What I say is, a town isn't a town without a bookstore. It may call itself a town, but unless it's got a bookstore it knows it's not fooling a soul (Neil Gaiman)

Next few weeks (reading) matter from Little Red Book Shop and Whitcoulls

Wie geht's?

Bookshops. I'm a big fan. From long ago and far away, I've always loved bookshops. And libraries.

I can very distinctly remember visiting the Onehunga library when I was a wee nipper.

But especially really good bookshops (which means my local PaperPlus and Whitcoulls in Hawke's Bay no longer qualify). With that said, pleasingly, I picked up Patti Smith's Year Of The Monkey from the Palmerston North version of Whitcoulls.

And I especially love second hand bookshops, like my latest squeeze - the Little Red Book Shop in Hastings.

The lucky dip aspect appeals to me greatly. I can waltz in with nothing in mind and waltz out with a book or three very easily. As I did today.

I do miss trawling around The Piggery in Whangarei, but LRBS does me nicely, thank you very much.

Love and peace - Wozza

Sometimes they found it, sometimes they kept it, often lost it along the way (Jack Bruce)

Wie geht's?

Having spent another weekend throwing away stuff, I can't pretend I've got the Marie Kondo tidying gig licked yet.

This weekend saw us saying goodbye to Myrtle, our faithful Massey Ferguson 1940's tractor - sold to a parent from my school. The Minister of Defence (father-in-law Brian Smith) did a lot of work to her recently and she was going beautifully but it needed to be done.

And disposing of four boxes of unwanted Mojo magazines. Real Groovy didn't want them (only copies of Record Collector hold their value apparently), nor did The Piggery second hand bookshop.

So I donated them to the local second hand shop in Maungaturoto.

Neither action felt like much of a wrench. The initial pleasures I derived from these objects is enough.

Then I got stuck into my books again and hauled four boxes to The Piggery. She bought two box loads and I'll donate the rest (some Beatle books among them).

Again - didn't feel like any kind of betrayal to my past (I've stored and moved all this stuff around many times over the years).

I feel I'm almost there with the books, however, I've felt that before.

CDs are next. SWMBO thinks I should get rid of them all but that's not true, that's impossible.

But I am being more brutal this time out. And it's amazing how the pile is growing.

Update coming next post!

Love and peace - Wozza

I'm tipping over backwards, I'm so ambitious (Talking Heads)

Recently, I added this link to my Jewels For The Thirsty blog - the suggestion being to read books you normally wouldn't.

Here’s a reading challenge: Pick up a book you’re pretty sure you won’t like — the style is wrong, the taste not your own, the author bio unappealing. You might even take it one step further. Pick up a book you think you will hate, of a genre you’ve dismissed since high school, written by an author you’re inclined to avoid. Now read it to the last bitter page.

But what exactly in this bizarro world would be a book that I would normally hate?

As I'll usually give anything a go, I'm struggling to think of something. 

What would you choose?

First thing I tried to do in a recent visit to The Piggery (quality second hand book shop in Whangarei) was to think of a genre that I haven't tried. I wandered around for about an hour, ended up with an armful of books I wanted to read, but nothing that was a reading challenge as outlined above.

I'm up for a challenge, so, after some further musing, and after the current pile, I'll give it another go next time I make it in to the vast urban metropolis of Whangarei.

Love and peace - Wozza 

Love like lightning, shaking till it moans (Paul Simon)

Week 11 - Book 12: The Hottest State (Ethan Hawke) 
Yes - that Ethan Hawke.

Another book from the recent grab at The Piggery in Whangarei. 

Hawke's name attracted me. I enjoyed Boyhood and this book - fiction but the protagonist is a conflicted young male actor, made me think of Hawke's character of the dad in that film.

It traces the arc of a love affair - not really my favourite thing unless done by a master like William Goldman. Although patchy, it's generally well written and who hasn't had a first doomed love affair like the one Hawke describes between William and Sarah.

Readers should be able to identify with the intensity of the feelings exposed and the nutty things William does. I know I did!

My lost copy!

Week 11 - Book 13: Mother Tongue (Bill Bryson) 
I left a copy of this on a Thai Airways flight about thirteen years ago. I forgot to retrieve it from the seat pouch! Doh!

I hadn't finished it and I was very much put out.

I had been enjoying it immensely, and was delighted to find a second hand copy in a Keri Keri bookshop on the weekend, during our 33rd wedding anniversary road trip.

The new one!

Bill is funny, knowledgeable, erudite and entertaining. 'Nuff said.

I easily picked up from where I left off thirteen years ago. It's warmly recommended, but as an English teacher, I would say that!

Here's an example of the juicy stuff waiting for you:

"To be fair, English is full of booby traps for the unwary foreigner. Any language where the unassuming word fly signifies an annoying insect, a means of travel, and a critical part of a gentleman’s apparel is clearly asking to be mangled.”

It's a jolly good book.

Love and peace - Wozza