We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea by Arthur Ransome

I didn't like this as much as the others in the series so far, mostly because there is too much technical sailing jargon and discussion of sandbanks to really grab me, as a non-sailor.

Basically the action moves from the Lake District to the east coast - Harwich to be exact. The Walker children meet a young boat skipper, Jim, and (after their mother has checked his background) they're allowed to spend the night on his boat, the Goblin, as long as they remain in the harbour.

Winter Holiday by Arthur Ransome

Winter Holiday is the fourth in the Swallows and Amazon series by Arthur Ransome and was first published in 1933. The four Swallows and two Amazons are back and in addition Dick and Dorothea Cullum appear for the first time.

This time instead of the main focus being on sailing as it was in the first three, the novel is about (as the title cunningly suggests) a winter holiday in the lake district. Ransome cleverly sends the Swallows' mother away (to Malta with their youngest sister to visit their Naval officer father). Nancy and Peggy are living at home with their mother as usual. Dick and Dorothea are having a holiday at the home of their mother's former nurse (Mrs Dixon) while their parents are in Egypt on an archaelogical dig.

With the grownups conveniently gone, the children are free to have adventures in the snow and ice around Windemere: instead of being sailors and pirates they are artic explorers and their project is to trek to the "north pole".

When I read these novels as a child, this was my favourite. Dick and Dorothea wonder at the skills of the other, older, children but they also have skills that the Swallows and Amazons envy. All children share a fantastically vivid imagination and they remind me of myself in some respects.

What has struck me about this series is just how much freedom the children had back then. This would probably frighten the skin of modern parents but for someone who grew up in the 70s in small-town England it is something to be envied. Back when I was a girl it was common for my mum to pack me up some sandwiches, a drink and some snacks and wave goodbye as I rode off for the day with my friend on our bikes. We'd be out until it was nearly dark, roaming all around Windsor Great Park. Even that much freedom seems to scare modern people - but we didn't make fires, camp out overnight or sail around a huge lake in small sailing boats.

Welcome to my new blog!

I love reading. I read. A lot. At work I'm famous for it, everyone knows that when I go for lunch, more likely than not I'm heading to McDonalds (the nearest place) for coffee with my book. Anyone is welcome to join me but there are rules.

Rule 1: you are not allowed to talk to me when I'm reading.
Rule 2: refer to Rule 1.

Simples.

Up to now I've kept a sort of online diary over at my h2g2 page. But I want to open my reading diary to... well, to whom? To the world, a it happens, and since the relative success of my public transport blog I thought I'd give it a go.

The concept is simple (it has to be since apart from being famous for reading I'm also famous for having a brain the size of a pea). I will make a post whenever I start a new book and then if anyone wants to talk about it they can leave a comment.

But what do I read? Well, everything. Currently I'm working my way through a few series:

• the Percy Jackson series (waiting for the 5th and final book to be delivered)
• the Chronicles of Narnia (in publication order - oh look, I'm waiting for the 5th to arrive)
• the Discworld novels (also in publication order, I'm up to Reaper Man)
• the Swallows & Amazons series (there will shortly appear a post about Winter Holiday)
• the Chronicles of Prydian (I've read two, I think there are four but I seem to have lost momentum)

In addition I've recently discovered a liking for reading about science (physics in particular) and science history. I love biographies and autobiographies (official and unofficial). Fantasy features large, as does historical fiction (and romantic historical fiction on occasion). Travel writing is another thing I'm becoming addicted to and am always on the look out for new (to me) writers. Classic and modern, fiction and non-fiction. I particularly also like classic Russian literature but never seem to have the bottle to read it.

For such a voracious reader I'm sorry to say that I don't use the library as much as I should because I love to own the books I'm reading. We are members of our local library, but since the Gruesome Twosome also like to own books (and since I'm such a pushover to "muuummmm I don't have anything to read, can you buy me a book?") we don't use it much. Perhaps we should make that a resolution this year. Use the library.

There is another reason for not using the library as much as we should is that I am very lazy about reading books in German. I hardly ever do and am hoping to rectify that this year. For Christmas I was given a set of 15 Classic German Books and I'm looking forward to making a start on those.

I'm also very happy to receive recommendations and, indeed, I'm hoping to get some...

That's enough waffle. Feel free to comment, make recommendations or generally shoot the breeze.