Reading This Month: March

Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper
Rich bought this for my birthday, a gorgeously bound edition from The Folio Society. He was slightly embarrassed when I told him it was a children's book, but I was delighted. I loved adventure stories when I was little - everything from Famous Five to The Chronicles of Narnia - and this is in the same vein. Three young children stumble across a map and, aided by their eccentric Great Uncle Merry, look to unravel the mystery of King Arthur's Grail. I also got a thrill out of the language - I do love a good use of the word 'beastly!'

This was a fun, easy read and I saved it for the hour or so before I went to bed. It's one I think I'd definitely read to my children one day. I think I'm going to look out the rest of the series. While this was not written with the intention of creating a series, four sequels were written ten years later, making this a great standalone as well as great introduction to a series.


Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin
I really enjoy Gretchen Rubin's work - I have previously read and enjoyed The Happiness Project - as I think she's very thorough in her approach and always gives good advice.

This book is just as good as her happiness one and I found it really inspiring. With the move to Portsmouth I wanted to make other changes in my life and found her advice invaluable in taking steps towards improving my daily fitness and eating. Taking the habits quiz on her site and finding out that I'm a Questioner was really helpful, as was her advice to make things easy. Rather than try and focus on my movement and my sleep, I bought a Jawbone to do it for me. Now all I have to do is look at the data, see the trends and make adjustments based on information rather than guesswork.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
I needed a little comfort blanket with the move so I'm re-reading the Harry Potter series. I think you're all familiar with my love of Potter, so I won't bang on. Suffice to say it's wonderful to have things that I know I can reach for and instantly feel better.

I really do need to crack on with Voyager by Diana Gabaldon though - I must know what happens next!