#BannedBooksWeek | Nerd Church - On Censorship

24th-30th September 2017 is Banned Books Week, as set up by the American Library Association (ALA.)



I'm all for intellectual freedom my nerdlets; I'm against censorship in general.

Nerd Church - A Letter To My Younger Self

(Warning: this post contains references to suicidal thoughts and feelings, as well as brief references to grief, depression, abusive/toxic friendships, and the general randomness of my life.)



I'd been thinking of doing one of these things for a while - y'know the 'Hi little 15-year-old Cee, this is the advice I'd give you!' kind of things.

Then, between my birthday on Friday (no, I'm not telling you how old I am - it ain't happening,) and reading blogpost ideas by Jemma @ Dorkface, which suggested writing a letter to your younger self, I was like - IT'S A SIGN!!!!!!!!!*



*Yes, there was coffee. Also, my parents are hippies.

Month in Review(s) - August 2017

August. Yeah, August...

August, for me, was stressful.

My 88-year-old grandfather was very unwell and ended up in hospital, he's better now but we still have to do a lot to make sure he and my grandmother are safe, happy, and as healthy as they can be.

Nerd Church - An Edumacation

Education is not the same as grades.

There! I said it! (...Please don't yell at me!)

Nerd Church - 6 Tips For Staying Productive While Feeling Cruddy

It's always the same.

You've got a deadline; work to do; bills to pay. And you've managed to catch a cold or some other annoying buggle* at the exact wrong moment.

This week I have a pretty awful virus of some type. And I feel like crud. But I work for myself and money doesn't grow on trees (...or so they tell me; I'm gonna find that money tree one day dammit!)



*yes, I refer to viruses as 'buggles.' Blame my mother. Honestly.

Month in Review(s) - July 2017

July was a big month for this little book nerd's blog!

This was the month that Diary of a Reading Addict (DORA) became Dora Reads - with a custom URL to match.

It's something that'd been on my mind for a while, and I'm so glad I did it!

Nerd Church - Winter Is Here

'You know nothing, Jon Snow.'

(Don't panic: this is a spoiler-free zone.)

The Real Neat Blog Award

The Rules: 

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you and link back to them.

The lovely Emily @ The Paperback Princess tagged me to do this post waaaaay back in September 2016, because I'm woefully behind on tag posts.

*shrugs* Meh. I'll get to 'em when I get to 'em!

Thanks Em! :)

(Also, expect much question-dodging - if I was a politician and/or not so inclined to give the frank and brutal truth, I'd be dangerous.)

Nerd Church - Redefine Success

What do you call success? Millions of pounds/dollars/insert-currency-here? A sports car? A mansion? Fame and fortune?

Welp, f**k that!

No. I mean it.

You can take your f**king drafty mansions and your privacy-violating levels of fame, and stick them where the ever-loving sun is hesitant to shine.*

*I haven't even had coffee. I don't even. Just go with it.

Friday Fics Fix - Fanfiction in Koru Mag

Do you want to read a whooooole magazine issue inspired by fanfiction and fan art and all that jazz, including a fic by your dear darling book nerd (i.e. me)?

Of course you do! Why in hell's name wouldn't you?!*

*Don't answer that.

Something is Different! - Introducing Dora Reads

Diary of a Reading Addict has become Dora Reads!

The new URL is dorareads.co.uk

Month in Review(s) - June 2017

June was too damned hot here in the UK.

It regularly reached over 28C, & often over 30C. I officially melt at around 23.5C, so I was NOT happy.

Nerd Church - I Know You Mean Well...

Warning: this post contains discussions of homophobia and f**k-ups by well-meaning allocishet people.

Pride month may have come to an end, but those of us who are LGBTQ+ are LGBTQ+ all year round.

(And pride season pretty much continues all summer anyhow - due to scheduling issues.)

Something I’ve noticed since I came out last year is well-meaning allocishet* people put their ever-loving feet in it on a pretty regular basis.

This isn’t out of malice – it’s more like a failure to listen and understand.

*Allocishet = allosexual, cisgendered, heterosexual. Basically, non-LGBTQ+.

Allosexual means feels sexual attraction (i.e. not asexual or asexual-spectrum,) cisgendered means identifies as your birth gender, heterosexual is only attracted to the opposite sex.

So the term allocishet refers to people who aren’t in any way covered by the umbrella of queer or LGBTQ+.

12 Things They Don't Tell You When You Become a Book Blogger

There's stuff no-one warns you about when you become a book blogger.

So I thought I'd do you all a favour and write a 100%* accurate post on the struggles of book-blogging!

*Well - somewhere between 70% & 95% anyway!

Nerd Church - No-One Wins

How do we even define victory in 2017?

Because I'm not sure I know any more. No-one wins.

I don't just mean in the British election - although, there was no least-worst option there.

I mean overall. No-one wins. We're all lost and headed nowhere fast.

(Except for the Nazis - and they're the ones we don't want to win.)

Nerd Church - OK UK, We're F**ked

Who do you vote for when there is no least-worst option?

I'm damned if I know; but for the sake of being a helpful little Bookish Rebel, I'm going to try to go through the options with you!

(Aren't you lucky?! ...What do you mean 'no?')

Don't be afraid to ask questions - I don't bite, and I may inadvertently slip into British and/or Wenglish slang and totally confuse you.

Month in Review(s) - May 2017

Ahhhhh May. The month when we all gave up hoping 2017 would be better than 2016, and decided to just do damage control from here to Christmas.

(I joke - but only slightly. People in 1917 would be shocked by how short a distance we've come.)

Nerd Church - A Tribute to the Father of the Nation

It's likely that, unless you're Welsh or have noticed the name on my Twitter feed over the last few days, you don't know the name Rhodri Morgan.

If you do, perhaps you think of a mop of white hair and a whirlwind of energy.

Or maybe you think of some of his famous one-liners, the things he said that make Boris Johnson look positively shy in comparison.

Rhodri Morgan was the second First Minister of Wales.

The First Minister leads the Welsh government. We have only ever had three: Alun Michael, Rhodri Morgan, and our current leader, Carwyn Jones.

He passed away on Wednesday (16th May,) at the age of 77.

Nerd Church - Mental Health 101

(Warning: This post discusses mental health problems and stigma.)


Mental Health Awareness Week is 8-14th May in the UK.

Let's take things back to the basics.

To people who have never had mental health problems, it can be all too easy to believe misconceptions.

The worst of these are stigmatising:

The ideas that people with mental health problems are weak, faking it, wanting the attention, whiners etc., as well as that people with mental health problems are inherently dangerous, or to blame for their conditions.

Nerd Church - It's Nearly Eurovision Time!

Okay, it's a gay* cliché, but I love Eurovision!

The final is next Saturday (13th May) - I'm probably going to record it though, because that way I can skip through the awkward voting satellite link-ups that take waaaay too long!

Honestly though, I'm totally looking forward to the big, shiny, glittery, spectacle that is the biggest show on Earth!

*I'm using gay as an umbrella term here for all LGBTQ+ folks, because it fit better in that sentence!