I'M BACK !!!!
And wishing a belated Happy New Year to you all.

I snitched this Peanuts take on New Year from fellow book blogger Sam Huston of Book Chase - thanks Sam - because just at the moment Lucy sums up my feelings exactly!

Before normal blogging resumes, my thanks to all who have emailed or phoned to ask why I have not been posting on the blog, particularly BFNorwich who made me feel that I needed to get my arse back in gear. I think a few words of explanation are needed - our trip to China was extended for a couple of weeks and became ever more hectic, so we didn't get back to the UK until late November. Almost as soon as I stepped off the plane in London I came down with a horrible chesty cold, and just as I was on the mend and contemplating everything that had to be done to prepare for a large family Christmas, I was hit with this ghastly flu that seems to have been cutting a swathe through the population. Apparently it has been designated 'Brisbane Flu' but DDF has just been out in Oz for the festive season and he never mentioned it being a big issue there. Wherever this particularly nasty virus - illustrated below - came from, it has taken ages to throw it off and I must admit to feeling pretty washed out.
Lets hope we all have a healthier year ahead.

Now for a few statistics:

WHAT I READ IN 2008:

• Total Books read: 144
• Non-fiction: 18
• Biography: 5
  
• Crime/mystery/thriller: 26
• Male authors: 58
• Female authors: 86
• Books translated into English 11

Definately room for improvement : must blog about more of the books I'm reading, must read more non English-speaking authors, must read more non-fiction.