After yesterdays lovely birthday surprise I had another pleasant one today- my PIL brought a signed copy of Kevin Crossley-Holland's The Ugly Duckling for my daughter. He came to my FIL's school (he is a caretaker) to sign books and FIL had the book dedicated to The Child. K C-H was a staple of my childhood and teenage years, I must own 5-6 of his books and he is one of the reasons I took the Ancient History path. I have many happy memories of being absorbed in his books and I am so pleased that The Child will be able to have some too. I wish I could have met him myself, but I probably would have been completely dumbstruck and unable to speak though!

So a small

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

and I will return to normality :D.

I had a lovely surprise yesterday when my mother and her partner sent my birthday present early-£100 of Amazon vouchers! So I had £135.60........now I have 58p!

I ordered one book for my daughter, one for my brother for Xmas and three DVDs (Middlemarch, Pride and Prejudice and Wives and Daughters-all the BBC versions). Then I ordered 11 books for myself!

Alas Babylon by Pat Frank
Life and Fate by Vassily Grossman
Vintage Fear-Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales and Angela Carter's Bloody Chamber
The Whisperers:Private Life in Stalin's Russia by Orlando Figes
The Complete Persepolis by Majane Satrapi
Kristin Lavransdatter
When Darkness Falls by Mercedes Lackey
Dont bet on the Prince:Contemporary Feminist Fairy Tales in North America and England by Jack Zipes
The Darcys and the Bingleys by Marsha Altman
Survivors by Terry Nation
How to Feed your family a healthy balanced diet, with very little money and hardly any time, even if you only have a tiny kitchen, only three saucepans-unless you count the garlic crusher. by Gill Holcombe

Three books today:

Red Sands by Paul B. Thompson and Tonya R. Carter - Arabian-style fantasy

A Long Fatal Love Chase by Louisa M. Alcott - Dark love and passionate obsession by the author of Little Women

and

The Miracle at Speedy Motors by Alexander McCall Smith.

I also got another cook book yesterday, Farmhouse Cooking, which looks super, very practical and full of commonsense recipes.

I also finished Tiger in the well and then Tin Princess, neither of which ended the way I expected, but were both very good and very well written. Soooo I have added lots of other Pullman books to my Amazon wishlist, I guess its time to start writing reviews again to get the vouchers to buy them. I currently have £35.60 in vouchers sitting in my account, so when I get to £100 or so I'll splurge! Nothing better than having a lovely big box of pristine 'free' books sitting waiting to be opened!

Currently reading:

Them
From the beast to the blonde
Darcy and Elizabeth by Linda Berdoll

Two books:

Mollie: The Journal of Mollie Dorsey Sandford in Nebraska and Colorado Territories 1857-1866

and

Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia A. McKillip

Hurrah!

Two books today:

Where late the sweet birds sang- kate wilhelm - Set in a future world where everyone is sterile and clones are produced to deal with the problem.

The other Linda Berdoll P&P book. I reeeeeeaaaaallly want to read this RIGHT NOW! But I still have to finish Them, From the Beast to the Blonde and The Tiger in the Well. I love Pullman's series, its dark and clever, with a feisty and intelligent heroine. It is also not afraid to confront some of the darker things in life, the ending of The Shadow in the North was totally unexpected and somewhat shocking. I have just begun TITW and I have to admit to having second thoughts about reading it and flicking to the end to check the ending before I started (something I never do) because the storyline looks to be quite upsetting to me- the potential removal of a child from its mother. I know as a callous teenager I wouldn't have thought about it twice, but the mere prospect of losing a child, now I am a mother is too much for me now.

Eeek not very well explained but I have a wriggly child on my lap so I am typing one-handed and correcting any obvious errors as I go along.

ps. watched the first episode of Survivors last night, it was super, cant wait for the net episode

Have been kept away by my two latest reads, Mr Darcy takes a wife and The Ruby in the Smoke. Enjoyed the first very much, very compelling, but I think I would have enjoyed it more as a separate story rather than linked to P&P. The second was excellent and I look forward to the next book in the series.

On an unrelated note I had a lady in a shop gushing over The Child today, she said she had never met a child like her, that she was wise beyond her years and a complete angel. The Child really did me proud, she was polite and happily started a conversation with the lady whilst I was debating whether to get spelt or ordinary flour! As we left the shop the lady said 'I want one'. It makes up for all the really unhappy times that we have had together and all the frustrations of the last 3.5 years!

Got Winds of Fate and also Winds of Change by Mercedes Lackey, hurrah! I now have the whole trilogy and now just have one more Lackey book to get before my shelves contain the whole set of trilogies. Then I need to find them all and start reading them again (I got through four or five books before I was stymied by this series).

Finished the whole Garth Nix Sabriel series again. I feel nicely readjusted now. Have started Marina Warner's From the Beast to the Blonde which has the most wonderful shiny paper pages (I cant be the only one who loves certain types of paper pages) and is lavishly illustrated to the point that it is hard to focus on the actual words!

I finished Stardust this morning. I am in two minds about it now. I know that had I read the book before I watched the film I would have preferred the book and laughed at the ending and dramatic license that has been taken with the book. But I didnt. I saw the film first and fell in love with the story completely and now the book seems much darker and less pleasing than the film. The same happened with The Princess Bride, how I wish I had read the book first. Alas now, the film will be how I remember the story but in return will become one of my favourite films of all time, I lost a book and gained a film.

I began the Sabriel trilogy by Garth Nix just now, I think I felt the need to be consoled in some way. Even though I have all of these wonderful books waiting on my shelves I need some comfort reading and this is the only trilogy I could find with all the books together!

Two Bookmooch parcels (slightly damp thanks to postman leaving them by front door!):

Mr Darcy Takes a Wife by Linda Berdoll - 'Sequel' to Pride and Prejudice, one of my favourite books and TV series of all time. I have the other 'sequel' coming in the post. Apparently it is supposed to be quite raunchy!

The Riddle-Master's Game by Patricia A. McKillip - Three books in one, so for once I have the whole trilogy in one!

And an impulse buy:

Blown Away by Patrick Cave - YA literature set in a dystopian future-how could I ignore this one? Hardback, brand new (but I obviously didnt pay full price)! Its also the second in a series (sigh), so I need to get the first one!

I have finally started Stardust and it promises so far to be everything I hoped for. I read about 20 pages last night, savouring it as it is only a short little book. I havent read any today whilst The Child has been about (and MrNeverwithoutabook is away on experiment again), so I am looking forward to immersing myself in it this evening.

The Fortress by Hugh walpole arrived today so I can now read the series!

Vegetarian Cook Book (festive food)
Jams, Jellies and Preserves book
DK Castle book for The Child
Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey by Schlissel

Havent started a new book yet, still reading Them, just trying to work out what I want to read next!

Received:

Two biographies, one on Ava Gardner and one on the feud between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford.

I also finished The First Wives Club. Not particularly impressed, quite confusing, very different from the film and (nothing to do with the book) there was a squashed large spider on the last two pages.

Received:

Princess Diaries 2&3

Reading:

Them by Jon Ronson

The First Wives Club by Olivia Goldsmith (very different from the film and quite confusing)

Finished:

The City of Night by John Rechy

Beauty Sleep by Cameron Dokey

Two very different books but both very enjoyable. I am in two minds whether to keep them, am holding onto them for the moment. Beauty Sleep was one of the better in this series, strong heroine, relatively romantic, happy and unexpected ending.
City of Night was innovative, well written, with descriptive paragraphs that really took my breath away in places. Rich in the 'jivetalk' of the homosexual underground it gives an intriguing look into the alternative nightlife of major American cities as the impatient and unsettled (and unnamed) narrator explores his own character and sexuality. Very good but very dark although there are a few moments of humour which lighten the piece.

Arrived today:

I Am by Alan Grainger

Finished today:

I Am by Alan Grainger

Plague Year by Jeff Carlson

I Am is a lovely photography book on eccentrics with pictures of them and then a piece of writing from them reproduced in full, explaining about their lives. Beautifully presented its a lovely book (although quite difficult to read some of the handwriting) and is a real glimpse into those who live outside what we consider to be normal (the Luddite, the vampire, the leopard man).

Plague Year was a very exciting read about a nanotechnology plague that takes over the world and decimates the population by damaging internal tissues until death is the natural result. It deactivates itself at high altitude so all the survivors are living above the snow line and desperately searching for a cure. It was a leetle heavy on nanotech talk which I didnt quite follow and I was quite sleepy (two glasses of wine and a heavy cheese fondue) for the final denouement so I couldnt quite figure out who was doing what to who and why. However I put the book down longing to know what happened to the characters and how they got on, so thats a big thumbs up for me.

Only have Them and City of Night to go, both are at less than 100 pages before the end.

Three books today:

Another Gwyneth Rees book about fairies and number 5 and 6 of the princess diaries series. Strictly speaking they are for The Child in a few years but I dont see why I shouldnt read them first!

Two books today:

The Ruby in the Smoke by Phillip Pullman

and

The Tiger in the Well by Phillip Pullman

so I now have all four of this series (hurrah!).

MrNeverWithoutABook came home yesterday, bringing with him a box of delicious little macaroony creamy hamburgery-shaped deliciousness. Lovely. The Child was very pleased to see him!

I also started Them by Jon Ronson so my Currently Reading pile is starting to build its way back up to craziness again!

No books with the post this morning but I did manage to finish The Haven Home for Delinquent Girls. I started it last night and finished it off today. It was OK, avoided the usual themes of women's literature and whilst not particularly well written and a little confusing in parts, had something there which led me to finish it. It tells the story of three sets of women involved with the Haven home, from pregnant teenagers in 1917 to homosexual/pregnant/foul mouthed women in the 1950's and finally a disturbed young woman in 2005. It seemed a little 'themed' and there wasnt enough about some of the women to satisfy me but at least it didnt have that 'three friends' looking for the man of their dreams that infests reading material aimed at women.

On an unrelated note I managed to fix the flush on the toilet this morning by myself. It broke a couple of days ago and I have had to remove the cistern lid every time I want to flush the toilet. After a quick examine of the mechanism I managed to slide everything back together and flushed the toilet with genuine pride in my own ingenuity!

Am debating doing a challenge next year. 50 books in 2009? 75? Or the 999 challenge which is 9 books in each of nine self-chosen categories to be read in 2009 (0r 9/9/2009 if you want to push yourself!). It appeals to my obsessive goal-setting nature but I have several months left to decide. I guess choosing categories would be the most difficult, 9 is a big number when you actually think about it.

Maybe:

Classic Literature pre 1900
Fantasy
Nonfiction
'Classic' Literature post 1900
Young Adult
Childhood books revisited
Light reading/Pap
Post-apocalyptic
Random Bookmooch Books ???

Hmm I will have to give this some more thought

I recently read a post on this blog:

http://www.darktea.co.uk/blog/

asking for info on what to buy/make/know about a new baby. I wrote a long comment (longwinded, moi? Never) about our experiences-three years-bloody hell!

I have a three year old and most of the baby stage has faded but this is what I remember!

Sign up for everything you can, all the baby clubs etc. Check out all the manufacturers sites e.g. MAM, Cow and Gate etc. They all give out freebies, vouchers, dummies, soft toys, burp clothes, nappies etc. I only ever used a dummy once with my daughter and it was the freebie one I got through the post. Some website like moneysavingexpert can give you tips but I think I just typed freebies into google! Big supermarkets and pharmacies have baby clubs which offer special deals and money off vouchers.

I couldnt find burp cloths/shoulder cloths big enough, so I cut up some old bedlinen and cheap fleece blankets to make ones that covered my whole shoulder and most of my back. My daughter didnt posset too badly but the floor and the sofa and my clothes were grateful anyway!

I wish I hadnt bought a baby bath, what a waste. She came in with me or bathed in a sink for the first few months and then she was old enough to go in the big bath.

I couldnt resist the cute clothes but I bought them always in larger sizes, which was good because she grew really fast and didnt get a lot of wear out of the ones I already had.Seemed everyone else loved the cute clothes too as I got piles of newborn stuff and she was a largish baby so she wore them for five minutes!

A good ear thermometer is something worth investing in

Once the baby is born get out of the house every day even just to stand in the garden. It helps to stabilise the baby’s circadian rhythms and also will help your mental wellbeing. It can get really miserable seeing the same walls all the time. I built up to a gentle walk around the block and then to town etc

When they scream, sometimes it is for no reason at all. Write a list of reasons why they might be crying eg. cold, hot, hungry, overstimulated, tired and work through it systematically. If you feel flustered or hassled put them down somewhere safe, walk away, calm down and come back after a minute or two. They will come to no harm but babies can pick up on stress and will get upset. Calm yourself and it makes it much easier to deal with.

Try not to compare what your child is doing with anyone elses. Really, it doesnt matter what age they walk or talk or roll over as long as it is within the norm. None of this is going on their application form to university; do you know who walked first out of your friendship group? Best to avoid over-competitive mothers.

When it seems to be the worst, you cant cope any more, take a break, ask for help. Every mother has had those moments, not everyone admits to them, but its bloody hard work although lovely as well

Mumsnet.com - the greatest parenting resource out there. A website full of mothers who have done it all before, tell it straight but are full of compassion and a desire to help. Problem feeding at 3am? Post a message. Worried about the colour of your child’s poo, post a message. Struggling with your relationship, what present to buy a difficult relation, post on mumsnet.

Finally, 3 years after my daughter was born all the bad stuff has faded away and we are even contemplating another one, its all for such a short period of time. Just keep repeating ‘This too shall pass, this too shall pass!’

Oh dear, Library Sale.

For some reason, even though the library opens at 8.30am, the sale doesnt start until 10am so these shrouded tables stay in the window to taunt people for 90 minutes. We arrived at 9.30am and went upstairs to read in the children's section, before hurrying down again at 9.59! The librarians were not pleased as someone had removed the sheets before it was exactly 10am but I chucked The Child on a sofa and roared into the fray. Spent £2.30 on 16 books (20p for adult books, children's books are 20p each or 3 for 50p-Hurrah!).

I got:

Nineteen Twenty-One by Adam Thorpe - If I dont enjoy it, it is something that my mother might. Lots of 'Praise' on the back, words like 'brilliant' and 'dark and haunted' being bandied around. IME these books rarely live up to their plaudits but I am willing to try!

A Foreign Field by Ben Macintyre - A true story of love and betrayal in the Great War. Hardback!

King Midas and the Golden Touch - A beautiful Renaissance styled version (i.e. no Dionysus/Bacchus etc). The most beautiful illustrations (Illustrated by KY Craft), really gorgeous book

Pirate PiggyWiggy by Christyan and Diane Fox
How do your Senses Work? Usborne Flip Flaps
Trucks. Usborne Beginners
Autumn
Rivers and Lakes
The Vikings
Vikings

Omnibombulator by Dick King-Smith
Charlotte's Web by E.B White
The Secret of Platform 13 by Eva Ibbotson

I also got two Bookmooch books today:

Teen Idol by Meg Cabot
Victoria and The Rogue by Meg Cabot