charles barrow's writing

The weather remains consistently dismal at the moment. By my reckoning it's rained for at least 48 days straight this month, and we've still got a week of wet weather ahead of us, according to forecasters. I have managed to get outside, despite the rain, for walks around the block, along the seafront, into town, any walk that gives me exercise and gets me some fresh air is good in my book. And speaking of books, what this weather is perfect for is staying indoors, on the sofa, nose buried in a good read. I noticed this poster, below, on a visit to my favourite second-hand bookshop in town - Oxfam Books. I don't know if this is a new initiative from them, I've not been aware of it before, but I'm definitely here for it. Love Stories is the theme for this month. I don't generally go for romance as a genre, but I'm happy if a book I'm reading contains a love story, as long as it's not the main focus of the plot. Yesterday, I finished Wide Sargasso Sea b...

Inevitably, it happened. There was a flaw in my plan and someone elbowed their way through it, carrying the book I was reading, and walked on out the library door with it. You'll have to read my last post to make complete sense of the sentence above, but that will only take you a couple of minutes, so I'll wait..... Yes, a couple of weeks ago, someone borrowed the copy of Real Life, by Brandon Taylor, that I was reading my way through at the library. When I discovered it was missing from the T section on its usual shelf I hunted high and low, across all the display shelves where I had found it once before, but to no avail. It was gone, someone had borrowed it. I checked the on-line catalogue. Yep. It was confirmed. It was out on a three week loan. Damn. Still, I had a Plan B, in the form of about ten thousand other books I could pick up instead. I had promised myself to read a Zadie Smith in this very situation, but there was only one of hers on the shelf and it wasn't one ...

As reported in my last post, I am enduring a self-imposed book buying ban, while I take the opportunity to actually read some of the books I actually already own. It's been 38 days now since I last bought a book. It's been tough. I have been into a bookshop (looking for a calendar) and I've been into several charity shops (same) and I came out of all of them having not bought a book. Quite the victory for a book addict. But before you hand me a medal you should know that I have found a way to bend the rules of this challenge, my own rules. I did create a couple of caveats to this 'not buying books at the moment' challenge. It was that or get arrested for shoplifting a book from Waterstones in a moment of madness. I am in possession of a couple of book tokens at the moment, gifted to me a while back, and I reasoned that it wouldn't be breaking any rules if I acquired books using these vouchers. After all, someone else had parted with the money to buy them, and so...

I watch a lot of Youtube videos, or more accurately, BookTube videos - BT being the corner of YT where people discuss books (naturally); what they own, what they've read, what they intend to read. It's full of reviews, recommendations, warnings (sometimes), encouragement, and interesting, fun people that I enjoy spending time with. It also has a broad timetable of monthly events that viewers can choose to join. I've spoken previously about the short story theme in September, and the Victorian literature in October or, so called, Victober, both of which I chose to take part in this year. The upcoming event for December is Remember December, during which viewers/readers are encouraged to re-read a book they once read and can't recall anything about. I have a long list of those. I'm not sure I'll take part in this event, other than incidentally, firstly because I want to get festive and read some Christmas stories in December, as I also like to get festive by watch...

Colley Cibber, actor, playwright, poet. I'd never heard of him before I saw his head in a glass case in the National Portrait Gallery, in London. I've also never seen so lifelike a bust, but then I don't think I've ever seen one that's been painted in this way. The process has produced a work of genius, but I find the effect to be incredibly unsettling. Very appropriate for the halloween season. Photos are the author’s own

Cover That Sold Me The Book #42 So we've all been guilty of judging a book by its cover, both metaphorically and literally, haven't we? I try not to do the first, but hey I'm human. However I am definitely guilty of the second. I can pore over that table of books in Waterstones, the one with the new releases, laid flat on their backs, artfully designed covers glowing under bright lights, and lift dozens of them up for a closer inspection if the cover art appeals. I always spend less time browsing the A-Z shelves where I'm faced with rows and rows of spines, though I will head there if I'm after a specific title. It's the cover that will always attract me. Does that make me shallow, that I love all the pretty, shiny things? Anyway, the marketing works on me, so I guess I'm both shallow and susceptible.  Of course, pretty and shiny doesn't always guarantee a thumping good read. As with the metaphor, the contents don't always bear any relation to the pa...

I like to stroll around my little patch of garden in the early morning, to see what has changed overnight. There is usually some development that brings a frisson of excitement, and a smile to my lips. This morning I notice that the Hollyhocks have fat flower buds forming, and the Hebe and the Lavender both have a flush of colour on their stems but are a couple of days away from the full pinks and mauves of summer flowering. Similarly, I like to take stock of the birds and wildlife I see as I head out of the garden on my morning walk, around the local streets and down to the seafront. A darting quick sparrow today, and a brace of squirrels - or perhaps they're only referred to as a brace when they've been bagged by a gamekeeper. A strutting magpie comes close to the bench where I sit in the shade for a while, out of the heat that is already building towards the midday furnace that's been forecast. One upside of the heat and sunshine is that it brings out the lizards to bask...