UK Book Club discussion
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Random Chit Chat
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Zoe, UK Book Club Creator
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Aug 09, 2009 09:34AM
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Nice, hope the weather's good for you :-) I've booked myself a holiday in Hay-on-Wye, the world's first book town. Not quite as exotic as Magaluf though but I'm excited nonetheless :-)
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A holiday to Hay-on-Wye, wow I'm impressed!
I am too Peter :-) can't wait either, going in mid September so shouldn't be too busy either. I've never been before and it's only about an hour up the road from me, shameful really.You should check the town's website out Zoe (below) as I said it was the world's first book town although theres a few more now and it has about 30 major secondhand bookstores as well as numerous coffee shops, pubs and restaurants. It has lots of festivals on during the year including the Hay Festival of Literature in May each year (you may have seen it on the news).
http://www.hay-on-wye.co.uk/
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I have about 17 days holiday in Sept (never had so many days off) I haven't decided what to do as yet but after reading where Sam is heading to, I think I may have to have a trip to Hay on Wye!I am off for a 3 night break at the weekend and am taking Faces of Fear by John Saul and By Blood We Live vampire stories by a selection of authors including Stephen King, Joe Hill Anne Rice and Neil Gaiman and others. I may also take one the many autobiographies I got at Christmas.
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I think you should definitly squeeze in a Hay holiday Lynne, I'm only going for three days as I think any more than that I'd come home bankrupt lol Where are you having you weekend break, anywhere nice? I'm not sure whether to take any books on my hol since I know I'm going to be buying loads there lol might take one just in case :-)Zoe there's always next year and by then I'll have been to every bookshop there so can tell you the best ones to go too :-)
Oooo I can't wait...four weeks sunday and counting :-D
I have been saving up for my holiday in Sept as it is also my 50th birthday! I have just over a thousand pounds to spend so I think that will get me through the 17 days! I am off to Gloucester again! I love it there and have a very good special offer in one of the Ramada Hotels as we use them quite a bit for short breaks! This is costing £204 for 2 for 3 nights half board!
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Sam, you'll definitely have to let us know which the best book shops are and take any photos of anything cool! :-)
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My best friend and I visited Hay on Wye during a holiday in the UK from Australia three years ago. Both she and I are mad readers and she knew all about it. We were staying in Cardiff at the time, and I have to say, I am in love with Wales, particularly Cardiff and the south coast.Hay on Wye is a beautiful place as well as fascinating with all those bookshops. If it's not difficult to get there, I thoroughly recommend it. Wish I could be there for the festival sometime.
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Hi all,Had a fab time in Hay and managed purchase 46 books (and added another 5 when I used the last of my book money in the second hand bookshop in Cardiff's Castle Arcade) and 8 jigsaws. The town of Hay was beautiful and worth a visit just for itself (if you see what I mean). Has great places to eat and stay and of course the bookstores were amazing. They are all worth going in just to see what you can find as they all have such varied collections. I particularly liked Booth's Bookstore as it was all wood, with wood floors, bookcases and a lovely big wood staircase and it has very comfortable seating upstairs amongst the shelves. Addyman's is also very good as is Murder and Mayhem (also owned by Addyman's). I managed to buy books in almost every shop (it was the children's bookstores that I failed in).
Did you have a good time in Spain Zoe? How did you not read anything, were you out galavanting around the pubs and clubs lol?
Hi Lynne, have you had your Gloucester holiday? Did you have a good time?
Glad you enjoyed your visit to Wales Sally and managed to get to Hay alright. It is very easy isn't it :-) Did you get a chance to stop at Brecon as well, that's a lovely historic town too. I'm never sure about the festival, I'm not sure if it's all too serious for me or not. Might go one day :-)
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Magaluf was really good cheers - yep, lots of going out and late nights and things! But just got back from Malaga and did a bit of reading there - Reading Catch-22 at the mo and it's actually quite good!
Everyone's been on holiday!! :D Back to uni for me on Monday :(
We had the very best afternoon tea in the tearoom at Brecon Cathedral. What a beautiful place!It fascinated me that the crockery used was based on the Cathedral's spires and pointed windows etc.
Good to drop in on this pleasant group. I'm sure I'll enjoy finding out about everyone.
I'm about to pick up Diana Gabaldon's latest - Echo in the Bone. It came into our book store today here in Melbourne. Sorry to say you dont get it till January in the UK. Sorry. I cant wait to read it.
Hi Sam Glad you have had a good time in Hay, Gloucester was great thanks! I had plans to get to hay but dut to a leaky hot water tank I can't get there! I have to hang around for it ot be fix but I intend to go eventually! I did find some new books for my birthday which is tomorrow. The big 50! lol!
Hi Zoe, glad to hear your catching up on your reading Zoe and I hope your enjoying Catch 22, I found it very amusing when I read it :-) Yea it is, I had to keep going to and from my car to drop them off as I was buying them. My bags kept getting a bit on the heavy side lol. You know your looking forward to going back to uni really lolHi Sally I'm glad you got to visit Brecon when you were here, it is a lovely little town. I've been to the Cathedral tearoom and it is lovely isn't it and the crockery is very interesting. I was very impressed when I first went there :-) I haven't read any Diana Gabaldon, is she an author you would recommend?
Hi Lynne, glad to hear you enjoyed Gloucester, shame you didn't get to visit Hay but it's worth the wait trust me :-) Happy birthday for tomorrow, hope you have a fantastic day and don't forget to get out an celebrate and not stay in engrossed in your new books lol :-)
You haven't read any Diana Gabaldon! Have I got great news for you!!! Crosstitch/Outlander is in the top 20 of favourite 100 books in all the book store chains. The first of the series, and it must be read in order, is Outlander or Crosstitch (different names, same book.) The series has time travel, history and a great love story. Try it. I will be fascinated to find out what you think.
To give you an idea about just how loved the series is, two of my daughters, plus friends, read the full series yearly. I have most of them on audio book as well, and listen to them every year or so.
Oh dear what have I been doing to miss this lol! I'll certaintly keep an eye out for her then and I'll make sure to read them in order. Why are there different names for the same book though, that's confusing.Sounds good though, I'm quite into my historical fiction books at the moment :-) and that's quite a following.
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Sam, if you're into historical fiction books, I quite enjoyed The Conquest by Elizabeth Chadwick.
Mmmm thanks for that Zoe, I'll have a look for her in the library too :-)
Crosstitch is the title we have in Australia, and possibly is used in the UK. Outlander is the title in the States. To answer Zoe's question, no not like The Time T4ravellers Wife, which was wonderful, but to help you understand just how it works, I found this review which explains as well as any I've read, why this whole series is so addictive and the characters so important to us all. To us, these characters are real and their story matters to us. Another thing, I dont know one person who's read this series who is not in love with Jamie Fraser - see what you think.http://www.matrifocus.com/SAM05/revie...
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aaah, lucky ducks! I had a week off planned for the week after next, and was wanting to go to Hay-on-Wye. But alas, have had to cancel the break for the new job (not that I'm complaining!) so hopefully will be able to arrange another week off in the new year *grins*
Tonight, I am chilling with tv and reading a book if I can get back into reading lol.Saturday, I am getting my new laptop as I had to hand back my Netbook as it was too small, couldn't get on with it. Demanded a refund yesterday and I received it.
Sunday, will be playing with laptop, adding stuff from the PC and re-sorting the bookcases in order of series.
Have a good weekend everyone xx
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Oh we have a desktop as well, but thats the kids now. Hubby and I both have our laptops and we are loving them lol x
Alexandra wrote: "aaah, lucky ducks! I had a week off planned for the week after next, and was wanting to go to Hay-on-Wye. But alas, have had to cancel the break for the new job (not that I'm complaining!) so hopef..."Oh that's so gutting. HAve you been to Hay before or would that have been your first visit? On the up side at least your new job (congrats on that by the way) will give you lots of cash to spend on lots of lovely books :-)
No, never been to Hay, but have heard of it as like the holy grail of books, so naturally I'm keen :p But yes, new job will allow for many free and discounted books, so I'm still happy. I will still plan a trip up there, though!! *grins*
Oh it certaintly is that without a doubt :-) your new job sounds good, where's it to?
Sam wrote: "Oh it certaintly is that without a doubt :-) your new job sounds good, where's it to?"it's a bookseller position at Blackwell in Oxford. There's nothing better than a job in a bookshop imho ^.^
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Sadly my 3 week holiday is at an end and its back to work tonight, my first night shift. Now I can get back to some serious reading! 9 hours is a long time to stay awake so I shall take my trusty sony reader and get on with The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde.
How jealous of you am I feeling right now Alexandra :-D oh how I wish I worked in a bookshop, although I don't think I'd get much done to be honest, I'd be too busy reading everything lol :-DOh I know that feeling Lynne, I always make sure I've got plenty of books when I have to do night surveys. How do you find the sony reader, I'm not convinced I'd like it as I like the sound of turning pages and the feel and smell of a real book, do you not miss that?
Sam I love the sony reader as its easy to carry round with me but I still buy loads of new and used books and read lots at the same time too.
I heard someone talking about the Kindle this morning on the radio and they said that Amazon had sold "1984" as Kindle books, then found out that they didn't have the rights to it, so just removed the books from people's Kindle, just like that! They've now paid compensation etc., evidently, but it gives you pause, doesn't it, that they can so easily just go into your Kindle and remove something? What else could they do without our knowledge or consent?
Yea I keep thinking I should get one, just to save resources on producing actual books as well as for space saving but I think I'm too old school. Might try and find someone with one and ask if I could borrow it and see how I get on.I don't like the idea of people just going into it and taking stuff off, seems a bit wrong doesn't it? Could they do that with the sony reader or nintendo ds as well?
i have just been told by my boss to take more leave as I still have annual leave not taken so today I found a B&B in Hay on Wye so have booked a 5 day break there.I hope it will be long enough for me to have a good wander round all the shops and get some serious reading done!
Good luck. Have a lovely time, wont you. I hope the weather is nice for you, it is such a beautiful place, particularly in the sunshine.
aah, envy!!! Have fun!! It's always nice when your boss tells you that you haven't taken enough time off! *laughs*
Yes it is but not when they tell you WHEN you have to take it! She has done that to me twice now! Once she didn't get her way though! lol!I am so looking forward to it!
Lynne wrote: "i have just been told by my boss to take more leave as I still have annual leave not taken so today I found a B&B in Hay on Wye so have booked a 5 day break there.I hope it will be long enough ..."
Oooo fantastic, where are you staying? I managed to get around all the book shops in three days and I went through everyone very thoroughly lol so you should be fine :-)
I would highly recommend every single bookshop there lol and if you like puzzles you definitely want to go into Mr Jigsaw's World of Puzzles just up from the clock in the middle of the town (you can't miss it). Booth's Books is very good and Murder and Mayhem if you like a good thriller/murder mystery and the decor is cool :-)
And don't forget to pick up a map of the bookstores so you don't miss any :-)
Isn't the jigsaw shop wonderful? I dont do them myself, but they have such beautiful pictures, I was wishing I could buy the actual pictures. The toys made me wish I had grandchildren. There weren't wonderful things like that when our girls were kids.
Oh I loved it in there, ended up going in twice and both times coming out with a few puzzles (I love a jigsaw myself, especially during the winter). I avoided browsing the teddy section, don't think I could've controlled myself if I did lol
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