So, bleary eyed, having been kept awake all night by my eldest son and his teenage friends, I dragged myself out of my duvet at 7 am, with a certain lack of New Year spirit... only to be greeted by a lovely fresh morning emerging outside my bedroom window.
My garden, children, and lots of hot tea revived me after some inevitable party clearance, and the throwing out of teenagers into the cold bright morning, somewhat worse for wear!
As I recover from my surfeit of food, I contemplate my diet over the last week, hmm... an overwhelming amount of meat, very little fruit!
Over my banana, I considered my New Year's resolutions, hmm... again. The thing is, they're always the same, have been for years, so why do I bother? Well, it's something to do with new beginnings, as I said yesterday, I just like that idea. I'm already looking forward to the Spring, and the longer evenings slowly approaching.
I consider our 'stash' of presents, many of them, I'm delighted to say, are books. They are all wonderful, some of them are in my sidebar list. For some reason, the Amazon link has reverted to the USA site, I don't know why. Bear with me until I sort it out.
I'm particularly pleased to note that many of them are London books.
I've read all the novels by Sarah Waters, loved them all, especially Fingersmith with its setting in the squalor and grime of Victorian London. It helped that I could recognize many of the places set around the City, London Bridge and Southwark. The research she does for her books is very thorough, and presumably time consuming. This new book is a ghost story, so I think I'll read it during daylight hours!
This new cookery book by Allegra McEvedy is just fabulous. 'Leon' opened in Carnaby St, and won best new restaurant in the UK in 2005, now there are nine restaurants in London. The book contains lovely graphics and photography, much of it in a 1970's scrapbook style on matt paper. It also has similarities with 'altered art' books - pages that open out yet again, and envelopes with information nestling inside, cut-outs, pull- outs, a treasure trove. It has not one, but two, ribbon page markers, a great idea if you're trying to do two recipes at once. I love the section on cuts of meat, knowledge lost on most of my generation. I wish I could take more photos and show you, but I'm worried about infringing copyright laws! The first half of the book is information, the second contains the recipes. Just delightful, a lovely present for a friend.
I do love books with good design as well as stories. The cover of this book is enticing, the contents seem absorbing.
Covering Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club, The Beatles at Abbey Rd, through David Bowie, The Sex Pistols and more recently, Amy Winehouse and Dizzee Rascal, there's a lot to take in. Like fashion, London's music history has grown from the 'streets' through Elizabethan traders and public execution songs, through the East End Music Halls to present day artists such as Paloma Faith. Paul Du Noyer has been writing about music for over 20 years. He was assistant editor of NME and editor of Q and MOJO. Included are photographs of Noel Coward, Soho and the West End, early Rolling Stones, Marc Bolan and T Rex, The Kinks, Sex Pistols, Paul Weller and The Jam, Ian Dury,The Clash, Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen and Dizzee Rascal... phew! A plethora of London characters - looking forward to this.
I bought this book for my husband, a lover of maps.
A sumptuous coffee table book, containing over 150 maps, mostly hand drawn - a graphic delight! From Roman and Saxon times through to the present, the content is split into historical, political, social and geological sections. Maps of all sorts of things: Chaucer's London; Great Fire of London; Monopoly board; River Thames; London Underground; War maps; cholera outbreaks; sewerage systems; The Crystal Palace; Festival of Britain 1851; British Empire Exhibition 1924; West Indian immigrants arriving in London; Royal events; famous architects such as Richard Rogers; London Marathon route; crime; and even a map of the Eastenders locality!
It only remains for me to say...
... A very Happy New Year from all of us here, to all of you out there. We hope you have good health, happiness and peace in 2010 - and forget the resolutions!
