Monthly Reading - February

This February I've had a very enjoyable and productive month from the point of view of reading. I began the month about half way through this book by Kate Fox, an anthropologist, who has studied the behaviour of the English and who attempts to put her finger on what behaviours constitute Englishness.

I've really enjoyed reading this book and could recognise lots of things that I myself do that are seemingly typically English behaviours. It seems, according to Fox, that most of our behaviours derive essentially from the fact that as a nation we appear to suffer from acute social dis-ease, which doesn't really surprise me, but is interesting to read about nevertheless.  A great book that is easily picked up and put down, as I have done all month.

I also finished reading this book by Laura Vanderkam this month, which OH bought for me a couple of Christmases ago. I did start this book a long time ago, but didn't get very far with it.  This time around I found I got into it more or less straight away and have thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

I've already done a post about some of the ideas purported in this book. It is mainly a book about managing the time you have available and devising routines and habits to get the most from every day.  It  uses examples of how very busy and successful business people organise their time, to allow them to be more productive.  An inspiring read.

At the same time as reading both of the above books, I have continued to read Sarah Ban Breathnach's 'Romancing the Ordinary', completing the chapter for February this month. I've surprised myself by sticking to reading just one chapter of this book a month.  It is a good way of savouring it, as I really like her writing style.  For February, she suggests that we forget being romanced by others and try to romance ourselves a little, by pampering ourselves and doing things that we truly enjoy and which make us happy.

Following on from all of these more factual and self-improvement titles, whilst in the Canary Islands on a short break, I decided to take something a little lighter to read, namely some fiction.  My first choice was Sophie Kinsella's 'I've Got Your Number'.

As always, Sophie Kinsella's book was a great read.  Funny, romantic, and completely quirky.  I love the plots in her books, some of them are so bizarre.  In this instance, it begins with a girl looking for an antique engagement ring, which she appears to have lost at a hotel. She doesn't find the ring, but she does find a mobile phone discarded in a bin and after having had her's stolen by a mugger, she starts to use the phone herself.  This leads her into various scrapes and adventures in the cut throat world of business and provides a much needed diversion from the issues she is facing with her soon to be husband's parents and the problem of finding the lost heirloom ring.

This was a really great poolside read. Light, frothy, effortlessly readable with lots of twists and turns in the plot to keep you interested. Kinsella does it for me every time.

The second book I took with me on holiday was Rebecca Wells's 'Ya-Yas in Bloom'.

I managed to get half way through Wells's book whilst we were away, but didn't manage to finish it this month as I've still got one chapter to go. I've read a couple of her books about the Ya Ya's, a group of girlfriends growing up and raising families in the deep south of the US in the 1950's/60's and beyond.  This book tells of how the girls first met and became firm friends in their formative years, a friendship which continued, throughout marriage and children, and lasted for their entire lives.  I'm enjoying reading this book and being reacquainted with these characters.

So, it's been a busy month reading wise and it has made a serious dent in the pile of books by my bed. I'm looking forward to reducing it further in March, but more about that in next month's post.