Two on Tuesday x

Welcome to the first Two on Tuesday of June 2015. Yes, it really is halfway through 2015 already, scary.

This week I wanted to focus on books because, well I love books. You can often find me sitting outside, if it's sunny, sipping tea and with my head in a lovely book. I love the smell of books, Kindle is ok but real live, smell the pages books, you just can't beat them in all honesty.

I read a few book blogs but my favourite is Savidge Reads. Simon Savidge loves books, I mean even more than me I think. He seems to live and breath them. I love reading his blog for interesting tips on new authors and books I wouldn't have read otherwise. But I also adore his blog for a series of posts he calls Other People's Bookshelves.

I am a terrible person, I go to people's houses and the first thing I often see is their book shelves, or sometimes lack of them. I'm not a snob, but I do think a house without books is just not normal. How can anyone live without them? Ok, ok so you can borrow them from the library or friends but you have to have them somewhere. Me, I have books everywhere. They're in the lounge in pine shelves and in my Expedit bookcase in big draws full. They are piled at the side of my bed, the cookbooks are actually in the kitchen and the craft books are primarily in my craft room. But I love reading about how other people organise their collections. Mine are not very organised really. I do have the odd collections together, namely Vera Brittain and Jay Bell books but as for the rest, not counting the cooking or crafting books, they are in a random order across my house.

If like me you want to see and learn about how other people sort their collections then you can find all the posts for the individuals Simon has interviewed here................

Two of my favourite posts so far have been about Lloyd Shepherd, the author's, bookshelves. He has alot of books I have so that's a great start but he also has a wife who hoards books so score twice and the other about Jeremy Largen a book lover and blogger primarily because I love that he has Anne Rice books on his bookshelves and his friends question it. I'd be saying "Brilliant I love her too".


My second is a book called "Cuckoo Song" by Francis Hardinge. I read this book several weeks ago and I was so mesmerised by it that I have also got another of her books in my reading pile called "The Lie Tree". I wrote a review on Goodreads so I'll share that below...........

"I loved this book so much.
Triss is any other girl growing up after WW1 with her parents and little sister Pen. Her brother Sebastian was killed at The Front. But one morning Triss wakes up with confusing memories of having fallen into water. Her parent's seem more distressed than usual and incredibly worried about her health. Her sister Pen is both terrified and angry with her , and Triss herself keeps feeling overwhelmingly hungry, nothing fills the empty hole in her stomach. Then she notices that leaves are falling from her hair and she begins to cry cobwebs. This is where the story becomes an adventure for one family damaged by grief and especially for two little girls, one who knows what is happening and the other who has no idea who she really is.

I thought this story was beautifully told, Triss and Pen are perfectly drawn, sibling pressures explored and the trauma of grief are so perfectly described. But this isn't only a book exploring how grief affects a family but also the changes WW1 caused to one country and the loss of traditions and folklore as this country tries to rebuild itself in the aftermath of so much tragedy".

I would highly recommend it.

So do tell me, do you organise your bookshelves and what are you willing to share as a book suggestions?