Project 365+1: Days 134 - 140

For some reason my last book review post didn't post, it set itself as a draft but was still showing as scheduled. Weird, oh well, it's up now, and I'm getting this week's batch of photos organised.

Day 134: Rearranged

Last week I rearranged the bookcase. I only actually removed around twelve books, but somehow that made space for all those other ones which were lying on their sides on top of other books. This perhaps helps to illustrate my obsessive reading schedule (which with the introduction of a Kindle to my reading stocks has only made things more obsessive).

The top row and a half are all Terry Pratchett books, I've actually completed that top row and I've only got a handful of Discworld books left to read now. At the end of that are some random other books that I've got to read, starting with Dubliners which is a set text in my next course (previously this slot was taken up by my Stranger Than Fiction... set). Third row is crime (plus one romance book leant to me by my mum-in-law). I'm over halfway through the Kathy Reichs section just now. Beneath that are various Tolkien books (just a fraction of my collection), I will reread The Lord of the Rings this year, but right now I'm working on the Suzanne Collins Hunger Games trilogy. I've also got four of Mr. Click's books on this shelf (which I'll read before him if he doesn't get to them first), they're all various charity shop finds, short story collections.

And the row you can just make out, that's Mr. Click's row. He's now got his Colin Dexter set which he's loving, judging by the way he's whizzing through the first of the books. And not pictured is the very bottom row, which I've not rearranged at all (though sooner or later, when I rearrange the boxes upstairs, I may get around to it).

Day 135: Dr Seward's Diary

On Saturday I started reading Dracula in ebook format, obviously, I'll post a review of that later, but I was impressed enough to take a photo of it while I read. I'm just slightly in love with my Kindle, it's wonderfully lightweight for my work bag, the screen is crystal clear and everything can be done with touch.

I'm actually using Dracula for my final assignment for my course, which is another bonus for the Kindle. I can really easily search through the book for particular passages which has been invaluable for selecting the bit of text I want to use. Of course, I'm still referring to the actual book for the purposes of the assignment (mainly because I'm not entirely sure how one would go about referencing an ebook like this) but it's made it easier to narrow down exactly which bit of the book I need to be looking at.

Day 136: Bedtime

This was not the picture I had been hoping for, I'd actually taken dozens of photos of Tara happily gnawing her way through a Dentastix chew hoping that one of them would come out (though it was unlikely considering the fact I was kneeling in the corner of the room, with the camera perched on my knee unable to check the focus of anything). There were a couple that were halfway decent, but none of them was the perfect photo.

Tara likes routine, which suits me just fine as well. On an evening we get in, have tea, take her for a walk, maybe watch a bit of something on TV, then she gets her last walk of the day, we shower, have hot chocolate in bed and Tara cleans her teeth. After that she'll happily flop down at the end of the bed (or more recently, on John's jumper at his side of the bed) and snore contentedly while we read. The one or the other of us has to wake her up to take her out for her last 'trip round the garden' before we turn the lights out and either set the alarm, or remind Tara to wake us up in the morning (seriously, who needs an alarm clock when you've got a big black labrador who can tell you precisely when it's 6am?!)

Day 137 - Four Stars

When I hit the end of Dracula, I was thoroughly surprised when I was asked to rate my book. I already use the same system of stars in my book journal, so this helped tie it together nicely (though I use half stars as on option in my own journal, something which I can't use here). If I'm reading out of the house (i.e. somewhere with a wi-fi connection) then I can also share my reading habits.

I really like that little interactive aspect of reading with the Kindle. I never used to write in books until I became involved with the Book Trees, now it feels totally natural, and there are times when I'll be reading something and I really want to highlight something so that the next person to pick up the book will be able to see what I was thinking while I was reading it (even if that next person is just going to be me in a few years time). But there's something wrong about writing in some books, so I generally control myself. At least with this, I can happily tap away and leave a little note to myself to consult when I go on to write my review, or I can share information about how far through the story I am. This makes me geekily happy.

Day 138: Irises

Mr. Click went off shopping to restock our cupboards and came back with two of my favourite things: flowers and chocolates. So far I've only eaten one of the chocolates (lovely choc-a-bloc things), but after leaving the flowers in a washing up bowl full of water overnight I got them straight in a vase.

There were only one or two flowers open when he got them for me, but over the course of the week all of the buds have been opening out. They look beautiful. Yesterday, when I spent the better part of the day reading or watching TV, I watched the shadow cast from them move around the room; first on the wall opposite my chair and then gradully heading up the stairs as the sun moved over.

Day 139: Bedside Table

And so this is what my bedside table looks like right now (except I've since finished Break No Bones and am back on just the Kindle, though I'm gearing up to read the second in the Hunger Games trilogy, Catching Fire). Here we have; Tiffany style butterfly lamp (which casts a lovely coloured glow over the room), my moneybox and a bag of 2ps which I'm never going to get around to taking into the bank (also a bag contain aniseed balls which I save for while I'm sitting on the bed working on my OU), pills (woo hoo!), the very edge of the alarm clock, my phone, assorted pens and pencils (and also my birthday clip book lamp), and then my notebook, book journal, Kindle and the current reading material. This is relatively tidy for me!

Day 140: Golden Ticket

Saturday, I finally cracked out one of my Christmas presents. A Wonka bar that Mr. Click had found for my stocking (complete with golden ticket), considering our film choice for the day, it seemed somewhat fitting. It tasted very good and I only spent half the day singing Oompa-Loompa songs.

So plans for this coming week, work as usual (though looking forward to the next few weeks coming after that when I've got quite a bit of holiday coming up - thank you Bank Holiday weekend!) Not to mention plans with friends and three free ebooks to read and review. Oh, and I'm trying to get caught up on my book reviews, finish my final assignment and start looking at registering for my next one! Busy busy!