good books

A perfect evening after the hectic Christmas and Boxing days: supine on the sofa luxuriating in good books.

Our visit to the Lowdham Apple Day alerted me to to 'Success with apples and pears to eat and drink' by Alan Rowe (Groundnut). I put it on my Christmas list and Santa was kind! Wonderfully subjective, irascible, opinionated and quirky, I made loads of pencil notes throughout the book and finished it in one sitting. Particularly interesting were his sections on the history of apples, his sections on recommended varieties and his descriptions of cider and fruit juice making.

Began a new find for me - Roger Deakin whose 'Notes from Walnut Tree Farm' (Penguin) was another Christmas pressie. His writing about the environment is lyrical, erudite and readable - some gift! His references to other writers have done that marvellous thing - opened unexpected pathways for me to follow in 2011.

Made good progress on Margaret Atwood's 'The Handmaid's Tale' (Vintage) which is another of those bleak futuristic novels that chimed with Kazou Ishiguro's 'Never Let Me Go' read earlier this year. A compelling and completely believable narrative and one that will be recommended.