We Need to Talk About Kelvin by Marcus Chown

Now. Don't be confused with this one and think it's We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver*. This one isn't a novel, it's about physics. The subtitle of the Kelving book is everyday things tell us about the universe' and it consists of eleven chapters, each of which explains how an every day thing - your reflection on a pane of glass (apparently that shows us that light isn't made of waves but particles) or a teacup falling and breaking, but not unbreaking (this shows us that the universe started with a big bang).

Got that?

The Magician's Nephew by CS Lewis

Definitely my least favourite of the 7 books, and I read them (every time) in publication order rather than in Narnian chronological order (and I don't care what CS Lewis himself said, I think they are much better that way).

This one hands us Narnia's very own creation myth, the beginning of that world, the introduction to it of evil and - well not much else apart from the moment at the end when Digory makes a wardrobe...

As I have one more book in the series to go, I thought I'd make one monster review when I've finished that one. Watch this space!

Dragon in the Harbour by Rosemary Manning

This seems to have been written quite a long time after the other three that belong to this series, and it's quite different. I'm not sure I buy the idea of a dragon that lives in the water and moors himself up next to boats.

But it's a sweet story, featuring a dragon who gets grumpy when he's hungry, on his holiday (from Cornwall) in Weymouth.

For those of you not familiar with this series, it starts with Green Smoke in which R. Dragon meets a little girl who is on holiday in Cornwall. He tells her stories, and they're both sad at the end of the holiday when she goes home to St. Albans.

Breakfast at Tiffinays by Truman Capote

Well. What to say about this one? On the cover it says "one of the twentieth century's most gorgeously romantic fictions."

No.

The Double Comfort Safari Club by Alexander McCall Smith

I read the first five of the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency in quick succession and then decided not to bother with any more because they were getting a bit "samey". But actually I was doing them a disservice - they are most excellent but better read, I now feel, spaced out over a longer period of time.

British History for Dummies by Sean Lang

I decided that I didn't know enough about British history so I looked around for something to fill the gap. This is the one I chose, being familiar with the Dummies books from my early days fighting with computers and Microsoft Windows.

Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett

Ah, the witches. And the wizards. The librarian and elves. What's not to like about the magic of the Discworld?

I'm like a lot of others and really enjoy the Discworld novels when Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg make an appearance. And I definitely have a very soft spot for the librarian.

The Faber Book of Greek Legends ed. Kathleen Lines

I read a version of the Iliad and the Oddessy when I was about 10 and have been vaguely interested in Greek Myths since then. I actually bought this for the Gruesome Twosome but they appear not to be interested at all, even the one who is reading the Percy Jackson series - which is why I finally read this one.