I haven’t done one of these in a couple of weeks so I guess I have to catch you up on what I’ve been up to. First week off, Mandie and I pootled up to Edinburgh on the train. Spent a lovely, mostly dry, couple of days in the City, including going to afternoon tea at the Castle. Get us! Did our usually walk to Portobello and back, via Portobello Bookshop, of course, then also took a walk out to Morningside the following day to visit the Edinburgh Bookshop. Not been there in a while. Books were bought (shocker).
Christmas afternoon tea at Edinburgh Castle
Views around Edinburgh
On the Friday I also paid my annual visit to the National Memorial Arboretum for the Illuminated Arboretum. I’m not much of a one for festive activities as a rule, but it’s a nice walk and all in aid of the Arboretum so why not.
Views around the Illuminated Arboretum trail
Christmas Day was the usually curry at the award winning Shifnal Balti (yum) and aside from that I have mostly been hibernating and sitting trapped under a cat, which has, in turn, forced me to read and catch up on reviews. Shame.
The look says it all – Do. Not. Move!
Because it’s been two weeks, I do actually have some books to catch you all up on – a combination of book post and (mostly) book buys. Bookpost wise I received The Yacht by Sarah Goodwin (04 Jan) from Avon Books, and Nobody’s Angel by Jack Clark (13 February) from Titan Books. That was it for post. Two new NetGalley Books – The Cracked Mirror by Chris Brookmyre (18 Jul) from Little Brown; and The In Crowd by Charlotte Vassell (02 April) courtesy of Faber & Faber.
Top Row: Nobody’s Angel; The Yacht Bottom Row: The Cracked Mirror; The In Crowd
Book buys, I may have got a bit carried away. Whilst in Edinburgh, I picked up Three Fires by Denise Mina; A Game Called Malice by Ian Rankin & Simon Reade; The Christmas Guest by Peter Swanson; and A Haunting In The Arctic by C. J. Cooke. I also treated myself to a few other titles – The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe; The Fall Of The House Of Usher & Other Stories by Edgar Allan Poe; A Study In Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. I also picked up a couple of audio books – The Bullet That Missed and The Last Devil To Die by Richard Osman, and preordered Ten Seconds by Robert Gold (14 March). Whoops.
