vivdunstan

Clearing more books - many academic - that I no longer have need for, and can't read properly now due to my neuro illness. Helped by them lurking in a bookcase unseen for decades! Some survived the cut eg histories of Dundee and Cupar and John Kay's caricatures. But most are off to charity.

We have many more books still to clear out. There are still too many piles of things to dismantle in the study. But it's progress. And it is refreshing how easily I'm finding it to pass these on. It helps that I know that our local Oxfam's will sell them well. And they will also find homes for the Scottish history journal issues.

Finding another stash of books that can mostly be donated to Oxfam's. Including several Egaeus Press weird short story collections, gorgeous hardback books, but I no longer need, and am happy passing on. As well as a Little Endless "Delirium's Party" hardback. Keeping some of the other books though.

Time and distance is making it easier to pass on some of these books. And we still have way too many books in house, especially a huge number I can no longer read with my progressive neurological illness. It's very freeing passing them on. Even if book lover me naturally rails against the concept!

P.S. I reread the Little Endless book quickly tonight before passing it on. Quite charming, and written and drawn by someone other than Neil Gaiman. Gorgeous mini Endless comic book art too.

P.P.S. Martin is now going to have an incredible number of books to take to Oxfam later this week!

Onto another Fourth Doctor audio. So much about this one gives me joy. And what a guest cast.

( spoilers re some dialogue )

We're going into Broughty Ferry for my eye test tomorrow, and will be taking tons of Big Finish audios to Oxfams. Which is why I've been trying to get through some more of my backlog this week.

Crikey I so wanted to type 2024 there haha!

I've got off to a flying start this year, partly with 2 books that were hang overs from before, but also a quick read for my book club. But then I also quickly read 3 other books that had been hanging around for too long, and I wanted to pass on to charity shops. I'd previously started reading a couple of them.

1. An Academy for Liars by Alexis Henderson
2. Don't Touch My Hair by Emma Dabiri
3. Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa
4. Egyptian Myths: Meet the Gods, Goddesses, and Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt by Jean Menzies
5. Tutankhamun: The Treasures of the Tomb by Zahi Hawass
6. ABBA: The Treasures by Ingmarie Halling and Carl Magnus Palm

An Academy for Liars is a dark academia book, with rather a lot of violence and gore added to the mix. It was ok, but I had to push to keep reading it to the end. 3/5 stars.

Don't Touch My Hair by Emma Dabiri was an incredible insight into the experience and history of black hair. A strong 4/5 stars.

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop was another 3/5 star read for me. Ok, mostly, but a rather odd writing style, and an unexpected and lengthy shift away from the cosy bookshop setting mid way through. 3/5 stars.

Egyptian Myths by classical historian and YouTuber Jean Menzies was an entertaining and informative text, full of striking large format illustrations from Katie Ponder. I did find the order and structure a little confusing in places, but I learned a lot. 4/5 stars.

Tutankhamun: The Treasures of the Tomb is a large format coffee table book, filled with huge photographs and details of many hundreds of items from Tutankhamun's tomb. The items chosen are a selection carefully curated by Zahi Hawass, and it's not exhaustive. But for what you did get it was jaw dropping, including multi-page folding out large photographs. Both Martin and I were stunned by parts. 5/5 stars.

ABBA: The Treasures is a large format squidgy book telling much of the story of ABBA in photographs, reminiscences, and reproductions of paper ephemera connected with them, tucked into folders inside that you open up and work through the contents of. It's a nice book, but a rather narrow perspective on their life, focusing mainly on some of their 1970s international tours, which one of the authors accompanied them on. I did feel that I was missing out on the wider story. But the folders of paper ephemera were a delight. I was particularly amused by the customs list, for the Australian tour I think, including a "piano accordion". 4/5 stars.

I was just clearing out some more space around my computer/desk in the study, to help when we switch soon to fibre. Has to make it easier to physically access the router and swap to the new one!

In the process I found a whole bunch more of Jago & Litefoot audio boxsets that I have, a spin off series from Big Finish telling more stories with those memorable characters from Doctor Who's story The Talons of Weng-Chiang. I've enjoyed listening to the Jago & Litefoot stories on my iPad, using the Big Finish download option. But can now sell on the CDs. Most are still as new and sealed. Oxfam sell these well on their shop website.

I have sold some Jago & Litefoot boxes myself on eBay in the past, but in this case would rather donate them to charity. Oxfam sell them secondhand by mail order for more money than I would get (based on past experience, and their use of fixed price offers they can hold until sold), and given how ill I am now I really don't want to deal with these chunky packaging tasks.

I also have some more Doctor Who DVDs to donate to them, after getting more of the season-long "Collection" Blu-Ray boxes (I am getting all of the Tom Baker era ones through to Sylvester McCoy). And as always we keep having books to pass on. Oxfam recently sold a hardback copy of Emily Wilson's translation of The Odyssey that I donated for £19.99. That's grand.

In the clearing out I also rediscovered my boxset of The Sarah Jane Adventures audio stories. I need to prioritise listening to those! Definitely not selling on that box though.

Another day, more horror in the news, and a feeling of utter helplessness. I donated last night to Médecins Sans Frontières, and will be donating more soon. I've also just emailed my MP and MSP.