Book Chat - Issue #2

Hello and welcome to the second edition of Book Chat, a newsletter for readers and writers.

I was a little nervous about sending out the first edition, so I’m kind of glad that’s over and done with. Thanks to everyone who sent me such lovely messages of support, it means a lot to me.

I’m not sure whether every edition will have a theme, but for various reasons I’m focussing on self-care in this edition. This means I’m looking at comfort reads and comfort foods.

I hope you are all looking after yourselves.

My concentration has been poor in the last couple of weeks, so I’ve been entertaining myself by reading children’s books.

I have lots of children’s books at home, but I took myself off to the library to see what was new and/or popular. It felt odd to be browsing the children’s section of the library without a small person at my side, but I figured my grey hair makes me look like a granny (even though I’m not), and I don’t really care that much what people think. I’ve been working on a little story of my own, so I figured it was ‘research’.

In the past few weeks I’ve read Ramona the Pest, Two Naughty Teddies and Dear Sweet Pea, all of which were thoroughly enjoyable.

If you’re not into children’s books and would prefer a comfort read for grown-ups, I recommend Dear Mrs Bird by A J Pearce. Perfect for a rainy day curled up with a cup of tea and some home-made biscuits.

Do you ever get a song stuck in your head that you can’t stop singing? It happens to me all the time and is probably very annoying for people around me.

Lately I’ve been humming Sitting, an old song by Cat Stevens, also known as Yusuf Islam. He was very popular when I was a teenager, and Catch Bull at Four was one of the first albums I ever purchased in the early 1970s. I may even have been a tiny bit in love with him because he was very good looking.

I love the lyrics to this song, but don’t ask me what they mean!

I’ve been growing my hair since last year, so it amuses me to think that maybe I’m also getting stronger?

After reading Dear Sweet Pea, I wrote a longer piece about advice columnists on my blog. If you missed it, you can read it here.

Why not try making some weekender cornflake biscuits? My mum used to make these a lot when we were kids, and I always think of her when I make them. Great with the aforementioned cup of tea and practically foolproof.

Gluten-free cooks will need to substitute GF flour and use GF cornflakes.

I hope you enjoyed reading this newsletter. If you have questions or comments, just hit reply.