Canterbury Bookshops + Birthday Haul!

Last week I had reading week at university, so no lectures (hooray!). So of course I jumped on the opportunity to enjoy a little bit more free time, and hopped on a train to visit my brother in Canterbury! 

That city is so gorgeous! I didn't get nearly enough photos of it... But I did get a couple of good ones!

Preettyy!!

Lovely old tudor house <3

Beautiful cobbled square in the town centre

Old building and such...

Of course, we know from experience that I can't spend a significant amount of time in any city without checking out the bookshops. And I stumbled upon a pretty awesome one!

You might not be able to see well in this picture (I think it's the angle - sorry!), but the door of this bookshop is completely wonky! You have to lean at an angle to step inside! Even the windows are tilted. Oh, old buildings! How wonderfully quirky you are!

Mmmm books :D

I spent so long browsing the shelves that the shop assistant was surprised when I emerged from the back room as he'd completely forgotten I was there! (Oops...)

I may also have purchased a couple of books (guilty as charged):

I ended up getting these three books from the wonky-door bookshop:

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri (to help boost my progress on my Travel the World in Books challenge!)

Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer (which may well also count towards said challenge)

and The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion (which I've actually already read - review coming soon!)

So yes, thanks Canterbury (and my bro of course) for a great trip!

This past week was also my birthday (huzzah!), and I acquired some lovely books from that as well!

First up, my mum and dad sent me these:

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark

and Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons

I'm super excited to read these - I've already started Miss Jean Brodie and it's so great! It reminds me of my mum so much <3

The next couple of books were from my sister:

Longbourn by Jo Baker

and Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh

The first of these is a retelling of Pride and Prejudice from the servants' point of view, which sounds really interesting. And the second is a book by the author of a brilliant blog, also called Hyperbole and a Half, that I got addicted to during my A-levels (procrastination at its best...). I've already read this one too, so review will also be coming soon.

Finally, I also got some books from my brother. These were ones he picked off my amazon wishlist (he needs a little help in the present department):

Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote (already read a while back and loved)

and Look We Have Coming to Dover! by Daljit Nagra (pushing the boat our here with some poetry!)

I also received this present, which isn't a book but is most definitely book-related, from my lovely flatmates here in Bristol.

Look at this! Isn't it brilliant!? It's a Harry Potter-inspired Ravenclaw scarf!

Love it!

So there you have it! A little update on what I've been doing, as well as all the lovely books (and book-related things!) I acquired over the last couple of weeks. 

Let me know if you have read any of the books in this post and what you thought of them!