Janet

Bless him. If he's not in any pain and gets stressed at the vets (and can't cope with anesthetic - eek) then letting nature take its course is definitely the kindest thing for him. Hopefully he'll have a long time with you yet. Firstly, well done on doing so well with your new job. Abi used to work somewhere similar (whilst she was at college). This is their main website. When we first moved to the area it was a tiny coffee shop and working farm but now it's absolutely massive. They have soft play and a 'Cowtastic Farm Park' with a petting zoo, plus shop units that they rent out. One shop, called the Berry Barn, is half children's clothing (it's not the sort of clothing you see on the high street), and toys - wooden toys, stencils, pencils, pens, colouring books etc, and the other half is gifts such as nice scented candles, scarves, jewellery, soaps, trinkets, handbags, birthday cards... the list goes on (I've just noticed that Farrington's haven't updated their website as they've moved out of the wooden hut they were in, to a unit twice the size). They sell the sorts of things you'd find in a garden centre gift shop, or in a small, quirky town, rather than on a 'normal' High Street. It's my first port of call for gifts for friends (but then my friend Lisa and I visit the coffee shop together at least twice a month!). Honestly, in the last 10 years it's gone from just a restaurant and farm shop to somewhere you can get a hair cut, buy fish and chips, get your dog groomed, restore some furniture... the list goes on! It's won several awards and certainly appears to be very successful. The don't have a book shelf though! Good luck with your new venture. It sounds very exciting. Edit: I popped in to wish you a happy year of reading in 2017 and got completely sidetracked!

I've heard there are one or two others! Sorry again for the confusion. What?! You crazy Finns! I like Kerstmis!

Thanks, Chrissy. Thanks, Gaia. I do have an other non-Christmassy case that Claire made me - it's gorgeous too - black and white fabric with script on it. It's been admired so much, and several people have asked me where they could buy one.

Hmm - I haven't updated since I was on 28/48 and I'm now on 32. Here's my progress map. I've added Norfolk (The Go-Between by L P Hartley) and Suffolk (The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald) so far in 2017 - I'll have to go and look to see what the other two were!

Good plan! I have to write everything down these days! Thanks - good luck to you too. It's true! She's very modest. I don't have enough patience to create what Claire makes (or the ability, but that's a different story!). It was good to catch up. I do hope I don't give you guys my cough. It honestly had gone away, but I think the fresh air bought it back again. I've been coughing all day long, it's doing my head in! And thanks - they sound good, so fingers crossed.

We are lucky to live close enough to meet up. It takes me about 90 (ish) minutes to get to Kay's town - but that's because I have to go through a bit of Bath, albeit the edge, which is always busy. When we meet in Bristol it takes me about 45 minutes by car, half an hour longer by bus (but then I can read or listen to an audio book and I don't have to worry about parking, so I usually take that option) and when we meet in Bath it's 25 minutes by car. I'm lucky that I get to see Michelle (usually once a year) too, as she lives very close to where I grew up, and I go and stay with my oldest friend every year, so we usually get to meet up for coffee and a trip to Waterstones.

Ah, sorry. I'm not surprised I confused you. The ™ thing is something we do on another forum when we use a made-up word - and as there is no such word as gorgeouser (there really should be!) I put the ™ next to it to show that I know I'm talking gibberish! But yes, she is amazing. She makes such beautiful things. Thanks - that makes sense. No capital letter for Christmas is an alien concept. Your language looks so pretty. All those lovely umlauts!

I love your blog! Here's to a fantastic, stress-free 2017. I'm looking forward to lots more meetings with books, coffee (or tea, if you must! ) and toast. (Where's the toast emoticon?! ) I'm looking forward to following your progress. You will have a better reading year, I can feel it in my bones!

It is, isn't it! She doesn't, but she easily could. I know I sound like a walking advert, but they're so professional looking. Frankie - what do Ääntäminen käyttäjältä JoyJoy (nainen maasta Suomi) and Ääntäminen käyttäjältä lupinesse (nainen maasta Suomi) mean from the site you linked? The words say hyvää joulua when I click play, but the other text appears next to the play button.

Ooh, thanks - I'll have a go!

YES! I'm going to print this out at work tomorrow and try to learn them! Finnish looks so difficult to learn. I struggle with the little French I can remember!

It's like a little Christmassy sleeping bag for my Kindle! Oooh, I can see it! I've no idea how to pronounce it though.

Here are a few more pictures of the Kindle case (because I'm so chuffed with it). Front Back I'm not sure my photo does justice to the Christmassy writing there. Open view

I meant to post this yesterday but I got tied up with personal stuff. I met up with Kay and Alan and Claire yesterday. It was great! We met in Waterstones (where else?!) and spent over three hours in their café ! As ever, the time whizzed by. Claire gave my my Christmas present - a book called The Secret of Nightingale Wood by Lucy Strange. A new author to me - and what a gorgeous cover. I also had an even gorgeouser™ Christmassy Kindle case. I love it - it's so pretty. Claire is so, so clever. I also bought two books with some of the vouchers I had for Christmas. The Snow Spider by Jenny Nimmo (although I've known of this book for years, I didn't realise this was part of a trilogy) - the cover of this is very pretty and sparkly! Fiver Rivers Met on a Wooded Plain by Barney Norris. I've picked this up a few times, and yesterday I picked it up again and one of the Waterstones staff members was telling me how much he'd enjoyed it. It's set in or near Salisbury in Wiltshire, which is an area I love.

Thanks, Kay. The pace of my reading, and the (nearly) up-to-date-ness of my reviews will never last! It's good while it does though! Definitely don't forget to read The Girl Who Saved Christmas - it's lovely!

It was very different to anything I've read before. Quirky. I did enjoy it.

My whole 'to read' pile doesn't total 120. Suddenly I feel much better!

Book #4 Grief is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter The ‘blurb’ In a London flat, two young boys face the unbearable sadness of their mother's sudden death. Their father, a Ted Hughes scholar and scruffy romantic, imagines a future of well-meaning visitors and emptiness. In this moment of despair they are visited by Crow - antagonist, trickster, healer, babysitter. This sentimental bird is drawn to the grieving family and threatens to stay until they no longer need him. This extraordinary debut, full of unexpected humour and emotional truth, marks the arrival of a thrilling and significant new talent. “I won’t leave you until you don’t need me any more”. With those words, Crow arrives in the house of a man and his sons. The bottom has fallen out of their world – their beloved wife and mother has died, and the man in particular doesn’t know how he’s going to cope with the loss. Crow becomes confidant, nanny and friend to the shattered family. Told alternatively in the voices of the father, the crow and the boys (always ‘the boys’, although sometimes the words come from one brother, sometimes the other and sometimes both), Grief is the Thing with Feathers is without a doubt one of the most unusual books I have ever read. Crow is a figment of the family’s imagination – a sort of symbol of grief. Or is he…? It’s never really spelled out so is open to interpretation. Necessarily due to the theme of the book, the writing is very emotional and beautifully written in what feels like prose poetry and I really enjoyed it. It’s a stunning, unique (to me, anyway), debut. Again I quote “I won’t leave you until you don’t need me any more”. If those words made you think of Nanny McPhee then you’re not alone! And funnily enough, it came on the TV the same afternoon of the day I finished the book! In the second film, Nanny McPhee has a pet crow! I’m rambling now but I do wonder if Max Porter likes Nanny McPhee. Although I’ve heard of Ted Hughes, I’m not really familiar with his poetry and I certainly hadn’t come across the collection Crow: From the Life and Songs of the Crow - they have a copy in Bristol Central Library so I might take a look. The paperback edition is 128 pages long and is published by Faber & Faber. It was first published in 2015. The ISBN is 9780571327232. 4/5 (challenging, but I really enjoyed it) (Finished 8 January 2017) A big thanks to Kay for loaning this to me. I haven't actually read your review of it (assuming you wrote one) so I shall have to see if we agree. I think I remember you saying it was a challenging read (although that might have been my friend Lisa, who has also read it). Edit: Ah, Kay - your review is so much better than mine!

Book #3 The Go-Between by L P Hartley The ‘blurb’ 'The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there' When one long, hot summer, young Leo is staying with a school-friend at Brandham Hall, he begins to act as a messenger between Ted, the farmer, and Marian, the beautiful young woman up at the hall. He becomes drawn deeper and deeper into their dangerous game of deceit and desire, until his role brings him to a shocking and premature revelation. The haunting story of a young boy's awakening into the secrets of the adult world, The Go-Between is also an unforgettable evocation of the boundaries of Edwardian society. Now in his sixties, Leo Colston comes across an old diary from the year 1900 in a box of personal belongings that has been unopened for years. Leo opens the diary and begins to read, and as he does so, he starts to recall long-forgotten events from that long, hot summer. Events which he has repressed for over fifty years… The young Leo finds himself isolated at the boarding school he attends after two boys mercilessly tease him over the use of the word 'vanquished' in his diary. Impulsively, Leo writes a curse in his diary and when something happens to the boys he finds himself an unlikely hero! Later that summer, Leo is invited to spend the latter half of July at Brandham Hall in Norfolk – the residence of a school friend called Marcus. There he becomes a go-between, delivering messages between Marcus's sister Marion and the man her parents want her to marry, Lord Hugh Trimingham. He also conveys correspondence between Marion and a local farmer called Ted. At first Leo, who has a big crush on Marion, is happy to make these deliveries. However, when he notices one of the letters between Marion and Ted, explained away as business correspondence, is unsealed, Leo reads the opening lines of the missive he becomes less willing, although he still continues to take the messages to and fro, not really understanding what is going on. As the temperature rises, matters come to a head in a way that Leo could not have dreamt of, and his world comes crashing down as he suffers a sense of betrayal that will stay with him and affect his future life. Apart from the famous opening line – "The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there" I knew nothing about this novel. I had bought the paperback, but the print is so tiny in it that I downloaded the Kindle version. I'm glad I did as there are very many footnotes, and it would have irritated me having to flick to the back of the book so often. As it was, the footnotes I needed to read (especially the chapter where Marcus and Leo speak a lot of French) were useful when I was able to just click on them and make them appear on screen – I think the book would have taken me much longer to read if I stuck to the paperback. I really enjoyed the story – it drew me in straight away and kept me gripped until the dénouement with a justified sense of foreboding. I will definitely have to look at what else L P Hartley has written. This book was for Norfolk in the English Counties Challenge and I have put a slightly longer version of this review in the relevant thread in that section. The paperback edition is 293 pages long and is published by Penguin. It was first published in 1953. The ISBN is 9780140188523. 4/5 (I really enjoyed it) (Finished 7 January 2017)

Now in his sixties, Leo Colston comes across an old diary from the year 1900 in a box of personal belongings that has been unopened for years. Leo opens the diary and begins to read, and as he does so, he starts to recall long-forgotten events from that long, hot summer. Events which he has repressed for over fifty years… The young Leo finds himself isolated at the boarding school he attends after two boys mercilessly tease him over the use of the word 'vanquished' in his diary and his peers either join in or take a step away from him, preferring not to be tainted by associating with him. Impulsively, Leo writes a curse in his diary, made up partly of algebra symbols and partly Sanskrit and when something happens to the boys he finds himself an unlikely hero! Later that summer, Leo is invited to spend the latter half of July at Brandham Hall in Norfolk – the residence of a school friend called Marcus. Leo's widowed mother, whilst reluctant to let him go, especially as Leo will turn 13 whilst he is there, knows that the experience will be good for him, and so he travels from his home in Wiltshire to Norfolk. He settles in quickly and soon becomes a go-between, delivering messages between Marcus's sister Marion and the man her parents want her to marry, Lord Hugh Trimingham, a former soldier, disfigured in the Boer War. He also conveys correspondence between Marion and a local farmer called Ted. At first Leo, who has a big crush on Marion, is happy to make these deliveries, which help to relieve his boredom when Marcus is laid up with an illness. However, when he notices one of the letters between Marion and Ted, explained away as business correspondence, is unsealed, and sees the words "darling, darling, darling. Same place, same time, this evening. But take care not to…" he becomes less willing, although he still continues to take the messages to and fro, not really understanding what is going on. As the temperature rises, matters come to a head in a way that Leo could not have dreamt of, and turning to the magic he believes solved the problem at school, he plans another spell, but events take a tragic turn and his world comes crashing down as he suffers a sense of betrayal that will stay with him and affect his future life. Apart from the famous opening line – "The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there" I knew nothing about this novel. Some of the action takes place in the county town, Norwich, and there are plenty of references to Leo's Norfolk jacket (I had to Google it to see what they are – if like me you are not in the know they are similar to the jackets worn by the police!) but apart from that it could have been set in any county. I had bought the paperback, but the print is so tiny in it that I downloaded the Kindle version. I'm glad I did as there are very many footnotes, and it would have irritated me having to flick to the back of the book so often. As it was, the footnotes I needed to read (especially the chapter where Marcus and Leo speak a lot of French) were useful when I was able to just click on them and make them appear on screen – I think the book would have taken me much longer to read if I stuck to the paperback. I really enjoyed the story – it drew me in straight away and kept me gripped until the dénouement with a justified sense of foreboding. I will definitely have to look at what else L P Hartley has written.

I have three unread Christmas books (two from 2015 ) but like you, I think the moment has passed! I'm going to start my Christmas reading earlier this year. I think you'll love it!

Book #2 The Girl Who Saved Christmas by Matt Haig The ‘blurb’ If magic has a beginning, can it also have an end? When Amelia wants a wish to come true she knows just the man to ask - Father Christmas. But the magic she wants to believe in is starting to fade, and Father Christmas has more than impossible wishes to worry about. Upset elves, reindeer dropping out of the sky, angry trolls and the chance that Christmas might be cancelled. But Amelia isn't just any ordinary girl. And - as Father Christmas is going to find out - if Christmas is going to be saved, he might not be able to do it alone... There was a time when children didn’t receive gifts from Father Christmas on Christmas day. Oh, Father Christmas was there alright - he was there in the North Pole, waiting. Waiting for hope, which is what would give him the magic to travel round the world delivering his presents. And last year, Amelia was the girl who had the hope to make the magic happen. By the following year, Amelia is not a happy girl. She writes to Father Christmas with her one true desire but it quickly becomes apparent that her wish is not going to be granted. Life is hard for her anyway with a sick mother and her job as a chimney sweep and when life goes even more awry, Amelia loses hope. In the meantime, Elfland has been the subject of an attack by Trolls. Christmas is ruined. To ensure that the next Christmas is not a disaster, FC must head to London to track Amelia down, but making her hope again is going to be no easy task… This was a Christmas present from Kay and Alan. It’s not exactly a sequel to A Boy Called Christmas (which they bought me last year) but it was nice to have read that first to understand the characters in the North Pole. The book is set in Victorian times which is a period of history which really interests me as it’s a time of so many inventions and social change. The action alternates between London (Charles Dickens, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert make cameo appearances!) and Elfland. I enjoyed both settings, but preferred the action that took place down here. The characters are well-written and funny and the illustrations by Chris Mould are fantastic and help to bring the story to life. Good fun. The hardback edition is 327 pages long and is published by Cannongate. It was first published in 2016. The ISBN is 9781782118572. 4/5 (I enjoyed it) (Finished 2 January 2017)

I read it in 2009 - I've just looked at my review and it seems I wasn't over-impressed with it either!

I used to force myself to finish a book, but a few years ago I decided life is too short to read a book I'm not enjoying. I generally use the 100 pages rule, but sometimes I know far sooner if a book is not for me.

I haven't and don't have a copy - I don't eventually know what it's about!