...read

 
Stacey's book collection
I love cwtching up to a good old book. I love it when a book grabs my attention and nothing around me matters. I love how my imagination runs wild with characters faces and the plot. My book collection as you can see above in the photo consists of authors including Chris Hadfield, Marian Keyes, Katie Fforde, Elizabeth Noble and Jenny Colgan.
My latest book added to my collection is by Jo Thomas, The Oyster Catcher.


Katie Fforde...
Tuesday 21st October, 2014
I've been dying to type this post but had to wait until it was my sister in law's birthday on Sunday before I could as the main part of this story was her birthday gift. If you don't know this already, I actually collect Katie Fforde's books from charity shops. Since the first book I read by Katie, Practically Perfect, I have an addiction for looking through charity shop books in search of more to collect them.

People ask me when they visit my house if I've read all the books, and I have to admit that I haven't, followed by; it's my own little library of books. I actually love finishing a book knowing I can just sit there reading the backs of each of them to decide which one I'll read next. Some of you who know me will know that I'm a slow reader as I tend to doze off when reading...not that the book is boring, I just don't know what comes over me when I read, it just makes me sleepy. So, choosing a book doesn't happen that often.

Grant was in search for Christmas fairs to book a stall to sell his products at and came across The Cowbridge Book Fair and read that Katie Fforde was attending it this year in November. I immediately contacted my sister in law's to ask if they would like to go with me, and so, for Emma's birthday I bought us tickets along with Katie's newest book out called The Perfect Match. I seriously cannot wait to hear Katie talk about her new book and get to see her.

I've started the book and it grabbed me straight away. It's such a sweet opening to a book. I'm excited to get stuck in. For more information on Katie's other books, please visit her website.


Astronaut Chris Hadfield, An Astronaut's guide to life on Earth...
Tuesday 14 October 2014
I'm not too sure I want to confess how long it has taken me to finish this book. I was bought a Kindle by Grant as a Christmas gift, to be able to read in bed at night. The first book I purchased was Chris Hadfield's book, An Astronaut's guide to life on Earth. I'm a slow reader, but when reading at night I easily drop off to sleep. Therefore it took me until I went away on holiday to France to be able to properly sit down and get into it, with a few snoozes in between, lounging on the side of the pool.

The moment I sat down to start reading it I got back into it straight away and I honestly couldn't put it down. I haven't got children myself, so I don't know what it feels like to leave them, but I'm guessing it feels something like I felt with this book, lol. I didn't want to leave it. If we'd go out for food and I had to leave it behind at our accommodation, I was itching to get back to it.

If you're slightly interested in what this book is about, be sure to purchase it straight away as it is the most amazing book I have ever read. I even made notes throughout the book of my favorite lines to be sure to let you have a sneak peak;

Chris Hadfield
Not entirely sure of why he's on a skateboard on the cover, am hoping to write a letter or message him via social media to ask a few questions I came up with. So will be sure to get back to you on that if I ever get a reply.

Favorite lines...
"Every 92 minutes, another sunrise: a layer cake that starts with orange, then a thick wedge of blue, then the richest, darkest icing decorated with stars."

 "To drift outside, fully immersed in the spectacle of the universe while holding onto a spaceship orbiting Earth at 17,500 miles per hour - it was a moment I'd been dreaming of and working toward most of my life."

"A long line of dominoes would have to fall in a very unusual way, in other words."

 "Truly being ready means understanding what could go wrong - and having a plan to deal with it."

"I grabbed a camera with a 400mm long lens, hoping someone else had already done the settings, since I didn't really know how, and just started taking photos. It was like looking at the world through a straw: you could fit all of Chicago into a picture but not all of the Great Lakes."

"Anticipating problems and figuring out how to solve them is actually the opposite of worrying: it's productive."

"Holding onto the side of a spaceship that's moving around the Earth at 17,500 miles an hour, I could truly see the astonishing beauty of our planet, the infinite textures and colors."

 "Black velvet bucket of space, brimming with stars."

Motivational quotes...
"I could get started immediately. Would an astronaut eat his vegetables or have potato chips instead? Sleep in late or get up early to read a book?"

"But at some point, you just have to accept the people in your crew, stop wishing you were flying with Neil Armstrong, and start figuring out how your crewmates' strengths and weaknesses mesh with your own. You can't change the bricks, and together, you still have to build a wall." 

 "The lesson for me was that the very last thing you do on a mission is just as important as the first thing you did - perhaps even more important, actually, because now you're tired. It's like the last mile of a marathon: the effort has to be more deliberate and you've got to push yourself, hard, to keep going right to the very end."

 "The desire to explore is in our DNA. It's what humans have been doing since the first dissatisfied teenager left the family cave to see what was over the next hill."

"I view each mission as just one thread in the overall fabric of my life - which is, I hope, nowhere near over."

"Typical path for someone in this line of work, straight as a ruler. But that's not how it really was. There were hairpin curves and dead ends all the way along. I wasn't destines to be an astronaut. I had to turn myself into one."

"I had a lot of choices and my decisions mattered. What I did each day would determine the kind of person I'd become."

 "Pushing boundaries of knowledge and human capability - I knew, with absolute clarity, that I wanted to be an astronaut. I knew, as did every kid in Canada, that it was impossible. NASA only accepted applications from U.S. citizens, and Canada didn't even have a space agency. But...just the day before, it hadn't been impossible to walk on the moon. Neil Armstrong hadn't let that stop him. Maybe someday it would be possible for me to go too, and if that day ever came, I wanted to be ready."

Favorite parts...
"We'd play this game with a ball of coffee or juice - you risk a messier mess, but the colors were good for arty photographs. We also took pictures of balls of water, trying to capture our own upside-down reflections in them."

"The socks I am about to put on are the ones I'll wear to leave Earth."

"Experimentally, I let go of my checklist for a few seconds and watch it hover, then drift off serenely, instead of thumping to the ground. I feel like a little kid, like a sorcerer, like the luckiest person alive. I am in space, weightless, and getting here only took 8 minutes and 42 seconds."

"After 146 days in space, we'd orbited Earth 2,336 times and traveled almost 62 million miles."

"If you start thinking that only your biggest and shiniest moments count, you're setting yourself up to feel like a failure most of the time. Personally, I'd rather feel good most of the time, so to me everything counts: the small moments, the medium ones, the successes that make the papers and also the ones that no one knows about but me. The challenge is avoiding being derailed by the big, shiny moments that turn other people's heads. You have to figure out for yourself how to enjoy and celebrate them, and then move on."

"I'm trying to ignore these little globs of water floating around in front of my face when suddenly my left eye starts stinging. Wickedly. It feels like a large piece of grit has been smashed into my eye and instinctively, I reach up to rub it - and my hand smacks into the visor of my helmet. 'You're in a spacesuit, moron!' I remind myself under my breath."

I felt like I was watching a film. I gasped for air when reading that water was in his helmet. I felt like I could relate to Chris where I have experienced natural instinct when driving abroad; wrong side of the car and wrong side of the road. My natural instinct was to look the other way and grab the steering wheel with the other hand so kept on knocking the door.

My Questions for Chris;
  • When the Soyaz has detached from the ISS is it still orbiting Earth?
  • What's the temperature in space?
  • What changes, in how you feel do you experience when you reach space? Is it a sudden change of feeling or gradual?
  • What would happen to something that was let out loose in space without protection? e.g. paper or pen or a hat etc?
  • "The International Space Station, did not even exist yet; the first pieces of the station were sent up in 1998." Question; How did they get the first part up there and release it? How did anyone know what would happen to it? How did they know the first part they left up in space would stay orbiting Earth and not float off? How does it stay orbiting Earth and not float off into the unknown?
  • "Urine, however, is another matter, and all of us spent a great deal of time on Station collecting it." Question; Does urine, food and water float inside your body/stomach in space? and saliva?
  • "Bubble wrap." Question; Does the air expand? What about an aerosol can; would it explode? Like they say it would on an airplane? Would spraying it in space be the same as on Earth? Would the spray float?
  • "Orbiting Earth at 17,500 miles per hour." Question; Who decided or knew how to prepare the first person and their body for that high speed/traveling to space?
Ladies who read... choosing your next read
Wednesday 27th August, 2014
I don't know about everyone else, but I loved this Bank Holiday Monday just gone. It rained all day so I took the opportunity to lounge around in my pj's all day and finished reading The Naughty Girls Book Club. I was slow getting into it as normally I fall asleep after only reading a few paragraphs. But I was grabbed half way through and couldn't put it down. I got to know all the characters, and fell in love with them all. Their individual stories were lush. I literally had a smile on my face at most points during reading. I didn't want it to end. But it did, and I must say, the ending had such a lush ending. I highly recommend it.

My next pick, is Honey Queen by Cathy Kelly. I was torn between this and The Cottage by the Sea by Carole Matthews. I read both their first paragraphs Cathy Kelly's grabbed me most with her opening. What are you reading at the moment?


Ladies who read... book club books
Friday 15th August, 2014
At present I'm reading a book my brother's girlfriend lent me, called The Naught Girls Book Club by Sophie Hart which is funny enough written about a group a women who all get together to discuss naughty books such as the one mentioned in a post below. I was actually thinking of testing the waters and seeing if I could actually start up an on-line book club. Not necessarily where all participants have to read the same book within a certain period of time and then come on-line to discuss, I mean, what ever book you are reading at present, please feel free to let us all in on what your favourite authors are, favourite books, favourite parts of that book etc.

I'll go first, OK, so this book I'm reading by Sophie Hart called The naughty girl's book club is actually the type of book I love, as it it based around a few women. I love those books where there are a few different women and they all have different backgrounds, a bit lit Love Actually the film. It's a nice easy read and about something I've never really read before, a book club. I would definitely recommend it.

Ladies who read... 50 shades of Grey
December 2013
I finally finished the book and oh my, what a story! I love it, not sure what everyone else thought. Did anyone else imaging the characters whilst reading it vision Bella and Edward from Twilight? lol. Or was it just me? Of course I loved the whole dirty stuff in book but also loved the romantic story line. Thank god it's over now though, I have never read as fast as I have reading those three books!!! I hope no one else thinks to do that in the future.

 Ladies who read... 50 Shades of Grey
October 2013
Ok, girls - I need help getting through this 50 shades book. I'm still on the 2nd book. I cannot seem to get back into it after not reading in a while. Yes, I know - I'm probably the last girl not to have read all 3 in like...a week. Please - give me . Do not by any means tell me the ending lol. just give me some motivation!!! Please!!! Thanks - Stacey x
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