In cleaning my bedroom a bit this evening, I realised I hadn't read anywhere near as many books as I was hoping to over the... err... break. You see, I thought a broken leg would give me some time to catch up on reading, but really, it was mostly tiring and I ended up doing other stuff.

But I did manage to read some books.

My Family And Other Animals by Gerald Durrell - Not quite as amusing as advertised, but quite diverting. Especially loved the description of being chased by a swirling hoard of dogs down the main street, all anxious to get at Roger.

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert - Meh. Minimal sympathy for anyone contained within its pages.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens - Loved it.

The Chronicles of Narnia by C S Lewis - Loved reading them all again, although I still really don't like the final book for some reason.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Matilda by Roald Dahl - I bought them on the Friday before breaking my leg to see if they were as enjoyable as I remembered them being from childhood. They're still rather cute.

Carpe Jugulum and Hogfather by Terry Pratchett - Hilarious as always.

Father to the Man, The Sacred Diary of Adrian Plass Aged 37 3/4, Bacon Sandwiches and Salvation and A Year At Saint Yorricks by Adrian Plass - I love his style of writing, and it often has me laughing outrageously or nodding my head and thinking, "Yes, I know that feeling." Father to the Man is less humourous, but I like it all the more for it, especially the story Posthumous Cake, which never fails to bring a tear to my eye.

The Faraway Tree series by Enid Blyton - My absolute favourite books ever as a child and I am willing to admit that I read them at least once a year. Or more. Although it reminds me that I haven't read The Wishing Chair books for a while.

The Light Princess and Other Stories by George MacDonald - I LOVE the story of The Golden Key and could read it again and again.

The Story of My Life by Giacomo Casanova - Meeeehhhhhh.

Status Anxiety by Alain de Botton - Not that I'm tempted to go construct a little cabin in the woods from recycled materials and live there for a year and I probably won't give up shopping, but I like this book and its challenges.

Also started reading Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, a number of Pablo Neruda's poems about his home country, some of the Grimms fairytale collection, a couple of Dickens's short stories/monologues and the Christmas section from The Pickwick Papers, pondered finishing Anna Karenina (but remembered how interminably dull it is) and just generally didn't pick up as many new books as I'd hoped to read.

In addition to not getting to read all that much, I never did any painting at all, which I had hoped to do. Oh well. Guess there's always next holidays or something. Or the long weekend...