Ok – this is just a quick post for those of you who haven’t seen it. This video here by members of staff at Bloomsbury Publishing is possibly the best thing I have seen in years – how is it possible that I can spend five minutes cringing and grinning all at the same time? A work of genius. Enjoy!
The Woodstock Literary Festival
Acquisitions for the weekend
I am going home to Chichester for the weekend to stay at my mother’s house. As soon as I walk in the door I will be met with the warm fug of cooking smells and my mum will greet me in her apron. The familiarity of my childhood home is something that I cherish and I love curling up on my mum’s sofa with the family cat, Oscar, a cup of tea in hand and a huge slice of homemade cake with a good book.
In preparation for a weekend of reading, and due to the fact that I was escaping a rain shower, I bought three books in the Oxfam bookshop on St Giles; William Golding’s The Spire, Thomas Hardy’s The Return of the Native and a rather amazing looking Virago which I am particularly excited about.
Before I start these however, I must finish Ann Bridge’s Ilyrian Spring which is one of my favourtie reads of 2010 so far. Simply perfect. A review will follow!
The Pre-Raphaelites and Italy
I love Burne-Jones and one of the real treats of this exhibition is that Andrew Lloyd-Webber has lent The Fall of Lucifer from his private collection. The painting is haunting and at 2.5 metres high is quite over-powering. The gilded edge contrasts beautifully with the gloomy, lowly colours of the painting as Lucifer and his reprobate angels fall from heaven.
Cycling home through the quiet streets of Oxford is such a delight at this time of year. Our way home was lit by the stars and we were accompanied by the peal of bells as bell-ringers were practising for Sunday. September is one of my favourite months as the smell of woodsmoke starts to creep in and the gentle chill reminds me that cosy evenings are on their way.
I am going to plan the books that I will take with me to Italy. Thank you for all your Italy inspired reading suggestions. I now have to narrow it down so that I leave some room for my toothbrush.
A holiday to cure my ‘consumption’
This is just a quick post to explain the unintentional blogging break. The last two weeks have simply flown by into nowhere it seems and I haven’t been very well so have been holed up in my bed feeling very sorry for myself and watching rubbish telly and reading easy crime novels. I am still peaky and currently have no voice at all, well I have a croaky, squeaky sound that is just ridiculous.