Make Mine an Indie: London Bookshop Crawl Edition - Orbital Comics

I know that it's not Saturday, but I've been meaning for a while to do some features on the bookshops we'll be visiting on the #LondonBookshopCrawl that's coming up on February 6th (are you free? Come and join us! Email me for details!). There are a fair few bookshops on the crawl that I haven't actually visited myself yet, but I decided to start off with one that I really love, Orbital Comics.

For those who are extremely familiar with either this shop or with graphic novel shops in general, forgive me. I'm going to do a little bit of a beginners guide along with the background info for the shop as I know that people who don't frequent them can be easily intimidated by the layout of graphic novel shops and have no idea where to start. In the interest of putting everyone at ease I shall try to make that not be the case here!

Basically, Orbital is awesome! It was founded in 2002 and stocks graphic novels from mainstream publishers as well as indies and self - published stuff, comics (vintage and modern) and a range of toys, collectibles, t shirt, posters etc. They have a brilliant kids section and I genuinely think it's one of the nicest comic shops I've ever been to. As well as selling comics and related stuff, they also have a gallery where they have exhibitions of comics art which is usually for sale, host many many events with authors and illustrators of comics, and have their own podcast where they talk all things comics related, often with the awesome people who write the comics. It's a pretty big space and even when busy it's fairly unintimidating and easy to browse.

If (like me) you're slightly intimidated by the idea of single issue comics (or just can never find issue one of anything!) just steer clear of the boxes in the middle and stick to the walls (except the walls as you first come in, since they hold the recent single issue releases). However I'm reliably informed by my sister (who will be on the crawl, though she isn't on twitter) that there's no need to be afraid of the actual comics, and it's as encouraged to browse them as it is the graphic novels. If you're a graphic novel newbie just remember, it's a bookshop, we like those!

The thing that people often find difficult about this kind of shop is that titles are often organised by publisher and then alphabetically rather than by genre or just alphabetically. To help, here are some of the current most talked about graphic novel series by publisher:

Image

Alex + Ada by Jonathan Luna and Sarah Vaughn
Bitch Planet by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Valentine De Landro
Morning Glories by Nick Spencer, Joe Eisma, and Rodin Esquejo
ODY-C by Matt Fraction and Christian Ward
Peter Panzerfaust by Kurtis J. Wiebe
Pretty Deadly by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Emma Rios
Rat Queens by Kurtis J. Wiebe
Saga by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
Tank Girl by Jamie Hewlett
The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard and Cliff Rathburn
The Wicked + the Divine by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie

Plus so so many more. As you can see, Image are basically my loves. I will spend all my time there.

Marvel

So this is obviously a lot of super hero stuff including (but not limited to): Avengers, Captain America, X-Men, Spider Man, Black Widow, Daredevil, Fantastic Four, Hulk etc)
1602 by Neil Gaiman (really really good)
Big Hero 6 by Haruki Ueno
Captain Marvel (since 2014 this has been written by Kelly Sue DeConnick but will be being taken over by someone else soon as has previously existed for years)
Dark Tower (adaptations of the Stephen King series)
Deadpool by Andy Diggle and Steve Dillon
Ms Marvel by G. Willow Wilson

Despite being the most famous Marvel are probably the publisher I have least acquaintance with as I have yet to really delve into the world of superhero comics. I will get there, so if any of you have pointers for me they'd be gratefully received!

Vertigo (an imprint of DC comics)

Fables, Jack of Fables and Fairest by Bill Willingham and others
Greek Street by Peter Milligan and Davide Gianfelice
Hellblazer by various
The Invisibles by Grant Morrison
The Sandman by Neil Gaiman
Swamp Thing by Alan Moore
Sweet Tooth by Jeff Lemire
The Unwritten by Mike Carey and Peter Gross
Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

These tend to be the three big ones, but there will be others. Lots of my favourites are published and will probably be stocked under the 'Indie and Other' label or similar including the Scott Pilgrim series by Bryan Lee O'Malley (Seconds is also good), Castle Waiting Volumes 1 & 2 by Linda Medley, Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh, Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, and the Moomin comic strips by Tove (and later Lars) Jansson.

Apologies that this turned into a bit more of a graphic novels I love and/or really want to read post but I hope it's helpful for those who have no clue where to begin, and I hope that it's got you excited to visit if you're coming on the crawl!

Find out more about Orbital at their website. Catch up on the Make Mine an Indie series here

Make Mine an Indie: Oneworld

Today's publisher for Make Mine an Indie I discovered not through my usual trawling of the internet, but through actual browsing in an actual bookshop. I was in Waterstone's a few weeks back and as per my resolution, since it's not an independent I was looking for a book published by an independent. Off the top of my head, of course, I couldn't remember the titles of anything I'd been intrigued by before in this series, so I was just picking stuff up at random and came across The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly by Sun-Mi Hwang which as well as having a beautiful cover and a Korean author (hello diversity) was also published by an independent. Obviously I bought it, and then I did a little digging about the publisher. 

Oneworld was founded in 1986 and originally focused on publishing non-fiction. Nowadays they publish a wide range of stuff and have two imprints; Rock the Boat for children's and young adult fiction, and Point Blank which specialises in crime and is launching in spring of this year. They have a commitment to great writing and editorial excellence and their fiction aims to introduce readers to different cultures or historical periods or events. I'm shocked I'd not heard of them before, and it just shows how little attention I've been paying to who publishes my books because I got My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem as part of the Nonfiction Book Swap, which is published by them and didn't even notice!

Oneworld are responsible for publishing the UK editions of the 2015 Man Booker Prize Winner, A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James, in the course of which I am reliably assured that more than seven people die. They also published Bailey's Prize Longlisted Reasons She Goes to the Woods by Deborah Kay Davies and Scotiabank Giller Prize Longlisted (in good company with the amazing - not published by Oneworld - If I Fall, if I Die by Michael Christie) The Orenda by Joseph Boyden. I haven't read either of these but they are both on my TBR so it was exciting to learn who's getting them into my hands!

With that in mind, obviously the books that I'm interested in reading from this publisher immediately include The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly and My Life on the Road, but besides those two here are a few which have immediately caught my eye:

Preparation for the Next Life by Atticus Lish

From the Oneworld website:

In post-9/11 New York, Zou Lei is an illegal immigrant from northwest China. A Muslim with a Uighur mother and a Han soldier for a father, she’s a pariah even within the Chinese community. Forced to work fourteen-hour days and live in squalor, she nevertheless embraces the many freedoms her adopted homeland has to offer.

Damaged by three tours in Iraq, veteran Brad Skinner comes to New York with the sole intention of partying as hard as he can in order to forget what he’s seen. Impulsive and angry, Skinner’s re-entry into civilian life seems doomed. But when he meets Zou Lei they discover that new beginnings may be possible for both of them, that is if they can survive homelessness, lockup and Skinner’s post-traumatic stress disorder.

Set in the underbelly of New York, Preparation for the Next Life exposes an America as seen from the fringes of society in devastating detail and destroys the myth of the American Dream through two of the most remarkable characters in contemporary fiction. Powerful, realistic and raw, this is one of the most ambitious – and necessary – chronicles of our time.

Among the Ten Thousand Things by Julia Pierpont

From the Oneworld website:

Jack Shanley is a well-known New York artist, charming and vain, who doesn’t mean to plunge his family into crisis. His wife, Deb, gladly left behind a difficult career as a dancer to raise the two children she adores. In the ensuing years, she has mostly avoided coming face-to-face with the weaknesses of the man she married. But then an anonymously sent package arrives in the mail: a cardboard box containing sheaves of printed emails chronicling Jack’s secret life. The package is addressed to Deb, but it’s delivered into the wrong hands: her children’s.
 
With this vertiginous opening begins a debut that is by turns funny, wise, and indescribably moving. As the Shanleys spin apart into separate orbits, leaving New York in an attempt to regain their bearings, fifteen-year-old Simon feels the allure of adult freedoms for the first time, while eleven-year-old Kay wanders precariously into a grown-up world she can’t possibly understand. Writing with extraordinary precision, humour, and beauty, Julia Pierpont has crafted a timeless, hugely enjoyable novel about the bonds of family life – their brittleness, and their resilience.

French Concession by Xiao Bai

From the Oneworld website:

A boat arrives in Shanghai harbor to the raucous sound of firecrackers. An important official in the Nationalist Party has returned from Hong Kong, accompanied by his striking wife, Leng. An assassin suddenly appears, firing three bullets before killing himself. Leng disappears in the ensuing chaos.

Hseuh, a Franco-Chinese photographer, is captivated by Leng’s beauty. But he has his own problems: he suspects that his White Russian lover, Therese, is cheating. When Hseuh is arrested in the French Concession and forced to become a police spy, he realizes that in the seamy, devious world of Shanghai, no one is who they appear. Therese is secretly an arms dealer, supplying Shanghai’s gangs, while Leng, has her own ties to a menacing new gang, one led by a charismatic Communist whose acts of  terrorism could have a devastating impact on the entire country. Soon Hseuh is forced to play both sides, spinning his own lies in a feverish struggle to stay alive.

Unfinished Busines: Men Women Work Family by Anne-Marie Slaughter

From the Oneworld website:

When Anne-Marie Slaughter's Atlantic article,"Why Women Still Can't Have it All"first appeared, it immediately went viral, sparking a firestorm of debate across countries and continents. Within four days, it had become the most-read article in the history of the magazine. In the following months, Slaughter became a leading voice in the discussion on work-life balance and on women's changing role in the workplace.

Now, Slaughter is here with her eagerly anticipated take on the problems we still face, and how we can finally get past them. In her pragmatic, down-to-earth style, Slaughter bursts the bubble on all the"half-truths"we tell young women about"having it all", and explains what is really necessary to get true gender equality, both in the workplace and at home. Deeply researched, and filled with all the warm, wise and funny anecdotes that first made her the most trusted and admired voice on the issue, Anne-Marie Slaughter's book is sure to change minds, ignite debate and be the topic of conversation.

The Prison Book Club by Ann Walmsley

From the Oneworld website:

After Ann Walmsley was mugged near her house in Hampstead, she found she was unable to walk alone down the street and it shook her belief in the fundamental goodness of people. In Canada a few years later, when her friend Carol asked her to participate in a bold new venture in a men’s medium security prison, Ann had to weigh her curiosity and desire to be of service with her anxiety and fear.

But she signed up and for eighteen months went to a remote building a few hours outside of Toronto, meeting a group of heavily tattooed book club members without the presence of guards or security cameras. There was no wine and cheese, plush furnishings, or superficial chat about jobs or recent vacations. But a book club on the inside proved to be a place to share ideas, learn about each other, and regain humanity. 

For the men, the books were rare prized possessions, and the meetings were an oasis of safety and a respite from isolation in an otherwise hostile environment. Having been judged themselves, they were quick to make judgments about the books they read. As they discussed the obstacles the characters faced, they revealed glimpses of their own struggles that were devastating and comic. From The Grapes of Wrath to The Cellist of Sarajevo, and Outliers to Infidel, the book discussions became a springboard for frank conversations about loss, anger, redemption, heroism and loneliness.

I'm sticking to four as usual for this, but I urge you to go and look through their catalogue as it's full of wonderful sounding and intriguing titles!

You can find Oneworld on their website, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Catch up with the entire Make Mine an Indie series here, my indie resolution here, and if you're in need of inspiration, my mostly indie wishlist here. Follow along on twitter #MakeMineanIndie. 

Five Years

Five years ago today I posted my first post here on this blog. I'm the queen of unfinished projects so I never dreamed that I would stick with it and still be blogging five years later, but here we are.

When I started blogging I had no idea what to expect from it. I pretty much just wanted a place to keep track of my thoughts on what I was reading and to give myself something to do to distract myself from the loneliness of having just moved miles away from everyone I knew. I didn't know there was a book blogging community at all, and I definitely never imagined making actual real life friends from it, but again, here we are.

Because five years is a milestone in anything (and actually my fifth wedding anniversary will be this year too, although not until September!) I'm going to do a few posts with my top five of different things since I started blogging. I'm going to kick it off today with my top five favourite things which have occurred as a direct result of my starting this blog.

At number one.....

 

 

You're probably all sick of me going on about these girls (ladies?) by now, but I'm still amazed by the power of the internet in bringing me five amazing people who read the kind of stuff I read, love the books I love, hate the books I love but allow me to have my own opinion, will let me shout at them about the books I love (I'm sorry about Little Men, Laura), and whose recommendations I can totally trust. I am grateful to the internet gods for sending me friends who quote You've Got Mail at each other on twitter (and then send me a copy when they find out I don't have one), love Gilmore Girls as much as I do, own a ridiculous number of copies of Pride and Prejudice, would think up something as time consuming and soul sucking and joy bringing as the Ninja Book Swap and then actually organise it with me for two and a half years. Friends to bitch about Dickens and Moby Dick with and who send me books about bookshops and who love Firefly and are as sad about losing Terry Pratchett as I am. Friends to sing songs from Les Miserables with while walking down the road scaring tourists and to talk about our personal lives far too loudly in public places. Friends who are now friends, not just blogging friends. I hope you all have fun recognising yourselves in that paragraph. 

If you're not reading their blogs, you should be. Lit Addicted Brit, Booking in Heels, Book Addicted Blonde, Devouring Texts and Katie Who Can Read.  Thanks to Charlotte and Laura for taking the pictures.

Nicely leading on to number two...

The Ninja Book Swap! 

I wrote about my feelings for the Ninja Book Swap and summed them up pretty eloquently above, but generally there is not much that I've actually done in my life (besides getting married and having my kids and getting a degree, buying a house, passing my driving test...ok there's quite a lot) that I'm prouder of than co-founding the Ninja Book Swap with Hanna. Although it's not without its problems it brings a lot of joy and I've met a lot of great people through it. Plus, who doesn't love parcels of bookish awesomeness?

Number three 

My Year of Reading Noel Streatfeild

I tried to repeat this challenge with Louisa May Alcott and E Nesbit, but it never really worked the way it did that first year with Noel. A lot of that I think is due to it being the year I started the blog, during which I got married, was still living far from family and most of my friends, and hadn't yet had any kids. Rhys was still working his weird shifts and I had a lot of free time. I immersed myself in Noel Streatfeild's work; both the books I'd loved as a kid and ones which were new to me, and it was nostalgic, cathartic and just generally awesome. I'm doing it a little bit this year with Laura Ingalls Wilder for the Little House Read-Along. It's such a lovely comforting way to read, especially with children's books because there's always a consistency and familiarity to the style and characters that's just so calming. 

Number four

Being a Giver for World Book Night

In 2013 I signed up to be a giver for World Book Night and handed out (I think) 25 copies of The White Queen by Philippa Gregory. If not for blogging (and my mum) I would never have had the guts to do this but it was really rewarding and made lots of old ladies (and a couple of blokes) very happy. 

Number five

Is still to come... In February I'm organising a bookshop crawl in London with a load of other bloggers ad book loving friends. Some I have met (hi Laura, Katie and various family members!), some I know through their blogs but have never actually met in real life (Ellie and Ellie!) and some I know only from twitter, but I'm very excited to shop with you all! If you're in the area or can get there it would be great if you could join us, email (thetangledwebweweave@gmail.com) or tweet me (@NinjaBookSwap) and I'll send you details. 

Obviously this is just the beginning. I will be posting my favourite books since I started blogging and probably favourite blogs and blog posts or something similar. There may be a giveaway, I haven't yet decided, but you should know that if you read this post, and if you've ever read any of the others, liked something on Instagram, tweeted me, emailed me, or taken part in any of my events or challenges, I am really truly grateful. I love this blog and I can't wait for the next five years!

Books on my Bedside Table #5

You may have seen that the other day I posted my 2016 Goals post. As you'll be able to tell from these photos I'm already not doing too well with some of them (namely #ReadMyOwnDamnBooks). The library has been calling my name and I'm finding it hard to get out of the habit I so brilliantly formed last year of reserving things at the library instead of buying them. It was great then, but I need to stop it now! Because I've got so much great stuff that I'm reading or looking forward to at the moment, this post is really two posts; a Books on my Bedside Table for the books that I'm currently reading or have just finished, and another pile of books that have recently entered my house. I'm out of the habit of doing book haul posts as I haven't really had any for the past few months so excuse me while I get back into the swing of things!

Without further ado, this is the pile of books I'm currently reading:

The top book is Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder which I just finished for the Little House Read-Along and will be writing about in the next few days. If you haven't signed up yet and want to take part, we're doing it all year and you can sign up any time!

Underneath that is The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly by Sun-Mi Hwang. I'm only a little way through but I'm enjoying it so far and it has such a beautiful cover. For more on the reasons behind this book see the next Make Mine an Indie post coming up next week!

I finally pulled Size 12 Is Not Fat by Meg Cabot off my shelf earlier in the week and have been really enjoying it. I've owned it for years and have never read anything by Meg Cabot that isn't The Princess Diaries series when I was much younger, so it's nice to read something slightly different.

I keep getting distracted from it by The Year of Living Danishly by Helen Russell, which I talked about in my post on Icon Books, and reserved from the library when I bought it for Heather for the Nonfiction Book Swap a while back. Karen Russell moved from London to Denmark when her husband got a job working for Lego (!!) and spent her time researching all the reasons why Denmark is the happiest country in the world. It's really interesting so far, as their way of life is very different to mine!

Hands Free Mama by Rachel Macy Stafford I've actually already finished, but it's divided into twelve parts with hands free intentions for each month and as part of my One Little Word this year I'm planning to work through it a chapter at a time over the course of the year. This week I've been setting myself a time period each day (at the moment 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the afternoon) where I put away the phone, laptop etc completely and just focus on doing something with the kids. It's mostly been really nice, and means we're actually playing with all the games they got for Christmas, as well as having lots more giggles and snuggles.

I decided that it was time for a Sarah Addison Allen binge and as she has two books out that I haven't yet read and the library had them both I decided to order them in. This was only a couple of days ago and I went to pick up something else today and there they were. First Frost is the sequel to Garden Spells which I read and loved in my first year of blogging, so I've dived straight in. If you're looking for some magical (and full of magical recipes) reading I'd really recommend anything by Sarah.

My incoming pile isn't that much smaller, to be honest! We celebrate epiphany in our house, and ever since we were little kids the three kings have brought us a present on January 6th, on their way to visit baby Jesus. I've carried on this tradition in our house, because presents, and I bought myself Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig because it seems like an important book to read, and because he's great on twitter. Also it's published by an indie (Canongate). Judged by Liz De Jager arrived unsolicited from the publishers this week and is about a woman who solves supernatural crimes. It sounds pretty cool and is out January 14th from Macmillan so I'm hoping to get to that pretty soon. 

The Happiness of Pursuit by Chris Guillebeau I saw on Kim's Instagram and was immediately intrigued by. It seems like it will tie in well with my whole happiness/gratitude/calming down thing. Lost Lake is the other Sarah Addison Allen book I requested from the library, so I'm pretty sure I'll read it straight after First Frost, and Sweetland by Michael Crummey I've been hearing about everywhere for ages. It was in so many people's Best of 2015 posts that I just had to ask the library to get it for me! 

As you can see, five out of nine of these are my own books. Only two are books I owned prior to the start of 2016, so I'm pretty much failing at reading my own books so far, but I'm sure you'll agree that these books were too good to resist!

2016 Goals

In 2015 I did not buy books for myself or my kids for NINE WHOLE MONTHS. Nine. I made a couple of other resolutions, one of which (read more nonfiction) I kept and the other (read more diversely) I didn't do so well with, but I stuck to my nine month long book buying ban and for that I declare myself a winner of 2015. I also gave myself a charitable motivation and raised £181 for Beanstalk who do brilliant work helping to improve kids levels of literacy. Being me, I couldn't stand to leave it at such a random figure so I've donated to push it up to £200, but if you want to throw some pennies at them I'll leave the page up until the end of the week - go here to donate as we all know literacy changes lives!

So now that I've mentioned thaaaat, here are some things I'd like to do this year. Not all of them are bookish, because there are other things of importance in my life!

Shop Indie

You may have seen my post the other day about the #MakeMineanIndie project I've set for myself this year wherein 9 out of 10 of the books I buy must be published by independent publishers or bought from independent bookshops. I've also decided that I want over 50% of what I read to be published by independents. This isn't because I am in any way opposed to big publishers or think that what they publish is less good, it's purely because I want to challenge myself. I feel like in the blogosphere, much of what is published by the big companies I'll hear about because they have bigger marketing campaigns, send out more review copies, and generally get more hype, whereas if I venture into the indie sphere there is less that will naturally cross my path. I also love that indie's often present an opportunity to feel more connected with the publishing process. I just thought that for a year it would be nice to use this platform to bring to your attention some of the brilliant people publishing things in often innovative ways, and some of the beautiful, quirky and wide ranging books that they publish. 

So far I'm doing well with this - I've bought myself two books already, both of which I bought from Waterstone's but are published independently (Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig - Canongate, and The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly by Sun-Mi Hwang - Oneworld) and am currently reading The Year of Living Danishly by Karen Russell which I got from the library but talked about in my recent Make Mine an Indie post on Icon Books. I'm also excited to visit a fair few independent bookshops on the London Bookshop Crawl in February!

#ReadMyOwnDamnBooks

You'll probably have seen that Andi of Estella's Revenge has set herself this challenge this year, and although I've kind of been doing it all last year I'm jumping in! I've got a bit (OK, a lot) of a library addiction so I'm going to try to limit the number of holds I place and actually read the 300+ books on my shelves! As far as I can see I'm in super good company with this and I'm looking forward to seeing what people actually have on their shelves!

At Least 25% Nonfiction

I hit this target this year and I want to keep it up. I have some fantastic nonfiction titles on my shelves and a huge nonfiction wishlist which I will be incorporating into my Ninja Book Swap and OTSP Secret Sister wishlists so it shouldn't be hard to do!

Continue to Attempt to Read More Diversely

I made a book map during the Travel the World in Books Readathon and was appalled by the narrowness of my reading. I'm doing the same again this year and I want it to represent way more of the world! I'm determined!

Exercise 3 Times a Week

I went for my first run in six years totally out of the blue on Sunday and although I'm still aching it made me remember all the reasons I used to put myself through it five days a week. As part of my One Little Word for this year I wanted to find ways to incorporate healthier habits into my life rather than just using the kids as a reason why I can't do things, and I think I could easily do weekly runs together with some other things a couple of times a week and get myself back on the path towards a less sedentary life!

Get Rid of Stuff

We've been moving more and more towards attempting simple living for the past year or so, but since early November we've been purging like crazy. Getting rid of all the things that make us stressed to look at and all the things we love but are never going to watch/read/use/wear again and all the stuff that's just too much. We've got rid of about four bags of toys from the boys playroom and sold a load of DVDs and books on WeBuyBooks.com and honestly the boys are so much more focused and we are so much less stressed without tons of extraneous stuff kicking around. I love it and I may never stop getting rid of things. There's still a lot to go though, so by the end of the year I plan to have got rid of all the stuff we don't need or love and not buy things unless they really make us excited. 

I think it's good to have it in writing so that I can remind myself of the things I said I was going to do and use it as motivation (or something). Happy 2016!

#MakeMineanIndie: The Official Challenge

If you follow the blog you might have seen my vaguely weekly series wherein I feature an independent publisher every Saturday and talk a little about them and about some of their books that I'm excited to read. Originally this started in response to yet more Amazon ridiculousness, and it set me thinking. I already try to support independent bookshops where I can, but besides Persephone and a couple of others I didn't really know too much about independent publishers. The Make Mine an Indie series has definitely helped me out in that respect, and I plan to continue it sporadically throughout the year.

All of this is to say that I'm officially committing myself to at least 9 out of 10 books that I buy this year being from an independent publisher or an independent bookshop. To start myself off I bought myself a Christmas present of a subscription to And Other Stories, which means they'll send me two books later on in the year, which my subscription money will have helped to actually publish!

I'm also organising a bookshop crawl in London on February 6th, during which we'll visit mostly independent bookshops (as well as Waterstone's Piccadilly and Daunt and I'm never sure if Foyles still counts as an independent since there's more than one now?). If you're in the area or can get there please feel free to join us, just shout in the comments and I'll send you info!

I think it's really exciting to get to read things that are slightly different from the mainstream, and I love that smaller publishers often allow opportunity for the reader to feel (and be) more closely connected to the publishing process. This is particularly the case with And Other Stories and Cinnamon Press but I'm sure with other publishers too, and being a person who is passionate about books I love the idea of actually having an effect on brilliant books being published.

I love independent bookshops. The level of service and the ability to find something that's quirky and fantastic is unrivalled. Although I do like Waterstone's, I find that independent bookshops are some of my favourite places to really browse, and I'm really looking forward to doing more of that this year.

If you'd like to join me in this year of buying indie in any way I'd love to hear about it! I'm using #MakeMineanIndie for the blog series and anything related to this project, please feel free to join me!

Some useful resources:

My Make Mine an Indie blog series
The Guardian's Independent Bookshop Directory
The London Bookshop Map
The Independent Alliance

Little House Read-Along: Kick Off!

Happy New Year! It's January 1st and that means only one thing around these parts - the Little House Read-Along is finally starting! Lynn and I have been planning this for a few months and we are both so excited to read these books together and talk about them with friends. In case you missed it, we're reading a book a month throughout 2016. You can find the full schedule and details here and you're welcome to join us at any point throughout the year.

We're starting the year with Little House in the Big Woods. Lynn is hosting this month so check out her blog for the full intro post and please link up your posts/reviews/thoughts/whatever throughout the month at the link below, which will also be in Lynn's post! If you're talking about the read-along on twitter or instagram please use #littlehouseRAL so we can easily find you. 

I have never read this book before and my knowledge of the series going in is pretty minimal, but I'm looking forward to some comfort reading. My copy of the book is so old that it only cost 40p when it was brand new! I don't own the full series yet and the ones that I have are all different editions which is kind of cool. I love seeing different editions of the same book, so please feel free to let me know what edition yours is! Here's mine for this month. 

Happy reading! See you at the end of the month for my thoughts on the book!