Lord Samper's Library

Just a mini-reset, I bet you didn't even realize that I'd gone ;o) With one thing and another (and then another), last week wasn't a good one; mostly work stuff and mental health. I thought I'd give myself a little 'time off' this weekend, just to get my head straight. Still, new week and all that, fingers crossed for a better week this week. Let's see... :o) Backing up a little bit though. Payday was last Friday and that meant 'Walking Dead Night' (for me and my eldest) was accompanied by Dominos Pizza. It also meant that on Saturday, I was able to take my daughters to Greenwich for nachos and book shopping. They like nachos and I 'really deserved' a little book shopping ;o) Lets take a little look at what came home with us... The lady who runs the bookstall, on Greenwich market, saw me coming and immediately pointed me at the small pile of 'Doctor Who' books on the table. I've never read 'Time-flight' (and I've only...

Apologies for the lack of blogging yesterday! I'll be honest... After a spirited defense, this week finally got the better of me on Thursday night. Whatever book I was reading at the time (I can't remember), I just put it down and went to bed. And that left me with nothing to post about yesterday but you know what? Sometimes that's ok :o) I don't think I touched a book yesterday but that was ok too; I spent some proper quality time with my daughters and hung out with the kitten while she was coming off her anaesthetic (she had 'that' operation). The kitten is fine by the way, just really drugged up and a little more unpredictable than usual... It seemed like a good time then to have a little re-set of the ol' TBR pile and set some reading goals for the next few weeks. Notice I said 'weeks'... I got a little carried away, browsing the bookshelves, and there's no way that I'm going to finish this little lot anytime soon (especially as I'll ...

It hasn't been a bad week but it has felt like there's been more of it than I'd normally expect, mostly because I've been trying to fit five days of work into a four day week (Easter Bank Holiday Weekend and all that). I got there though and now I'm looking at a week's holiday next week, I reckon I'll do better managing my time there ;o) Anyway... I started things off yesterday with a trip into Greenwich and a little nose around the market for books and lamb samosas. I was successful in my hunt for lamb samosa (they were lovely!) but the market didn't really yield anything in the way of books. I mean, there were a few 'Star Wars' books but they all seemed to be 'middle of the series' books and I didn't fancy playing that game. Oh well, that's the way the 'hunt' goes every now and then. Luckily for me, a quick stop at the Greenwich Oxfam turned a 'fruitless book hunt' into a 'fruitful book hunt' so my plans ...

It been quiet on the 'Books for the TBR Pile' front just recently but like the title says, all it took was last week's payday (and a rough week at work, mustn't forget that) to kickstart the whole thing again :o) At least for now that is, I've actually been having fun 're-discovering' books and don't want to lose that. Anyway... The blog was all quiet yesterday, mostly because I made a concerted effort to sleep as long as possible (didn't set any records but that's ok) but also because I took myself into Greenwich for a little book browsing that inevitably became book-shopping. Lets have a little look at what came home with me... Three books from the Greenwich Oxfam and one from the Waterstones over the road :o)  Regular visitors to the blog will know that I already have a copy of 'The House On The Borderland' but what I didn't have was a copy of 'The House On The Borderland' with cover art by Ian Miller. I will never pass up...

It hasn't been a bad week but I'm really glad I've got a day, to myself, where the only solid plan I have is to sit in the comfy chair and read a book or two. Everything else is optional ;o) I'm coming out the other side of a bout of Warhammer 40K and 'Horus Heresy' reading so while I'm finishing a few bits off, it's time for my reading to head in a slightly different direction for a bit. Let me show you what's what... First things first, here's what I'll be trying to finish off today, I'm also reading 'Horus Heresy' instalment, 'Galaxy In Flames' but the spine proved to be very uncooperative, when faced with a camera, so... Here we are ;o) To be honest, 'Galaxy In Flames' is more than likely going to be a 'commuter read', later on in the week, so today, I'll be working my way through the rest of 'Ashes of the Imperium' . Look at the size of the book, there's no way I'd be taking it on ...

These posts seem to be helping, right now, in terms of my having a little something to aim for each week. So... Here we are again with a little look at my reading plans, for the next week at least.  Yep, that's a pretty ambitious 'Mini' TBR Pile, there is no way I'm even going to try and read all of those books over the next week (one or two will be a good showing). I had one of those moments where I was picking books up and others caught my eye at the same time... ;o)  I'll probably go for just one of the 'Doctor Who' books, I just can't decide between them at the time of writing this post. Any suggestions? And while I've had my eye on re-reading the 'Black Company' books for a while, the Book Stooges review of 'The Black Company' prompted me to finally take it off the shelf. I'm trying to avoid rash 'reading promises' this year but there may well be a re-read of the series... We'll see ;o) The Pile is also looking...

When I'm reading in my comfy chair, my attention inevitably wanders to the shelves and I find myself thinking, 'ooh, I want to read that next...' or 'I haven't read that in a while'. More and more these days, I also find myself thinking, 'no more books for you until you've read those two at least...' These books find their way to the 'chair next to the comfy chair' and that's where they eventually become another random TBR Pile. It also really bugs my eldest daughter who has to deal with all the books before she can sit down in her favourite chair :o) Anyway... That was a bit of a roundabout way of introducing you to my latest TBR pile, thanks for sticking with it ;o) TBR piles always look good in a photo so while I'm getting some actual reading done today, why don't you take a look at what could be featuring on the blog soon(ish). The usual disclaimer applies, this is the TBR pile until something shinier catches my eye ;o) I'...

It's not hard (at all), I just really needed a title for this post... ;o) Last week was an intense one but I got through it, yay me :o) Next week is looking like more of the same (hospital appointments along with some other stuff) but I'm feeling pretty good about my chances, I've got this ;o)  I'm not quite there yet though, I still have a habit of promising myself books if I make it through a week and, if I'm caught between two tough weeks... I end up buying a few more than I probably should have done. It really is time for the 'one in, one out' policy to be implemented. That's not for today though (not when I've my kids coming over later). No, lets take a look at the books that came home with me over the last few days... I'd already had some anxiety over going back into the office so, last week, I sweetened the deal with the promise of a 'Robin of Sherwood' book if I made it in. And I did so, here we are :o) I'd always thought that...

The plan for 2026 is not to buy so many books and concentrate on the unread books, on my shelves, instead. That's still the plan but little did I know that I'd be the victim of a master book-tempter, and so early in the year... If you made the same resolution that I did, and you don't want to be book-tempted, then keep an eye open for this Womble as vigilance is the only thing that will keep your wallet safe ;o) The only problem is, if you do see this Womble then it's already too late and you are now the proud owner of a new book ;o) Anyway... I was reading through some of my favourite blogs, the other day, and came across this review for Clay McLeod Chapman's 'Acquired Taste' collection. I'd already read, and enjoyed, 'Wake Up And Open Your Eyes' so one payday later, and a little wait for delivery, I now have an 'Acquired Taste' as well ;o) They're feeding on you too. A father returns from serving in Vietnam with a strange and terr...

Am I going to finish all of these books by the end of the month? Absolutely not. Am I going to have fun trying though? I sure am :o) Is this TBR pile subject to change at a seconds notice? You don't really need me to answer that ;o) For now though, lets take a quick look at what my reading is looking like in the short term... One movie novelization (that looks like it has come out before the actual movie...), a couple of 'Warhammer' books (one of which looks like it has gone on a cannibalistic spree and eaten several other books...) and another stop on my journey to eventually read Keith Rosson's 'Coffin Moon'. You can see that I've made a start on 'Devour' and 'Ashes of the Imperium'; looking at the size of 'Ashes' though, it's more likely that I'll finish 'Devour' first. We'll see... I really want to finish 'Savage Sword of Conan' now and all being well, the plan is for that to happen this weekend. Out of...

  So long 2025, not the worst year I’ve had but a long way from being one of the better ones… No pressure, 2026, but I’m hoping for better things from you, don’t let me down... To everyone who stops by, Happy New Year! I hope this year brings you more of what you’re after and none of the stuff that you’re not after, it’s that simple :o) This would be the paragraph where I talk about what I want to read this year, maybe even make a ‘reading resolution’ or two, but I’ll be honest… I failed to keep any of my Reading Resolutions, for 2025, and I’ve got enough going on right now, I’m going to be kind and not give myself any more pressure. If I’m making any resolution at all, it will be to just carry on enjoying what I read and posting about it here. And really, we should all be doing that shouldn’t we? The ‘enjoying reading’ that is; I’ll continue to be the only one posting here ;o) Actually, I do have one small resolution and that is to make a decent inroad into all the books that I en...

Morning all :o) Sorry for the radio silence these last couple of days, things have been particularly busy, we all know what that's like at the moment. Anyway... I hope you had a good one yesterday and that today is more of the same. Personally, I'm a big fan of Boxing Day, it's the day where there's no pressure, just plenty of time to make serious inroads into the Christmas leftovers; I see a chicken and stuffing sandwich in my very near future, possibly with a Yorkshire Pudding and a couple of roast potatoes :o) If you're me, Boxing Day is also the time to maybe dip into a couple of books that you were given the day before. I suspect that today will be about reading comic books (I'm also a good way into 'Oaths of Damnation') but lets see what else was under the tree :o) My old copy of 'Scourge of the Betrayer' suffered a very strange (but definitely final) ending so this new copy is a welcome arrival, and it's a slim read too (which might j...

Guess who has only been back at work for a couple of weeks (well, one week if you take into account that they've only been half days...) and now has two weeks off for Christmas and New Year? What? No... I'm talking about me of course ;o) Because I was off sick, I had some Annual Leave to use up and so, here I am... looking at two weeks of mince pies and Baileys for breakfast, hanging out with my girls and reading, hopefully lots and lots of reading :o) Because I'll take any excuse to drum up a quick TBR pile, here's what I'm planning on dipping into over the next two weeks and a bit... Now, here is a TBR pile that is unashamedly heavy on Black Library and 'Doctor Who' reading; it's Christmas and after this year, comfort reads are the order of the day. Tell me that you're not doing the same ;o) I'd like to finish 'Oaths of Damnation' and 'Skavenslayer' but we'll see... And as far as the comic books go... I've been trying ...

Apologies for the 'blog silence' yesterday, it's my youngest daughter's birthday (right now!) and I was out and about getting a few bits done (including trying to sort out a new bank card, six days without one - and counting...) Anyway. You know the story by now ;o) I go out with stuff to do and end up in charity shops and at the book stall on Greenwich Market; I didn't even try and fight it this time, just went with the flow (trying to take my mind off going back to work on Monday, shouldn't be that bad but you know how it is). It was slim pickings this time round but I still managed to find some interesting bits to liberate and take home with me, of course I did ;o) Lets take a look... Starting from the bottom...  I've never read 'The Dark Half' (there was a passage near the beginning that freaked me out as a kid, it involved an eyeball...) and when I saw the hardback on sale for £2, in the Hospice shop, I thought it was time I did something about...

Remember yesterday, when I said that I’d be surprised if any reading happened? Well… No reading happened and I wasn’t surprised in the slightest. As much as I will happily take any opportunity to lose myself in a good book, there’s nothing better than hanging out with my daughters, especially watching my youngest play ‘GTA Vice City’ when she decides to go ‘off mission’ :o) Anyway… Where does that leave today’s blog post? Well, it’s going to be a short one but I’ve got my fingers crossed for a day involving nothing but books so things will balance out over the next week ;o) Just a couple of very short reads that I thought had fallen through the cracks; turns out they were being saved for today… ‘The Savage Sword of Conan Reforged’ #1 – Various (Titan Comics, Heroic Signatures) REFORGED revitalizes the legendary black-and-white magazine with vivid, all-new color restorations, bringing new depth and intensity to Conan’s celebrated adventures. This new series kicks off with two of Conan’...

Sorry for yesterday's 'blogging silence'... Yesterday wasn't a bad one (well, it did get better, eventually...) but it was a very busy one that demanded all my attention. Book-buying happened but I didn't get a second to sit down and read, let alone post anything here. Oh well... :o) And part of that is down to my kids' new pet kitten (I'm looking after the girls and both cats this week). Pixel is a sweet little thing but honestly, it's like she has a secret stash of amphetamines that she takes when we decide that it's time for a break. For example... I think I'm on my own in the kitchen, I open the fridge and all of a sudden, Pixel has leapt (seemingly out of thin air) right into said fridge to grab what she can. And I'm pretty sure that the other cat has prematurely aged in an attempt to quickly shuffle off this mortal coil and get some peace and quiet. Still not the worst job I've ever had but damn, it's almost enough to make me wa...

I’m now officially into the last week and a half of my sick leave and it has done me a lot of good; I didn’t expect to be off this long but I’m glad that I made that appointment with my GP back in September :o) Just one more meeting with Occupational Health and, fingers crossed, I should be good to go back to work next month. All of which is a round about way of saying that once again, I did very little yesterday; literally just what the doctor ordered. I did watch a couple of movies though, and read a couple of short stories, because well, of course I did ;o) Let me tell you all about it, movies first… ‘Good Boy’ (2025) Not to be confused with the 2022 horror movie of the same name (not a bad movie at all, just a whole different relationship between a man and his ‘dog’…) but to be honest, there’s very little danger of that happening. Everyone (and their dog) has been talking about ‘Good Boy’, this year, and I finally got the chance to watch it yesterday morning. Todd suffers from a ch...

The TBR Pile changes on an absolute whim these days but this is what it looks like right now... There's a nice mixture of long books, shorter books and a couple of short story collections (that I can dip in and out of) here so I'm hoping that I can make a decent dent in this pile of books, maybe over the next week or so.  The position of the bookmark is a little misleading, I'm further into 'Fever House' than it looks ;o) It's looking good so far but I'm hoping for more of the apocalyptic rather than one of the leads reminiscing about his parents rock star days. Not that I've got anything against that, it's just not what I'm here for. Time will tell but I'm feeling positive about this one :o)  'Darkness Eternal' and 'Era of Ruin' are all about getting a little more 'Horus Heresy' and 'present day' (you know what I mean...) 40K reading under my belt. I've actually already read a few of the tales in 'D...

I'm going to try and make this the last 'Books Bought' post this side of Christmas, lets see how that pans out shall we...? Anyway :o) I've been stuck inside the flat for the last couple of days (well, more like 'panicking about being around people', lets be honest) and yesterday, I thought that if I don't get out then I'll just go stir crazy. So, I talked myself into doing a little Christmas Shopping and off I went :o) I know there are people out there who are well into that already but I'm pretty pleased with myself. And of course, I came back with a few bits for myself... Not much but somehow more than enough, all at the same time ;o) Lets take a look. Yep, there was a quick stop at the Bromley Warhammer store to see what was new on the shelves. I've had half an eye open for 'Darkness Eternal', for a while, so that was an easy purchase. I don't normally go for Black Library hardbacks, as a rule, but 'Abraxia: Spear of the Everc...

As always, the plan is to keep working my way through all the unread books in my flat before buying any more. But... I end up doing things like spending the afternoon in London and diving into bookshops that I've never been in before (well, a couple that I hadn't and a couple that I definitely have...) It was kind of inevitable that I'd come home with a few books by the end of the day. I dropped my daughter off, at the train station, and once she had left, I swiftly realized that I wasn't ready to go home just yet. So... There's a bookshop called Skoob Books that I'd never been in but heard was worth a look, I decided to set out and see if I could find it. After a fair bit of walking (for me anyway), I finally found the shop and... Skoob Books looks amazing, literally a huge basement full of shelving that is all full of books; the kind of place where I could browse for hours, even on the shelves that I'm normally not that bothered about. The sci-fi/fantasy ...