This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
While we’re not all able to incorporate our passion for books and reading into our day jobs, we have lots of respect for those who manage it. Like the lovely Julie Delahaye, for example. A full-time editorial assistant at HELLO! Online, Julie started a book blog for the magazine last year called Literary Loveliness, which is chock full of book reviews, recommendations and, well, literary loveliness. Here, Julie invites us into her London home for a peek at her bedside table.
I have a confession to make – a few days ago, my beside table looked nothing like this. I went on a bit of a cleaning frenzy over the weekend, and ended up reorganising my entire room! Before, it was a mess of papers, books and general chaos, so my room feels a bit calmer now that it’s tidier.
There are of course some things that I always keep on my bedside table, such as whatever book I’m currently reading. I prefer to read one book at a time, otherwise I find it a bit confusing to keep up with all the different plots. Plus, if one book isn’t particularly cheerful and another one is, I think sometimes it makes you miss out on the response the author was working you up to!
At the moment, I’m on Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl – I know it came out ages ago, but I kept meaning to read it and getting distracted by other books. I’m not usually a fan of thrillers, but this one has a lot of unexpected plot twists. I can see why it was such a hit!One of my absolutely favourite possessions is my Jo Malone Red Roses candle, but due to the aforementioned mess of papers, I’ve always kept it away from my bedside table (I can be incredibly clumsy and I’d rather it didn’t result in my house burning down!). I love reading by candlelight. I know it’s not great for the eyes, but I think it makes reading in bed so much cosier. I can’t get to sleep unless I read a bit beforehand – it’s much more peaceful than watching television, or sitting on my laptop on Pinterest and suddenly realising it’s 2am and that I need to go to sleep.
Over the weekend the HELLO! Online team and I took part in the Race for Life to raise money for Cancer Research – it was so much fun, and my housemates surprised me at the finish line with some lovely (fake) flowers, which were being sold to raise more money for this amazing cause. I’ve popped them in a pot on my bedside table for a nice reminder of a really fun day – plus, I’m quite girly so pink flowers are exactly the sort of thing I want in my room!
Of course, behind my beside table are piles and piles of books, but it’s organised chaos … at least that’s what I tell myself. Every nook and cranny of my room is filled with books and recommendations from others I’ve scribbled down, so I try to keep it all together to make it all easier to find when I want something to read/review.
I’m still new to blogging so I keep a few notebooks by my bedside in case I have any notes, or if there are quotes I particularly love and want to remember. It makes it easier to find when I’m writing up my reviews. I’ve been so overwhelmed at how welcoming the book blogging community has been – starting a HELLO! blog was a bit daunting at first, but it’s so much fun getting to read all the books by authors I love AND getting to review them for other book-lovers!
Thanks, Julie!
If you’d like to share your bedside table with Novelicious readers, drop kerry@writingtipsoasis.coma line for some guidelines.