My Week in Review to the 24th June

I am linking up with The Sunday Post hosted by Kimberly at The Caffeinated Reviewer.

First up this week is a preview of weeks to come because it's very nearly Plastic Free July again! Woo hoo! You might remember I took part in this challenge last year and it led to lasting changes in my lifestyle and particularly my shopping habits. This year the whole plastics issue is bang on trend so I am hoping to feel less of a weirdo when refusing single-use plastics in shops, cafes, etc! Click the badge or This Link Here to find out more about Plastic Free July and how you can join in if you would like to. I'm planning to post in the next couple of days about what has changed for me in the past year, but in the meantime you can read my previous Plastic Free July posts here.

On a completely different note, we went to a very different (for us) type of music event last night. The 21st of June sees the fantastic Fete De La Musique events all across France with practically every town and village hosting some kind of free music. In Chef Boutonne, our Fete De La Musique was yesterday and took place as part of the annual Javarzay Faire. A truck stage was put up alongside a fairground and we were treated to two free bands - Gerald and Manu Fisher. We didn't get to hear much of the second group as it was already (for us) quite late and technical problems delayed their start, but we did enjoy sitting out on the grass listening to a good hour of Gerald - a group of three accomplished young musicians. Surprisingly, their music is 1970s inspired experimental instrumental rock which isn't at all the sort of sound that I think would even be given a chance at a town event back in the UK. I've embedded a sample from their new album - see what you think!



Today we're going to visit La Rochelle so I hope to have some good pics from there for you next Sunday.

In bookish news, I am linking up for the first time with Book Photo Sundays over at Ronyell's Rabbit Ears Book Blog. I don't know how I missed spotting this feature before! I've dusted off an older pic of my caravan bookshelf which, other than my Kindle obviously, is all the books I have available for about five months each year. That's not strictly true of course because I make use of pretty much every book exchange I find - most campsites have a book swap and some even have books worth swapping for ;-) This pic was first on my Month In Books post from January 2014.

On my blogs this week:
My Week in Review to the 17th June
Artisan Rainbow - 7 gorgeous handmade Lampshades
Books From The Backlog - The Odyssey by Homer
50/50 Friday - Favourite/Least Favourite Book Title

A Taker of Morrows by Stephen Paul Sayers (Spotlight + Giveaway)
The Devil's Elixirs by E T A Hoffmann (book review)
Dead Is Better by Jo Perry (book review)
Sour Apple by Jerzy Szyłak and Joanna Karpowicz (graphic novel review)
The Enigma Dragon by Charles V Breakfield and Roxanne Burkey (Spotlight + Giveaway)
The Last Dance by Lonna Enox (Spotlight + Giveaway)
Ibn Fadlan And The Land Of Darkness (book review)

Around the blogosphere:
Great review of graphic novel Sour Apple at Women Write About Comics
The Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell asks how we feel about cliffhanger endings
Metaphors And Moonlight has a gorgeous monochrome+yellow Cover Characteristics post

Have a great week!

Artisan Rainbow - Lampshades 

My Week in Review to the 3rd June

I'm writing this post two days early because we're actually away visiting a friend this weekend. He's off-grid so we'll have 48 hours camping in a small field with No Internet and, in fact, no electricity supply! How will I cope?! I'm taking a couple of paperbacks from when my Kindle dies!

I'm also going to be prepared and have an already-read paperback in my bag just in case we spot another book exchange. They're popping up seemingly every time I turn around in Deux Sevres! I missed out on Wednesday when we paused in St Mandé sur Bredoire - I spotted this amazing pretend double bass adorning a stone wall in the middle of the village. There didn't seem to be any reason for it to be where it was other than it was partly under cover and we wondered if this was a gathering point, perhaps with occasional live music? Having admired the sculpture and persuaded Dave to pose for scale, I turned to my right and There's A Whole Library!

And I had nothing with me to swap - but I know it's there now. Admittedly most of the books were French with a few in Dutch, but my French reading is slowly improving and they had a great selection of classics. I think I could tackle Jack London or Ernest Hemingway soon!
To give you an idea of my over-excitement at St Mandé, this is the Chef Boutonne little library:

We couldn't stay long in St Mandé because we were parked slightly precariously and the real destination for our trip was the town of St Jean d'Angely. This lovely olde worlde town has half-timbered buildings and a clock tower of which they are very proud. They also have several nice artisan shops, especially ceramics and I spent a while with my nose pressed to the window of Terres d'Angely. Fortunately the shop was closed of my credit card might have taken a hammering! We treated ourselves to a delicious crepes lunch at L'Ancre Marine (Dave can recommend the Lemon Meringue pancake and I loved the Tagada one). St Jean d'Angely is interesting to walk around. It was originally a Roman villa and we saw tall columns commemorating that history. There was a fun wall of steampunk street art too.

Around the blogosphere:
Lauren at Northern Plunder reviews Void Trip by Ryan O'Sullivan

Avalinah's Books reviews No Fourth River by Christine Clayfield

Aj at Read All The Things features Places that would make amazing book settings

Here's the most Popular Posts Across My Blogs this week. Click the images to visit the pages ... and don't forget to enter all the Giveaways!

Artisan Rainbow	Literary Flits	Stephanie Jane