Books!

I have been hanging back from posting much this week. I'm feeling quite crappy and rather dispirited. Consequently outfit photos have not turned out very well and I haven't really felt much like writing interesting blog posts. I've also been pondering what exactly makes a good blog post but perhaps that's a topic for another day.

Turns out what I needed to cheer me up a bit was a trip into town, some extremely good coffee, a vintage frock (although am not entirely sure it actually suits me now I've got it home...), going to watch The Adjustment Bureau (excellent fun, plus lovely Matt Damon) and then Wagamama for dinner. Oh and a FREE BOOK.

Yes girls, I am struggling on womanfully with my non-book buying mission. I went into Oxfam solely to look at the clothes and didn't venture near the books but then I got to the counter and a very nice lady brought in armfuls of books and was giving them away. It being World Book Night tonight, a million books are being given away in the UK today in a variety of events. Free books = happy Alex. I've been watching all the fab programmes about it on BBC2 but didn't imagine I would actually get one myself so it was very much a case of huzzah and hurrah.

Taking inspiration from the very interesting My Life In Books programme which has been running recently, I decided to share 5 of my favourites with you. This list is entirely subject to change depending on which day you ask me about it - I find favourites lists on any topic extremely hard to narrow down. I also have a whole stream of much loved authors who've written a lot and I find it impossible to pick a favourite from their books.

So, in sort of chronological order according to when I first read them:

Tubby and Tootsy by Willy Schermelé

I am a huge lover of children's fiction. I have so many childhood favourites that it's incredibly difficult to narrow it down to one book but this has very sentimental memories for me. It's a very short book about twin bears who get separated. The lost one gets taken in by a kindly badger and eventually they're reunited. It went missing when we moved from Leeds back to Liverpool and I was so sad. Back in the early days of having the internet at home I discovered the wonderful ABE Books. Mum bought me a copy of it as a replacement and I was so happy to have it back on the bookshelves that I cried when it arrived.



A Tale of Time City by Diana Wynne Jones

She is one of my very favourite authors - her books are always amazingly well thought out and entertaining. Please don't be put off by the fact that they're children's books. They're better written, more intelligent and often funnier than a lot of the pap that gets churned out as adult fiction nowadays.

This is the story of Vivian, who is kidnapped whilst being evacuated during WW2 and is taken to Time City, a place that exists outside history, in the mistaken belief that she's the Time Lady and can save the city which is crumbling due to lost polarities. There's lots of time travel and history, some deliciously garish futuristic clothing but the two things that seem to stick in the memory of everyone I know who's read it are butter pies (ice-cream like on the outside, warm and gooey inside - nom!) and time ghosts. Oh and it's very funny.

In fact it's so good that someone has borrowed my copy and not given me it back. Grrr.

(aren't the Pan covers hilariously awful?)

Devil's Cub by Georgette Heyer

Probably my favourite book ever. Lots of people scorn Georgette Heyer and lump her in with Barbara Cartland and all the modern Regency rubbish romances. I think these people are idiots. She basically created the genre of Regency romance, although her books are so much more than that. A lot of them are comedies of manners, some are mysteries, some are straightforward historicals; all of them are immaculately, captivatingly written. Don't be put off if you don't like girly books or romances - give one a go and judge it on the quality of the writing and storytelling. She puts most authors to shame.

This is a Georgian romance rather than Regency and is a sequel of sorts to These Old Shades which is also rather glorious. Dominic, the Marquis of Vidal, is a very wild young man; a reckless gambler, drinker and dueller. Totally swoon-worthy though. Mary Challoner's younger sister Sophia, a rather ditzy piece, is about to flee to France with him when he's forced into exile but Mary intercepts a note and takes Sophia's place (masked, of course) in order to save her reputation. Well as you might imagine, things don't go exactly to plan. It's a tremendous romp through France with elopements, shootings, duels, fibs and confusions aplenty and a wonderful hero and heroine.

Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson

I love Bill Bryson. There's a quote on the back of one of his travel books which goes along the lines of "not to be read in public for fear of emitting loud snorts" - it's so true. He's such a funny writer.

This book is about the English language but basically starts at the dawn of language and takes it from there - there are chapters on where words come from, pronunciation, spelling, names, word play and swearing amongst other things. Might not sound so thrilling (well it does to me but I'm a geek) but it's utterly wonderful. It never even verges on being dry and boring. It's endlessly fascinating and entertaining, full of brilliant anecdotes and stories and leaves you with a head full of knowledge.

Ancestral Voices by James Lees-Milne

I discovered this book mainly because of work. James Lees-Milne was a writer, diarist, architectural historian and expert on English country houses. This book is a selection of his diaries from 1942-1943. He had been invalided out of the army and was secretary to the Country House Committee of the National Trust, so this book is in part a series of descriptions of him pedalling round England on a bicycle, staying in freezing cold, dilapidated mansions and persuading the owners to hand them over to the National Trust rather than sell or demolish them. He's rather rude about the place I work at and describes the furniture as "a gruesome lot" but I'll forgive him that. His impact was astonishing - he saved an amazing amount of significant houses for the nation.

It's a wonderful depiction of London during the war years as well though and for those of you who are interested in mid 20th century aristocracy/artists/novelists/society folk, it's a must-read. He was very well connected - the Mitfords, Churchills and Sitwells get frequent mentions, as do most of the intellectual and social figures of the time. It's all written with typical candour and wit and deserves to be a lot more widely known than it is at the moment.