Thank you for all the complete absolutions (?? right word? assoluzione) . Best get on and read all the lowbrow novels before delivery by sound of things...
Delivery which may not be that far away: feeling odd this afternoon. I mean, periody cramps, feeling hot (depite it being almost zero degrees outside, the heating being off and me wearing a T-shirt, cotton leggings and lightweight jumper) and sweaty hands (sorry, TMI, but I usually have ice cold hands and feet). So maybe things are moving? Or maybe it is the yogurt that we forgot in the yogurt-maker overnight (so that it "brewed" for 16 hours instead of 8) and that I had at lunch? Will keep you posted.
I am reading "Past Imperfect" by Julian Fellowes, which I bought despite not having particularly enjoyed his other book (Snobs) a few years ago. But I liked Gosford Park (I think? Nappy brain again), for which he wrote the screenplay. Past imperfect I find quite entertaining, and the asides on how England has changed in 40 years are quite amusing- but maybe more so if you are a foreigner and read it is as social observation rather than a critique, like some of the reviewers did. I did feel like saying to one of the reviewers something along the lines of "FGS, it is a novel, a lightweight one at that, not a restoration manifesto!". Also, the dialogue detail is spot-on and I recognise many of the speech mannerisms, which interests and amuses me too.
W&P: read it a uni and finished it the day before one of our major exams- which maybe explains the rather low mark I got the following day (second-lowest in my academic career, complete with professor saying "and you went to a scientific school?? You should be doing better than this"). Enjoyed it a lot, though I must say I skipped some of the longer battle descriptions.
MM: fan fiction is an interesting concept- must say I only discovered it recently, when we spoke about Bia/Lady Oscar on this thread and I went online to find samples to show DH. Those series too have spawned some rather grown-up fan fiction... And what I found on youtube did not recommend itself as viewing for asilo-aged babySGs...
Would not worry about the obsessive personality. I am the same: once I find a series, writer or subject that I like I read everything in that area. Then something else comes along and maybe I spend another three months immersed in a different subject/era...
Have just bought a new editions of the Philippics, which I saw reviewed in the Sunday Times over Christmas. It is supposed to be one of the best in recent times and I hope that DH will read it too, given there is the English text as well. Maybe this is too ambitious in the other direction- but if the delivery (of the books) does not take ages that might be a chance that I can say to babySG that I was reading Cicero and not Fellowes while waiting for him/her to put in an appearance. My mother apparently read a monster-sized Togliatti biography in the last weeks of being pregnant with me, so I have rather a lot to live up to...
Off to have a rest and read, and see whether the change of position changes the odd sensations above. Will be reading you off the ipod too. Laters!