bookshoplaura

I would not describe myself as a grammar nazi. Sure I'm pedantic but I prefer the word enthusiast. I am a grammar enthusiast, there I said it. There's no shame in it. I read a lot and do my best to spell correctly and it really irks me when people make a complete shambles of the English language . I believe if you're only going to be fluent in one language, the very least you can do is master it. I find on social networking sites like Facebook that my news feed is often awash with so many spelling mistakes that I often find myself wincing as i scroll down through my news feed. I find I'm a little baffled as to how people have managed to get through the school system without understanding the difference between your and you're or to, two and too.  That being said , there is one thing that irritates me more than any other grammar mistake. I'm certain that if you're not guilty of this then you at least know someone who is. The Mis use of word litera...

Anyone who knows me will know me as a reader and if you don't then the book tucked into my handbag and my excitement upon entering a bookshop should give me away. As with any avid reader my lust for books ebbs and flows depending on what else is going on with my life. My high point reading wise was during my time in the book shop when I had free reign over hundreds of books as they came in to the store and I read voraciously during that time. It has fallen off a little since I left because indulging my reading habit to the fullest extent would probably leave me unable to pay my rent. I also have the mitigating factors of my high stress job where I work many hours often leaving me too tired or marshmallowey brained to delve into a book of any worth, In the last few months my reading habits have changed a little. I am working my way back up to my usual speed of reading and slowly picking up the quality again after a few months of low brow crime and shamelessly bad chick lit. T...

Back in the long long ago when working in a bookshop was just a pipe dream ( and I hadn't ruined said dream by actually working in a bookshop yet) , I used to read everything I could. I took whatever the library could give me, anything a charity shop would sell me and a whole lot of whatever my mum and sister had just finished reading. Then I got a job in a bookshop that allowed me to read anything I liked and I refined my reading tastes. I became picky but I was able to read the new releases the day they arrived and it was great and then I lived happily ever after. Oh no wait, wrong story, I loved being in book nirvana but the job itself bored me and I was miserable in it so I got out. Now I work mad hours in a job I love but no longer have an endless supply of books. Luckily for me my sister still reads like there's prize being given for it and was happy to weigh me down with books on my last visit home. Once I dug my way out of said mountain of books I noticed a common t...

With today being the day I start back into night shifts (after a two week break) and also my only day off this week, I decided it would be the day to do all of the things. I was up bright and early to do my messages, like some old woman sans the nifty wheely bag. There was food to be bought and bills to be paid and I had persuaded my boyfriend to finish work early so we could go to Kilkenny for the afternoon. I remember the good old days ( a few months back) when we would get to Kilkenny all the time but the opportunity for a day away doesn't crop up often enough.  I wasn't really up in Kilkenny to shop. In that I didn't really have the money for it. I just wanted a nice afternoon out so when I am wandering around my apartment in a zombie like state for the next two days, I can remember that I had a nice day out on Friday. Despite my intentions to not really do any shopping I was feeling pretty excited about visiting one of Kilkenny's many book shops and treating my...

Anyone who knows me will know that I didn't rate the Fifty Shades Of Grey book very highly. If you have read it yourself then you shouldn't be too surprised at this. I love to read for the simple pleasure of reading, the power of a book to transport you somewhere else entirely and Fifty shades just sort of offended me when they tried it pass it off a valid piece of literature. It was originally written as Twilight fan fiction which tells you everything you need to know because aside from being a vampire, Edward Cullen, had creepy stalker boyfriend bit down to a tee and it seems Mr Grey has taken up nicely where he left minus the whole Vampire element and adding in a whole lot of smut for good measure. If you have been living in a cave the last few years then I guess it's possible that you might not be aware of the phenomenon that is Fifty Shades of Grey. Just in case you have now emerged from said cave and now found yourself confused on my blog, I'll enlighten you. T...

I have been looking for things to read, especially as I seem to have quite a lot of time sitting around the college and sometimes spare hours to pass on night shift. It was during such a hunt that I stumbled across some ebooks on a torrent site I use and started downloading like mad. By the time I had finished I had built up quite the collection on my phone ( which as it turns out is working quite well in lieu of an ebook reader) but instead of diving into something new and different I found myself beginning Harry Potter. I, like most people have read and thoroughly enjoyed the Harry Potter series having read them shortly after they first came out. I also listened to the incredibly lovely audio books as read by Stephen Fry and watched all the movies. Naturally I agree the books were best but overall its a fantastic series. I am certain most people feel this sort of warm nostalgia towards the books, the only notable exception I know of is my boyfriend who refuses to have anything to d...

I have always been pretty firm on where I stood in the argument of real books versus digital and I would like to say this is something I have stayed firm on over time but  I do try not to lie on my blog even if it makes me look silly. While I do still love how books feel and look and enjoy the tactile experience of picking one up in a shop and physically bringing it home, I have started to veer towards the digital book or ebook as many know it. Before you get all up in arms please allow me to explain my change of heart. As many of you know I used to work in a bookshop up until recently enough and if you didn't know then I am sure my blog name was probably a give away. Before my bookshop days I got my books like a regular person; I pilfered from family members, regularly borrowed from the library, I ransacked second hand shops and I occasionally treated myself to a brand new book. As you might be able to tell, my passion for reading has been around a while. Then I got my booksho...

A girl without a book A girl without a book is lost, baseless, feels like something is missing and not these half thumbed paperbacks that litter every surface. Without a book I am empty, lifeless, teetering on the edge of worry; napping, chocolate eating. Me without a book is worrying, a happy Laura always reads, not sure if the lack of books is to blame or my own inattentive mind. A girl without a book is faceless, hard to know who I am without knowing what I read and why I do not. A girl without a book is a problem ready for solving, waiting to  be rescued by one dazzling, gripping read. A girl without a book is me. So it wouldn't be fair to say I am not reading at all. That never really happens, I even managed to keep reading when I lived in Switzerland that year and the selection of English language books was appalling. I have however come to a bit of a standstill where I have a stack of books sitting on my shelf but there's not one I...

The Humans- Matt Haig   I know I am a bit late to jump on the bandwagon here because people have been raving about this book for ages but I am not going to let that stop me. It was always one I'd considered reading but somehow it had never made it home with me. I was only pages into it and I knew this was going to be my book of the week which was a promising start by all accounts. The story centres around a Professor Andrew Martin who solves the world's greatest mathematical riddle and then disappears and I could just leave it there because I am afraid of spoiling the story but it's difficult to describe the richness of the plot without giving a little bit more. An alien has arrived on earth and taken on the form of Professor Andrew Martin because the riddle he has solved has troubling consequences and so this imposter has been tasked with finding out who he has shared his discovery with and eradicating them. The trouble with the plot description I have just given...

The girl on the train- Paula Hawkins I know I am not the first to jump on the bandwagon and I'd love to be different and pick something else as my book of the week but then I would be lying because this is without a doubt the best book I've read this year never mind this week. That probably doesn't sound all that impressive until you take into account the fact that I read several books a week. The girl on the train is about a woman, Rachel, who catches the same train to London every day. On this journey the train stops at the same signal every time, allowing Rachel to catch a glimpse of the same couple and over time she starts to feel as though she knows them and make up stories about their lives. Then one day she witnesses something shocking that changes everything and suddenly she has the opportunity to step into their lives and become more than just the girl on the train.  It has been compared to Gillian Flynn's Gone girl and within a few pages it is easy to ...

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion The Rosie project is one of those books that I have picked up numerous times and debated reading but for some reason or another it has never made it home to my bookshelf. On some level I felt that I might enjoy it but the cover wasn't completely appealing to me and I think that put me off a little. Then two people recommended it to me in the one week and I decided I would have to find out for myself what it was like, I was not disappointed.  The plot centres around Don Tillman, a rigid and socially awkward middle aged geneticist  who is keen to meet a woman but has much difficulty getting them to stay beyond the first date. He devises the wife project to fix this, essentially asking potential dates to fill out a questionnaire so that he can rule out the unsuitable ones from the get go. Then he meets Rosie who is the complete opposite of everything he is looking for and she throws his life into disorder.  This could have been jus...

My pick for book of the week this week is a quirky book called love in small letters. This week it was altogether more of a challenge because my reading pile was packed with interesting literary fiction titles and once I get into a good book I can't stop going but my overall favourite was definitely this one. The plot centres on Samuel, a teacher that lives a pretty secluded life until one day a cat turns up on his doorstep and by taking it in he finds his whole world changing. The cat coming into his life leads to him making new friends, reigniting his childhood love and having some unusual encounters that cause him to re-examine his perspective of the world. The book was translated from Spanish which gives it a sort of quirky feel and I feel (even though I don't have enough Spanish to read the original text) that it is a good translation and has done the story justice. Sometimes when a writer is translated, the story can have an odd clunky feel and there's almost some...

I have loved books for as long as I can remember. I actually can't get enough of them. I find even acquaintances seem well aware of this fact and share bookish things with me online. I was the child who always had a book in hand and read at a ferocious rate, the one scoping out other peoples bookshelves. I remember years ago we used to have a family gathering for cousins, aunts and uncles at Christmas and I would look forward to this because I could sneak to my cousins room and read my way through back issues of magazines I wasn't allowed have. In a way this has probably led to me being a stickler for grammar but I am also fairly articulate and meticulous in my writing. The biggest thing it has brought to me however is a passion as an adult for books. The only thing was I have trouble affording my book habit and while I would occasionally splurge on a new book because I got so excited upon seeing it in a shop, I would mostly scour second hand bookshops, charity shops and an...

Some of the things I enjoyed most as a child were colouring, reading  and eating chocolate and funnily enough they have all stayed with me right into adulthood. I also enjoy the occasional nap and at this point I am thinking more naps would have been a better resolution than getting fit because I know which one I am excelling at thus far.  Some of the best parts of being an adult is having the freedom to forget I am one occasionally and that's usually why you will find me escaping into a really good book given half a chance. Life can get pretty stressful as an adult with all sorts of stresses and worries that no one had bothered to warn me about when I was a teenager and wishing my life away.   While colouring was always something I had enjoyed on some level, it wasn't something I can say I have done a whole lot of in recent years outside of work events ( in the children's section of a bookshop) and in my role as Auntie Laura ( a role that I take very seriously...

Starting this week I am trying out something new on my blog. New year and new me and all of that jazz. As many of you know, I am quite an avid reader, I get a bit panicky if I don't have a book in hand and another lined up to read straight after so with that in mind and the fact that I am getting through 3-4 books in the average week, I have decided to pick one each week to feature in my blog. Prepare for exciting times ahead, sort of. I generally have fairly decent taste in books, if I can claim in that in so much that taste in books is quite a subjective thing but my hope is that fellow book lovers can find their next book to read out of the many I dive into. So to kick this off my very first choice is A book called my Salinger year by Joanna Rakoff, It is a book I have heard loads about or at least seen mentioned many times in the forums I trawl online for books ( by this I mean on twitter, instagram and Facebook and not that I frequent online book forums if such a thing exi...

I was down in Kilkenny for a day out and I wandered into Dubray books for a look. I couldn't help noticing (somewhat jealously)  that they have all their new January titles in while in work we are impatiently awaiting a delivery and trying to hide the many gaps on our shelves. So I got all excited taking photos of new books that I really want to read (while my boyfriend looked on and laughed at me for being a nerd) because I am hoping they will all be arriving into the shop next week and I will have saved myself loads of time by choosing what's next in my to be read pile. Apparently wandering around the shop choosing books to read is not actually part of my job description. Anyway while I was wandering around this bookshop glad that I don't own a credit card I started seeing books that I read in the last few months and really enjoyed and thought I should really do a top 10 of the books I had read in the last year. Its difficult sometimes for me to recall exactly what I h...

Due to a shortage of decent novels being released during December and the fact that Laura without a book does not function ( if you think I am antsy on coffee you should see me bookless) I have taken to borrowing stashes of children's and young adult books for my reading pleasure. It is not always a good thing to be able to read quite fast because sometimes even with a whole bookshop to choose from you can feel like you have nothing to read. Now I am not suggesting that I have read everything in the shop or even everything worth reading but I do every so occasionally go through phases where nothing looks appealing and I can't bring home a book if I don't like the cover. It turns out that never judge a book by its cover can also be taken literally and I can't seem to stop myself from doing it. So here we are in the run up to Christmas a great time for choosing books as presents and there's not a single decent new release in my to be read pile. Someone up in publis...

I could challenge you to find movies that are better than the book they were based on but you would be hard pushed ( 0r wrong). At best you may put together a short list of movies that have done their book counter parts justice and that leaves all the other books that have been torn asunder by the big screen. When you pick up a book and delve into the life of its fictional characters, you can often find yourself immersed in their world. Sometimes when it's particularly well written you take a bit of that world away with you. You have ideas about how the characters looks and sometimes might have actually seen their story play out in your mind. At times it can almost be devastating to see that made into a movie and have the whole thing fall apart in front of an audience of thousands. Last night I went to see Gone Girl in the cinema. I will warn you at this point that I had previously read the book so there may be spoilers ahead. If you have not yet familiarised yourself with...