I was not at work today. I have been feeling poorly since yesterday, so, after taking twice the usual time to get ready, I decided to stay home this morning. I have spent the whole day in my room, sharing my time between chatting on the net, reading and dozing. I am starting to get cabin fever now (in addition to the fever I am probably already running) but, although Slightly offered to meet up and make this visit to Fopp we have been postponing for a week, I thought it was more reasonable to stay warm at home.
This day off has given me a chance to make a good go at the book I am currently reading; a fictionalised biography of Henry James (see sidebar). I am quite enjoying it although I find the structure a bit annoying, which is like a series of episodes unrelated to each other. Something particularly intrigues me, is, if one is to believe Toibin, the creative process used by James to come up with his stories. I myself would love to be able to write fiction. This probably comes from my tendency to get involved with what I like. I love reading fiction and books, therefore I want to create some myself. While I think I could be able to write decently (I can hear you all cough at this), I never been able to squeeze even the vaguest outline of a story out of my overworked brains. To see how easily it seemed to be coming to James is quite interesting.
Talking of writers, I am sure she will pardon me to mention her in the same breath as James, I met Marie yesterday evening. Sometime ago, I came across for this new bookshop close to where I live. This is where she works. In one of the posts, they mentioned that the would have signed copies of Sarah Waters' latest novel available for sale last night. Being the collector of first editions that I am and also because I enjoyed Findersmith and Tipping the Velvet, I decide to make my first visit to Crockatt and Powell. Something I wanted to do anyway.
The bookshop is nice and airy and has a warm feeling to it (I am not just saying that because I know Mary glances at this blog from time to time) and they did have the signed copies they had promised (there is a pic of Marie with Sarah Waters there, for those interested). For both Marie and myself it was the first time we met a blogger in real life and that was an interesting experience. We chatted about traffic and other bloggy things for while. She also mentioned that Flashing Helmet had passed the shop earlier that day without stopping. I had made my purchase and walked home, warmed by this nice exchange.
Right, my head hurts now... Logging off.
This day off has given me a chance to make a good go at the book I am currently reading; a fictionalised biography of Henry James (see sidebar). I am quite enjoying it although I find the structure a bit annoying, which is like a series of episodes unrelated to each other. Something particularly intrigues me, is, if one is to believe Toibin, the creative process used by James to come up with his stories. I myself would love to be able to write fiction. This probably comes from my tendency to get involved with what I like. I love reading fiction and books, therefore I want to create some myself. While I think I could be able to write decently (I can hear you all cough at this), I never been able to squeeze even the vaguest outline of a story out of my overworked brains. To see how easily it seemed to be coming to James is quite interesting.
Talking of writers, I am sure she will pardon me to mention her in the same breath as James, I met Marie yesterday evening. Sometime ago, I came across for this new bookshop close to where I live. This is where she works. In one of the posts, they mentioned that the would have signed copies of Sarah Waters' latest novel available for sale last night. Being the collector of first editions that I am and also because I enjoyed Findersmith and Tipping the Velvet, I decide to make my first visit to Crockatt and Powell. Something I wanted to do anyway.
The bookshop is nice and airy and has a warm feeling to it (I am not just saying that because I know Mary glances at this blog from time to time) and they did have the signed copies they had promised (there is a pic of Marie with Sarah Waters there, for those interested). For both Marie and myself it was the first time we met a blogger in real life and that was an interesting experience. We chatted about traffic and other bloggy things for while. She also mentioned that Flashing Helmet had passed the shop earlier that day without stopping. I had made my purchase and walked home, warmed by this nice exchange.
Right, my head hurts now... Logging off.
Tags: London, writing, local, Southwark, Lambeth, Lower Marsh, Henry James, Sarah Waters, books.
It was nice to meet you too! Promise to let you know next time we've got some hot signed first editions for you. And thanks for the nice write-up of our shop. See you soon!
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