23. A Penguin Made Me Do It
The Case of the Bonus Book Bonanza
Hello, friend! Hope you’ve had a great week!
This sneaky sausage may have spent more than I should have on books this weekend. But … well … what’s a girl to do, when there’s a novelty ‘free’ penguin statue at stake? I mean, I’m not a monster!
Here’s a picture of me wheedling books from a young age - “Oh, I’ll read all the books on my TBR, Santa. Promise! Also, don’t check my bookshelves” :
We’ve also got a house inspection this coming week, so figure that the real estate agent will be so overwhelmed by how good we are at stockpiling books - that they’ll forget to look in the oven and see that cheese skeleton that we need to remove.
Fishbird Catch of the Week
We post twice a week on Fishbird Central. This week’s catch included:
Who Let the Dogs Out?!
Let’s fill a reading challenge prompt - 3 books with dogs on the cover! I did Google if a fox was a cat or a dog, and turns out it’s in the dog family - so don’t come for me in the comments! Every day’s a school day. In this post we read some Stephen King, solve a mystery with Dick Lochte and enter the mind of a killer with ‘Notes on an Execution’. Do you have a favourite book featuring a canine companion?
Check out the post here - Who Let The Dogs Out?!
Love Your Book Shop!
In preparation for the booksplosion that is ‘Love Your Book Shop Day’, this post walks you through 13 books on my radar and why they pinged my interest. It’s good to have a list when you go into a book shop, so that you can ignore it and grab random titles that sing to you on the day. What’s on the top of your bookish wish list?
Check out the post here - Love Your Book Shop!
Books Are Life + Life Is Love = Love Your Book Shop!
Love Your Book Shop Day was this Saturday 12 October! It may or may not surprise you, that I went all-in on the book buying. I managed to score a FREE little penguin figurine, by only spending a chunk of my house deposit on books!
But just think, dear reader - how much we’ve saved over the years by not going to the football! All those hotdogs and jerseys add up. You could say we’re making money, by supporting independent booksellers.
Also, you could say that now it’s my pseudo job to buy books - on account of there are amazing people like you, reading my newsletter and enabling my book bliss. I’m not making any money from it (yet - growth mindset) so not sure how that maths out, but that’s a problem for future me.
We stopped in at the wonderful Mount Gravatt Bookshop and left with a good haul of second-hand beauties:
Then we explored our local Harry Hartog and QBD stores, picking up another sackful of stories:
There are soooooo many book shops that we love, that we had to cap it at 3 today or else we would have been skint.
I did accidentally buy a 2nd copy of ‘Guards! Guards!’ - so, instead of walking back over the road to return it, it’s COMPETITION TIME!
I’ll gift this new copy of ‘Guards! Guards!’ to a randomly selected reader that (a) wants a copy (b) is not related to me (c) is subscribed to the Fishbird Central Newsletter and (d) can answer the following question in the comment section below:
Who’s your favourite Discworld character, and why?
Quick Fire Wrap Up
Currently Reading: ‘The Family Plot’ by Cherie Priest. A story about a Salvage business that plans to strip the old Withrow property. Something at the Withrow mansion though is angry and lost, and this is its last chance to raise hell before the house is gone forever. And it seems to be seeking permanent company.
Currently Watching: Zoe Sugg’s Vlogust, where she vlogged every day in August 2024. I’m behind on my YouTube, so this is a nice comfort watch in October.
Currently Wondering: What to draw next. I can choose a new face, sketch a dinosaur or grab something totally random out of the vortex. We’ll soon see!
Wishes for the Week
Wishing you a wonderful week ahead, friend!
Only good things are coming your way, I can feel it. Your kindness, generosity and good vibes are out in the universe and will come back to you tenfold. Brace yourself for incoming magic.
Also, check your oven for stray cheese - that stuff can weld on like nobody’s business.
Stay cool, punks.
‘You may say I'm a reader, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us. And the world will live as one in some kind of novelty book shop with lots of fake plastic penguins.’ - John Lennon (probably)
Jen x