chesilbeach

Not quite so windy today, but raining on and off, and just a bit of a grey day really. Forecast seems to be a bit better for the weekend, with less wind, no rain and slightly better temperatures, but I think the clouds are here to stay for Easter.

Yes, we're watching it too, bobbly. I've been really enjoying it, and being born in the 1970s, I can't wait for this week! Looking forward to lots of familiar foods and fashions!

I wondered if I was just not in the right mood for it when I started, but it just seems to be rather slow going. You make a good point though, at least it looks nice!

The title of the new book has been revealed ... The Girl in the Spider’s Web, and will be published on 27 August. More details and the cover can be found in this article: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/mar/31/stieg-larsson-millennium-novels-sequel-the-girl-in-the-spiders-web

The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award is the biggest children's literature award in the world, and this year has been won by PRAESA which promotes reading for children in South Africa. http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2015/mar/31/astrid-lindgren-prize-2015-winner

Wow, a quarter of the way through the year … where did that go??!! First impressions on my reading year so far aren't bad. 38 books read, but a large portion are children's or YA, although I'm not actually bothered about numbers, as I've spent a lot of time on other hobbies. Nothing wrong in that, but I would like to get back to my TBR and concentrate on some more grown up books for a while before my holidays start. Going to finish my current book, then hopefully go back to my Jar of Destiny for April. I've bought a lot of books, but a good few of those were the Waterstone's children's book prize finalists. I've only abandoned one book, so that's not too bad but I'm not afraid to do that nowadays … life's too short. Anyway, looking forward to heading into grown up territory again, and with the long weekend coming up, I'm hoping for plenty of reading time.

Thanks I'm a third of the way through Heap House now … I don't think I'm going to abandon it, but I'm not as enamoured of it as the people who have quotes on the cover (including Man Booker Prize winner Eleanor Catton) … I wanted to like it so much, but there are a few little things that are vexing, and it still doesn't feel as if it's got going yet and I'm 140 pages in. Hmm.

I'm doing the same at the moment, but determined to go back to the jar for April … oh, that's tomorrow … well, after my current book anyway. Glad you liked The Apple Tart of Hope, and I agree with you about Paloma … she does seem like far too many characters we've read before, but then we do read a lot of books!

House of Fools

Very windy. Driving to work this morning, a few people had put their bins out last night for the bin lorry this morning, and quite a few of them blown over in the night, strewing rubbish across the road in addition to the tree branches scattered everywhere.

The wind has blown our fence partially over but in this wind, it's impossible to try and fix it. It's supposed to blow over by Saturday, so hoping we'll be able to fix it at the weekend. In better news, we've had no downstairs lights for the last five days, so we've had fairy lights and battery operated lights to try and get by with, but the electrician came this morning and found the problem, so I won't have to shower in the dark any more!

I've read Can You Keep a Secret?, The Undomestic Goddess, Remember Me? and Twenties Girl, of which The Undomestic Goddess was definitely my favourite. Just looking back through my notes, I've read unto Shopaholic & Baby apparently … but I honestly don't remember it or the book before

Glad you enjoyed it tunn. If you happen to come across any other good cricket books from this era, let me know, as I'd be interested to read them.

I think I've seen all the box sets are on demand on Sky, so maybe I'll give them another go at some point … you're not the only one who keeps telling me to watch them!

Ooh, that's heartless

You're not getting me again!! Well … I say that ... I'm waiting until I've read the first two, but based on your reviews, I fully expect that as the third book picked up again, I'll be buying these two at some point in the future as well.

We read Pompeii at my book group, and I liked it too. I think my criticisms were mainly the same as yours, and the dialogue bothered me occasionally as it felt too modern … but obviously that's one of the difficult things to gauge when writing historical fiction … it's not like he could write it in latin! I loved the story though, and I really raced through it as the plot rattled along so well.

I'm so glad you're enjoying Campari for Breakfast … the cover is fabulous, and as Agatha Swanburne once said, "Every book is judged by its cover until it is read" so I've already judged it as a brilliant book, so good to know it's living up to the cover.

Imagine the look of horror on the child's face as mum cuts into him with a big knife

The home made ones have some apple in as well as the dried fruits and it just adds the extra bit of special to the flavour. The only problem is that the weather is so cold, it's difficult to get the dough to rise in the proving. We've actually resorted to putting the heating on in the past, but it seems ridiculous to put the heating on during the day just to prove some dough!

Same old, same old day today, not much out of the ordinary, except I was supposed to go to the dental hygienist for my routine appointment today, but they rang to cancel and rearrange it. That's the sum total of the excitement in my life today.

I've just noticed that Rae Earl writes for the online magazine Standard Issue, so thought I'd let you know in case you didn't know already!

Asparagus season is here!!!! Tonight, we'll be having lemon and asparagus linguine

The Boy In The Smoke is only 79p and The Name Of The Star by Maureen Johnson is only £1.99, and oddly, after reading your reviews … both are now on my Kindle!

How about an edible book? Cakes based on favourite children's books … Piglet is adorable!