A delightful find at my library!

Okay I admit it  - I love children's books and I LOVED this book Not Just a Book. It's written by Jeanne Willis and illustrated by Tony Ross.

I found it in the library I work at Te Aka Mauri - Rotorua Library in Rotorua, New Zealand.

I think people look at me oddly when I say I love children's books but some of the books being published today are pretty amazing often because of their beautiful illustrations but many have great messages too.

Not Just a Book is one of those books with a great message and also the most adorable illustrations. I won't give the message away but have you ever wondered what other uses books have? Some of those uses are illustrated in this children's picture book.

If you re looking for a delightful read for your toddler, then check out this book. And if you're a lover of books about books or anything book-related like me, you will love it too!

The Seven Imperfect Rules of Elvira Carr

If you loved Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman then you will love The Seven Imperfect Rules of Elvira Carr by Frances Maynard.

I remember looking at this book in a bookshop and the bookshop owner said she was reading both at the same time and said remarked on how similar they were.

Elvira Carr is 27 and is neuro-atypical. I still don't know what that term means but according to the Internet, it means someone whose neurological structure or function does not fit in with what society says is normal.

Elvira lives with her mother but at the start of the book her mother has a stroke and has to move into a resthome. Elvira is left alone. Her father died a few years earlier. She manages her life by reading up about her condition online and coming up with seven rules to help her cope and adjust. The last thing she wants to happen is for someone to put her in a special facility. She has a neighbour who looks out for her and she makes friends with some of the people she works with at a zoo once a week. 

She regularly visits her mother in the resthome and helps out with the resthome's pet therapy using guinea pigs. Any questions Elvira has about life she notes down in a notebook - a special notebook she thought her father had brought her back from Japan. Questions start to arise about her father. Everything starts to unravel for Elvira and what she believed about her father.

This book has some sad and some tough moments but also some beautiful moments. I just love Elvira's character. This is the best book I've read so far in 2018. Okay to be fair I've only read a few!

Footnote: Pictured with the book are some biscuits or cookies as the Dutch would call them. They are a special delicacy called Stroopwafels. We were given several packets of these during our visit to the Netherlands last year. These Stroopwafels were gifted in a beautiful delft blue tin. The reason I've included them in this image is that one of Elvira's favourite topics to talk about is biscuits and their packaging.
  

Books, Books and more Books!

I love books about books, bookshops and libraries. I also love bookish ornaments and Bookstagram - books-related Instagram. So I thought I'd share a selection of books about my favourite subject and a few ones on my TBR (To Be Read) pile.

MY FAVES!

The Reading Promise - 3,218 Nights of Reading with my Father by Alice Ozma
When Alice was 9 she and her father - a school librarian - made a promise to read aloud together for 100 consecutive nights. They reached their goal and decided to continue reading. Alice's father went on to read to her for eight years. It's been a while since I read this book but I remember loving it!

The Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell
Shaun Bythell owns The Bookshop in Wigtown, Scotland. It's a secondhand bookstore and his diary covers his day-to-day life from February 2014 to February 2015 - the customers he meets, the employees he has to share food, gathered from the skip, with, his friends and family. For my review of this book go to 
https://bookbloggernz.blogspot.co.nz/2018/01/the-diary-of-bookseller.html

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
Absolutely adored this book! A.J.Fikry is a grumpy bookstore owner on an island which is hard to get to and only attracts visitors during the summer. His wife has died and his bookstore is not doing well. Then one day a small package is left in the bookstore for him and his life changes. For my review go to 
https://bookbloggernz.blogspot.co.nz/2017/11/the-storied-life-of-ajfikry.html

Lost for Words by Stephanie Butland

The book tells the story of Loveday Cardew who works in a secondhand bookstore called Lost for Words in York. She prefers books to people. Really enjoyed this book. The chapters take us from the present day of 2016 and then to an incident in 2013 and to Loveday as a child in 1999. I thought it was going to be confusing. It wasn't. This book is very well written. It has strong and raw themes which can be hard to read about at times but I really wanted to read to the end to see how the mystery unfolded and was resolved. For more go to 
https://bookbloggernz.blogspot.co.nz/2017/10/lost-for-words.html

Scribbles in the Margins - 50 Eternal Delights of Books by Daniel Gray
This books features 50 short essays of why we love books so much. A gorgeous book to own if you love books. For my review go to to
https://bookbloggernz.blogspot.co.nz/2017/10/scribbles-in-margin-50-eternal-delights.html

The Little Shop of Happy Ever After by Jenny Colgan
When I read the synopsis of the book - a woman starting life over by buying a bus and selling books from it - I was intrigued. The main character Nina loves books, she buys a bus and turns it into a travelling bookshop. The first half of the book was great but then it got a bit too chick-lit for me.
For my review go to
https://bookbloggernz.blogspot.co.nz/2017/09/the-little-shop-of-happy-ever-after.html

SOME OF THE BOOKS ABOUT BOOKS ON MY EVER INCREASING TBR PILE (and some you may want to look out for if you haven't read them already)!

• Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops by Jen Campbell
• The Bookshop Book by Jen Campbell
• The Library at the Edge of the World by Felicity Hayes-McCoy
• My Life with Bob by Pamela Paul
• The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald
• The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap by Wendy Welch
• The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George
• The Bookshop in Rosemary Lane by Ellen Berry