Lord Samper's Library

We all know that I've spent the last week looking after my ex-wife's cats (at time of writing, only for a few more hours...) but what people may not know is that I've also spent the last week fighting a secret war. A secret war that I must always fight, if only because I've never managed to land the decisive blow. And this last week was no exception... Yep, it's summer and I've spent the week squaring off against at least one mosquito (likely more) that is quite literally out for my blood. The end result? A very fat, content mosquito and me heading out to find something to stop my legs looking like pepperoni pizza ;o) I couldn't sort that problem out but, no surprise to anyone, I ended up buying a few books instead. Of course I did... ;o) Presented by, well... I haven't named him yet but he was happy to carry on in the meantime. Anyway... As seems to be the rule these days, all three books were found in Greenwich Oxfam :o) I've always meant to read J...

Apologies for the blogging silence over the last couple of days... In the end, it just got so hot that I had to focus my energy on getting work done and just park the blog for a little bit. When I wasn't working, I was either taking a nap or watching the 'Chucky' TV show (better than I thought it would be); once I'm done with the third season, I'll see about getting a post up here ;o) And then it got to yesterday afternoon and I realised that I'd pretty much been stuck in the house for a couple of days (it's hot inside and out but 'inside' is a lot more comfortable). Greenwich is only down the road from mine so I figured I'd pop out and find a couple of bookshops with decent air-conditioning, or a big ol' fan up a corner. Yep, I bought books... I'd try and come up with a decent (and humorous) excuse but it is far too hot for that as well. It was the least I could do... ;o) Just a short one today as, well... You can see the photo ;o) '...

Today's post is brought to you by 'Tiny Apocalypse', shown here (for context) with his compatriots 'Slim Apocalypse' and, erm... 'Slightly Dusty Apocalypse'... 'Slightly Dusty' will have a name-change very soon :o) 'Tiny' and 'Slim' (who actually has extendable legs, which is awesome) came home with me after yesterday's visit to the Hilly Fields Fair in Lewisham. I love the Fair, partly because they have a petting zoo but mostly because they have loads of stalls, that sell all sorts of stuff, and I'm a big fan of browsing. My daughter isn't as big a fan but she's only young, she'll learn ;o) There were a couple of book stalls and while there wasn't a lot there for the likes of me, I did pick up a couple of books. And because it's me, I also picked up another book on the way home ;o) Lets take a quick look... I did read 'The Wounded Land' , way back in the day, (even then, I had a habit of reading se...

Just a mini-reset, I bet you didn't even realize that I'd gone ;o) With one thing and another (and then another), last week wasn't a good one; mostly work stuff and mental health. I thought I'd give myself a little 'time off' this weekend, just to get my head straight. Still, new week and all that, fingers crossed for a better week this week. Let's see... :o) Backing up a little bit though. Payday was last Friday and that meant 'Walking Dead Night' (for me and my eldest) was accompanied by Dominos Pizza. It also meant that on Saturday, I was able to take my daughters to Greenwich for nachos and book shopping. They like nachos and I 'really deserved' a little book shopping ;o) Lets take a little look at what came home with us... The lady who runs the bookstall, on Greenwich market, saw me coming and immediately pointed me at the small pile of 'Doctor Who' books on the table. I've never read 'Time-flight' (and I've only...

It hasn't been a bad week but it has felt like there's been more of it than I'd normally expect, mostly because I've been trying to fit five days of work into a four day week (Easter Bank Holiday Weekend and all that). I got there though and now I'm looking at a week's holiday next week, I reckon I'll do better managing my time there ;o) Anyway... I started things off yesterday with a trip into Greenwich and a little nose around the market for books and lamb samosas. I was successful in my hunt for lamb samosa (they were lovely!) but the market didn't really yield anything in the way of books. I mean, there were a few 'Star Wars' books but they all seemed to be 'middle of the series' books and I didn't fancy playing that game. Oh well, that's the way the 'hunt' goes every now and then. Luckily for me, a quick stop at the Greenwich Oxfam turned a 'fruitless book hunt' into a 'fruitful book hunt' so my plans ...

It been quiet on the 'Books for the TBR Pile' front just recently but like the title says, all it took was last week's payday (and a rough week at work, mustn't forget that) to kickstart the whole thing again :o) At least for now that is, I've actually been having fun 're-discovering' books and don't want to lose that. Anyway... The blog was all quiet yesterday, mostly because I made a concerted effort to sleep as long as possible (didn't set any records but that's ok) but also because I took myself into Greenwich for a little book browsing that inevitably became book-shopping. Lets have a little look at what came home with me... Three books from the Greenwich Oxfam and one from the Waterstones over the road :o)  Regular visitors to the blog will know that I already have a copy of 'The House On The Borderland' but what I didn't have was a copy of 'The House On The Borderland' with cover art by Ian Miller. I will never pass up...

It's not hard (at all), I just really needed a title for this post... ;o) Last week was an intense one but I got through it, yay me :o) Next week is looking like more of the same (hospital appointments along with some other stuff) but I'm feeling pretty good about my chances, I've got this ;o)  I'm not quite there yet though, I still have a habit of promising myself books if I make it through a week and, if I'm caught between two tough weeks... I end up buying a few more than I probably should have done. It really is time for the 'one in, one out' policy to be implemented. That's not for today though (not when I've my kids coming over later). No, lets take a look at the books that came home with me over the last few days... I'd already had some anxiety over going back into the office so, last week, I sweetened the deal with the promise of a 'Robin of Sherwood' book if I made it in. And I did so, here we are :o) I'd always thought that...

The plan for 2026 is not to buy so many books and concentrate on the unread books, on my shelves, instead. That's still the plan but little did I know that I'd be the victim of a master book-tempter, and so early in the year... If you made the same resolution that I did, and you don't want to be book-tempted, then keep an eye open for this Womble as vigilance is the only thing that will keep your wallet safe ;o) The only problem is, if you do see this Womble then it's already too late and you are now the proud owner of a new book ;o) Anyway... I was reading through some of my favourite blogs, the other day, and came across this review for Clay McLeod Chapman's 'Acquired Taste' collection. I'd already read, and enjoyed, 'Wake Up And Open Your Eyes' so one payday later, and a little wait for delivery, I now have an 'Acquired Taste' as well ;o) They're feeding on you too. A father returns from serving in Vietnam with a strange and terr...

Morning all :o) Sorry for the radio silence these last couple of days, things have been particularly busy, we all know what that's like at the moment. Anyway... I hope you had a good one yesterday and that today is more of the same. Personally, I'm a big fan of Boxing Day, it's the day where there's no pressure, just plenty of time to make serious inroads into the Christmas leftovers; I see a chicken and stuffing sandwich in my very near future, possibly with a Yorkshire Pudding and a couple of roast potatoes :o) If you're me, Boxing Day is also the time to maybe dip into a couple of books that you were given the day before. I suspect that today will be about reading comic books (I'm also a good way into 'Oaths of Damnation') but lets see what else was under the tree :o) My old copy of 'Scourge of the Betrayer' suffered a very strange (but definitely final) ending so this new copy is a welcome arrival, and it's a slim read too (which might j...

Apologies for the 'blog silence' yesterday, it's my youngest daughter's birthday (right now!) and I was out and about getting a few bits done (including trying to sort out a new bank card, six days without one - and counting...) Anyway. You know the story by now ;o) I go out with stuff to do and end up in charity shops and at the book stall on Greenwich Market; I didn't even try and fight it this time, just went with the flow (trying to take my mind off going back to work on Monday, shouldn't be that bad but you know how it is). It was slim pickings this time round but I still managed to find some interesting bits to liberate and take home with me, of course I did ;o) Lets take a look... Starting from the bottom...  I've never read 'The Dark Half' (there was a passage near the beginning that freaked me out as a kid, it involved an eyeball...) and when I saw the hardback on sale for £2, in the Hospice shop, I thought it was time I did something about...

Sorry for yesterday's 'blogging silence'... Yesterday wasn't a bad one (well, it did get better, eventually...) but it was a very busy one that demanded all my attention. Book-buying happened but I didn't get a second to sit down and read, let alone post anything here. Oh well... :o) And part of that is down to my kids' new pet kitten (I'm looking after the girls and both cats this week). Pixel is a sweet little thing but honestly, it's like she has a secret stash of amphetamines that she takes when we decide that it's time for a break. For example... I think I'm on my own in the kitchen, I open the fridge and all of a sudden, Pixel has leapt (seemingly out of thin air) right into said fridge to grab what she can. And I'm pretty sure that the other cat has prematurely aged in an attempt to quickly shuffle off this mortal coil and get some peace and quiet. Still not the worst job I've ever had but damn, it's almost enough to make me wa...

I'm going to try and make this the last 'Books Bought' post this side of Christmas, lets see how that pans out shall we...? Anyway :o) I've been stuck inside the flat for the last couple of days (well, more like 'panicking about being around people', lets be honest) and yesterday, I thought that if I don't get out then I'll just go stir crazy. So, I talked myself into doing a little Christmas Shopping and off I went :o) I know there are people out there who are well into that already but I'm pretty pleased with myself. And of course, I came back with a few bits for myself... Not much but somehow more than enough, all at the same time ;o) Lets take a look. Yep, there was a quick stop at the Bromley Warhammer store to see what was new on the shelves. I've had half an eye open for 'Darkness Eternal', for a while, so that was an easy purchase. I don't normally go for Black Library hardbacks, as a rule, but 'Abraxia: Spear of the Everc...

As always, the plan is to keep working my way through all the unread books in my flat before buying any more. But... I end up doing things like spending the afternoon in London and diving into bookshops that I've never been in before (well, a couple that I hadn't and a couple that I definitely have...) It was kind of inevitable that I'd come home with a few books by the end of the day. I dropped my daughter off, at the train station, and once she had left, I swiftly realized that I wasn't ready to go home just yet. So... There's a bookshop called Skoob Books that I'd never been in but heard was worth a look, I decided to set out and see if I could find it. After a fair bit of walking (for me anyway), I finally found the shop and... Skoob Books looks amazing, literally a huge basement full of shelving that is all full of books; the kind of place where I could browse for hours, even on the shelves that I'm normally not that bothered about. The sci-fi/fantasy ...

Well, I'm now one tooth less than I was yesterday and while I didn't exactly cover myself in glory, I didn't embarrass myself as much as I thought I would (I'm the worst at having injections). It's all a little on the sore side but that will go so definitely better than having toothache :o)  I'll be honest, I was feeling pretty sorry for myself yesterday so stopped off in Greenwich (on the way home) to see if there were any books that caught my eye. And... There were, of course there were ;o) I stopped in at 'Rare Books & Curios', Greenwich Market, as they had a nice spread of horror fiction the last time I was in there. As luck would have it, there was a bag of books that hadn't been put out and the owner was happy for me to have the first look. I was a little more restrained with my purchases this time, check 'em out... I was always partial to a 'Fontana Book of Great Horror Stories' collection, as a kid (my primary school had a nic...

I've got no idea what this weeks reading is going to look like; I can't seem to settle on one book so it's looking like a mixture of comics and short stories. We'll see, I'm still on sick leave so I've got plenty of time to decide :o) Instead of a WBR Pile ('Will Be Reading' of course) then, I thought I'd share a quick picture of the books that have somehow found their way home with me over the last week. Because books inevitably happen when I have too much time on my hands (although having said that, books have also been known to also happen when I have very little time on my hands as well...) Here goes, 'Any Amount of Books', on the Charing Cross Road, is always a decent second hand bookshop to pop into if you have time to spare. That's what I did on Saturday and that's where I found 'Autumn: The City' . It's been long enough, since I last read 'The City', that not only have I more or less forgotten the plot. I a...

Well, I say 'unexpected' but... who am I kidding? Let me tell you about it. I was rattling around the flat by myself (had my daughters over on Saturday so had Sunday to myself) and was starting to go a little stir crazy so thought I'd head over to Greenwich and see what was what, maybe have a late lunch. As you know, I've got teetering TBR piles ( and wasn't planning to add to them) but I was walking through the market, stopped at the second hand book stall and... 'The Ribos Operation' is the only 'Key to Time' book that I haven't read so that was an easy purchase. 'The Horror of Fang Rock' and 'The Web of Fear' were all about the nostalgia, I didn't even try and fight it.  And then I went into 'Rare Books & Curios', just to have a quick look through the 'Sci-Fi/Fantasy' paperbacks. I wasn't expecting to find anything but couldn't head home without having a look first, you know how it is ;o) The ...

It doesn't take a lot for me to buy a book (if the day has a 'y' in it for example...) but when I'm enjoying a milestone birthday (it feels like one, after the way most of my forties went), it's only right that I take a step up from buying a book... to full on book shopping. So that's exactly what I did :o)  I didn't have a lot of time, in town, yesterday so book shops were chosen on the likelihood of yielding results rather than 'ooh, I've never been there before...' There was nothing to be had in Hatchards but it's such a lovely looking book shop that I didn't mind too much :o) The Piccadilly Waterstones and Forbidden Planet were a different story though. Let me show you what I came back with... This feels more like a Halloween TBR but there's time in September yet... 'The Babysitter Lives' feels like it's giving the game away far too early (at least let me open the book first...) but on the other hand, Stephen Graham J...

Sorry for the 'blogging silence yesterday... I'm on annual leave this week so yesterday was all about hanging out with my daughters and trawling the bookshops of central London for Manga. That and trying to deal with some side effects of the chemotherapy medication. Lets just say that the Manga shopping went a lot better (I'm getting on top of it though)... Anyway :o) After last week's little blowout , the plan was to try and rein things in a little bit but... You know how that ends up, and it did ;o) Only three books this week though so I'm taking it as a win. Let me show you what I found... Black Library books can sometimes be a little tricky to track down; if it's not Warhammer 40k, the print run is never that great and if you forget that a book is due a release (very easy for me to do at the moment), then you're cast into the lawless wilds of the second hand market. And that's never a great place to find yourself... The paperback edition of 'Dark...

For the first time in a long time, I had a whole weekend to myself. Just me :o) Okay, I was looking after the cat and rabbit but the cat had no use for me (until dinner time) and the rabbit was trying to sleep so, what is a Graeme to do when he has time on his hands? No... He goes shopping for books of course ;o)  As much as I miss my girls when I'm not with them, I love the whole 'guilt free' feeling of being able to browse for as long as I want and only have to worry about what I need (McDonalds, usually). And that's just what I did in the Warhammer shop, Forbidden Planet, a Waterstones and a sweet little bookshop (in Cecil Court) that I've forgotten the name of. It has a big Dalek inside the shop, along long with a whole load of old kids books and I fancied some 'Doctor Who'... Enough of that, take a look at the pictures. I found 'The Nightmare of Eden' and 'The Giant Robot' in Marchpane Books (that was the name!) in Cecil Court. I'v...

Sorry for the no-show yesterday... I was feeling pretty sick and I also had my daughters round so something had to give and... you guessed it ;o) Because sometimes, the hunt doesn't go well and you know what...? That's ok :o) not every trip out can end up in a second hand bookshop or finding a hidden gem in a charity shop. It would be awesome if they all did but I'd run out of shelf space really fast ;o) And not only that, I really am trying to make more of an effort to read books that are already on my shelves. It's not going too badly but I'd like to read more; the summer holidays are fast approaching so I might be able to make a little more headway soon. We'll see... ;o) Having said all that though. I had a walk through Lewisham Town Centre, the other day (I was working from home and really needed to get away from my desk...) and still managed to come home with a couple of books, it happens :o) Let me show you what I found... I don't normally leave the pr...