Mariellaaaahhhh!

Hurrah! The Book Show has returned on Sky - the best (and, let's face it, the only) book show on the box. Wasn't Diana Athill amazing? Definitely want to read one of her books now. And Sadie Jones, too - I absolutely loved The Outcast, thought it was incredibly moving and well-written, especially for a first novel.
As for the lovely Mariella, I think I want to be her, actually. She's so intelligent and quick, but such a warm, teasing interviewer too. Oh, she's fab. And I loved that dress she was wearing last night too. Mariella, if you ever google yourself and find yourself here (I suspect she is above such things but you never know) please let me know where you got that dress from. I think I saw Nicole Farhi flash by in the credits, but please tell me it was really from Top Shop and I will be very happy.

I also put in some time on the old Wii Fit last night... well done me. Gym membership has gone out the window these days (actually it went out the window last September) so I'm doing 40 minutes on the Wii Fit every other day. And not just the fun balance games either - 30 minutes aerobic stuff and then some stretchy muscle exercises. Annoyingly it said I'd put on 4 pounds over Crimbo so I feel the need to "burn that fat" as the man says in the Super Boxing routine. Embarrassingly, I saw my old Gym Manager in Sainsburys the other week - and he started lecturing me there in the toiletries aisle about letting my membership slide. "I got bored," I told him honestly. He flinched, as if anyone could find his precious gym anything less than scintillating. "I'm just worried about your heart," he said insincerely. "By not exercising, you're lining up all sorts of future problems for yourself - heart disease and..."
This was all in front of my four-year-old so I started to get pissed off at that point. "Oh, up yours," I said, pushing him into the Dove shower gel.
No, I didn't really. I told him to stop bloody lecturing me and swished off with my trolley.
Oh, all right, so I didn't exactly do that either. I said "My heart is absolutely fine, thanks," and gave him a hard Paddington Bear stare. And that was that.

Anyway, I'm Super-Hula-Hooping like these no tomorrow these days, I've even got that annoying music spinning round in my head now. You wait, I'll have Kate Moss thighs by February. (Oh, it's great to be anonymous when you make claims like that!!)

Three readers reading...

Enough about me and my can't-finish-a-book slackness (although there are just 100 pages to go now in Wicked - nearly there!) - I'm passing the baton today to my three lovely children who are also book fiends.

Eldest daughter (8) is a mad Jacqueline Wilson as I've already mentioned. She's also just read The Quigleys At Large by Simon Mason which she loved - in fact, she's begged me to read it too, so we can discuss it.

Son (6) is reading the charmingly titled Johnny Biscuit and the Snot-Men by Michael Cox which he says is "really funny".

And youngest daughter (4) enjoyed reading Shark in the Park by the fabulous Nick Sharratt - she got it free with her Booktrust reading box thingy yesterday at playgroup, so we're all pleased about that.

Me, I'm lining up my next book... it might be The End of Mr Y by Scarlett Thomas which is our book group choice (which seems to have blown everyone else's mind - in a good way), or I'm quite tempted by a book I got for Christmas (and forgot to mention earlier) which is The Beacon by Susan Hill. Signed first edition, too, and it looks a good one to curl up with on a cold night. Hmmmm.....

PC Woe

I've had a lot of computer problems lately. Grrr. Internet Explorer sort of died on me, I couldn't use Hotmail in the alternative browser I installed, and then a Windows XP server pack 3 (or something) installed itself on the pc and promptly deleted loads of stuff in the process! Important stuff too - like Spider Solitaire and all my games!!! and quite useful things too, like the calculator function. I did my VAT return last night and was reduced to doing all my sums on paper, like in the olden days. I mean... sums!!! Real, actual sums, in the 21st century and everything. Shocking.

So it has been a miserable time here, not being able to reply to emails (I could read them, but not write them... v annoying) and oh, I did miss my games. Mind you, I got bloody loads of writing done without them.

Today, though, I got a man round to look at it. He has sorted everything out for me, showed me loads of stuff this pc can do that I had no idea about (I've got a Media Centre, apparently, which was news to me) and generally waved a magic wand over it. From PC woe to PC wow. Ahhhh. Bliss.

And have I done any work since? Have I buggery.

Sssshhhh

The house is quiet for the first time in about three weeks. Two children at school, one child at playgroup, husband at work... just me, toute seule, enjoying the blissful peace for a change.

Well... I say 'enjoying' but I need to cram some work into the next two hours before the bedlam begins once again, so I'm about to press my schnozz against the grindstone. I'd like to tell you I write this blog for the love of it, but I'm afraid it's sheer procrastination today. 

I'm starting to worry that 'One Reader Reading' is becoming a misnomer. I still haven't finished my first book! So much for highbrow literary debate as I speed through one mighty tome after another, with incisive analysis and reviews. Halfway through a Jilly Cooper, that's me. Hmmm. Mind you, it's not as if I haven't done ANY reading. Yesterday, I read three books to my youngest - two crappy old things from the charity shop and the last bit of Shannon the Ocean Fairy, which Father Christmas was kind enough to pop in her stocking. And I also read aloud a new children's book I've written (known as BTS2 first draft) to my eldest for her consideration. (She takes it all very seriously, suggesting alternative adverbs and cutting dialogue etc. An editor in the making, that one.) It's gone off to my real editor now so let's hope she likes it too.

Now... I hear the grindstone calling... off I go!

Who?

Ooer.... jaws dropped last night as we watched the unveiling of the new Doctor. 

What a shocker! "That's not the Doctor!" our four-year-old wailed as his strange rubbery face appeared on the screen, and I can see her point. Still... give him a chance, I suppose. I reckon he'll be great at doing quirky, running around after aliens and the humour side, but... gravitas? Poignancy? I'm not so sure. Mind you, at least it isn't James bloody Nesbitt - that wouldn't have worked at all.

I've got a bad case of Sundayitis today - the decos are coming down later, the Playmobil advent calendar has been put away, the kids are back to school tomorrow and the magic of Christmas will soon be over for another 11 months. *sniffle* The world is always a better place when there's tinsel around, if you ask me.

Reading-wise: Wicked has hit rather a dip -Janna, the heroine, hasn't been in the story for the last 50 pages or so and I wish she'd hurry up and come back! What's going on with her and Hengist, I need to know!!!

Oh Yes She Did!

Off to the panto yesterday as an end-of-holidays treat. Do love a bit of shouting and Behind-You-ing, and we all bellowed along with great gusto. Felt dead proud at the end as eldest daughter was picked to go up on stage and help with a song... eek... my heart was pounding for her as she spoke, but she did brilliantly. Must get that girl into RADA immediately, she can start earning her keep... 

All quiet on the reading front as we had my sister-in-law and her kids staying last night and I felt obliged to watch the launch of Celebrity Big Brother with her. Ooer, what a rabble. I reckon it's going to be a good one though. Terry Christian to win! 

I am already wondering if my 100-books-in-a-year challenge is going to be too ambitious as I am still only 400 pages into the Jilly Cooper... must choose a shorter one to read next!

Jacqueline Wilson, and a difficult question

My eldest daughter (8) is very keen on Jacqueline Wilson, having now cast aside poor old Enid Blyton as too babyish (sob). I think JW is a fantastic writer who can tune right in to girls' minds, and totally deserves her enormous adoring fanbase BUT since discovering her books, I feel my daughter's head has been clouded with a whole new load of Issues: divorce, bullying, homelessness, domestic violence,  foster homes, shoplifting... a far cry from smugglers, ginger beer and midnight feasts. She spent her Christmas book token on two new JWs and was reading one of them, The Diamond Girls, in the kitchen yesterday. "Mum," she said, as I went in to make a cup of tea, "what's a porn shop?"

Oh God, I thought. I really don't want to answer this in any sort of detail. "Well... it's a shop that sells rude stuff," I said casually, filling the kettle and cursing Jacqueline Wilson. Porn? In a children's book? I was all set to dash off a furious letter to the Torygraph until... click. The penny dropped. "Hang on," I said. "How is 'porn' spelled?"

"P...a...w...n..." she said.

Ahhh....

Meanwhile, I'm halfway through Wicked. Had to put it aside for Jonathan Creek last night which I kind of enjoyed - loved the death-by-bath idea but the end all got very silly. And as for that sub-plot with Candy Mountains... leave it out!