I pledge to read the printed word

I have taken the pledge!

Over the last few months I have been considering the benefits and disbenefits of a Kindle (or other reading device!) and have come to my final conclusion.

Give me a hard copy book any day!!

I'm not anti-Kindle at all. I can see the benefits of having one. For example, if you go away and you finish a book, you will have another one lined up on your "book shelf". I have noticed on Amazon that a lot of books are cheaper to buy electronically which I imagine is due to less resource being used to produce the book. I have also found out from other people that there are a lot of free books available and that it is a really good platform for self published authors. Another big bonus I see is that no-one can see what you are reading! This can be a good thing if you use public transport or read during your lunch break (I've got my self help books in mind now!) and want to keep embarrassing titles under wraps.

BUT...(and this is a big but)... I just love books! I love seeing them on my (non-virtual) book shelf, I love the feel of opening a new book and seeing how far through your bookmark is (or old Tesco receipt in my case), I love the smell of new books, I love the feeling of accomplishment you get when you reach the last page and more than anything I love the excitement of getting a new book (or 14 if you're lucky).

I'm not saying that electronic books are a bad thing, particularly if they get more people reading. They're just not for me.

Book Review: A Spoonful of Poison

I'm a bit late with the review but I finished reading A Spoonful of Poison by M.C. Beaton on Wednesday and really enjoyed it!

This is the first Agatha Raisin book I have read and am glad that I have discovered the series! As a huge Midsomer Murders fan the series appealed to me when I saw it in The Book People catalogue. And as it was a bargain £9.99 for 10 books I couldn't go wrong!

This book was easy to read and enjoyable with good characters.

In this book Agatha's detective agency is investigating two deaths caused by LSD being put into jam samples at a village summer fair (I love stuff like this!!) and has to spend a lot of time in the village with the local characters to try figure out who would possibly do such a thing in a sleepy Cotswold village.

Although being put off the scent a few time she persevered and got to the bottom of the case!

The book was quite funny and I really liked Agatha herself, even though she is a hard career woman. I can't wait to go through the rest of the series! And if I'm lucky Santa may bring me a few more Agatha Raisin books!

New look

I've had a nightmare fiddling round with my blog tonight!! I wanted to move it around and was trying to use backgrounds and headers from Shabby Blogs as I wanted more of a vintage look but got in a mess and just tried to get something new from what is available on Blogger.

I'm not the most technological of people, so got pretty frustrated!!

Let me know what you think!

More Christmas decorations

Here is a picture of the Christmas tree in my kitchen!

It has a little battery pack and lights up so looks quite cute! I wanted this one to have multi coloured baubles as the theme in my living room is red and gold. (I have the same every year as I think they are the most Christmassy colours and don't really like the uber fashionable stuff!) Steven added the string of beads as it was looking a little bare and I think it looks good now!

I have two of these birds hanging in my living room.

I love how cute and rustic they are. I got them in a supermarket but wish I had made them myself!

And on a slightly different note, this picture shows the frosty result of someone (who happens to be called Steven!) leaving two cans of lager in the freezer all weekend! I'm glad they didn't explode but also think they look quite seasonal!



Book Review: The Night Circus

I finished reading The Night Circus last night and loved it!

The story follows Le Cirque du Reves and the main characters are Marco and Celia, who involuntarily entered into a competition against each other many years before. There is also a sub plot about various founders of the circus and also a young American boy, Bailey.

Even though this book was not action packed, it was full of wonderful descriptions without being over descriptive. I also enjoyed the fact that although each chapter told you what year it was, there were no major historical details and this gave the story a very timeless feeling.

I also loved the book itself with its black edged pages and black and white cover, which was very inkeeping with the story.

I would highly recommend this book. It is a story of wonderful illiusions and a love story, but also catches your imagination with all of the beautiful descriptions in the book.

A little update

I've been so busy this week I haven't had much time to do anything, including blog!

My friend came round for dinner and a gossip on Tuesday evening and I missed out on teaser Tuesday and Top Ten Tuesday!

I haven't had much time to read either but have been grabbing time whenever I can to read The Night Circus. I'm nearly 3 quarters of the way through and am really enjoying it. It isn't action packed, but is beautifully written and I am enjoying imagining the circus and reading the unfolding love story!

As The Night Circus is so big and heavy I haven't been taking it to work to read at lunchtime. This is also because I'm afraid of damaging the beautiful cover. So I have started reading an Agatha Raisin book during my breaks and am enjoying it. It is just as fun as I thought and very Midsomer-esque, so just up my street! My to read pile seems to keep growing though and I have an ever growing pile of self help type books on my bedside table which I just can't seem to motivate myself to read!

Christmas tree

We put our Christmas tree up today and this is the finished product!

I've also got a little 3ft tree in my kitchen as we spend so much time in there so I'm starting to feel Christmassy! Particularly as I watched Santa Clause the Movie when sorting out all my decorations!

For the first time ever I will have time off over xmas this year and I can't wait! I'm going to have 13 days off and I'm planning to watch lots of Christmassy tv and read lots!!