Books, books, books!

I am still striving to read as many books as I can possibly squeeze in my free time! I have a secret goal to read a book a month this year but I know that come September I may be inundated with other vital reading material! Anyhow, I have finished my book for February which I thoroughly enjoyed: The Woman in Black. This book came into our home because of first daughter reading it at school, but she unfortunately didn't read at home. I, however did and was utterly captivated by it. I feel that now, I can watch the new film of it with a clear conscience. I hate watching the film first, it spoils a good book. We recently watched the trailers at the cinema, and I had to close my eyes and ears when Cloud Atlas came on! This is a book which I have wanted to read since it came out but just never got round to it. Now that a film has been made I am determined to read it. It is now on my bedside table, waiting for me to have some time....

Isn't it funny how books come into our lives? I have always been fascinated by how we pick and choose books to read at particular moments in our lives that just seem to fit! I have also been very interested in the random but coincidental elements that tie works together. I remember when I was very new to the blogging world and was an avid follower of Lucy from Attic24 ( which I still am!) and reading about her devastating post about the unexpected death of a fellow blogger. Today when I arrived home, a little book was waiting for me, sent very kindly by Nikki, from Life at Holly Cottage as part of her giveaway! After a little bit of perusal, I realised that the author was the very same blogger that Lucy and others were mourning in Blogland some years ago. I feel especially honoured to own her book and moreover, I feel that this is exactly what I need in my life at the moment. We need to slow down a tad and take time to enjoy our time at the weekends together, instead of trying to fill them with tedious jobs! Don't get me wrong we surely need to work on the house at weekends as we both work, but we could spend it much more wisely. So a very big thank-you to Nikki for your greatly appreciated, thoughtful gift that will influence my family for the better!