February round-up

Two months of 2011 have slipped by and March is upon us. Not sure where those two months went but I for one am happy that signs of spring are all around us. I do, in fact, love winter but enough is enough with chest infections, cold bugs and sinus problems... I'm quite content that spring is on the way. I'm not so thrilled that it's followed by summer, but there you go, you can't have everything.

February was not a bad reading month. Six books read, which is very much an average number for me - I occasionally manage eight or even ten but I'm not sure how: six feels comfortable... I loathe being rushed with any book, which is the case at the moment as someone has reserved my current read (The Surgeon by Tess Gerritson) and I have to have it back at the library by Friday. I don't think there'll be a problem as I'm halfway through, I have time to read for a couple of days, *and* it's a fast paced, easy read, but you know... ugh! for having to rush a book.

Anyway. Books read in February:

Thrush Green - Miss Read
The Dark Tower - Marion Zimmer Bradley
Battles at Thrush Green - Miss Read
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close - Jonathan Safran Foer
Return to Thrush Green - Miss Read
Crossing the Line - Karen Traviss

Not one was a duff read. I don't know if this is because I'm careful what I pick up, or whether it's just luck but I seem to get very few duffers these days. The Miss Reads are charming and nostalgic and make excellent bedtime books. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close was, for me, an experimental book that I'm very glad to have read. The two sci fi books, The Dark Tower and Crossing the Line were for Carl's Sci Fi experience and were a joyous reminder of my first love in reading - Science Fiction. My favourite read of the month? Crossing the Line by Karen Traviss. I won't bang on any more than I have been about this series, suffice it to say I've been a bit blown away by it and fear that whichever month I read one of this series in, the book will end up being book of the month. Oh well. So be it.

This last month has seen me finish Carl's Sci Fi Experience with three books read. Very pleased about that.

We've also been lucky enough in the UK to have 'proper' book show that's running for two weeks - My Life in Books which is being hosted by Anne Robinson from The Weakest Link.



Apparently, she got the idea for the series when she, or someone, interviewed Chris Evans at the Hay book festival about his favourite books and the audience was fascinated. The series has been a delight (it finishes Friday) with various famous celebs pairing up to talk about favourite books that have influenced their lives. Then Saturday BBC2 is running an entire evening of bookish programmes to celebrate World Book Night. I'm like a kid in a sweet shop as book programmes are so rare on TV and here we are with actual 'choice' because author, Sebastian Faulks, has also had a book programme on for the last few weeks whereby he's talked about various types of characters in fiction: lovers, snobs, villains and so on. I found that series a bit patchy to be honest, one or two were interesting, others not so much.

Coming up this month - Carl's Once Upon a Time challenge which is one I always look forward to and my pile is already on the shelf and growing daily. I'm a happy bunny. :-)

~~~oOo~~~