Norfolk Children's Book Centre

I took my first trip to the Norfolk Children's Book Centre today with my aunt who wanted to check out some football books for boys aged 10ish. What a great place and no wonder The Bookseller awarded them first place in the 2007 best Children’s Independent. We were greeted with a very friendly smile, offered lots of help and book suggestions along with (the best bit!) a tray of tea, coffee and biscuits! I shall no longer moan about not having a good independent bookshop near(ish) my house although it is such a shame that Norwich/Norfolk does not have an independent shop for grown-ups. I am sure I could do a lot to keep them in business singlehandedly!!

The NCBC is a great place to spend a couple of hours exploring. I left having "accidentally" bought five books when I had actually intended to only be there in the role of chauffeur/adviser. I can't even pretend that the books were for a child of my acquaintance - they were chosen solely for my own reading pleasure.

Perhaps I need to run a special week where I just comment on books for children to provide a smokescreen for myself! I could ask my niece to contribute. Brilliant. If only I had thought of that before I confessed...

Cryptonomicon

"The edition of Cryptonomicon I took with me is huge - a whopping 1.3kg and 23.5cm by 15cm."

Just to show evidence of my last poolside "light" read in the form of Cryptonomicon... I so wish I'd bought the (smaller) newer edition!! I managed to finish it last night and it gripped me right up until the end. Somehow today has run away from me so no update on bookish things. Will try harder tomorrow!

Honey, I'm Home!

Arrived back home this morning after intermittent internet access for the last three weeks to hundreds and hundreds of unread google reader feeds and heaps of post.

At least I'm self-employed so I can extend my holiday by one more day to catch up on this lot, spend lots of time hugging my dogs and to finish my last holiday read that I didn't quite manage to polish off on the flight(s).

The edition of Cryptonomicon I took with me is huge - a whopping 1.3kg and 23.5cm by 15cm. I could barely fit it in my hand luggage and got some odd looks when reading it by the pool! Great book though and very glad it made it onto my holiday shortlist. I've only got a few more pages to go and will do a proper holiday reading post tomorrow. I suspect I'll be embarking on Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle next.

In the meantime, I'm off to source a recipe for Key Lime Pie. Yummy.

What I Did On My (Ongoing) Holidays...

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March Reading List

I'm not sure if I can give this list my usual attention today as I am in the midst of packing - throwing out clothes and suntan lotion in favour of books... Well, that's my plan! Just have to hope Mr B does not read this before I've finished!

• The Book Thief - Markus Zusak. This one was my POTM read for March and you can see my review here!

• Hubert Horatio Bartle Bobton-Trent - Lauren Child. A great book and brilliantly illustrated. I won this book at dovegreyreader's second birthday party and very privileged I was to be there too.
  

• Barkbelly - Cat Weatherall.

• Bath Tangle - Georgette Heyer.

• Stamping Butterflies - John Courtenay Grimwood.

• Lady of Quality - Georgette Heyer.

• The Distance Between Us - Maggie O'Farrell.

• Coraline - Neil Gaiman. I read this very, very carefully indeed as it's a limited edition Subterranean Press version that my lovely hubby bought me for Christmas. A great story and a beautiful book - can't wait for the film version to be finished!
  

• Half Broken Things - Morag Joss.

• The Grand Sophy - Georgette Heyer.

• The Inferior - Peadar Ó Guilín. As confessed over at The Book Swede's this had been on my Pile o' Shame for too long. A great read and I'll be interested to see how the story develops in the sequel(s).
  

• Love, Death, Washing Up, Etc: Joe Bennett Sorts It Out - Joe Bennett.

[Edit: Oh dear - looks like I forgot to post this before I left! I will finish it up when I get home]

Something Has Got To Give...

So. We're off on our hols tomorrow and I have a five book limit. Which is a little miserly, if you ask me, but I suspect Mr B is merely trying to keep control of the luggage allowance.

Only problem is...

My five books (well five plus a little one) stand at 33cm when piled into a stack.

Even I agree that's a little excessive. But can I leave any behind? All too tricky. :(