BOOKSHOP SIDE ENTRANCE
OF COURSE THE TRENDY/WONDERFUL /BEAUTIFUL BOOKSHOP they play cool jazz in the afternoon here.
Inspired Good Reads
I often turn to books for inspiration and created the page Inspired Reads so I could share my book reviews with the readers. Good reads is a forum, where I also share my thoughts and reviews. I’m not 100% up to date with that all of the time but I do check in now and again.
All books on here are my own. I don’t do affiliated links as such, but most of these books can be bought from Amazon.
Using your library
I do use my libraries though and if you ask them they will usually order any book you could wish for, unless they have discontinued them.
The Kent Ramblers Guide
A trio of Kent Guides:
Tunbridge Wells Circular walks,
Kent Coast Path Part 1: Camber to Ramsgate,
Three River Valley Walks in West Kent. All were written by Robert Peel.
The Secret Life of Cows
Safe to say it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea but The Secret life of Cows by Rosamund Young, was an eye-opener. I have become very fond of cows lately, well I don’t see them very often, but I’m not half as scared of them as I used to be.
As I ramble about I’m so much more curious. I especially love her fun facts Page at the back.
TWENTY things you ought to know about cows.
Year of the monkey by Patti Smith- Rock Poet.
British Wild Flowers
The Ordnance survey puzzle Tour of Britain
The Ordnance survey puzzle tour of Great Britain.
The Salt Path
I read this story in 2019, the story is inspiring, and it encourages me to carry on reaching out and finding escapes that are authentic. Real lives and real people are what inspire me.
To read more about The Salt Path story, read this Guardian article. SINCE falling in love with this story, the author has proved to be somewhat untruthful with many of her accounts. It’s debatable whether that impacts that novel or film?
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/dec/06/home-is-a-state-of-mind-you-dont-need-walls
Get out there and explore a little.
The world is out there from urban guided walks, to canal walks, & river walks long walks in the country, themed walks, or historical guided tours.
Wildflowers on the cliff top of Dover
Some other great books about walks.
- The unlikely pilgrimage of Harold Fry- Rachel Joyce
- Strayed Cheryl- Wild
- Walking London’s -Waterways Gilly Cameron Cooper
- London Walks,- On Foot Guides Celia Wolfram
- Walking Haunted London – original walks exploring London’s Ghostly Past- Richard Jones
- Walk Britain Great Views- The Ramblers Top 50 Walking routes to Britain’s finest views. (available to all members)
- Ramble On -The story of our love for walking Britain, by Sinclair McKay.
- Wanderlust A History of Walking Rebecca Solnit
Hezbollah Hiking Club: A short walk across the Lebanon Dom Joly
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I enjoyed this, Dom Joly is the type of guy I would enjoy a chat with at a party, full of interesting observations, and a great sense of humour.
His roots are explored in this somewhat comical hiking adventure, with his two mates who tend to be there under some duress. A lot of fantastic food and beer are consumed, and some history & politics in the mix makes this an interesting read. As well as the geography lesson.
DJ loves animals, music and travel, so he rates highly in my books.
Walks for Each Season Julia Smith is the latest read, it features 26 great days out in the countryside near London and can be bought at Amazon.
Walks for Each Season: 26 great days out in the countryside near London by Julia Smith
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Although this is on my read shelf, it can never be truly finished as it is a guidebook.
Firstly it’s written by a woman, in the world of books about walking, men usually write them. I often find men’s instructions somewhat overelaborate and confusing.!
This is a lovely walking companion book, I will take it with me on my next adventure in Lewes next week. It is an area I love walking in and I am going to try Julia’s August recommendation
The book is written for each season, which is a great idea. The photographs are inspiring. Plus all walks are doable from London in a day. That’s my type of walk. If you live in London and want to walk out for a day, this book will be inspiring.
Street-Level Superstar: A Year With Lawrence by Will Hodgkinson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I thought this was great. It took me a while to get the author was reading in the voice of Lawrence, which was quite comical at times. I felt like it was a great portrait of an intriguing and charismatic character with real values and a down to earth vision of what life could be like, if it wasn’t so hard.
I listened to this on the way to work on audible. I really enjoyed learning about the adventures of Lawrence and I will check out some of the music at some point.
Hopefully this book might gain him a few more fans. I loved Lawrence’s attention to detail about even the mundane things in life. To appreciate Liquorice is truly an amazing thing!
Lawrence is a true original superstar.