The book pile has been replenished

 

I have been to the library

I've spent the past few months reading and re-reading all of the Mercedes Lackey Valdemar books, which came in very handy during the two weeks in June/July when I had Covid. If you've never encountered the work of Lackey before, think Game Of Thrones, but without the dragons and with griffins, horses and (occasionally) cats instead.

I'm planning to re-read all the Tamora Pierce Tortall books next (less griffons and dragons, more cats...) but decided it would be a good idea to pause in-between fantasy universes in order to avoid confusion.  

As such, I've been to the library and I've topped up my book pile. 

The book pile has been replenished

The libraries are (semi) open again in these days of Covid. As such, I've been able to replenish my book pile for the first time since March!

New book pile

The book pile

I have been to the library... and I've also got some DVD's to watch...

The book pile has been fed

The book pile needs feeding...

I have requested some library books to fill it up a bit.

I feel vaguely uneasy if there aren't enough new books to read.

The book pile, post Christmas

The book pile: Going down, getting ready to be fed again...

The book pile this morning...

The book pile

I have been to the library and, as such, the book pile has been fed.

Another book pile!

When I left my library job at the University of Manchester at the end of July, they got me a big bunch of very nice flowers and a £45 book token. I also got another £20 book token from my friend Sue.

This is what I got at Waterstones in Stockport with my tokens.

Two book piles at once

I decided I needed a bit more variety in my reading at the moment, so I went to the library and raided the non fiction section.

The book pile, today

It's been a tough few months...

The book pile, fed and happy

The book pile, much diminished and waiting to be fed

Fed

The book pile, tamed and waiting to be fed...

The book pile, post Between Two Books reading

After all the Glasgow giddiness, back to work...

After all the Glasgow blogging giddiness last week (and it's always fun to revisit the nice bits of your past), it's back to work.

I currently have two book piles on the living room floor:

Pile #1:

Books for pleasure

Pile # 2:

Books for punk chapter revisions for MUP

They did not hate it

To paraphrase Carlo Jones in Ben Moor's always excellent Undone, the book chapter for MUP has been peer reviewed, the comments have come back, and they "did not hate it".

They were very kind actually, which as someone who has never been peer reviewed, or done a chapter for an academic book before, was a nice surprise.

The next step? Read through all the feedback properly and plan what needs doing, how, when, how long it's going to take etc.

The book pile has changed quite a bit since I last took a picture of it, and reflects a combination of reading for pleasure and trying to sort my head out type reading matter.

Have also discovered that reading self help books is a legitimate form of therapy, it even has a name: Bibliotherapy, and is reckoned to be pretty effective when set against other therapies for the milder end of depression and anxiety. Given how starved of cash my local health authority and council is, it's  just as well the libraries here have decided to go big on self help books.