Monday, 31 August 2020

#6 Degrees Of Separation-August


I'm taking part in #SixDegrees of Separation, which I first saw on the blog of Bookstooge over at https://bookstooge.wordpress.com/  Started by Annabel Smith and Emma Chapman, now hosted by https://booksaremyfavouriteandbest.com/  On the first Saturday of every month, a book is chosen as a starting point and linked to six other books to form a chain. Readers and bloggers are invited to join in by creating their own ‘chain’ leading from the selected book.

I did the July offering for fun to join in for the first time and for August the selection was How To Do Nothing by Jenny Odell.

This thrilling critique of the forces vying for our attention re-defines what we think of as productivity, shows us a new way to connect with our environment and reveals all that we’ve been too distracted to see about our selves and our world.

Uh yeah right, just my kind of read...NOT! But on the plus side lets say hello to the very pretty flowers on the cover. I like to look at gardens but the thought of actually doing work in the garden horrifies me because of the critters and horrible beasties that you get out there plus the deposits of cat shit to deal with and the sodding weeds...On the bright side I totally love sunflowers and want to find somewhere to plant a pile. So...

Salem’s Revenge strikes without warning or mercy, ravaging the powerless human race under the forces of united gangs of witches, wizards, and warlocks. During the slaughter, Rhett Carter's foster parents and sister are killed, and his best friend and girlfriend are abducted by a gang of witches calling themselves the Necromancers, who deal in the dark magic of raising the dead. Rhett’s sword-wielding neighbor with a mysterious past saves Rhett from becoming another casualty of the massacre and teaches him the skills he needs to survive in this new world. 

 A great sunflower cover. The book wasn't to my personal taste but witches are quite an interesting subject so I'll stick with witchcraft as I go onto my next offering which is...

When it comes to thoughts about magic they don't come any better for me than the wonderful world of Harry Potter. I always enjoy a re-read and this book is a favourite. Harry is worried that an escaped prisoner who was a Voldemort servant is coming to Hogwarts to kill him and is somehow finding his way into the castle. Of course the truth is a lot more complicated than that and Harry also has to worry about the slimy and dangerous prison guards who have an unhealthy interest in him.

 Thankfully Harry does not need to go to the actual prison but in my next choice the inmates are the focus of the book rather than the adventures of an escaped prisoner...

Jeffrey Archer was a former Conservative MP and famous bestselling author when he was found guilty of perjury in a court case and sentenced to four years in prison. In the first of three books, the author tells of his time in the Category A Belmarsh Prison where the most dangerous criminals in Britain are housed, while battling legally to get to an open prison. He shares the boredom and fear of prison life as well as the true stories of the inmates, many of whom became friends.

I never read this kind of book but I loved this trilogy of books. It really gives an insight into the justice system and the frustration shared by prisoners and guards over conditions and rules. Fascinating...

This was my first introduction to Jeffrey Archer the author, way back in the 90's when I'd watch something good on TV and seek out the book to enjoy. This was a brilliant book at the time as was the TV series. Two bitter rivals rich William Kane and immigrant Abel Rosnovski find their paths constantly crossing through the years. I was on Abel's side as his story fascinated me but it was the twist at the end that I really loved.

The acting in the TV mini series was excellent. I saw a lot of Sam Neill at this time especially in things like Omen 3. He always, to me anyway, seemed to enjoy playing dark characters that I didn't like but that pretty much changed when I saw him in...

Jurassic Park! I was a total dinosaur fanatic as a kid and even told my teacher that when I grew up I wanted to be one. Well sadly that never happened but my dinosaur obsession took off again when I first went to see Jurassic Park at the cinema with a few college friends. Oh how I wanted to go to this kind of park and see these creatures for myself! Can you imagine the pure excitement of seeing a T-Rex??? I'd have especially loved to see what they did with the park for Jurassic World! Safely behind a fence of course!

Escapes come in all shapes and sizes of course and my final book choice links up not just an escape but an actor who appears in both Jurassic Park and my last book choice for this month....

From playing the part of John Hammond in the Jurassic Park films to playing Squadron Leader Roger Bartlett in the film version of The Great Escape, I've seen a lot of the actor Richard Attenborough over the years on screen. It was one of my mum's favourite ever films and I watched it so often that I learned huge chunks of dialogue which we'd recite together for fun when we watched it!

Richard's character was based on the real life leader of the escape plan, Squadron Leader Roger Bushell, who was captured and murdered by the Germans. The book that was written has a slightly different feel to the film as names and events were changed a bit, but still fascinating.

How To Do Nothing to The Great Escape in six steps!        
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60 Years Of Coronation Street-Disliked Characters of the 60's/70's


This image is my own and I use it to promote my favourite TV series. I make no money from this. Coronation Street is the property of ITV.

In December this year, serial drama/soap Coronation Street will celebrate 60 years on British TV. I have been watching it from the late 70's and remain a big fan. Between now and December I will be looking at the best bits from the Corrie years. This time I'm looking at my most disliked characters from the 60's/70's.

1) Ray Langton
The guy was a piece of filth who was ex-Borstal, stealing, threatening women, trying to seduce Lucille Hewitt, having an affair with his best friend's wife when he was their lodger (Dickie & Audrey Fleming), married Deirdre and had a daughter Tracy, but cheated on her in 1978 which ended things. He caused trouble for Deirdre over their divorce and Ken adopting Tracy. Scum!

2) Suzie Birchall
Arriving in 1977 she was the bitchy friend of Gail Potter, but was always trying to upstage her by dating men Gail liked including Steve Fisher. She played nasty tricks on people, dragged Gail into trouble constantly, chased men with money like Mike Baldwin and was pretty much a cow to everyone. Left in 1979 but returned briefly in 1983, trying to split Gail and Brian.  

3) Tricia Hopkins
A bitch friend of Gail who fancied Ray and got a black eye from Deirdre for lying that he was cheating. Her family tried blackmail to buy the corner shop, threatening to expose Betty Turpin was really Gordon Clegg's mother, not her sister Maggie. Rude to customers, giving credit to men she fancied, she was evicted and sacked by Renee Bradshaw. Hurrah!

4) Christine Hardman
Spiteful and impatient with her ailing mother, Christine was well named. Fed up with a dull job and no man, she threatened suicide but was saved by Ken. Her eye fell on Ken's widowed dad Frank who was twice her age while stringing her ex along. Despite not loving Frank they got engaged and she broke his heart by later dumping him. I couldn't stand her!

5) Jed Stone
After being released from Borstal, Jed was forever involved in petty crime with and without Dennis Tanner. He was in and out of prison, lodging with Minnie Caldwell in spells. He was an obnoxious character who bugged me every time he appeared on screen. He reappeared to cause grief for Tony Gordon in 2008. 

6) Linda Cheveski
Linda was Elsie Tanner's daughter and a right miserable cow, and always being nasty to her husband Ivan. Ivan adored her, worked hard and did everything he could to make her happy but she threw it back in his face. She also cheated on him and he was forever chasing her to come home each time she left him. Dreadful woman! 

7) Dennis Tanner
What is it with Elsie Tanner's kids? Dennis was a lazy, workshy lout who was always on the con and in and out of borstal and prison. He became a talent scout but his hair brained schemes were always a disaster. Constantly in debt and bringing trouble to his mother's door, he left the street in 1968 and returned in 2010.

8) Lucille Hewitt
Lucille was raised in an orphanage after her mum's death and came to live with her dad Harry when he married Concepta Riley. Disliking her stepmother she was rude and sulky, and after her father's death, had to move in with the Walkers. She was besotted with Ray Langton who treated her badly. Lucille was whiny, lazy, rude and annoying!

9) Myra Booth 
Myra was a spoiled brat of a woman who dominated her kind husband Jerry Booth. She would spend more than he earned, getting goods on HP and causing debts. She never seemed to care about him and after he left declared she wanted him back and refused to divorce him. She was a right cold bitch!

10) Eddie Yeats 
A jailbird friend of Jed Stone, who lodges with Minnie Caldwell and then the Ogdens, Eddie was another get rich quick con artist who was forever lying and cheating, selling dodgy things to his neighbours and constantly in trouble. I found him mouthy and irritating though the character did improve as the years went on. 

Bubbling under...

In the 60's Ken Barlow was a pain in the rear. Stuck up and snobby, he was ashamed of his family, disrespected his neighbours and cared more about his beloved principals than anything else. By the 70's he was much more interesting with his tangled love life so he isn't on the list.

The other main irritant was mouthy Bet Lynch. She was prone to playing spiteful tricks on people and getting others into trouble so there were times I really didn't like her-like pretending she was having an affair with Alf or the phone calls to Mavis. However she is not on the list because I loved her interactions with Betty and Fred, and the scenes when her son died. Every time she called Fred 'Fred Face' I crack up!  
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Dog Days Of Summer #14


MONDAY
Another Asda delivery arrived and I made sure I stocked up on crunchy Chicago Town pizza which I loved but haven't had for years. It was so tasty to have it again tonight and my dad enjoyed it too. I swear our freezer gets smaller every time I look at it. There are four drawers but each is shallow and doesn't hold what you feel it should but we don't have the space for a bigger one. Oh how I long for a house with a few more rooms to give me the space for a double fridge freezer to really hold everything we need it for.

 To be honest my dad and I are both feeling a bit down about life here in Scotland. We both hate the Scottish Government and their Independence obsession (despite us voting NO to it in 2014) and their anti-English attitude. My dad and I love England and the English people, and I've always been welcomed as a tourist or worker each time I go over the border. Sadly I can't say the same about the welcome our country gives some English people who live or visit as a certain amount of the population here want to blame England for everything that is wrong in their life. Anyway, given the choice, we'd move south in a heartbeat if we could. I don't think we can raise the money even if we sell our house and my uncle's for market value but we intend to seriously look at it as soon as we can. I once thought I'd never leave Scotland but at the moment I can't wait to get out of here.

TUESDAY
I know a few of you are a bit concerned about the prospect of me coming off these long term  anti-depressants because of this dispute with my doctor. Let me assure you that I carefully weaned myself off as I did the last time I changed medication and it did all go smoothly and with no ill effects. I have been doing a ton of research on herbs and supplements as part of my prepper thing over the last few years so I have a lot of notes about doses and what I can and can't take with each option and how it all interacts with all other medications. I even have books on the subject and have consulted with an expert in herbal remedies. I'm mad as hell at the doctor for putting me in this position but I'll be making the best of it.

 WEDNESDAY/THURSDAY
I've been putting my energy into tackling the computer files all this week again. It's taken nearly three weeks to rename them and get them into some kind of order. Now I can finally start to examine each one and decide what to put on disk or delete. That could take the rest of the year or longer as I have the hard drives of my last three computers wired into this machine! I have a lot to deal with!

FRIDAY/SATURDAY/SUNDAY
I can report that I feel fine and I'm on a low dose of a supplement now, letting my body adjust to it and watching for any side effects. After four days, everything is going fine and my mood is unchanged from when I was on the anti-depressant. There has also been a small improvement in the sleep situation-still not getting as much as I want but I've gone up to four hours a night from two so it's a start! Hopefully in a few more days I might be sleeping better. Fingers crossed anyway as I'm fed up feeling tired all the time. 

My beloved football team played like complete haddies this week and were lucky to only be defeated by a single goal. We've still had a decent start to the season but a few wins would be nice in the coming weeks. I've spent the weekend relaxing and watching Coronation Street documentaries and behind the scenes stuff which has been a lot of fun.

MONDAY
I do feel a bit better this morning so I'm making a start on catching up with all the blog visits I never got to this week. I'm so far behind that it isn't funny. That's the down side to a blog break, enforced or chosen-too much catch up to deal with. I plan to spend the next few days catching up if I can. I'll be sort of taking it a day at a time for getting stuff done but I hope to at least post a few things this week and do a two week catchup at the weekend.
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Tackling The TBR


In December 2018 I launched Tackling The TBR, a challenge to reduce the ever extending TBR pile and 2019 was pretty successful in that regard. In 2020 I intended to make a big effort to reduce my TBR by buying less, getting stuff read and getting rid of the things that I just don't want to read from my bookshelves and my ereaders Maurice and Myrnin! However the darn Coronavirus Pandemic has put the skids under all my plans and I had to suspend the challenge. I've now decided to bring it back in a bid to kickstart my TBR reduction as nothing else has been working.
 
The TBR total shown is the total number of books I own but have not read yet-wishlist books are NOT in my TBR! Sometimes there will be a difference between the books read and new total-sometimes I read a book not on the TBR so it counts for books read for the week but

BOOKS IN
-Books in refers to bought, downloaded or gifted books being added to the TBR list. 

BOOKS OUT
-Books read refers to books read that were ON the TBR and DNFed is obvious. 
-Deleted from the TBR are books I lost interest in reading, or sequels to DNFed books I no longer want to read and have been removed without starting to read them. These three categories added together are my books 'out'.

I'm posting my progress on the 7th, 14th, 21st and final day of the month as before, even if there is no progress to report and anyone else is welcome to join in. No rules, set up your posts how you want and when you want, just reduce the pile! And each week I'll add my new week to the end of the post so I can track how the whole month went.

August 1st-7th   
TBR Start Total: 1493

BOOKS IN:
New Books In: 4

BOOKS OUT:
Books Read: 7
Books DNF: 
Others Deleted From TBR: 1

Target Total: 1450

New Total: 1489

A decent week overall to start the month. Buying a few books did a bit of damage this month but the total is still going down which is the main thing. 1450 here I come! 
******************** 
August 8th-14th
TBR Start Total: 1489

BOOKS IN:
New Books In: 23

BOOKS OUT:
Books Read: 23
Books DNF: 0
Others Deleted From TBR: 0

Target Total: 1450

New Total: 1489

Strange week! I treated myself to a pile of Paddington books (books for younger kids this time) and read every one of them through the week! I didn't have time to read anything else but no damage to the TBR and hopefully on a downward track again this week!
******************** 
I found more paperbacks while I was doing a bit of tidying and realised they weren't on my TBR, and I also found more ebooks. As depressing as it is I've had to re-adjust my TBR to add them on and re-start Tackling The TBR with the new numbers. *sighs* Oh well, no point whining, I just need to get my head down and get on with it! The good news is that each kids book can be read in one day so I should be able to recover this damage soon!  

August 15th-21st
TBR Start Total: 1489

BOOKS IN:
New Books In: 40

BOOKS OUT:
Books Read: 0
Books DNF: 0
Others Deleted From TBR: 0

Target Total:1500

New Total: 1529
********************
August 22nd-31st
TBR Start Total: 1529

BOOKS IN:
New Books In: 0

BOOKS OUT:
Books Read: 5
Books DNF: 
Others Deleted From TBR:

Target Total:

New Total: 1524

OK so I actually managed some reading in spite of the insomnia issues so I can't complain about that really!
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Tuesday, 25 August 2020

Top Ten Tuesday-Questions I'd Ask Favourite Authors (Aug25)

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.  http://www.thatartsyreadergirl.com/top-ten-tuesday/

NB: I don't follow or leave comments on blogs run by Google Plus, or DISQUS as I refuse to join something just to leave comments, and I won't allow them to follow new people, update my profile or post tweets 'on my behalf'. I won't comment on any blog that makes me sign in using another account. 

This was a struggle as I'm never really interested in meeting authors so I don't have questions lying around to ask them! I've adapted it to include authors and publishers. Warning, plot spoilers for Harry Potter in question 4 & 9!

1) Authors in general
How about you stop putting spoilers in the prologue?
How many times have I read a prologue that gives away a massive spoiler ie that someone dies, and then goes back in time to show you how it happened? I really hate knowing a major plot development in advance...just tell the story, build up the tension and let us be surprised as it happens!

2) Book Publishers
Why do you con us by renaming/reblurbing books/new cover/new author name?
How often have we bought a shiny new book only to get home and discover we already own a copy of the book previously released under a different title, with different cover and/or blurb or different author name? It should be a legal requirement to have on the cover what it was previously released as so we don't waste money on something we already own!

3) Book Publishers
Why do you have to change cover design/book size halfway through a series?
I hate it when I have a set of covers I love like the Otherworld and Alex Verus series...and then suddenly the next book comes out in a different size or with a butt ugly cover design! I can't afford to just buy a new set of covers! I hate looking at mismatched sets on my shelves! Bring out a second set if you want but let the rest of us complete our pretty set in peace!

4) JK Rowling
Why can't you write a wizard war trilogy? 
What Harry Potter fan wouldn't want to see books about the initial rise of Voldemort, the start of the Order of the Phoenix, the battle for power, betrayal and death of the Potters, Sirius v Wormtail, and the fate of the Longbottoms? What a trilogy that would be!  

5) The Corrie scriptwriters and producers
Why can't there be Coronation Street novels based on the 90's until now?
A few older novels were released in 70's, novels focusing on the war years and then an epic novel was released and it was ok but they crammed a ton of years into one book so it lacked detail, a proper narrative and decent characterisation. I'd have preferred a handful of novels for each year. Yes my shelves would be full but it'd be great!

6) Book Publishers
Why can't you just release the paperback edition at the same time as the hardback?
It's totally unfair to make readers who can't afford or have no space for hardbacks to wait a full year or more for paperback editions to come out! By then we have been subjected to online spoilers about the plot which is really frustrating! People will buy the format that suits best so it's unfair to have releases on Kindle and hardback, then paperback months or a year later!

7) Mike Kraus
Why fleece fans with crazy prices for the omnibus paperbacks of your serial books?
He's a good apocalypse writer who cuts novels into chunks to sell as serial novels. I refuse to buy that kind of thing so I waited until the omnibus paperbacks came out. For the omnibus of Surviving The Fall he charged £22 for 808 pages. That for one book is shocking when George RR Martin has £8/9 for a 900 page book! I refuse to buy his stuff now. 

8) Kelley Armstrong
WHY did the last three books of Otherworld have to focus on Savannah?
Savannah was an MC I never liked-whiny, immature and annoying and the series finale was ruined by excluding the main cast from the big battle to focus on her. I'd have given another book to Jaime and Eve working together, a book to the wonderful Cassandra and then a proper combined attack with the double POV of Hope/Karl, and the group. *sighs*

9) JK Rowling
Why couldn't you give Remus a proper on-page death?
He was one of my favourite characters in the series and we don't get to see him dying a heroic death saving someone or during an epic battle. He just appears dead next to Tonks like discarded rubbish! I hated that! If he had died saving one of the kids that would've been so much better! And why did you kill Dobby!!!

10) George RR Martin
When are you going to finish these bloody ASOI&F books?????
From the updates we are hearing it sounds like The Winds of Winter could be a year away yet so we'll never get to see the final book at this rate! I want to also ask why he wasted so much bloody time on other projects while the HBO series was on and got so far behind! And there better not be a huge further delay in the paperback release...
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Monday, 24 August 2020

60 Years Of Coronation Street-1978/1979


This image is my own and I use it to promote my favourite TV series. I make no money from this. Coronation Street is the property of ITV.

In December this year, serial drama/soap Coronation Street will celebrate 60 years on British TV. I have been watching it from the late 70's and remain a big fan. Between now and December I will be looking at the best bits from the Corrie years. This time I'm looking at my ten favourite storylines/episodes from 1978 and 1979.

1978

1) The Murder of Ernie Bishop
Wages clerk Ernie is held up at gunpoint by criminals but tragedy strikes when Mike, unaware of the robbery barges in and the gunman accidently shoots Ernie, who dies later in hospital. This was a very sad episode as I really liked Ernie and poor Emily was distraught.

2) Ray Langton's affair
Despite being married to Deirdre and having a young child, Ray starts an affair with the new waitress Janice Stubbs in the cafe, to Emily's disgust. Ray is soon found out and tries to persuade Deirdre to start again in Holland but at the last minute she changes her mind and refuses to go, ending her marriage.

 3) Alf Roberts marries Renee Bradshaw
Alf and Renee were a great pairing and it was great to see them get together and run the corner shop. I loved when Alf thumped Renees stepfather at the wedding for insulting her! Len is also arrested at the stag do after Rita refuses to let him in the house for being too drunk! This was a fun wedding has has plenty of ups and downs.

 4) The Strike at Baldwin's Casuals
Mike the miser sacks Hilda when she wants a new brush to clean the floor with. The factory girls come out on strike in support of Hilda and things turn nasty when Mike tries to defy the strikers by bringing in non union labour. Hilda does get her job back and ironically has to turn down a better job that she was offered.

 5) The opening of Dawson's Cafe
As an event in its own right it wasn't that exciting other than the owner trying to put an end to food being sold at the Kabin and nearly being thumped by Len (surprise), but this was the cafe that in later years is run by Alma and Gail, before being sold to Roy Cropper so I thought it deserved a mention.

1979

1) The Rovers Lorry Crash
Deirdre leaves Tracy's pram outside the Rovers and is convinced her daughter is dead when a Lorry crashes through the front of the pub. In fact, a disturbed woman has taken Tracy and the police and locals search for her while Deirdre considers suicide. Alf is bady injured in the crash but survives.

2) The romance of Gail Potter and Brian Tilsley
The young lovers face the wrath of Ivy Tilsley who doesn't want her son married outside the Catholic faith and will use any trick to split them up, to the horror of her good natured husband Bert. It brings Audrey Potter to the Street for the engagement and the couple are married later that year, where Ivy admits defeat.

 3) The revenge of Ray Langton
Ken has to fight for Deirdre who is being pursued by old flame Billy Walker but he wins her hand. When Len tells Ray, who is still in Holland, that Deirdre is seeing Ken Barlow, he decides to cite her in a divorce case naming Ken for adultery as he wants to remarry. Ken's attitude of demanding to be kept out of it and caring little for Deirdre's pain splits them up for a while

 4) Alf Fancies Bet?
With Renee away and Bet as his lodger, Alf gets tired of the teasing about an affair between him and Bet and is angry that she is encouraging the gossip. Alf decides to trick Bet and starts coming on to her, scaring her witless. This was really funny though Renee fails to see the funny side when she returns!

 5) Fred's wig
Fred's vanity comes out to play and he decides to get a wig. Of course it looks totally stupid and the Rovers regulars are in shock when they see it. Annie Walker tells them not to mention it to Fred so the plonker honestly thinks it looks natural...until Albert decides to put him right! Oh I laughed at this! It's the kind of story that Corrie does so well.
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Saturday, 22 August 2020

Dog Days Of Summer #13


MONDAY
Stomach virus for two days now...ugh, just what I needed! I'm better now though. I had a feel sorry for myself day and bought myself a couple of books...well, you sort of have to, to support authors and publishers and stuff! That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. All this buying is all well and good but I need to start reading more and making a dent in the pile! 

Just to get the week off to a great start, I've had to report three packages missing to Amazon, each of them over a week beyond the end of the expected delivery period. It's frustrating as I now have to deal with sellers to beg for replacements and refunds and also Amazon's bloody  interrogation bots that don't understand plain english or simple sentences. It's going to be one of those weeks I think as I also chipped a piece off a fourth tooth!

TUESDAY
My dad and I have been busy doing more tidying in the living room and hall. I don't exactly feel up to it but I need to get on with it. We have plenty stuff that we want to get to the charity shop but because the shops were closed through the lockdown, the ones we use have been deluged with donations since they opened and aren't accepting any donations for two months at least. This impacts our ability to clear the stuff out of our house and my uncle's house. And to add insult to injury, the local rubbish dump is queued out every day and only accepting the waste that normally goes into our bins, meaning we can't get rid of stuff there either. It's really frustrating to have bags and boxes of stuff I want rid of taking up every spare corner of the house. 

 I am about to have a book crisis. I found some ebooks that I haven't put onto my Goodreads total so these new additions are going to hammer my TBR this week. Well doesn't that just fit with my grumpy mood!!! I might just do an add on post to show the damage. That and not feeling up to reading this week are total bummers! (see Pandemic Fun post)

WEDNESDAY
We continued with the clearup today but with the problems I highlighted yesterday, it doesn't look that much better because I can still see 'stuff'! I am also fed up with the arrangements at my GP service. They changed physical appointments to telephone consultations, meaning you phone in and they can send out prescriptions for mild issues and only see the patients who really need it. That works well. But last week I got a letter saying the GP wanted to do a phone consultation concerning my medication (WHY do new doctors want to change EVERYTHING instead of just leaving you alone???) She told me to phone the surgery to book a phone appointment to talk about it. I have phoned four times, each time being told she isn't available, call another time. I'm getting a bit pissed now.

SHE has my bloody phone number so why am I having to do all this phoning? I'm self isolating so I'm always home and they know this! Today the receptionist phoned me to say they are withholding my medicine until the doctor clears me to keep taking it and told me I had to phone tomorrow morning to book a phone consultation for the afternoon. When I said why can't you just add me to the list of calls the doctor has to make tomorrow as I'm on the phone now with you, I was told that no, we can't do that, you have to phone tomorrow. You know what? SOD THEM! I'm sick of being messed around and I'd rather do without the bloody pills than have this caper. I have a book about natural remedies and I'll find a replacement in that if I have to. I've always wanted to have a herb garden so maybe I'll just do that! Anyone know good alternatives to anti depressants?

Man I'm so irritated that I just want to go and have a mega book splurge on Amazon...

THURSDAY
The mega book splurge was cancelled and I did a day of clearing up to focus the mind! And what did I find? A bag of paperbacks and hardbacks I don't remember getting and of course they aren't on the TBR. Well I guess that counts as my mega book splurge! Added to the ebooks I found earlier this week, in total that is FORTY books to add to the TBR!!! That is really depressing! But no point in whining about it! I re-jigged my TBR total and goal and we'll just start over. I still want to hit that 1450 target ASAP but first I need to get some reading done.

The good news is that I have a lot of horror novellas and kids books to read and I can get through one a night of them and get the pile dented reasonably quickly. I should be back to where I was by the end of September with any luck. I'll be targeting Enid Blyton, Walter Farley, Anne Digby, Michael Bond and Jon Athan to begin with. The good news is that this has refocused me and I picked up a book and read over 100 pages, the first reading I've done all week. This weekend I'll be getting stuck in! 

I also tried another Simply Cook recipe and being Chuckles, I went against my instinct and used the whole lot of the southern spice mix to marinate the king prawns and when I was cooking and tasting, the heat nearly blew my face off! I had to dump a pile of creme fresh in it (yes I know I spelt it wrong but I don't care coz I'm lazy!) However it was still a successful Louisiana Linguine, made with King Prawns instead of chicken! (I forgot to get chicken in!)

FRIDAY
I've been avoiding the news today and will do so until these US conventions are over as I don't need to keep hearing the same speeches over and over (we generally have CNN on now as it is more interesting than the bias on BBC and Sky News) I like seeing more of the international news anyway. 

I was busy again on the computer, sorting out more files most of the day. For the weekend I'll be following the football scores on Twitter on Saturday so I might see you guys there from 3pm to 5pm UK time. I think that's 10am to 12pm ET? I'll be doing comment and blog visit catchup and getting on with blog posts for the coming week. Doing it this way with blogging mainly at weekends with short daily catchup sessions midweek seem to be working ok. 

 Have a good weekend!
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Around The Blogs With Chuckles


We all enjoy snooping and lurking on other people's blogs right? Why not share those entertaining things you found with other readers and bloggers too! Welcome to Around the Blogs with Chuckles, where I take time out to show you some of my favourite blog posts from the previous seven days and link you up so you can check them out. 

It is vital that we all stick together online at this time. Do what you can to show some love to other blogs, to books and authors and let us all know that you are staying safe and well. Hearing from our friends will make it easier to deal with whatever is coming in the next few months. Stay safe everyone.

This week...

1) Books That Should Be Adapted 
AJ's list.

2) Book Review-The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers 
Nicky's review.

3) Book Review-Ink & Sigil by Kevin Hearne 
Lindsi's review.

4) Book Review-Driftwood by Marie Brennan 
Mogsy's review.

5) Sunny Buzzy Reviews 
See what Nicci has been reviewing.

6) Book Review-Arkhangel by James Brabazon
Heather's review.

7) Coming Back From Book Blogger Burnout
Heather tells her story.
https://www.randomredheadedramblings.com/2020/08/coming-back-from-book-blogger-burnout.html 
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Friday, 21 August 2020

Chuckles Weekend Roundup


Welcome to my feature Chuckles Weekend Roundup where I will be looking at what books I've received, anything interesting I've done or bought or watched and other random stuff. I'll be taking a look back at what happened in my blogging world too, sort of like The Sunday Post that some of you do! 

Please note that I'll be visiting your STS/SP as normal, but I don't follow or leave comments on blogs run by Google Plus, or DISQUS as I refuse to join something just to leave comments, and I won't allow DISQUS to follow new people, update my profile or post tweets 'on my behalf'. I am the only one who does that on my social media! I won't comment on any blog that makes me sign in using another account. Sometimes, I have problems leaving messages on blogs hosted by Wordpress-they try to block me because I deleted my account with them but I will persevere as it only happens the odd time!
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A week full of hard work, stress, book piles and computer drudgery but it was also a sort of satisfying week for getting shit done so I'm ok with that. I am tired but hopefully I'll get plenty sleep over the weekend to perk me up! If you are a regular visitor this week you'll have seen my trials with Tackling The TBR and I've written more about it and the stresses this week in my Dog Days post which I'll probably post tomorrow along with Around The Blogs.I never realised I had so much to do on the computer files. I'm deleting things I don't need, recording stuff of interest onto disk to watch later, cataloguing and renaming files to get things better organised and moving stuff into new or altered files. It'll take weeks but I want to go into winter this year with that done and a tidier house, so I'm making good progress on both!

 No reading at all this week but finding that added pile of books for the TBR has focused me a bit and FINALLY I picked up a book last night. I discovered that I have four started and then left forgotten so I want to finish them and then go on a spree of shorter reads to get that total down quickly and repair the recent damage. Hopefully motivation won't desert me again! There are a few books I like the look of that are coming out soon but I'll be waiting for paperback copies so that won't damage my TBR anytime soon.

 Chuckles Blogging World
Despite the busy week I have managed to stay on top of things these last few days and that will continue into this weekend. 

Book Reviews

Michael Bond-Paddington At Large (Paddington Bear #5)
http://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2020/08/book-review-paddington-at-large-by.html 

Michael Bond-Paddington Marches On (Paddington Bear #6)
http://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2020/08/book-review-paddington-marches-on-by.html 

Michael Bond-Paddington At Work (Paddington Bear #7)
http://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2020/08/book-review-paddington-at-work-by.html 

Enid Blyton-The Secret Mountain (Secret #3)
http://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2020/08/book-review-secret-mountain-by-enid.html 

Regular Posts 

Chuckles Friday Reading Roundup
http://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2020/08/chuckles-friday-reading-roundup_14.html 

Around The Blogs With Chuckles
http://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2020/08/around-blogs-with-chuckles_15.html 

Top Ten Tuesday
http://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2020/08/top-ten-tuesday-books-that-need-to-be.html 

#6Degrees Of Separation
http://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2020/08/6degrees-of-separation-august.html 

Discussion Posts 

Dog Days Of Summer #12
http://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2020/08/dog-days-of-summer-12.html 

60 Years Of Coronation Street 1976/1977
http://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2020/08/60-years-of-coronation-street-19761977.html 

Buy All The Books For Pandemic Fun!
http://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2020/08/buy-all-books-for-pandemic-fun_21.html 

Reading Challenges 

Tackling The TBR
http://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2020/08/tackling-tbr_21.html 

 Films & TV & Music
Not a lot to report here really. Watched a few Harry Potter films each morning while I'm on the computer but didn't have much time to do anything else. I spent most nights watching Coronation Street from 2013 and I'm nearly finished with the year. I plan to watch right through until I get caught up with the current episodes. I need to be catching up a bit before they go back to the 6 episodes a week! 

 Book Tags/Blog Awards
none this week

The Week Ahead 
I need to set at least one night per week aside for these Coronation Street catchups. I'm thinking about week nights for reading and weekends for watching stuff with Friday nights being a whatever I feel like night as I need to read and watch a lot of stuff! I've discovered that I started four books so I really need to finish them and that is my first target.
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Tackling The TBR


In December 2018 I launched Tackling The TBR, a challenge to reduce the ever extending TBR pile and 2019 was pretty successful in that regard. In 2020 I intended to make a big effort to reduce my TBR by buying less, getting stuff read and getting rid of the things that I just don't want to read from my bookshelves and my ereaders Maurice and Myrnin! However the darn Coronavirus Pandemic has put the skids under all my plans and I had to suspend the challenge. I've now decided to bring it back in a bid to kickstart my TBR reduction as nothing else has been working.
 
The TBR total shown is the total number of books I own but have not read yet-wishlist books are NOT in my TBR! Sometimes there will be a difference between the books read and new total-sometimes I read a book not on the TBR so it counts for books read for the week but

BOOKS IN
-Books in refers to bought, downloaded or gifted books being added to the TBR list. 

BOOKS OUT
-Books read refers to books read that were ON the TBR and DNFed is obvious. 
-Deleted from the TBR are books I lost interest in reading, or sequels to DNFed books I no longer want to read and have been removed without starting to read them. These three categories added together are my books 'out'.

I'm posting my progress on the 7th, 14th, 21st and final day of the month as before, even if there is no progress to report and anyone else is welcome to join in. No rules, set up your posts how you want and when you want, just reduce the pile! And each week I'll add my new week to the end of the post so I can track how the whole month went.

August 1st-7th   
TBR Start Total: 1493

BOOKS IN:
New Books In: 4

BOOKS OUT:
Books Read: 7
Books DNF: 
Others Deleted From TBR: 1

Target Total: 1450

New Total: 1489

A decent week overall to start the month. Buying a few books did a bit of damage this month but the total is still going down which is the main thing. 1450 here I come! 
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August 8th-14th
TBR Start Total: 1489

BOOKS IN:
New Books In: 23

BOOKS OUT:
Books Read: 23
Books DNF: 0
Others Deleted From TBR: 0

Target Total: 1450

New Total: 1489

Strange week! I treated myself to a pile of Paddington books (books for younger kids this time) and read every one of them through the week! I didn't have time to read anything else but no damage to the TBR and hopefully on a downward track again this week!
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I found more paperbacks while I was doing a bit of tidying and realised they weren't on my TBR, and I also found more ebooks. As depressing as it is I've had to re-adjust my TBR to add them on and re-start Tackling The TBR with the new numbers. *sighs* Oh well, no point whining, I just need to get my head down and get on with it! The good news is that each kids book can be read in one day so I should be able to recover this damage soon!  

August 15th-21st
TBR Start Total: 1489

BOOKS IN:
New Books In: 40

BOOKS OUT:
Books Read: 0
Books DNF: 0
Others Deleted From TBR: 0

Target Total:1500

New Total: 1529

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