Italian Speakers in the Library

Something interesting happened last week during my Thriller Writing Course in the library: as we were discussing about, well, thrillers, an elderly man from the group a few tables away came and kindly asked us to be quieter, as they had difficulties to hear themselves. I thought we were fairly quiet, but anyway. We were very polite and told him we would be careful. We chit chatted briefly, and it turned out they are the Italian speaking group I blogged about in September 2024. So I took the opportunity to speak a few words of Italian, little I knew. The elderly gentleman was really impressed. Apparently I have a great pronunciation and accent. I even managed to converse with him in Italian, albeit it was a pretty basic chat. So I am thinking maybe I should meet that group, even though my Italian is basic. Practice makes perfect and I haven't practised in a long while.

Thriller Writing Course

You may remember that I went to a Thriller Writing Workshop back in March. Well, more like a course anyway, but there are elements of workshop in it. Anyway, there was another course this month, pretty much the same, but since the first one has proven so useful and also given me some motivation to write, I have decided to go there again. At £25 for six hours, three weeks, that's a good investment, I think.

Dracula (a memory)

Well, the solstice is done and dusted, so days are slowly getting shorter, hopefully the heatwave should be over soon and this is thus time to... get ready for Halloween. I'm not kidding: I start preparing round this time of year. Yes, because this. But it is nothing new to me, I've always started getting on a spooky mind and preparing for Halloween months before. More than 35 years ago, if I'm not mistaken, in the summer of 1990, I first read Dracula by Bram Stoker. Before I watched any adaptation of the famous novel. I had been wanting to read classics of horror for a while and found a copy of Dracula in the local library. I blogged about it in details in a post from 2018. The memory came back to my mind recently. The novel was a revelation to me and it truly started my love of horror. I was interest in the macabre and scary stories before, but as a child my mother wouldn't let me read such things. As a teenager, she couldn't stop me.

Thriller Writing Workshop

 Okay so, there is something I have been wanting to blog about, but haven't had the occasion yet: I have been going to a thriller writing workshop in the library, done by a published author. Not a bestselling author, but still. It's £25 for the whole course, two hours per session, three sessions all in all, so six hours in total. Momney well spent, I'd say, and I might even add, or hope, money well invested. It is really helping me focus and stay disciplined in my writing, it provided a lot of useful tips already, as well as giving me a lot of inspiration. Furthermore, the quick story draft I wrote and then presented to the teacher/author was really well received. So I will be taking more writing workshops when I can.

True scary stories in the library

I took this picture in October last year (I think) in the Marlow Library. The town of Marlow is a lovely place to go to any time of year, but especially round Halloween, when it is really atmospheric and eerie at places. I haven't been there in month, so I don't know if they are already in a spooky mood in its library, but I am and I have started my Halloween reads, which consists of a lot of ghost and horror stories. I don't imit myelf to fiction, but also to alleged real life hauntings and alleged true stories of the supernatural. Not that I believe in them, I am a skeptical person, but they give you a chill nevertheless and can be a great source of inspiration when you try to write horror stories yourself. And there is just something about reading ghost stories in an old library such as the Marlow one.

Bookmark Shortage

It happens from time to time (read this post from 2022), a strange and, frankly, baffling phenomenon: I always appear short of bookmarks. Ironic, since I kind of collect them. Every time I stop at the local bookshop and buy a book, I receive a free one. I buy bookmarks whenever I see them in libraries, or in in souvenirs shops when I travel. Or indeed wherever I can find one. I receive them as presents sometimes. I should therefore have more bookmarks than books. Apparently not. Apart from the favourite ones I have which are already assigned to specific books, the others seem to disappear. Or the same monster who eats socks is eating bookmarks too. Who knows. But whatever the reason, every time I need one, I cannot find any. Am I the only one with the same problem?

Dark Flood in the Library

Yesterday, Wolfie and I went to the local library to return some books. We spent a few minutes checking the shelves and was happily surprised to find Deon Meyer's The Dark Flood in paperback edition, proudly standing among their latest acquisitions in the genre. Now, I already own a copy since its release, so I didn't need to borrow it, but it's nice to see it all the same. It makes for a welcome change from the usual UK/US stuff. I don't need to borrow it, but I love my local library all the same.

A Gothic Castle Library

 I found this meme a year ago or so, in one of the many Halloween pages I have been following on social media. I thought I shared it tonight. That is my idea of heaven. And is it too early to think of Halloween? Because reading this meme, I have Halloween vibes about reading horror stories.

The Sad Ghost Club

Sometimes, I find useful books in the local library, books I wouldn't buy otherwise, but they come in handy at a certian point. So yeah, during our last visit, I stumbled upon The Sad Ghost Club (subtitled: A Hopeful Guide to Getting Through Bad Days) and I had to borrow it. Don' worry about me: I'm not depressed or anything like that. It's just that my job has been rough as of recently, I have been going through a lot of bad days, I know there will be more, and I thought I needed something to help me keep my head above water and focus on the good things that I have. I have been in worse situations, job wise, but I don't want to have the feeling of dread I used to have a few years ago, so I am using this guide. It's quite cute, full of of good, simple advices to follow. And sad ghosts. I'm good with melancholy, I even thrive through it. However, I don't like gloom and doom.

Speaking Italian in the library

 I learned something recently: our local library hosts a group of Italian speakers every Tuesday afternoon. Sadly, this is the wrong day and the wrong time, as I am at work then. Which is a darn shame: I have been wanting to improve my Italian for years and this could be the right opportunity for it. I say improve, but mine is extremely limited, even though I have allegedly a great pronunciation (and a native accent, at least sometimes). Anyway, maybe I would be out of place there because I have little vocabulary and know barely anything of its grammar, but all the same, it would be a start. Not full immersion, but a start.

About Mary Shelley and her offspring

Well, with all the excitement of being home in Montreal for the holidays, I forgot that the 30th of August was the birthday of Mary Shelley. She is of course the author of Frankenstein. I was reminded of this by by Mary Does Marlow.I went to one of her special activities in Marlow,where the original Mary Shelley finished writing her famous novel. I got this sticker. I know it is a bit late, however I find it important to commemorate her birthday, as it marks my countdown to Halloween, which pretty much started now.

Boîte à livres

 Je trouvais ces boîtes à livres assez souvent en Angleterre. je ne savais pas qu'elles existaient aussi ici, à Montréal. Elles sont partout sur le Plateau Mont-Royal en tout cas. Je ne sais pas trop comment on les appelle de l'autre côté de l'Atlantique, ici je crois qu'on appelle ça un Croque-livres ou une boîte à livres. Jusqu'ici, j'ai résisté à la tentation d'en piquer un. Pas tant parce que j'ai déjà beaucoup de livres, mais parce que je ne suis plus résident du Plateau, alors j'ai l'impression que j'abuserais de mes privilèges de visiteur. J'ai quand même bouquiné.

Death on the Istanbul Express

The things one can find in the local library. Because you don't have to borrow books, you can also borrow (or buy?) jogsaw puzzles. And murder parties. And murder parties that are also jigsaw puzzles. So I saw this last time we visited it. Death on the Istanbul Express. A whodunit where, from what I understand, you need also to complete the puzzle to obtain some extra clues, or something. I used to love murder parties, but I never done anything like this. Although I do remember seeing such mix of puzzles and murder parties in the past, I believe it was back in the nineties, when murder parties were all the rage. I got curious about it, but I don't think I will ever play it. I used to love murder parties and would love to get back into it again, but I just don't think I have the patience to complete a 1000 piece jigsaw. However, I'm curious if any of you ever played this jigsaw/murder party, or indeed any other.

Le casse-tête dans la bibliothèque

À la bibliothèque locale, il n'y a pas que des bouquins, il y a aussi des casse-têtes. Il y avait celui-ci, représentant une nature morte, entamé (est-ce le bon terme?) au quart. Wolfie l'a vu tout de suite et a commencé à essayer de le faire. Il est attiré par les puzzles, même ceux de mille pièces, ça tient de la famille. Il n'a pas eu beaucoup eu le temps de s'y consacrer, n'a pas pu le compléter, ou découvrir la pièce manquante. Nous avions un après-midi chargé. Cela dit, il a bien aimé quand même les quelques instants passés dessus. Et ça lui a donné le goût d'en acheter un dans une boutique de charité quelques minutes plus tard.

Return to the local library

Yesterday, we went to the local library, to register Wolfie in the summer reading challenge, or whatever it is called. But more of that in another post. It struck me that I could not remember the last time I went to the local library. Well, I know I have been back since the pandemic, but very seldom. Far too seldom.Then it struck me that I probably needed to renew my membership. I checked in my wallet, I could not find the card. I went to the till, found out that I needed to have a document with a proof of address on it, which I didn't. So I did not renew it. I will come back. I kind of know why I don't go there as often as I used to. First, we now live far away from it, so I cannot just pop in. But truly, I think I just spend so much more time in the local bookshop since we have one. In the end, I prefer to buy books, even if it is to hoard them, than to borrow them.

Midsummer Ghost Stories (read by the Librarian)

 I blogged about it before. It is getting closer and closer: the Midsummer Ghost Stories will be read on the 7th of July by the Librarian in the West Wycombe Village Hall. I don't know who this Librarian is, but he seems to be a sinister chap. As the big event of my summers is over for me, I am now getting more and more into a Halloween mood and a few chilling horror stories would be the right thing to forget about seasonal heat.

Lire autochtone

Petite annonce pour les gens du Québec et surtout du Saguenay. J'apprends sur la page Facebook du Salon du Livre du Saguenay Lac-Saint-Jean que le mois de juin est le Mois national de l'histoire autochtone. Vous pouvez y participer en vous rendant dans les bibliothèques du Saglac, les détails sur la page facebook du Salon du Livre. J'avoue n'avoir guère lu autochtone moi-même, mais je compte corriger ça un jour.

Midsummer Ghost Stories

Even when it is summer, lovers of spooky stories and Halloween like myself know that it is still time to prepare yourself mentally to the darker season. To prepare yourself spiritually, so to speak. Anyway, I learned through social media that there is an activity in a month's time, called Midsummer Ghost Stories, held in West Wycombe Village Hall. It is not too far from here. I don't think we can go, because I doubt it is a family activity, but it would be fun. I love public reading of ghost stories. It just enhances the experience. And on a side note, what a lovely, perfectly eerie and atmospheric image.

Mafalda et Felipe siempre!

Je sais que j'ai déjà partagé ce gag de Mafalda en 2016, mais ce n'était pas la version complète. Le voici donc encore une fois, avec toutes les cases. Si jamais je visite l'Argentine, ce sera pour Mafalda.

Celebrating Mary Shelley

Today is the birthday of Mary Shelley. The author of Frankenstein and the famous monster's true mother. During my personal countdown to Halloween, which I start in August, I always observe her birthday as if it was the one of a saint, a saint of horror literature, if you will. I also try to write at least one post per year about her creation during the proper, official countdown to Halloween. Last year, I even went to a special event, "Mrs Shelley in the Library, with a Candlestick" organised by Mary Does Marlow. It was done in the Marlow Library, which was very fitting: Mary Shelley finished writing her most famous novel in the town of Marlow, where she lived for a year. I didn't have time to blog about it, but I intend to this year. I hope the modern Mary will organise something similar round Halloween which I can attend. Anyway until then, happy birthday Mary, wherever you are, you made me a horror fan and send my regards to your monstrous offspring and his daddy.