Books books books books

ou should know that while I was neglecting my blog I was also reading a metric crapload. I purged the enormous pile of half read books beside my bed and just concentrated on reading two books at a time - one fiction and one non-fiction (because sometimes you don't feel like reading fiction. And sometimes you don't feel like reading non-fiction).

Oh look - here they are!

As you can see I was less than impressed with Harlequin. It was a book that Jo had brought to the flat but had no desire to take with her - probably because it was COMPLETE DRIVEL. Yep. At the time I just felt like reading something light, so I guess that it fulfilled that particular need. But really, for the love of all that is good and right in literature, don't do it.

Savvy Chic was good fun. Most of it is just common sense advice as to the best ways to entertain, travel, et al. However, I like that lady's spunk! And some of the advice was inspired - and has lead me to have my own white Egyptian cotton duvet cover. Which cost me about $60 in the end, BTW. Bargain.

Lady Chatterley's Lover was our book club book for this month - and I found I enjoyed it much more than I thought I was going to, being that Lawrence is so full of loathing for all Womankind and their Masculine Essence Sucking Ways. But apparently he hated women a lot less when writing Lady Chatterley than he did when writing, say, The Rainbow or Sons and Lovers.

If you haven't read We Will Not Cease I strongly, strongly, strongly recommend that you do - especially if you have the slightest interest in WWI or New Zealand history. Absolutely fascinating autobiographical book about the treatment of conscientious objectors by the New Zealand government during WWI.

And finally - the book that has changed the way I eat - In Defense of Food. I am now the Queen of only eating at a table, of drinking a glass of wine with dinner, of eating from the garden, of avoiding processed foods. Also, of stoneground flour - the discussion of the relative nutritional value of stoneground v industrial ground flour was, for some reason, one thing from the book that really stuck with me. I feel as though all my home baking is now infused with goodness, which is of course a pretty ridiculous thing as it's mostly full of sugar more than anything else.

The current two books on the go are Dr Zhivago (Boris Pasternak) and Linotte: The Early Diaries of Anais Nin, a book that has inspired me to become diary-writing-girl once again, in the same way that Savvy Chic has inspired me to only buy really nice, quality stuff, and In Defense of Food has inspired me to eat quality food in moderate quantities.

Reading just two books at a time has made me much more excited by the prospect of the other books on my book shelf as well - I think it must be the sheer anticipation. I'm estimating that I won't even need to pay my library fine this year, with the number of books that I have lying around that either haven't read yet or really want to read again. AWESOME.