Feel The Earth

What with everything going on in my life right now, and Matt finally coming home last night, I was feeling refreshed.

I took myself off into nature today.

I needed to feel the wind caress my skin, and the sun kiss me.

My freckles are emerging now with this warm weather.

I started in a field, looking out over the river, I walked barefoot through the grass - dandelions and daisies, and buttercups dancing in the waters breeze.

Finding a particular sunny patch, I wrote in my journal for a while.

Fluid thoughts floating through my pen.

Then my bare feet took me into the woods.

Sunlight filtered through the tree canopy, and the air was warm and balmy around me.

The Woods are my happy place.

The feel of moss between my toes, and grass tickling my ankles.

Just having the earth under me, soothes my woes.

My message for today is to get outside. Feel the earth, and experience nature.

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And I never usually do this, but as I'm reading more, with all the wonderful books emerging this year, I'm going to leave this recommendation here. >>>>

I am a HUGE Sarah J Maas fan, all of her work is extraordinary, and when 'A Court Of Mist And Fury', landed on my doorstep, it did not disappoint.

Honestly...This book blew me away.

The first book in the series is called 'A Court of Thorns and Roses' - If you can get your hands on a copy, and enjoy fantasy romance, I suggest you read them.

The first one is inspired by a loose retelling of Beauty and The Beast. Set in a world of political fae, that Maas has tremendously pieced together.

This is the second book.

I read it within a day, devouring every morsel she offered to me, and then once I'd put it down...I picked it back up and read the whole thing again.

Book Three cannot come out soon enough.

Autumn Reads

A sure fire way to become one of my best friends.
Step One - Gift me with books (and tea!)
Step Two - Write in the book; a quote, a meaningful message, a funny anecdote. Nothing warms my heart in quite the same way, as opening an old book and finding these little mementos.

So I'm here to share with you, my autumnal book reads. There are five books I plan to get through specifically in the months of September and October.
They're books that have been carefully selected by myself, to most fit the season.

Autumn is my favourite time of year - and winter is my second, so this time of year, is the best!
Red crunchy leaves underfoot, warm knitted scarves, thick jumpers, chai tea, pumpkin lattes, candlelight, halloween, the onset of frost, crisp grass, and reading...lots of reading.

First,

LOST by Gregory Maguire

'Winifred Rudge, a bemused writer struggling to get beyond the runaway success of her mass-market astrology book, travels to London to jump-start her new novel about a woman who is being haunted by the ghost of Jack the Ripper. Upon her arrival, she finds that her stepcousin and old friend John Comestor has disappeared, and a ghostly presence seems to have taken over his apartment in the nineteenth-century rowhouse once owned by Winnie's great-great-grandfather. Is it the spirit of this ancestor, who, family legend claims, was Charles Dickens's childhood inspiration for Ebenezer Scrooge? Could it be the ghostly remains of Jack the Ripper? Or a phantasm derived from a more arcane and insidious origin?'

Victorian London? Ghosts? Jack The Ripper? This book has mixed reviews, but I'm excited to give it a go. It's been on my bookshelf for years now. The forgotten book by the author of the infamous 'Wicked'.
The cover's quite spooky looking, and I'm hoping it'll be perfect for this build up to halloween.

HERETIC by Sarah Singleton

'When Elizabeth finds a green-tinged creature in the woods, she is amazed to discover it is actually a girl of her own age. Isabella has spent the last 300 years hiding from persecutors who accused her of being the daughter of a witch. Elizabeth has her own persecutors to face and the net is closing in.'

Fae and Witches. Old abandoned buildings. Protestant and Catholic War. This book is much shorter than all the others I plan to read, but I'm excited for some good horror here. Finding out about the Shadowlands and Crow People who've been protecting Isabella for those 300 years. This book was recommended to me by a friend, along with Singletons other book 'Century'. Heretic found it's way home with me first, so this is where I shall start.

THE ASSASSINS BLADE by Sarah J Mass

'Celaena Sardothien is Adarlan's most feared assassin. As part of the Assassin's Guild, her allegiance is to her master, Arobynn Hamel, yet Celaena listens to no one and trusts only her fellow killer-for-hire, Sam. In these action-packed novellas - together in one edition for the first time - Celaena embarks on five daring missions. They take her from remote islands to hostile deserts, where she fights to liberate slaves and seeks to avenge the tyrannous. But she is acting against Arobynn's orders and could suffer an unimaginable punishment for such treachery. Will Celaena ever be truly free? Explore the dark underworld of this kick-ass heroine to find out.'

I've read the first two books in the assassin trilogy, and this is a book of prequel stories for the main character Celaena. I'm excited to finish the trilogy, but am also excited to learn even more backstory through this shorter stories collection. This isn't exactly spooky or autumn-esque. But I finally got my hands on it, and am desperate to curl up with it.

THE SECRET OF CRICKLEY HALL by James Herbert

'The Secret of Crickley Hall is a new take on the classic ghost story in the same way that his bestseller Once was a new take on the classic fairy tale. The Secret of Crickley Hall is set in a childrens home in a coastal town in England. Some of the children are persecuted by the people who run the home and have found places between the floors and walls of the home to avoid the adults. They can also spy, of course. One day there is a flash flood which sweeps through the town and the childrens home. All the children escape, except the kids in the walls and floors, who drown. They come back as ghosts and seek their revenge.'

This is a book I read every Autumn! It is the only horror book that has ever left me quaking under my duvet, scared to poke out my head. An amazing amazing, very atmospheric ghost story. Lots of twists and turns - written in a brilliantly descriptive manner by master of horror James Herbert. I cannot recommend this as a Halloween book read enough. If you haven't read it yet, do it! 

WARM BODIES by Isaac Marion

'R' is a zombie. He has no name, no memories and no pulse, but he has dreams. He is a little different from his fellow Dead.
Amongst the ruins of an abandoned city, R meets a girl. Her name is Julie and she is the opposite of everything he knows - warm and bright and very much alive, she is a blast of colour in a dreary grey landscape. For reasons he can't understand, R chooses to save Julie instead of eating her, and a tense yet strangely tender relationship begins.
This has never happened before. It breaks the rules and defies logic, but R is no longer content with life in the grave. He wants to breathe again, he wants to live, and Julie wants to help him. But their grim, rotting world won't be changed without a fight...'

I have seen the movie adaption of this book, so I know how it's going to end. But watching the film, made me more curious as to how it was going to translate onto the page. I don't read many zombie novels...in fact I think this might be only the third zombie apocolypse type book I'll have ever read. They just aren't my 'thing'. That said, I'm hoping to really enjoy this...it's another short one I can hopefully get through pretty fast to make room for more books :)

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Have you got any halloween books you read every year?

Any books set in Autumn, that you can recommend?

Let me know I'm always looking for new reading material!

Happy reading beauts.

xoxo

Book Haul Video

Got a new book haul video out guys and dolls!

I've got a few non-book related vlogs in the pipeline, but for now, enjoy the book talk my beauties.

Enjoy the weekend.

New Video!

So I've got a new video up on Youtube...finally.

This one is all about witchy reading! Watch it here, or on youtube now.

Let me know what you think?

Do you have any suggestions for reading in this area?

My Library

I've mentioned my love of books previously in this blog. I thought some of you might be interested to see my library.

It's still under construction, so I took the best photos I could at the time.

The above photo is my favourite little shelf. It has some major fantasy series on there, alongside my books on magic, wicca, druidrey and spiritualism. But it also holds some of my favourite items; a postcard from the 50s sent from the fairy isle of Ireland, a love letter from Veronica Varlow, my ethical skull collection, my newest tarot deck, and my Emilie Autumn CD collection.

Because every library needs a cat looking down on you.

This is my classics and contemporary section. As you can see, I already need more shelving. ;)

So there it is.
My little world of books.
I started to count once, I got to 460 and I gave up... this isn't even all of them. There's a pile in the bedroom, and the living room...and the cooking books in the kitchen.

So many books!

The Bookshop - Writing

So...sitting with a large mug of lapsang souchong, listening to the hauntingly beautiful vocals of Chelsea Wolfe...and a pen and paper in hand. I started to see an idea forming in my mind; the perfect bookshop. So I recommend that whilst reading this, you light some incense, and put on a song from the album 'Beauty is Pain' - this will really help get you guys into my head. I would love to own a shop like this;

- As you push open the heavy, wooden door, a bell tinkles unseen above your head. The air inside stills suddenly as the door swings shut. The heady fragrance of mingled incense assults the nostrils, as the thin wispy trails of circling smoke, dance through the still, motionless air. 
Slowly your eyes will adjust to the dim candlelit room. Tiny flickering flames lapping patiently at nothing. Hung by the door on an antique hat stand, is a coat. A coat that might once have been described as plum. The coat was always there, just hanging - though nobody ever put it on when they left, or hung it up when they arrived. The coat that got left behind. Forgotten by a woman who lost herself in a sea of books, and then lost track of the time. 
 All you can see from the door is books; shelf upon shelf, stack upon stack, pile upon pile. There was no order or discipline here. And there-in lay the joy. You could not search for authors last name by an alphabetical code, nor could you select a specific genre to browse, it would be very unlikely even, to find the accompnying books to a series in one single pile. Removed from your comfort zone, you are left free, floating by candlelight into the unknown. 
 If you dared venture into the labyrinth - dodging and weeving between perilously perched stacks - you would find your minatour, not in it's heart, but in the back left corner. A corner smothered in oversized mismatched cushions, and draped in exotic fabric of all colours and textures. A small record player stood to the side. From it emitted the haunting vocals - songs of love and nature, foreign worlds and witchcraft. You are free to lay yourself down in a nest of pillows and read, or simply take in the atmosphere and the music. If you did choose to lay down, you could look up into a small pool of fairy lights, feathers hung for hundreds of tiny dreamcatchers...and if you looked close enough beneath the drapery, you could just make 
out words inscribed in the ceiling. A mix of sharpie quotes from famous books, some even etched straight in with a  pen knife. Beside you is a very low to the ground desk. It is here that the minatour resides, having trapped herself in this maze of other worlds. Atop the dark red desk, stands a magnificent, ancient cash register. Ornate golf patterns are carved around the little glass window, where little pieces of card pop up to inform you of your total cost. 
 And if you decided that indeed you wanted to purchase a book; an unknown novel, or a work of non-fiction you didn't even know you were interested in, then these items will first be tightly wrapped in a brown paper bag. Next, some vintage inspired wrapping paper, brocade and blue tits most weeks. Lastly, the whole package will be tied up with a stretch of tea-stained lace, and a buisness card will be tucked under the bow.

Books.

Books are very important to me, and they inspire a lot of my photography work. I love getting lost in a good book, with a pot of tea and a warm fire. Almost nothing beats that.

I've decided in honour of this love, as a dedication to books - all year, I'm going to be doing a project on my favourite books, and putting them in my photographs. I don't just mean photos of the books of-course, I'm going to try and get creative with this project further on in the year.

Here is my first photo for this project;

Model; Jadene Van  Dyk

Book; Neil Gaiman; The Ocean at the End of the Lane

Neil Gaiman is one of my favourite authors, and this book is the latest one I read by him...I adored it! It was so atmospheric! And that is what I tried to play on a little in this photo. When the protragonist is visiting his 'witch-like' neighbours, there is this feeling of contentness, warmth and joy. This is how I feel when reading, so I tried to convey that here. 

'Books were safer than other people anyway.'

- Neil Gaiman