I was pondering updating my What I’m Reading page earlier, and in doing so got to reminiscing about all the many books that have come into and gone out of my life over the past year or so.  I love to keep a note of the books I’ve read, mainly because I seem to use them as a means of mapping out my life.  Last year, for example, I remember finishing New Europe by Michael Palin on one of the windiest days we had, when going outside wasn’t even an option.  I also vividly remember reading Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert on the grass in front of the leaning tower of Pisa in May, when the sun was so hot I couldn’t possibly have walked anywhere other than the nearest gelato kiosk.  Books are to me what I guess diaries are to people who use them properly: a record of one’s life, and a reminder of the little things that have happened that we might otherwise simply forget in our haste to keep moving forward.

With all the free time I had last Summer and all the many bus journeys I seem to have taken since starting my new job, I seem to have managed to read an impressive pile of books over the course of the past 12 months.  So in case you find yourself looking for a little literary inspiration this January, here are some recommendations based on what I’ve read and enjoyed recently.

If you want to read a classic but you dislike ‘the classics’, read Jane Eyre.  The writing is digestible, the characters aren’t annoying and although it’s a love story at heart it’s not sickly sweet and schmaltzy.  I read this during the first couple of weeks at my new job last September.  It was welcome respite at the end of busy days full of new faces and things.

If you want to laugh really hard until you think you might pee a little, read either Bossypants by Tina Fey, or Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby.  Either one will produce the desired effect.

If you want to be gripped, read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  I blame this book (and its two sequels) for many a groggy-headed morning in October and November.  I literally couldn’t put it down.  Not even for sleep, or to finish making a cup of tea.

If you want to learn things you’ll remember and that will make you sound knowledgeable, read A Little History of the World by E.H. Gombrich.  This is definitely in my top 3 reads from last year.  It’s full of interesting stuff, but it’s also written in such a way that reading it doesn’t feel like learning.  In fact, reading it feels like drinking hot chocolate in front of a roaring log fire while it snows outside.  It’s perfect.

If you want to escape, read His Dark Materials trilogy.  There are enough ideas in these three books to keep you thinking for months, and enough magic to rival the whole Harry Potter back-catalogue.

If you want to cry (sometimes I genuinely do want this from a book), read Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer.  This quickly became one of my favourite books of all time, and I read the whole thing in one evening.  It’s brilliant, and heart-breaking, and all kinds of life-affirming all at once.  I can’t recommend it highly enough.

If you just want to be entertained, read Boiling a Frog by Christopher Brookmyre.  This didn’t change the way I see the world, and it didn’t cause me profound, deep thoughts or the loss of any sleep.  But it was funny, it was intriguing and it really did entertain me.  And sometimes, when it comes to a book, that’s really all you need, isn’t it?

What have you read recently that’s worth recommending?

Image above from here.

This weekend I’m visiting friends, so I expect to be working on more tea, more laughter, more dreaming and more fun.  Not so much on the more sleep, but there’s always next week!  Happy Fridays everyone.

Image above from here.

I find I get the most out of writing Things I Love Thursday posts when it feels like my Thursday hasn’t really been all that brilliant.  Like today, for example.  A couple of awkward moments at work were followed by a couple of near-misses with buses and taxis on the way home, a shouting match with a pedestrian who was clearly unaware of the green cross code and (to my shame) a bit of post-confrontational sobbing.  Hmm.

But behold!  It’s none other than the re-emergence, through the emotionally cleansing practice of positive blogging, of all the good stuff in my life on this one day that I would quite possibly have completely ignored had I not paused to write about.  Praise be to TilTing, blogging and generally being so very thankful.  Here’s what’s ace about today:

The fact that I even have a job to feel awkward about sometimes.  And a job that 98% of the time I feel positive about at that.

The financial freedom to be able to buy whatever food I think will put a smile back on my face when my day has been less than perfect.  Tonight that tonic was falafel wraps with guacamole, coriander, yoghurt and cucumber.

These headphones, which I bought a couple of weeks ago and have hardly had off of my noggin since.  Benefits: they are comfortable, they keep my ears warm and I am spared the rather unnatural and fairly gross process of jamming something hard and plastic into my ear every time I want to listen to Arcade Fire.  I’m in love.

Crap from the street.  I found an abandoned book case sitting out in the rain this evening as I arrived home after the cycle from hell.  I’ve been pining for a place to display my books for months now and this was too perfect an opportunity to pass up (it was also proof that good, and sometimes free, things come to those who wait because they are stingy).  I’m going to spend some time this weekend making it look pretty and arranging my books by all sorts of order like the nerd I am, but I’ll share a photo or two afterwards.

New people!  My flatmate is in Antarctica at the moment (I KNOW), so I’m getting new living space company for the next couple of months.  I can’t wait to have someone to offer my banal, uninteresting post-work chat to again – the past few weeks I’ve had to resort to talking to myself, which is but the first step on a very slippery slope, I think.  And finally…

My Bed.  It’s warm, it’s comfortable and no matter how bad any day becomes it will never be too long before I can pile it high with blankets and burrow in until the storm blows over.

Now you!  What’s making you smile this Thursday?

Image above from here.

…and granny blankets.  As the temperature drops the race to finish this quilt intensifies, but I’m pleased to report that the cheery colours are helping to keep my January bright.  So far, 42 squares are done, which leaves 22 to go.  Can we all just quietly ignore for now the reality that I’m going to have to sew the whole thing together before it can keep me cosy at night?

What are you making this Winter?

This week has been all about getting back in the saddle, in the literal, as well as the figurative sense.  I’ve made six out of ten journeys to and from work on my bike (I’m building my way up to at least eight), I’ve eaten lots of salad and I’ve been trying to go to bed a little bit earlier each night.  I’ve also been giving my bank account a bit of a New Year’s detox.  Nothing too strenuous (it’s still January and dark at 4.30pm after all), but a little less takeaway coffee and a complete ban on entering all branches of Waterstones are helping me to stay the financial course until the end of the month.  Come February I will be firing on four cylinders of debt busting, travel planning awesomeness (such is the plan anyway).

That said, I have been allowing myself the odd pleasure-inducing purchase here and there this month: some reduced price flowers which I can never seem to walk past (it’s something about their being so shrivelled and pathetic-looking – it tugs right at my heartstrings in the same way a sick puppy might), a candle that makes my bathroom smell like roses to the extent that I actually find myself making up excuses to visit it and, lastly, a new (to me!  For £4!) stripey duvet cover and matching pillow cases that have given my bedroom an instant burst of January…something.

I’ve also been back at the cinema this week, after a little festive hiatus when I opted for “seen five hundred times but what the hell” as opposed to “oh, that looks new and interesting”.  On Wednesday I watched The Iron Lady, which above all else I thought was a fantastically acted, immensely moving portrait of dementia, and last night I went to see The Artist which, despite some initial trepidation (I was fully braced for another “Uh, WHAT?” session of Tree of Life proportions) I absolutely loved.  It’s gorgeous, funny, stylish and completely unlike anything I’ve seen before.  One hundred per cent worth a watch if you have time on your hands this weekend and even the smallest of affections for 1920s glamour.  In case you remain to be convinced, there’s a brief but really great review of it here.

This weekend I plan to finish this book which I’ve been reading for what feels like forever, make some progress with crocheting my first patchwork quilt and perhaps have a go at making focaccia bread to sweeten up my Sunday.

What’s been turning your world this week?  Do tell!

Image above from here.