[Comfort Reads]

When I'm in need of serious comfort (like when my illness is playing up) I love to snuggle up and read some of my childhood favourites. It somehow just gives me reassurance. Like Enid Blyton's books I also simply adore it when the weather turns, and the nights are drawing in. I like to wrap up warm with a cup of coffee and read a seasonal or festive book nothing like it!

[What's Your Book Activity Today? - Take 6!]

i read a short ghost story at 1:30am (i've got into the habit of picking up a book of short stories every time I go to the library) and I plan to read either my Ian McEwan book later or some more short stories...or, most likely both

[Fantasy Dinner Party]

hmm just 4? that's tough! it'd be between these people though:

 

. Roald Dahl

. the president / prime minister

. some form of spiritual guru (yes, odd i know!)

. Linda McCartney

. Arnulf Rainer (artist)

. Walt Disney

 

hmm i'm sure there's many, many more...i may up-date my list in the future

[Safety]

Yeah I do that. Because I suffer from Anxiety Disorder I find it great escapism. And I'm not afraid to put down a book that isn't helping me hide in literature

 

same here! I actually posted this thread this morning because my social anxiety was playing up! I was supposed to be meeting with someone i knew, but the thought was filling me with dread and i found that all i wanted to do at that moment was snuggle up on my own and lose myself in a book.

I suppose it's a form of escapism...it's like looking into someone elses life other than your own.

[Salads]

well, i always opt for a 'cruelty-free' version. i just seem to enjoy my food more then. They have some amazing meat substitutes now aswell. i used to eat meat, but don't feel as though i'm missing out on anything. I've actually eaten meat substitutes which taste better than meat. it's just a matter of trying stuff out.

[Safety]

Am I the only one who finds a certain 'safety' in literature? I mean, when i'm facing an uncomfortable situation I find that all I want to do is 'switch off' from the world and bury myself in reading or writing. I just feel that i'm happiest when i'm immersed in some 'alternate world'. does anyone else find themselves turning to literature for comfort?

[What's Your Book Activity Today? - Take 6!]

my book activity today = continued reading 'Saturday' by Ian McEwan and i shall be glancing through the optimists handbook again later tonight (it contains lots of little entries, so it's good for when you're just about to nod off to sleep at night)

[Where is the Strangest place you have read?]

i've read in a closet. we were on holiday and i wasn't well but i didn't want to turn the light on to disturb the rest of my family in the hotel room, and i remembered there was a huge closet which had its own light, so i sat in there reading with the door closed until i fell asleep!

[How many books do you read at once?]

i just can't help reading a few at a time. When I go to the library i like to pick out a selection to meet my varying moods.In the morning when i'm eating my breakfast I like something easy, short and humorous to read, whereas at night I opt for something light-hearted yet not so humorous, and then i have a novel for when i feel like dipping into it.

[Have you read a book in one sitting?]

I love it when a book is so good that you can't seem to put it down. Like when you promise yourself you'll stop and do something else at the end of the chapter but you just can't!

[childhood feel good books?]

Do any of you have 'feel good' books from your childhood which you reach for when you're in need of comfort? Flicking through and looking at the illustrations in 'Brambly Hedge' always puts a smile on my face and i'm currently reading 'The Enchanted wood' by Enid Blyton.

[All new What's for dinner?]

i wanted a cold pot of rice pudding (seriously) but i'm opting for low fat bio yogurt and a nectarine i think. i'm having a bad afternoon =[

[Salads]

I had a salad for lunch today =] It consisted of: raw spinach leaves, lettuce,aduki beans,grated carrot,cucumber and avocado cubes.I had some marinated tofu on top too. it was delicious! i used a caesar sauce for the leaves etc and onion, ginger and lemon marinade for the tofu.

[Have you ever walked out of a film?]

I walked out of 'stealth'. my goodness it was awful!It wasn't really my thing in the first place, but we were bored so we went for it, and in the entire theatre there were only two other people, who actually walked out before us =p (there were 3 of us)

[What are Everyone's Favourite Films?]

I love Amelie, rocky horror picture show (never fails to make me smile!) and if i'm being entirely honest, a good muppet film =p I'm admitting here and now that i adore 'A Muppet Christmas Carol' oh the shame.

[Wuthering Heights]

Costume drama's really aren't my thing. My family thought I would love to watch this (as my mother excitedly let me know it was on tonight) but in all honesty they just bore me.

[Your first job]

my first job was as 'domestic staff' (posh way of saying cleaner =p )in a health club, 20 hours per week when I was 17 i think

[Salads]

i'm a vegetarian too and love making tasty salads. I think the problem for most people is the fact that when they attempt to make a salad they think of your typical: lettuce, cucumber, tomato. But they can be so much more than that and so satisyfying! I add delicious sauces to mine and mix in flavoured quorn chunks and chickpeas and things like red kidney beans. I love adding onion chutney too. People just need to think out of the box :-p lettuce should merely be a 'base'. Try adding things like pumpkin seeds and pine nuts too.

I used to love ploughmans salad too (lettuce, grated cheese,lots of sweet pickle =D )

[Favourite meal]

I completely don't eat properly and my favourite meal that I always enjoy eating is either cold, full-fat rice pudding in a little pot or cold wholegrain yogurt =] yummie!

[Low fat/healthy recipes?]

You can easily whip together a super-healthy salad and completely reap the health benefits by adding things such as chickpeas,aduki beans, avocado or even a handful of nuts and seeds (flax/linseed is great for digestion)

[All new What's for dinner?]

I had tofu cooked in homemade onion and ginger marinade with vegetables =]

[Favourite Comfort Foods...]

A pot of cold vanilla rice pudding =]

[Do you pick up unknown authors?]

I always pick books from un-known authors! Every time i visit the library I usually pick up a ton of books by authors most people wouldn't even have heard of. It's the content that matters isn't it? Ofcourse I own some well-known authors books too (Tolkien,Fay Weldon,Bill Bryson etc) but ultimately, it really doesn't bother me!

[Swapping lives with a character]

I suppose mine are horrendously childish to be honest I'd like to be one of the main characters from Enid Blyton's 'the enchanted forest'. As well as being from a time where manners were still alive, you'd get to have all those amazing adventures and share them with 2 siblings I suppose when i was a 'tween' and read the Jaqueline (sp) Wilson book 'girls in love' i wanted to be like Magda. i'm sure there other less silly ones, but these are the only ones I can think of right now! oh, haha, i just remembered, when i was little and read 'twinkle' i always wanted to be 'Nurse Nancy' who looked after the teddies in the teddy hospital.i miss being a kid lol

[Worst ever film from a book?]

i strongly felt that the Golden Compass film didn't do the book any justice what so ever. I enjoyed the book alot, but found the film was really lacking the same magic! I suppose the characters really weren't as i'd imagined they would be.