P&PS

Oxford is amazing. I may have overdone it a bit, but I can't think of a single thing I wouldn't have regretted leaving out. I spent most of my short morning wandering around trying to follow the directions I had written down, until I came across the information center. I know I could have looked up directions on my phone, but there's something about paper maps and directions that make more sense to me.  I bumped into a lot of cool stuff as I walked around: a couple of buildings closed for a graduation and the graduates themselves, an Oxfam shop and a street market.  Plus, I got a nice overview of the town which made the book nerd and history geek parts of me very very happy.  I may have imagined Oxford dozens of times in a bunch of different time periods, but there's nothing like experiencing it in person. Radcliffes Camera and the Bodleian were absolutely stunning. Radcliffes camera was undergoing renovation so the view was a bit restricted but the view of the new ...

Sleep last night was a bit disjointed. Going to bed early meant getting woken up a couple of times by people chatting as they returned to go to bed.  It also meant dealing with the humidity that comes from breathing in an enclosed space before the room outside your curtained bunk has time to cool off completely. I was up at 2 am recording more snippets of memories: the prevalence of support for local and/or organic food, how nice it was to see an entire aisle of eggs sitting on shelves instead of in giant coolers, rapeseed oil in all of the ingredient lists instead if canola, and the dark wood and orange linens of the hostel contrasting with their space age-esque bathrooms. The list continued to grow throughout the day, with Red Box as an office supply company, the grass on the side of the road is tall and yellow, cows grazing in meadows in astonishing numbers, trash cans are labeled "rubbish" and called dust bins, "Greens" are filled with cobblestone not grass,...

This week's Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by The Broke and the Bookish) is all about secondary characters so I've scoured my goodreads lists and come up with a few notable characters. Daniel from Time Enough for Drums by Ann Rinaldi He's the perfect big brother and I admire his political conviction, not to mention his Tory friend. Mikey  from Laurie Halse Anderson's Catalyst He's such a cute kid and I love how he really draws attention to Terri and allows for some great character development. The Rooster in Cold Mountain (Charles Frazier) Yes, I'm counting the rooster as a character.  He's part of one of my favorite scenes in the book, terrifying Ida to the point where she hides in a bush.  He's also the reason I loved Ruby when she was first introduced. George from the Song of the Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce George is the kind of love interest I like to see in YA books.  He's steadfast and patient and he's supportive of Alanna living her lif...

On Sunday I was up early to go to the Columbia Road Flowers' Market and check out the shops before tackling part of the Jubilee Walkway .  The sites pictured include the market as well as The Royal Hospital (I took a bit of a detour to Whitechapel), Saint Paul's Cathedral, Tower and Southwark bridges, The Globe Theatre, Clink Street, the Winchester Palace ruins, Southwark Cathedral, Hays Galleria, St Katherine Docks, The Tower of London,  All Hallows by the Tower Church.

LAST DAY IN LONDON (AKA LONDON DAY FOUR) AND EDINBURGH DAY ONE I wrote this up shortly after my arrival in Edinburgh.  If it sounds a bit different from my usual posts it’s because I was ridiculously tired and reading way too much John Green at the time. It's my last day in London so of course the weather has to pull out all the stops. Possibly it's the universe's subtle way of saying "move on" but whatever the reason it's freezing cold, then it's hot, then it's raining, than it's not.  My umbrella may be broken but I’m still spending a good part of the day in Saint James' Park, sitting in alternating bands of sun and shade, finishing the last book in the Hunger Games Trilogy.  I've come to love London and there's so much left I have to see.  I’m about to go take in Buckingham Palace.  I've already seen Parliment and Big Ben.  Later today I’ll move onto the London Eye, the Southbank neighborhood festival , Blackfria...

I can't say that I've been doing a whole lot of book blogging lately but I have been thinking about it a lot and doing an astronomical amount of reading so here it goes, then things that make my life as a blogger/reader easier: Goodreads :  They track the books I read, keep basic stats and allow me to stay organized, quickly in between the times I update my reading spreadsheet.  I also store notes on books or brief summaries to remind myself what I liked (or didn't) about a book.  The summaries, book covers, and author information provided by the site are also really helpful when posting book reviews. Excel : I track all of my reading in one big spreadsheet.  In years past I only had a list, but this year as I've joined more bookclubs I've switched over to a spreadsheet as it makes it easier to sort by any number of factors including dates and genres. My local library : Free books both in print and as ebooks and audiobooks.  Access to more books in vario...

On Thursday, Sammy and I went to Derry for the Fleadh. More accurately we went to see Cara Dillon, but the celebration was a nice addition. The weather was rather bad so I don't have much in way of photos or video, but I had a lot of fun all the same. I spent most of the afternoon at the Tower Museum in their 'History of Derry' exhibit which turned out to be a nice prelude to the concert.  The concert itself was fantastic. The atmosphere was more festive than I had expected given the pseudo-formality of the occasion which was nice. There was a camera crew there for the first half of the show, shooting film for part of the  Music Promise  BBC documentary series, which sounds like it'll be interesting.  The set list was a balanced mix of the more typical small band performance and the arrangements done with the Orchestra.    I don't have a complete listing of the songs, since there were a couple I didn't recognize, but in addition to The Lass of Gl...

Pictured: Radcliffe Square, The Bodleian Library, Christchurch College, Oxford Castle, The Ashmolean Museum

Having spent quite a bit of time in hostels and hotels lately I thought I would but together a list of some of the most helpful tips I've discovered.  If there's something I should add, feel free to let me know. • You're going to want earplugs and a sleep mask.  You may think you sleep through everything but there's always going to be someone that gets up earlier than you or goes to bed later than you.  There's always going to be that one person that gets up in the middle of the night or the bathroom across the hall with the really loud hand dryers.  You might end up with the bunk next to the east-facing window or the one directly under the overhead light. • Even if you're travelling within your own country you're going to want one of those gadgets that split to allow you to plug more than one item into a socket at a time.  Power outlets are at a premium in most hostels.  If you're travelling internationally make sure you have at least one adapter...

Pictured: Steamroller burrito: Vancouver, BC; McDonalds: Squamish, BC; sushi; Daniela Andrade at the Hot107 block party: Edmonton, AB; Radcliffe Camera: Oxford, England; Tower Bridge: London; Telephone booth; Westminster Abbey: London, England; The London Eye; Scott's Monument: Edinburgh, Scotland; Greenhouse at the Royal Botanical Gardens: Edinburgh, Scotland