Tuesday, 14 July 2020

Top Ten Tuesday-Books That Make Me Happy

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. 

 Right, a nice cheerful and light topic this week about books that make you happy!

1) JK Rowling-Harry Potter
Nothing makes me happier than going back into the Harry Potter World! Hogwarts, Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade, Quidditch, Fred and George tricks, Hagrid's creatures and the trials of The Dursleys! I always feel happy when I read this series.

2) Michael Bond-Paddington
I've had so much fun during these virus days, chilling out with that hapless bear Paddington! I love the hard stares he gives people he isn't happy with, the trouble he gets into on a daily basis and the funny illustrations for the stories that made me giggle!

3) Charles M Schulz-Peanuts
I was always a huge fan of the Peanuts books as a kid but sadly had to give them away when I ran out of space. I'd love to have them in big volumes that I could look at again. I love Snoopy and it has been years since I read one.

4) Alex Graham-Fred Basset
This is a cartoon in the Daily Mail newspaper about the adventures of a sausage loving basset hound and his humans. I have the short cartoon books that are released each year and I enjoy his adventures.

5) Jenny Lawson-Furiously Happy
I laughed so hard at times reading this book! To have such a sense of humour with all the mental health disorders she has is pretty inspiring and I also love her blog. I could laugh one minute and weep for her the next, I really do. I'm looking forward to reading her other book with that gorgeous mouse on the cover!

6) Sarah Andersen-Sarah's Scribbles
These cartoon books about the author's social anxiety strikes such a chord with me. Her cartoons are funny and I have three of her books. I hope more are coming!

7) Enid Blyton
I've really enjoyed re-reading some of her books during lockdown so I can write good reviews of them. I'm already finished The Wishing Chair and I'm halfway through the Secret series which has also been light and fun. I have many more to read again!

8) Roger Kettle & Andrew Christine-Beau Peep
This was another cartoon in a daily newspaper about the amusing adventures of a group of Foreign Legion soldiers at a desert fort. It is stupid British slapstick humour and I love the cartoon books that have been released of it!

9) Jen Campbell-Weird Things Customers Say In Bookshops
This and the follow up book were really funny and you just can't believe that people can be that dumb! A nice light read to cheer anyone up.

10) Allie Brosh-Hyperbole And A Half
Another humour filled memoir about mental health struggles and I love the very funny cartoon images that illustrate the books. If you like Jenny Lawson, give this a try.
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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! 

June 26th-July 7th   
TBR Start Total: 1518

BOOKS IN:
New Books In: 5

BOOKS OUT:
Books Read: 11
Books DNF: 0
Others Deleted From TBR: 0

Target Total: 1500

New Total: 1512
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July 8th-July 14th
TBR Start Total: 1512

BOOKS IN:
New Books In: 3

BOOKS OUT:
Books Read: 6
Books DNF: 0
Others Deleted From TBR:1

Target Total: 1500

New Total: 1508

A bit of a mixed week really but heh, reduction of four y'know? I'll take it considering the health issues this week! I feel much better now and I'm ready to go for the coming week!
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Saturday, 11 July 2020

Dog Days Of Summer #6


THURSDAY
After my last update, I had a couple of days of not feeling too great-constipation, dehydration, headache...yuk! By this afternoon I was better but it put me way behind on everything. I can't say that I'll look back on 2020 with any fondness and I'm only in July...

FRIDAY
My dad and I went over to my uncle's house to dig through more stuff. It was a bit of an ordeal to say the least...BUGS! To get to his house we need to go up a flight of stairs, and with his being the bottom flat in the building, we have to go past his bins to get to the front door. Well the stinking bins had a ton of horseflies, wasps and bluebottles around them so it was a scary run the gauntlet kind of moment! I felt like I was appearing on Takeshi's Castle! Thankfully neither of us was stung or bitten but we'll try and get environmental health to remove the bins. We'll try phoning them on Monday.

We are baffled by why he never threw out his old divan bed when he bought a new one recently, instead choosing to rip it open and store all the springs from the mattress in a box???!!! We have no idea why! We found three rolls of wallpaper and a lovely aqua paint, so my dad is in fear of a kitchen redecorating project for the winter. He should be VERY worried! We removed more tools, things like engine oil and stuff to wash the inside of windows, his TV, a new gas fire that hasn't even been unboxed, a lantern that he used for fishing and more fishing gear itself. I think we've removed pretty much everything that we want to keep. Next is getting clothes into binbags and kitchenwear into boxes for the charity shop. After that we can get the old beds, fridge, microwave etc removed by the council, and we can look at the cleaning that needs to be done once we have floor space to work.

SATURDAY
The big excitement of the day was the arrival from Amazon of my first ever mixer! Yes I'm going to try my paw at some baking and breadmaking in Chuckles Kitchen, which could be a bit of a riot! (I'm waiting on the baking set with all my cake tins and stuff which is due on Monday.) Isn't it pretty! It is huge, heavy and shiny! I love that colour which is classed as duck egg blue but it looks more like green to me.


My dad is already talking about what he wants me to bake but hey, give a Chuckles a chance to learn how to open the cake mix packets...I dread to think how bad my early attempts will be but I just topped up on indigestion liquid this week so we should be ok.

This latest news about the virus causing blood clots and attacking the lungs, kidneys and brain etc is a worrying development. They're talking about brain damage too. It's making me want to stay home and never leave the house ever again. In Scotland, the rules are to wear a mask when shopping and using public transport. At our local shop, people are still not wearing masks. Whether you agree with mask wearing or not, I hate seeing a rule being flouted when it comes to safety. There are still huge gatherings, raves and parties going on and it will get worse with hotter weather being promised. I'm so frustrated by these idiots who are putting us all at risk! The infection rates in the US are really concerning so please everyone, try and be safe.

 
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Chuckles Friday Reading Roundup


Welcome to my Friday Reading Roundup! This feature will show exactly what I've been reading and DNFing through the last week. 

 Another good week, continuing with Enid Blyton and Paddington, both of which I'm really enjoying!

 4 star, 4 star, 4 star, 4 star, 4 star, 3 star.


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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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This week has pretty much been a write-off to be honest. Between a viral infection of some description that got me and my dad earlier in the week, and the continued cleanup at my uncle's house, I've barely had time to do anything online so I'm way behind on everything this weekend. Plus my temper is at an all time low and house clearing at both addresses is going slower than I'd like. Full details on my Dog Days update later today. 

On the plus side, I'm still getting some reading done though over the last few days anything more complex than Paddington is beyond my brain capacity! Packages are starting to arrive which is of course exciting and I've sorted out space for new books that are due. I'm hoping that the book buying phase will be pretty much over for the summer other than the odd one here and there so I can concentrate on getting the numbers headed down. 

Chuckles Blogging World
As I said, I'm so far behind this week that it isn't funny. I seem to be having productive weekends on the computer but then real life during the week gets in the way and it's another frantic catchup each weekend. It's getting a bit annoying and I need to find a solution that I can live with as we have months of work ahead of us that look like they'll stretch into next year. 
 
Book Reviews
none this week
 
Regular Posts 
 
Chuckles Friday Reading Roundup
 
Around The Blogs With Chuckles
 
Discussion Posts
 
Dog Days Of Summer #5
 
Reading Challenges
 
Tackling The TBR
 
Films & TV & Music
I haven't had time to do much watching this week but at night I've continued with season 15 of Great British Menu. I'll be finished with it this week. I'm getting tired of all of the news outlets and certain topics that they are all obsessed with, and we've also switched off the sport news channel for the same reason. 

Book Tags/Blog Awards 
 
Mid Year Freak Out Tag
 
The Week Ahead
Between now and Tuesday I'm waiting on a few deliveries from Amazon-books and household items, plus a food delivery on Monday. My dad and I have more tidying to do in our house and a few DIY projects are being discussed plus we're still clearing my uncle's house. I hope to continue with the reading and TRY to get some horror read!
 
 
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