Bookish (and not so bookish) thoughts // 8 September, 2016

‘Bookish (and not so bookish) thoughts’ is hosted by Christine at Bookishly Boisterous – go say hi!

1. I HAVE THE INTERNET AT HOME NOW AND IT IS UNLIMITED. I watched ‘Gilmore Girls’ on Netflix for four hours the other day. It was delightful.

2. In last week’s ‘Bookish and not so bookish thoughts’ post, I half jokingly announced that I’d be going to Scotland in August of 2019 to stay at The Open Book in Wigtown – a bookshop with an apartment above that you can lease AND run the bookshop while you’re there. I’m pleased to announce that this is no longer a half joking matter, and I will be staying at/running The Open Book from August 26 to September 1st, 2019. Come visit and buy a book from me.

3. I met Justin Cronin last Friday night after winning a competition and it was exactly as awesome as I expected. The whole thing got off to a bit of a panic as the train my sister and I were catching to the city was delayed, so we got in about 10 minutes later than I wanted, so I was worried we’d be late to the event. But we got there in plenty of time and it was good we were delayed because The Man Himself got to the building at the same time and after introducing ourselves we got to ride up in the lift with him. He read a chapter from The City of Mirrors, then had question time and I was brave enough to ask my question first (for the record, the ending he wrote is the one he planned and he actually liked the ending himself). Then he did a book signing and we got to chat to him for ages about books in general, book to screen adaptations, and a bunch of other stuff. It was so great.

4. In a book I was reading this week, there was mention of a ‘Rain Room’ at a museum in Cairo that has forty different types of rain, so people who may have gone their entire lives without experiencing rain might be able to do so. The book was fiction, but based on some fact, so I had hoped the Rain Room was real, but I can’t find anything about it. If anyone has ever heard of this, please send me a link!

5. Shaina (from Shaina Reads) shared this link with me on Twitter during the week, about how Australia only does loads of research on cute animals. I have to say I’d agree with that, except for when people have deemed them a nuisance (like hordes of bats coming in a hanging out in trees in residential areas).

6. Australia is going to be leading the world’s first ever all female expedition to Antarctica (AKA The Continent of my Dreams). If I’d known about this earlier I would have applied to be a lady’s maid or something so I could go (are lady’s maids still a thing??).

7. My opinion of the new iPhone is WHY WOULD YOU GET RID OF THE HEADPHONE JACK? I get all Hulk-like when the cord of my earphones gets tangled, imagine the destruction if I couldn’t find my earphones at all? Just the dumbest idea ever.

8. My new couch arrived on Tuesday – I’ve spent a lot of time wearing it in over the last couple of days. I’m happy to report it is very comfortable for reading (I went with this one in the pepper tweed).

9. There’s been a cat hanging around my house the last few days and it doesn’t have a collar, so I think it might be a stray. My mum said I shouldn’t encourage it to hang around, but I really want a cat and I’m not allowed to have pets (small birds don’t count as pets in the eyes of real estates/owners, which I find quite offensive, but anyway). But if I encourage it to hang around, I can have a cat without having a cat. Yes/no?