This is... What I'm reading.

Sometimes your attention scatters everywhere, like a stream of beads dropped on a wooden floor... in all directions, all at the same time.

I always read more than one book at a time: usually about six. Some people hate that: they feel that I can't be paying proper attention, that it's disrespectful, lazy, or all of the above. I've tried following reading lists, having prescribed monthly titles for discussion groups, but it just doesn't work.

You're either a chomper or a grazer when it comes to reading, and I graze: I have a book for every mood, and I now enjoy keeping them swinging up in the air, juggling stories and recipes, essays and articles, and letting them all wash over me and through my mind.

This pile is my bedside table. Molesworth has been on top for a few weeks now, but he's resting. (Chiz, chiz) If you don't know Molesworth, he is a scamp of a 1950s British school boy with atrocious spelling and a wicked sense of the absurd. He will be back to these pages. If you need to know now, visit St Custard's and enter the hallowed halls....

Anne McCaffrey - Dragonsong - I read when I was a teenager, and loved in a moody 14-year old way. Recently, I found a copy for a pittance in a second-hand shop, so I decided to remind myself what all the fuss was about. A great story, told with clarity and a light touch, of a young girl feeling outcast - who is actually tremendously gifted. I still think it's perfect reading when you're an adolescent with daydreams!

Anita Shreve, Light on Snow, not started yet, from the library. The Secret Life of Bees, also not started (does that count?) And a good stack of magazines topped with Peter Pan, on the bottom shelf. We read a lot of kids' fiction around here...

But this: this is what had me glued to the page last night, sitting up too late to find out what happens:
Mary Stewart is a corking storyteller. Her tales can be a wee bit dated now, but they have aged gracefully. This is the story of Merlin and King Arthur, dramatised and with fully-rounded characters who doubt and debate, make mistakes and muddle through. I've never been much into the Arthur thing, but I have always loved myths and legends, and I will be making a quilt on precisely this theme this month, for Posted Stitches, so I decided to give it a try.

And finally, the magazine that arrived on Friday and had me oohh-ing and aah-ing and reaching for the sketchbook, is Quilting Arts. I got hooked on their articles, "Five ways to design using inkjet prints" - - and I started printing drawings this morning. Very, very exciting!

B

Thanks to My Champagne Dreams for the theme, and to Three Buttons for starting it all off.