Have you read The Children’s Story (online version)? Or 1984? Do you read xkcd? If you do, you might have noticed the name Cory Doctorow features. But you might not know who he is, as despite the fact that he lives in this country, his books are not easy to find here.
Which is kind [...]
mainly because blow by blow of how dreadful I feel isn’t interesting to me, and I’m sure it isn’t interesting to you either!
Small wrote a story entitled “The story of Pregnancy” – it’s only a page long, but I loved the end “the baby cryed in his mind.” It was completely unprompted, and I love [...]
Jonathan kindly brought me several books to the party, and is reading is something that I can do without feeling any more ill than usual, I’ve read them all over the past few days.
I started with The Family Trade, then there’s The Hidden Family and The Clan Corporate. They romp along quite nicely, although there’s [...]
Let’s see, there was The Telling, read this last weekend. Possibly wasn’t in the best state of mind for it – I think Ms Le Guin does undercurrents in her work, and instead of picking up any of those, I just found it rather inpenetrable. Shame. I might try it again another time – I [...]
Finished off a couple of books this weekend.
First there was The Ropemaker which I was reading to see if Big would like. I’m not sure she would, it doesn’t move fast enough with anything much happening, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I started reading Peter Dickinson because he’s Robin McKinley’s husband, but now he’s moved [...]
I usually avoid things labelled Masterworks, a kind of inverse snobbery I acquired from a boyfriend many years ago. He was terribly middle class and pretty much only read literature or Masterworks, and made me feel very stupid for not knowing about classical music (my parents listened to Radio 2, nothing with classical music on!) [...]
with a nod to Ann Aguirre, I’ve scanned back through the books I’ve mentioned this past year, and come up with 10 worth mentioning again, plus it meant I got to play with an Amazon widget
Amazon.co.uk Widgets
I’m hoping this doesn’t do anything too horrid to the blog, please let me know if [...]
Feels like someone has pulled my brain out of my ears and replaced it by slightly too much cotton wool, which is pressing uncomfortably on my ear drums and making thinking far too difficult. So I have done next to nothing yesterday and today, except a little light reading. I’m on a quest to find [...]
I really should be making things tonight, I’ve got PIFs to do (I have a plan ) and SS to think of and the normal ordinary S creeping up as well, and instead I’m going to do a couple of quick book reviews and go to bed.
At the weekend I read Dragonhaven and [...]
I read The Friday Night Knitting Club and really enjoyed it, even though it made me cry. Quite a lot. I am a big softy.
I also finally finished reading And the Skylark Sings with Me: Adventures in Homeschooling and Community-based Education which I found very interesting and enjoyable, if almost implausible in parts. Or perhaps [...]
at Amazon, in the form of a gift voucher for £11, and they have conveniently reduced super saver delivery to £5 and over!
So what do I buy? Decisions, decisions.
I have fancied The Creative Family: How to Encourage Imagination and Nurture Family Connections for a while, but I haven’t seen it. Has anyone out there?
The Children’s [...]
only photographically – took the kids to a party this afternoon and discovered when I got back that I had pictures from the last party they attended at the end of September, then nothing from October, and then pictures again today. Hm. Must do better – they are growing and changing so fast, I really [...]
I have no idea whether this book, Talli’s Secret, actually describes what it’s like to be dyspraxic or dyslexic, but it is fairly accurate on being misunderstood, miserable and grieving. The child heroine has had all sorts piled on top of her, including losing her sister in a car crash, the same one that put [...]
yes, I know I only went yesterday. But I finished reading Last of the Wilds (Age of the Five) last night, and when I checked online, I discovered that the sequel, Voice of the Gods (Age of the Five) was on the shelves, so I couldn’t resist going to get it this morning, so that [...]
Crafting creativity: 52 brilliant ideas for awakening the artistic genius within (52 brilliant ideas series) – saw this one on a teaser display of the non fiction books they have upstairs. As we didn’t have time to go upstairs thought I’d grab it and have a look. Have peeked at the first chapter/ brilliant idea [...]
This afternoon I felt wobbly, weak and cold, so I retreated to bed, with a couple of books.
First there was AK. I picked this one up because Peter Dickinson is Robin McKinley’s husband and I wanted to know more about his writing. I didn’t regret it, even though in some ways it’s a depressing novel [...]
Tim popped up to the not quite local branch library and picked up The New Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency: The Classic Guide for Realists and Dreamers. I’m fairly sure that under these descriptions I’d be the dreamer, and he’s the realist, it’s how we marry up those differing realities that count.
I have so many dreams [...]
I’ve been coming home and going to bed for a couple of hours, then getting up and coming down for something to eat. I’ve made it through the week because of this, and next week I’m off every day except Tuesday, so I should be able to recharge then.
Last night I read books. I read
Priestess [...]
Robin McKinley
So, speaking of bells, here’s the first page or so of The Bells of Mazahan because it’s much too late to come up with an entry from zero. This is the beginning of the draft after I realised it wasn’t going to stay a short story, but you’ll notice its antecedents as an [...]
This week Tim has been away in Suffolk, which has meant his standard evening task of reading bedtime stories has fallen to me. I don’t really remember when bedtime stories became his job, but they usually are, and tbh, I quite enjoy that – after a full day of children it’s quite nice to have [...]
