Check In And Read by

“You’re not destined or chosen, I wish I could tell you that you were if that would make it easier, but it’s not true. You’re in the right place at the right time, and you care enough to do what needs to be done. Sometimes that’s enough.” - The Night Circus

2025-07-18 08:49:14 UTC

checkinandread — 2025-07-18 08:54:32 UTC

It builds empathy and helps you learn more about different people's experiences.

2025-07-18 09:26:05 UTC

"Is your tongue hinged in the middle so that it flaps at both ends?" — Robin Hobb, Assassin's Apprentice

"Don't do what you can't undo, until you've considered what you can't do once you've done it." — Robin Hobb, Assassin's Apprentice

“It's the job that's never started as takes longest to finish.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

“I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.” — J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

2025-07-18 10:23:00 UTC

“Lightning struck, a hawk cried in fury, and then a goddamned grizzly bear fell out of the night sky and onto Ethniu’s head. Don’t care how Titanic you are. No one expects an orbital-drop grizzly.”

— Jim Butcher, Battle Ground (Dresden Files)

checkinandread — 2025-07-18 12:51:38 UTC

"Who are we to say what people ought or ought not to read?" - Kate Thompson, The Little Wartime Library

2025-07-19 15:33:46 UTC

yes I said yes I will yes (James Joyce, Ulysses)

2025-07-21 08:11:44 UTC

Seeing things from other people's perspective. Getting to temporarily live many different people's lives and travel without leaving the house.

2025-07-23 11:25:12 UTC

It's the escapism. You may be sitting in a chair, on the bus, in bed, but in your mind you're somewhere else entirely.

2025-07-23 11:27:40 UTC

Origami

Art

Walking

Photography

Puzzles (crosswords and brainteasers or jigsaws)

Taking 5 minutes to really examine the detail of the world around you, the colours, textures, sounds and smells.

checkinandread — 2025-07-23 15:09:23 UTC

Dancing

Running

Yoga

Baking

Creative Writing

I totally agree with escapism and different experiences/ perspectives but you can also sometimes encounter a kindred soul in a story. For me, experiencing that 'That's exactly how I feel' emotion whilst reading is a treat, especially when it is being expressed beautifully or in a manner I could never have come up with myself.

2025-07-23 17:44:26 UTC

The Little Wartime Library

checkinandread — 2025-07-25 11:58:44 UTC

I recently finished reading Kate Thompson's The Little Wartime Library for the second time.

It is a beautiful novel based on the true story of how Bethnal Green tube station become a library during the Second World War. The main characters Clara and Ruby are both empowered by reading, and help their library users find the right books to help them with difficult circumstances in their lives. I've certainly added a few books to my TBR pile after reading this book!

I would definitely recommend this book for anyone who enjoys historical fiction, romances or anything to do with libraries. Kate helpfully provided some information about the real Bethnal Green Library and a list of extra resources to explore further. I'm inspired to read more about the history of libraries.

Questions

checkinandread — 2025-07-25 12:01:28 UTC

Reason for choosing this book.
What did you like/dislike about this book?
Would you read another book by this author or one with a similar genre or theme?

Creative Activities

checkinandread — 2025-07-25 12:04:06 UTC

Write a poem or short story inspired by the book you have read.
Draw some of your favourite characters or scenes from the book.

2025-07-29 12:27:58 UTC

It seems to me that Heisenberg proposes this: that although the electron is certainly real, nothing we can say of its location now can do any more than say where it might probably be in the future. It is a mysterious thing, not quite existing separate from any other thing, and coming most fully into being at the moment of connection.

I wonder in that case if the world and everything in it – you, me, the moon and the water – consists not of solitary beings, but rather out of how each thing relates to another, so that in the end it is only out of connection that the whole world is made.

Sarah Perry, Enlightenment

2025-07-29 12:59:12 UTC

“Cheer up everyone," he said, a new brightness to his voice. "Since we’re all going to die horribly anyway, what’s there to be worried about?” - Skulduggery Pleasant

"You have a soul. Tell me, does it itch?" - In the Lives of Puppets

“I'm going to make it a law that the correct way to address your sovereign is by giving a high five." - Winter

“I know, better than anyone else, that there are no heroes coming to save us. There are no good Epics. None of them protect us. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” - Steelheart

“The robot's programming stopped her from being violent, but nothing stopped her from being annoying. So Roz plucked pinecones from the nearby branches and lobbed them down at the bears.” - The Wild Robot

“In truth I've burned the entire castle to the ground. More than once. The music continues to play from the ash and rubble. It was actually quite fascinating the first time.” - A Curse So Dark and Lonely

checkinandread — 2025-08-01 09:30:33 UTC

'Everything's a story. You are a story - I am a story.' (Frances Hodgson Burnett - A Little Princess)