nothing about any of them. I don’t know if I’ll do all 25, or just the 5 I finished in April.

Depending on how time-consuming work and study are, I would also really like to write a post about my thoughts on ‘classics’.

Cooking
I always cook more when I’m at Li’s and this week has been no exception! My meal plan runs Saturday through Thursday, so thinking back to last weekend:
Saturday – Sweet & sticky chicken noodles
Sunday – Honey & mustard sausage traybake
Monday – Cheesy tomato risotto
Tuesday – Mango chicken couscous

I really want to get my food blog back up and running again, so I can share recipes and ramble excitedly about food!

Reading
This week I have finished The Queen Of Nothing and Diddly Squat: A Year On The Farm.

I have also been reading From Memory to Written Record: England 1066 – 1307, The Hanging Tree, The Night Watch, and Skandar & The Unicorn Thief.

I’m about 85% through Skandar so should finish that this week and the next one is due out at the end of the month

Studying
I am now 87% of the way through my module which is a little bit terrifying! There are only 6 weeks left until my End of Module Assignment is due.

I’ve just finished a unit of work on Childhood in Ancient Rome which was actually really tough because there was a whole section on infanticide and exposing children.

Next week’s work is on mass entertainment in Roman life – gladiatorial shows, chariot races, and plays, and the social aspects of them: which social groups attended the shows, where they sat, and how they reacted to what they saw

My next assignment is due on the 27th of April and is 1300 words arguing either for or against the statement Ultimately it was wealth that determined social status in ancient Rome

Watching
Masterchef came back this week which makes me very happy. Star Trek: Picard continues to be fucking fantastic. It’s been a very disjointed week so there hasn’t been a whole lot of TV watched to be honest, other than a couple of Midsomer Murders while working.

Next week I’m hoping to catch up on a couple of shows – Carnival Row, Grace, School Spirits, Spencer Sisters, and A Town Called Malice. I’m 4 or 5 episodes behind on each so that shouldn’t take too long. There’s also the last Celebrity Bake Off and this week’s episodes of Race Across The World & Masterchef and the Picard finale!

My 2023 Goals and What Are You Reading Wednesday
weekly wednesday blogging challenge · www wednesday

My 2023 Goals and What Are You Reading Wednesday

Cassie5 Comments

This week’s Weekly Wednesday Blogging Challenge asks my goals for 2023

Reading-wise, my goals are
Read 50 books
Complete A-Z reading challenge
Clear one pile of the physical TBR
Try to only read 3-6 books at a time
Finish Bill Bryson bibliography

Non-reading goals include
Blog 3x a week
Pass my current university module
Play all the Super Mario games in order
Watch more TV
Fall back in love with fandom
Do the shit I love and have fun doing it

Next up we have WWW Wednesday which asks
What are you currently reading?
Olivie Blake – The Atlas Six
Frederick Joseph – The Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person
Jenny Kane – Midsummer Dreams at Mill Grange
Rainbow Rowell – Fangirl

What did you recently finish reading?
CS Lewis – The Magician’s Nephew
QI Elves – Funny You Should Ask
Alison Weir – Richard III & The Princes In The Tower

What do you think you’ll read next?
Peter Ackroyd – History Of England: Foundation
Marian Keyes – Rachel’s Holiday
CS Lewis – The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe
Madeline Miller – Song Of Achilles