The Overflowing Library

Living Life Once, Living Life Well We have probably all had someone say to us, “you only live once,” when we’ve talked about doing something we want to do, but are unsure whether we can. And when it’s been said to us we’ve probably agreed, because there is truth in the sentiment; we only live once so we must experience life not run away from it, we must grab opportunities that present themselves even if we have to move out of our natural comfort zone to take them, and we must take chances in life. And of course the message to grab opportunity while you can, and to live life to the full, is perhaps never more pertinent than when we are young. Without the responsibilities and experiences of adulthood upon us, there is the potential for a very real opportunity to just live life, and in doing so find our place in the world. Being young is a special time, we are told, and whilst we are young, we should celebrate this. But what if you are a teenager and life scares you? Wh...

Summer Holidays are now here. Insane amounts of reading have commenced ... Books read in July 112) Witch Hunt by Ruth Warburton (British Books Challenge) 113) Winger by Andrew Smith 114) Zero Hour by Will Hill (British Books Challenge) 115) A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray 116) Come back to me by Mila Gray (British Books Challenge) 117) The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily Danforth 118) Pink by Lili Wilkinson 119) Derby Girl by Shauna Cross 120) Threads by Sophia Bennett (British Books Challenge) 121) Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell (British Books Challenge) 122) Lies like Love by Louisa Reid (British Books Challenge) 123) Pea's book of best friends by Susie Day (British Books Challenge) 124) Maybe One Day by Melissa Kantor 125) Buffy the Vampre Slayer Omnibus #4 126) Thirteen Chairs by Dave Shelton (British Books Challenge) 127) Sorry about me by Laura Dockrill (British Books Challenge) 128) Dawn by Eve Edwards (British Books Challenge) 129) Wate...

Rosie has managed to wangle spending the summer before uni in the same house as her boyfriend Cal – but who else should also be staying except for the infamous man-eater, Cleo. Things between Cal and Rosie could never have been described as easy, but her growing jealousy seems like an unstoppable force. Can their love weather the storm? My thoughts I have been waiting for this book for ages and couldn't read it quick enough. I loved it because it was Funny, heartfelt and really sweet. It felt me to like a Sarra Manning novel comparable to the Diary of a Crush series. I particularly loved Rosie and all her worrying as she was definitely a character I could relate to with my crazed worrying and OCD list making. My very geeky side adored the pop culture references particularly those that referenced His Dark Materials, A book I adored and a series I would thoroughly recommend

Ryan Dean West is a fourteen-year-old junior at a boarding school for rich kids. He’s living in Opportunity Hall, the dorm for troublemakers, and rooming with the biggest bully on the rugby team. And he’s madly in love with his best friend Annie, who thinks of him as a little boy. With the help of his sense of humor, rugby buddies, and his penchant for doodling comics, Ryan Dean manages to survive life’s complications and even find some happiness along the way. But when the unthinkable happens, he has to figure out how to hold on to what’s important, even when it feels like everything has fallen apart. Filled with hand-drawn info-graphics and illustrations and told in a pitch-perfect voice, this realistic depiction of a teen’s experience strikes an exceptional balance of hilarious and heartbreaking My thoughts Winger is one of those books that you pick up and happily read and laugh along to before it unexpectedly smashes you in the chest and leaves you an emotiona...

When Summer's mom died, her life is turned upside down Summer's mother's will states that Summer's legal guardian is her uncle Tristan: a man Summer has never even heard of before. Forced to leave her life in London, Summer moves to Tristan's creepy, ancient house in Cornwall. There she is met with indifference from him, open hostility from her cousin, and an aunt who has chosen to leave rather than to tolerate her presence. Soon Summer comes to believe that the house may be haunted. But is it haunted by ghosts, or by the shadows of her family's past? Scared and lonely, Summer begins to spend more and more time in the beautiful sheltered cove she discovers nearby. But she's not alone. A local boy frequents it too. Can Summer find first love and the answers to the mysteries of her new home with this good-looking boy who appears to be too perfect to be true? My thoughts This was an OK read. I happily read it and enjoyed it well enough. I ...

One of the bookshelves in my study. As it’s closest to hand, there’s usually a lot of research related books on it, which are ever changing depending on what I’m working on. The permanent features are the Oxford English Dictionary and trusty Thesaurus.   My old desk was rescued from a junk shop and the fully operational Bakelite phone was a find at the Imperial War Museum. Mosey’s in charge of stationary (no make that stationery which he excels at) and there’s usually a price to pay if I want to make use of the Moleskine notebooks - nuzzling/grooming/treats, preferably all three and before his sister Bea gets back.    A mish-mash of fiction and non-fiction, if there’s a system to my bookshelves I’ve never figured out what it is. A reaction perhaps to having once run a bookshop in Brighton where it was my job to know the location of everything in stock. Perhaps I’ll sort them one day. Having said that, this motley bunch snapped at random are all (al...