What books did you get for Christmas?

The Proof of my Innocence by Jonathan Coe - I do like his novels but wasn't sure how I'd get on with this after hearing him interviewed about it. Guess I'll find out...

Identity Crisis by Ben Elton - bit of a wildcard as I'm not keen on him at all but I'll give it a go

Still need to read The Glassmaker which i was given last year. A lot of the books on my wishlist lean towards the miserable so aren't really Christmas gifts.

The Shipping Forecast, celebrating 100 years. I am utterly delighted as it was from an adult DC who clearly knows me very well.

Raising Hare Chloe Dalton and No Friend to This House Natalie Haynes

almost finished Elizabeth Day’s new one.

A Knock on the Door by Rob Parsons.

It is a true story about a homeless man who knocks on a couple’s door on Christmas Eve. They invite him to stay and he remained with them for 45 years.

Davina McCall interviewed Rob Parsons for her podcast ‘Begin Again’

Benevolence series by Lucy Score

Also got the Chestnut Springs series by Elsie Silver but have already read them unfortunately

Wow! What an amazing story!

I would highly recommend going to the museum, I’d wanted to go for ages so we went one afternoon last summer. We only had a couple of hours before closing and I wish we could have had longer. It’s so sad seeing all the ‘tokens’.
It would mean even more to you knowing you have a personal connection to it. How kind of your family to take Bob in permanently ☺️

this sounds really good, am having counselling for perinatal ocd.

100 weekends in Europe (a lonely planet book).
School Dinner Heaven - Dorothy Spooner (old school recipes).

@Sandcaaarstle off topic slightly but I'm desperate to go there. I've been doing my family tree and I discovered a foundling living with my great grandparents in the 1911 census. When I showed my Dad he said oh that must be Uncle Bob.

It turns out that they never sent him back to the foundling hospital when he was 5 but kept him and when we went through the old photos we found pictures of him and my Grandad growing up as best friends and brothers, first at school, then as teenagers, then knocking about on motor bikes together.

My Dad said they spent every Christmas round Uncle Bob and Auntie Elsie's house when he was a kid. He was aware that he had a different surname than my Dad did but so did some of his Aunties husbands so he didn't really give much thought to where he fit into the family, he was just his much loved Uncle Bob. I'm definitely going to be having a look at that book.

In hard copy:

The Stone Mason, and Church Going (both by Andrew Ziminski)
Folklore (Ceri Houlbrook and Owen Davies)
The Lost Chapel of Westminster (John Cooper)
The Cats Tales - feline fairy tales and folklore (Charlie Creed)

Then this morning I took myself for a little trawl through the 99p sale on the Kobo store and picked up:

A Death on Location (Revd Richard Coles)
Between the Stops (Sandi Toksvig)
The Excitements (CJ Wray)
The Final Hours of Muriel Hinchcliffe (Claire Parkin)
Dirty Thirty (Janet Evanovich)

The Foundling by Stacey Halls. DD and I went to the museum in London last year and were both very moved by it. It was a surprise gift and I’m so pleased with it ☺️

@MadameBethunesome great reads there. I have really enjoyed the Hawthorne and Horowitz series too.

I got a fabulous haul, most of them pre-owned as is our family tradition;

Raising Hare - Chloe Dalton
There Are Rivers in the Sky - Elif Shafak
Tell Me Everything - Elizabeth Strout
So Late in the Day - Claire Keegan
The Invention of Wings - Sue Monk Kidd
Two more in the Ripley series by Patricia Highsmith, Ripley Under Water and The Boy who Followed Ripley
The first four books in the Hawthorne detective series by Anthony Horowitz

and I think I have The Safekeep wrapped up ready for my birthday next month.

I am slowly making my way through Tove Jansson's book of short stories A Winter Book, but all the Christmas prep and finishing work meant I haven't read much these past weeks. Once the DC leave tomorrow, I will batten down the hatches, pour a large glass of Baileys, and start from the top of the pile.

Eleanor - Alice Hoxten
Life Impossible- Matt Haig
David Attenborough- Life trilogy

TBH the way most of DH's jams and preserves turn out I am not sure I would know to blame it on 'nasty bitter things'.

@ChristmasMantleStatue - the Forager's Year is hilarious. He mentions a handful of good things, lots of mushrooms you can only pick if you are very knowledgeable, and everything else is "technically you can eat this, but I don't know why you'd bother. It's not very nice."

"Nasty bitter things you can eat if you're desperate" might hav been a more accurate title. It's very funny and much more honest than most.

You are here by David Nicholls

I got
Rainforest by Michelle Paver
The House of Splinters by Laura Purcell
What Stalks the Deep by T Kingfisher
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V E Schwab
Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel García Márquez.

The latest book in the Morland family dynasty by Cynthia Harrod Eagles. I probably need to read the entire series again to be honest as I have forgotten bits of it. A family in Yorkshire live through all the historical events from 1450 onwards. I well recommend it.

2 poetry books

Three Revolutions by Simon Hall - looks interesting

I asked everyone for The Safekeep but nobody got it!

All My Mothers and The Healing Season of Pottery.

Pompeii by Mary Beard. Not as dry as it might appear!

The Waves and Flush by Virginia Woolf. Very much looking forward to reading them when I get a bit of time!