I love books and book shopping (just in case you haven;t already guessed from reading this blog!) There was a fantastic book related article in tonight's thelondonpaper detailing some of London's unique bookshops. I've written before about Daunt Books which is mentioned in this article, but mention is also made of Persephone Book's shop which I have been meaning to visit for ages (ever since reading about it on yarnstorm's blog). It's quite funny that when they recommend one book to buy in each store the ... read more
Michael Palin’s Diaries
When ever I go into town I can't help but go into the charity shops, just in case there's a bargain there with my name on it. I had to go into town on Saturday to pick up some more medication for Mr C. It was only supposed to be a quick trip so I limited myself to only popping into one charity shop, but I chose my favourite, the Scope shop in St Albans.I'm so glad I did as I managed to pick up a copy of Michael Palin Diaries 1969-1979: The Python Years for a grand total of £6. I was thrilled. Both Mr C and I have been wanting to read this for ages - and now ... read more
Treasure in my own home!
It's almost embarrassing to admit to this, but I've just found some books that I'd forgotten I owned!A few years back I'd bought a load of Penguin Classics and the green and white Penguin Crime books at a local charity shop. I knew that I'd kept them all when Mr C and I moved house about four years ago, but couldn't remember seeing them since. The other day I pulled a travel guide off the shelf and realised that there was a whole second row of books behind it. Oh the feeling of excitement at that point!I'm particularly looking forward to reading the ... read more
Dream blanket?
I've been having some very strange dreams over the last few weeks. In each one Mr C and I are both old and sat in a cold room in what must obviously be our home. There aren't many possessions around, but I'm somehow charged with making the whole place feel more homely. I go out and buy things from the charity shop and make curtains for the window and find a little jug to put flowers on the table in, but in these dreams we're both sat there freezing cold in the evening listening to the radio.Every time I've woken up from this dream I've felt the urgent need to somehow ... read more
The Liar – Stephen Fry
Stephen Fry's The Liar had been sitting on my bookshelf for a while before I picked it up to read last week. I bought it in a secondhand bookshop a few years back along with his other novel, The Hippopotamus, and whilst I got round to reading the latter straight away, the Liar never quite made it to the top of my reading list until now. The Liar was Fry's first novel and many describe it as being semi-autobiographical; certainly the main character, Adrian Healey bears many Fry like characteristics. The book jumps around a bit, but we see Healey as a both a public school boy and ... read more
Home and away
Apologies for the lack of posts over the last couple of days. Mr C has been in hospital for an operation and I've been busy being the dutiful wife.It's amazing how tiring waiting and worrying can be. There's been quite a bit of knitting, reading, tv watching and attempts at crosswords to try and keep me busy whilst waiting around at the hospital.The good news is that he's back home now. He's not very mobile, but at least he's feeling much better. Fingers crossed that he makes a full recovery over the next few weeks.In the meantime normal service here should hopefully be ... read more
Festive sewing goodies
My mum's quite a star!I was explaining to her on the phone the other evening some of my (ambitious) plans for making Christmas decorations. In particular trying to reproduce one that I'd seen in John Lewis, but couldn't face spending £5 on. I was describing to her the types of fabrics that I was going to go looking for at the weekend, only for her to say "oh, I think I have something like that in my stash". A couple of days later an e-mail arrived in my inbox telling me that she'd found some bits and pieces and was posting a little package down to me. I was ... read more
Jellyfish hat
Well I've finished the hat that I was aiming to produce as Christmas present using the Patons Baroque yarn that matched what my mother in law was using to make a scarf. I had to give up on the first pattern for the simple fact that I couldn't follow the pattern and after a couple of wedges was totally lost with a completely different number of rows on the needles to what I was supposed to have!The yarn is pretty horrible to frog though and I ended up having to give up on the cast on row when taking it back as the fluffiness had just caused it all to be caught up so ... read more
How to solve cryptic crosswords
Crosswords fascinate me, but I have to admit that I don't really know where to start when it comes to solving them. The regular arrangement of white and black boxes and initially nonsensical clues is like a secret language to those that are members of a special club.On Saturday night Mr C and I caught the BBC 4 repeat of the Timeshift programme How to Solve Cryptic Crosswords and it attempted to give the viewer an insight into this special club. The different types of clues were demonstrated as we were taken through a crossword that had been created especially for the programme. It was ... read more
In the Company of Cheerful Ladies – Alexander McCall Smith
In the Company of Cheerful Ladies is the sixth book in the No. 1 Ladies' Detectve Agency Series from Alexander McCall Smith. Anther delightful tale, but one that has a few darker edges than some of its predecessors. In this book Mma Ramotswe learns that her ex-husband Note Mokoti is back in town and it soon becomes clear that he think he still has control over her. Mma Ramotswe's little white van also leads her to (literally) bumping into Mr Polopetsi, a former convict who ends up being offered a job at Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors and also proves his detective skills in finding ... read more