To Kindle or not to Kindle?

That is the question.  Yes, I'm debating about whether I should join the e-book revolution and become a Kindle reader or not.  I'm fascinated, I must admit and the list of pros is outnumbering the cons at the moment.  I'm still up to my ears in research and it would be very much easier to do it via Kindle - and probably cheaper in the long run. It would be portable - meaning the train journey could be put to better use. A lot of the stuff I'm reading at the moment is on PDF anyway - and  is out of copyright. And there's the fact that my poor over-loaded bookshelves couldn't cope with another 3,500 volumes...However, the literary Luddite that is me is holding out a) until the price comes down a bit b) until I'm sure Kindle isn't going to be a Betamax c) until I can have a test drive on someone elses!!  So today (last day of half-term holiday so work avoidance technique #1) I've been downloading more old, potentially unloved books from the internet and spending a little more of my ill gotten gains on Abe books.  Kindle might be instant, but there's still something satisfying about ordering, waiting and then unwrapping the brown paper/envelope/jiffy bag from a new book!  I don't want to lose the romance of re-homing books in a flurry of e-reading!  Maybe I'll just wait a bit longer...

Mourning The Book Inn, Billingham

One of the best little independent bookshops I've ever been in has closed, leaving Billingham Town Centre an even greater cultural wasteland than ever before.  I had many dealings with the Book Inn over the years, taking advantage of their fantastic ordering service, friendly staff and serious bargains.  When I first started work, I was in there at least once a week, buying a book to get me through the next week's train travel. I always bought book tokens there and they did some excellent deals for our staff reading group. It was a tiny shop, not much to look at, but always crammed with good stuff, it smelled of paperback books - ink, paper, laminated card... There was a little stationery section at the back, and a friendly (sometimes!) cat who would look at your purchases with distain as they were bagged up to be taken away.  I loved it. I never came out empty handed.  Sadly, Billingham has lost yet another retailer and the town seems destined to be bookshop-less from now on.  What has happened to the town centre in general is nothing short of scandalous, but the loss of The Book Inn is an absolute tragedy.

Cinderella, but Matthew Bourne style

I am tired.  Very very tired.  And, for once, it's almost entirely my own fault!  Left work last night and headed straight to the Theatre Royal in Newcastle to see this production - a 3 act epic of a dance show - and then hung around until almost eleven as Matthew Bourne was doing a post show talk.  I adore his work - it always feels as if there's a heart and soul and intellect behind it - and this was as fabulous as ever.  The stunning Prokofiev score, played at just the right volume augmented by Blitz sound effects, a magical re-invention of the story in a very credible setting, the hallmark humour and pathos I've come to expect from this company, some deft references to two of my favourite films of the 40s ( A Matter of Life and Death and Brief Encounter) - fabulous frocks, and some exquisite dancing - one of MB's very best pas de deux.  Oh, and a scene on the London Underground and a celestial motorcycle and sidecar!!  FABULOUS!
We were up in the Gallery - the only seats we could get - and that was wonderful too - I spent many happy evenings up there as an impoverised but theatre obsessed student.  The Gallery is going to undergo a major refurbishment as part of the renovations which begin in March and so it was lovely to be up beside the muses above the proscenium for one last time before it changes forever. 
It was well past midnight when I crawled into bed and had officially changed into a pumpkin and had no concept of where my shoes might be.  When the alarm went off this morning I was bleary-eyed and seriously weary.  But if it wasn't entirely sold out, I'd be back there tonight!!!
When it's magic, it is MAGIC!
www.new-adventures.net/productions/cinderella

Burns Nicht, books and bread and butter pudding

It was the Bonnie Bard's Birthday on Tuesday and so we celebrated with my annual Burns Nicht bash on Friday 28th, much haggis, lots of laughter and a very large pannetonne bread and butter pudding.  You would not believe how hard it is to find a pannetonne once Christmas is past.  I ended up with a kilo sized one from Marks and Spencer which ahd been reduced to about a fifth of its original price.  It was fantastic - but there's an awful lot of it left!!
Burns night is also Hamish's birthday, of course.  I'm sure it was a good one for him: I don't like to think of him getting any older than he is in my imagination, so I'm not going to embarrass him by counting the years!  I suspect there may have been a bit of a shindig at the But and Ben in the Trossachs...
Tidying up for the party this week, I've realised that I really am at book saturation point: there is nowhere left for them to colonise! I need to have a 'weeding my reading' session at half term, although I'm loathe to part with any of them but as parcels still wing their way in from Amazon and Abe books, I'm beginning to wonder if I ought to just abandon the house to them and move myself into the garage...
I'm still on track with my 100 book challenge despite the increasingly heavy demands the day-job is making.  Sadly, writing has stalled completely.  I won't have anything ready for the Debut Dagger competition this year and my word count on the new book is at a stand-still!  I'm still researching like crazy and just crossing my fingers like mad that I'll be able to have some time in the coming weeks - and enough mental stamina to put pen to paper!


That's us reflected in the glass of the Lowry!

Last weekend was BRB at Salford which was lovely: excellent performances and an amazing free exhibition about RB founder Ninette de Valois which was fascinating.  BRB aren't coming here this spring, and the RSC have just announced that they're not doing the annual Newcastle season because of budget cuts.  The Theatre Royal is also getting ready to close for a full refurbishment. It's beginning to feel like we're in a cultural desert!!! 

A book I made

As well as buying books with compulsive regularity, reading books whenever I can grab a minute, writing books - sometimes, anyway - and worrying about where to put them all, I also sometimes make books.  I'm a member of a quarterly book arts group called QUARTO (there's a bit of a pun there if you think about it!) and every quarter we produce hand made book to swap on a pre-arranged theme.  It's a real challenge to come up with ideas sometimes, but it is brilliant to see what the other members make of the theme and to 'steal' ideas from each other.  There are some incredibly talented book artists in the group as well as keen amateurs like me.  Anyway, this is the latest book I've made for the swap this month.  The theme was weather.  You may recognise the front cover...! 

January brings the snow...

 What a surprise that isn't!  To rearrage a line by John Lennon, 'And so that was Christmas...' It comes, and then, suddenly, it goes again: the decorations are all packed away, the tree is heading off to be recycled, the house looks vast and bare and inhospitable and we're all back to work: its like none of it ever happened!

Except there are still a few edible goodies stashed around the place and I'm still reveling in my Christmas presents. One of the best this year was a reprint of the 1900 Baedecker Guide to London for tourists: it was L.P. Hartley who said the past was a foriegn country and if he was right, I really thought I ought to read the guidebook before I went. It's amazing and fascinating to read alongside my Dorling Kindersley London book to see what has changed and what has not! I've spent this weekend up to my ears in research, trying to kick-start some life into my writing.


My herd, grazing on chintz!

 I've had some lovely comments from people about the Christmas story - which has now disappeared from Lulu, as the festive season is behind us - and I did spend a day before I went back to work re-reading the work I'd done last year on the new book and making some changes. I really want to do this - and the only thing stopping me, really, is me...I think perhaps I've wanted to tell this story for so long, I'm no longer sure how to!Thanks to everyone who bought/downloaded the Christmas story, a sizeable donation was sent to Crisis just before Christmas and a (rather smaller!) donation is ready to go off to the Wurlitzer Trust. The extras page will stay open for a bit longer, even though the story is no longer available.

Always makes me think of Grouse!

To my amazement, I discovered the other day that the partner of one of my regular (and very loyal) readers is not only an organist, but actually knows someone who has a Wurlitzer in his front room!! If only I'd known before, I could have relied a little less on Wikipedia!! Should I ever need to re-write, I know where to go for help!
Finally, I'm going to try the '100 book challenge' this year and use this blog to keep a record of what I read - that'll get a page to itself too!

The pictures are my decorations on Twelfth Night, just before I dismantled everything: I just wanted to make the festive season last a little longer!

Happy New Year!

Birmingham again...


I'm having a 'vegging out' day today, sitting by the Christmas tree, watching the daylight slip away. A very quiet New Year, 2011 simply wandered in without much of a fanfare and seems to have settled itself in quickly! Am facing the fact that I'm back at work in 2 days time - and I feel as if I've just started the holiday. Lots of New Year Resolution-y things about reading, writing and not getting ground down by the day-job but it remains to be seen whether I can do anything about them! http://www.bookgeekblogger.blogspot.com looks fun as does www.eurocrime.blogspot.com 's selection Just trying to decide which - if any- to sign up for!! As for writing: well, I'm going to try to go back to it tomorrow, honestly...