Ten Signs of an English Baby Boomer.

1) You ate sugar sandwiches, because jam was not available.

2) You had an aunt who would cut your hair.

3) The local library was the internet.

 4) You are old enough to remember when England won the World Cup.

5) You had to put money into a coin meter for electricity.

6) A cost of living crisis was the norm.

7) You watched television pictures of a man landing on the moon.

8) The girl next door was probably your best friend.

9) There were only two, then three television channels, and even then, the adults complained that there was nothing worth watching.

10) The toilet was outside, in the backyard. 

Such was life.

Charity shop book haul…yet another five for a pound haul (part two).

I went to the five for a pound charity shop this morning, and picked up another haul. However, this post is part two of my catch-up, pre-covid hauls. 

Another mixed bag, two non-fiction, three fiction, but as usual, good value for money at five for a pound!

Here's what I found.

Let's start with the fiction picks.

All the ratings are from the Goodreads website (as of writing). 

1) Don't Let Go, 2017, by Harlan Coben. 4.05 average review rating. 69358 ratings and 4613 GR reviews.

With unmatched suspense and emotional insight, Harlan Coben explores the big secrets and little lies that can destroy a relationship, a family, and even a town in this powerful new thriller.

Link: Don't Let Go 

2) Kill Baxter, 2014, by Charlie Human. 4.04 average review rating. 457 ratings and 39 GR reviews.

The world has been massively unappreciative of sixteen-year-old Baxter Zevcenko. His bloodline may be a combination of ancient Boer mystic and giant shape-shifting crow, and he may have won an interdimensional battle and saved the world, but does anyone care? No.

Link: Kill Baxter

I must admit, I picked this book up because of the cover!

3) Rumpole On Trial, 2014, by John Mortimer. 4.22 average review rating. 752 ratings and 54 GR reviews.

As Rumpole wends his way from court to wine bar and to the matrimonial home in Froxbury Mansions, listeners find their hero jousting with the Devil as he defends eight-year-old Tracy Timson against the dire threats of the local authority, is wooed by a beautiful violin player, watches Sam Ballard peer into the future, and appears before the Disciplinary Tribunal of the Bar Council.

I don't know about the book, but that's a long sentence. 

Link: Rumpole On Trial 

Now, for the two non-fiction. These are both by (former?) actress, comedian, and latter-day author Ruby Wax.

4) A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled, 2016. 3.77 average review rating. 3885 ratings and 300 GR reviews.

In A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled, Ruby Wax shows us how to de-frazzle for good by making simple changes that give us time to breathe, reflect and live in the moment. It's an easy-to-understand introduction to mindfulness, weaved together with Ruby's trademark wit and humour. Let Ruby be your guide to a healthier, happier you. You've nothing to lose but your stress…

Link: Frazzled 

2) How to be Human, 2018. 3.71 average review rating. 3223 ratings and 281 GR reviews.

It took us 4 billion years to evolve to where we are now. No question, anyone reading this has won the evolutionary Hunger Games by the fact you're on all twos and not some fossil. This should make us all the happiest species alive - most of us aren't, what's gone wrong?

Link: How to be Human

Slight embarrassment on the back cover of this book is probably the quote recommending the book from Russell Brand. I suspect that later editions will probably change that.    

Charity shop book haul…yet another five for a pound haul (part one).

So, I'm now playing catch up. Having been under the weather for a while, there are a number of posts to catch up on, including several book hauls.

Let's see what I got this time from the charity shop that keeps giving with their five for a pound offer.

All the ratings are from the Goodreads website (as of writing).

1) The Fry Chronicles, an Autobiography by Stephen Fry. 3.84 average review rating, 22132 ratings, 1232 reviews.

“Stephen Fry arrived at Cambridge on probation: a convicted fraudster and thief, an addict, liar, fantasist and failed suicide, convinced that at any moment he would be found out and flung away.

Instead, university life offered him love, romance, and the chance to stand on a stage and entertain.”

Link: The Fry Chronicles 

2) Animal, The Autobiography of a Female Body by Sara Pascoe. 4.15 average review rating, 8839 ratings, 639 reviews.

“Women have so much going on, what with boobs and jealousy and menstruating and broodiness and sex and infidelity and pubes and wombs and jobs and memories and emotions and the past and the future and themselves and each other.

Here's a book that deals with all of it.”

Link: Animal, The Autobiography of a Female Body

3) Only Fools and Stories by David Jason. 4.24 average review rating, 805 ratings, 67 reviews.

“…in a follow-up autobiography, he tells us about the many other lives he has lived – his characters. From Del Boy to Granville, Pop Larkin to Frost, he takes us behind the scenes and under the skins of some of the best loved acts of his career.”

Link: Only Fools and Stories

The Twelve Posts of Christmas: Day Five. Marshmallow or Book?

 A while back, someone posted the image below on Twitter X. It speaks for itself.

We live in a world where you can buy a book, new, for a few pounds or less. Self-published are often offered for free. Buying a book could well be one of the cheapest forms of entertainment around at the moment. You can spend £5 to £10 on a magazine these days.

Then I came across this picture.

A marshmallow for £3.95? I'd rather buy a book, or maybe two for that. Then there is the bargain-basement, or charity shops, car boot sales, flea markets…

Charity shop book haul...another five for a pound haul.

Last Friday, I got another five for a pound haul of books from the charity shop that keeps on giving.

Let's see what I got this time.

All the ratings are from the Goodreads website.

1) QI Second Book of General Ignorance by John Lloyd and John Mitchinson. 3.91 average review rating. This is one of those factual books that you can dive in and out of as and when it suits. Originally published in 2010 it has hundreds of individual bits of trivia like what did Cornish wreckers do, and what is a brass monkey? Like the BBC TV series, many of the answers are not so obvious.

 

2) First Man In by Ant Middleton. 4.02 average review rating and 705 GR reviews (as of writing). The memoir of a Special Boat Services sniper and a No.1 bestseller, which you might be forgiven for thinking that this is a man's book, yet quite a few of the reviews on Goodreads were from women. Maybe because it is about the secretive world of conflict and war, I assumed it would be a “man” thing. GQ describe it as “fist biting fun”, I suspect that at the time it wasn't always fun for the writer.

Charity Shop Book Haul: Finding Books Priced at Five For a Pound.

On Saturday, I made another visit to my favourite charity shop for buying books. They have a sale on of five books for a pound. In fact, that sale appears to be a permanent sale now, as every time I go in the same sale sign is on show.  

Let's see what I got this time.

All the ratings are from the Goodreads website.

1) Conquer Your Year by Natalie MacNeil. This has a 4.05 average review rating. It's more of a daily planner than an actual book, but I thought I would have a look. I'm not the greatest at planning for each day, so this might give me some ideas.

2) I Never Knew That About England by Christopher Winn. This has a 3.63 average review rating. Published in 2005 it is a book that presents a random selection of little known facts and stories about the 39 counties of England. It's one of those books that you can dive into as and when you are in the mood for some trivia.

3) Anyone Can Do It, My Story by Duncan Bannatyne. Has a 3.9 average review rating. Probably best known for being one of the dragons on the BBC'S Dragons' Den and for saying “I'm out”. 

4) Blowing The Bloody Doors Off by Michael Caine (who else could it be?). It also has a 3.9 average review rating. I expect a heavy dose of nostalgia.

5) Ancestors by Alice Roberts. Has a 4.12 average review rating.  The book is about the prehistory of Britain in seven burials. 

This may be the one I read first, or maybe Blowing the Bloody Doors off will beat off the more academic challenge of Professor Roberts.

I note that in the three charity shop book hauls that I have done so far, all the books have been non-fiction.  That's probably because I mostly read non-fiction. I should probably try harder to pick up some fiction.  There is usually plenty available, so no excuse, other than the non-fiction just draws me towards it.

The Price of Magazines, Just Buy a Book Instead!

I rarely buy magazines these days, the same with newspapers, the availability of free information on the internet means that I don't really need them any more.  

But occasionally, I will check the news-stand when out shopping, just to see if there are any magazines that I can remember.  I was doing this the other night in my local ASDA and one thing stood out about all the magazines that I looked at, the price. 

I am old enough to remember a time when you could buy a magazine for a pound or less.  

Okay, that was quite a while ago, but I think the last time I paid full price for a magazine it cost me £1.99.  Most of the magazines that I picked up the other night, just looking mind, were in the £4.95 to £9.99 price range.  Many of them had pages of adverts as well! I couldn't help but think, does anyone actually buy them? 

We are living through yet another cost of living crisis, but ten quid for a magazine?

You could buy a book for the same price. 

In fact, books can often be found for a lot less than a tenner.

Now, I like a bargain book.

I've written about the charity shop that I go to that often has a five books for a pound sale. I've managed to get some good books that way, but these days you can buy brand-new books for less than the price of a magazine. 

ASDA also had a selection of books for sale, many of them were of the bestseller variety, and they were priced between £1.99 and £4.99.  

Online you can find many priced at £0.99p or free, especially from indie, self-published authors.  

Magazine or book?  I think I'd rather buy a book.

Thanks for reading!

Charity Shop Book Haul: Another haul

I made another visit to a local charity shop that regularly runs five books for a pound sale.  This is what I bought this time.

1) Pause by Daniella Marchant. How to press pause before life does it for you.  Has a 3.79 rating on Goodreads.

2) The Secret by Rhonda Byrne.  Has a 3.73 rating on Goodreads. I don't really buy all this Law of Attraction stuff, but I thought that given how it cost twenty pence, I would finally read the book. It also has something to do with a pair of boots I found recently.

3) Happy by Derren Brown.  Has a 4.06 rating on Goodreads.  I see a trend here.  Three self-help type books in a row.  Interesting.

4) The Meaning of Sport by Simon Barnes.  Has a 3.78 rating on Goodreads. I like sport, so for 20 pence this was an easy pick.  We will see.

5) A field Full of Butterflies — Memories of a Romany Childhood, by Rosemary Penfold.  Has a 3.67 rating on Goodreads. The lowest Goodreads rating here. Having written a memoir myself, (well, the only book I've written) it is a genre that I like, a real life story. 

So, plenty more to read and all five for a pound.  

Going For a Walk, and the Satisfaction of Picking Blackberries

I'm fortunate in that there is a local park just across the road from where I live.  It is a country park where you are invited by the local council to walk through woodland, grassland, wildflower meadows and open water. It's home to many varieties of birds, where the ducks, geese, and swans will come and greet you in the expectation that you might feed them. A local canal and river also runs through the park.

 

There is something else about this time of year on the park. It is fantastic for blackberry picking. From around July to the end of August there is a feast to be had, if you like blackberries that is. I do, as a healthy option for breakfast or in a smoothie, and they are free. They are just starting to ripen now, although the full on black ones are still hard to find, every day there are more and more. 

These Boots Are Made For Walking…and The Law of Attraction — Part One

About a month ago, I was out walking when the thought came to me that I really needed a new pair of walking boots.  The walking boots that I was wearing, more of a walking shoe really, had seen better days.  The sole was beginning to show wear and tear, clearly damaged from years of pounding the pavements and walking country paths.  I had put in the mileage on my footwear, and it was time for a new pair.  

I knew that a new pair of walking boots would not be cheap.  A good quality pair with a decent hard wearing sole is always likely to cost a little more.  The ones with softer tread on the sole never last me that long.  They may look good, but they don't last.  As the saying goes, you get what you pay for, but I do like to get a bargain.  That is not so easy in these Cost of Living crisis times.  Mind you I've always lived a fairly frugal life and when it comes to footwear I've usually managed to find a bargain, either from a charity shop or a car boot sale (flea market in the USA).  I couldn't rely on that happening this time, but I wondered if my current walking boots would hold out until a bargain came along. 

The need for a new pair of boots was on my mind.

And then something strange happened.  Really strange.

Charity Shop Book Haul: Bargain Hunting for Books

I do like to look for bargains in charity shops.  I recently visited one that I had not been to for quite a while.  They had a sale on their books, five for £1.  Despite the sale being so cheap, I had trouble in finding five that I actually felt I might read.  It always seems to be like that.  A struggle to find the last one. It could just be me.

I came away with the following.

The Timewaster Letters by Robin Cooper (actually written by Robert Popper).  Looks fun and has some good reviews.  Huge bestseller according to the front cover.

Quite by Claudia Winkleman.  Will I ever read Claudia's offering? Is it aimed at me?  Not quite sure.

Peaky Blinders, The Real Story by Carl Chinn.   I've never watched The TV series of Peaky Blinders, but this book might give me an idea of the real past history of Birmingham's gang violence.  Do I really want to know?

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.  Bill Bryson knows how to write an epic book.  A big book.  There again, is 574 pages really enough to cover “everything” that history has to offer?  Well, he does say “nearly”.

Gone Fishing by Bob Mortimer and Paul Whitehouse.  I've started with Gone Fishing, as I have watched the television series on YouTube.  I like both Mortimer and Whitehouse.  Even though it is about fish and fishing, the latter being something that I have never done or felt the need to do, I think I will read it all.  I do like fish though, especially with chips.

So, not bad for a quid in these cost of living crisis times.   Once I have read them, I will probably re-distribute them back to a charity shop or two.