I was very lucky this year and got just a few books for Christmas! None of these were a surprise, as I had asked for all of them.
From the bottom working up:
Alan Titchmarsh – When I was a Nipper. Have not really dipped in this yet, but I get the sense of a ‘Coffee Table’ book.
Paul O’Grady – The Devil Rides Out & Chris Evans – Memoirs of a Fruitcake. Got to get my fix of autobiographies and these will then be shared with my father.
Jennifer Worth – In the Midst of Life. Have read her three previous books and wanted to find out more about her life but also I find the books educational at the same time.
Sharon Owens – A Winters Wedding. I have fallen back in love with Sharon Owens books so wanted to keep up to date.
Tessa Hainsworth – Seagulls in the Attic. The follow-up to her first book Up With the Larks which I reviewed here. I am looking forward to reading this, I hope it is as good as the first.
Mary Nichols – The Summer House. Have recently read The Fountain and was slightly disappointed, apparently this is an earlier novel and got better reviews. The title of the book has also given me an idea about reading other books with the same title. Watch this space and please get in contact if you are interested.
Carola Dunn – Death at Wentwater Court. Really got into my crime in 2010 (reading obviously!) and wanted to try another ‘cosy’ mystery series out. This is the first book perhaps of many I may read.
James Anderson – The Affair of the Mutilated Mink. This is the second book in Anderson’s Burford mystery series. I enjoyed the first and having a rather OCD nature in all things complete, I thought I would read the second.
Helene Hanff – 84 Charing Cross Road. This is the first book I have got from reading other people’s blogs. Such high recommendations I felt I was missing out if I did not read this.
Karen Wheeler – Toute Allure. Another sequel to novel Tout Sweet. Part novel but also part autobiography.
Rhys Bowen – A Royal Pain. Another ‘cosy’ crime mystery, having loved the first.
Phew! Quite a haul and a fairly mixed sort of selection. There was one more book, which is not photographed because I was already reading it when I took the photo and having now finished it; it will be the next review on here.
I was also blessed with two other books; which I did not know about.
The Second Book of General Ignorance – taken from the wonderful BBC 1 programme QI with the equally wonderful Stephen Fry. Christmas would not be Christmas if it was not for books like these. The other is not a book but a ‘Book Journal’ with wonderful blank pages to record books read, out on loan, reviews etc. I just love the front cover. So what can I possibly write in this book, well after some thought, it is going to be my journal on all things Agatha Christie. My mum got me this journal and it was her that got me into Agatha Christie, so I think the two go together very nicely. I have only read a couple of her books, but watched countless episodes on the television. Now is the time to correct that and my mum has a wonderful collection to delve through; although she failed to have Murder on the Orient Express (a story for another day) so that is winging its way to me so both myself and mum can read it.
The Book Jotter 