Book A Day Challenge Day #22 - Favourite festive scene

22. Favourite festive scene.....The Nutcracker and the Mouse King by E. T. A. Hoffman

This book just made to-read list! Ballet was a huge part of my life as a child and I remember the first time I saw The Nutcracker at the Birmingham Royal Ballet. There is something about the opulence of the show that just captures Christmas not just as it is can be; with lovely decorations, time with friends and family, getting dressed up but how it can exist in your mind. All the luxurious foods are there in dreamy colours and exotic flavours and the feeling of it being a party is overwhelming.

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I've seen so many different versions but the one I return to is Matthew Bourne's as it is so colourful and sweet. It adds clarity to the plot and a great deal of contrast between the Christmas party by making it very stark to make the brightness of the fantasy world all the brighter.

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I really want to read this book now to see how it was transformed from the page to such an iconic ballet.

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Book A Day Challenge Day #10 - Latest purchase

10. Latest purchase......Make Your Own Diet Rules by Tara Stiles I went for a wander round the new Foyles bookshop on Saturday and, unsurprisingly, I wanted to buy a number of books. I went for this one because it seems to set out an approach that I am eager to explore. I haven't really been a big trier of diets but there always seems to be a new miracle weight loss solution kicking about. I have been at extremes of eating but want to achieve the golden dream of sustainable weight loss/maintenance. Tara Stiles, from what I have read so far, seem to advocate listening to your body, enjoy live and take the time to take care of yourself through eating and action.

Fresh Start

I have been using my social media accounts attached to this blog more than I have been updating here and when I looked back at the content had very little connection to my interests now. So I have cleared the posts out, with the exception of my old book challenge, and shall start afresh! So with that in mind....a brief introduction: Reading is my comfort and my joy and I will usually have 2-6 books on the go at any one time. My reading habits hop around somewhat in terms of subject matter, at the moment my current obsessions are American History and magical realism fiction. Last year I tried to cut down my book buying habit and ended up with a bit of a library habit! This year, all ten days of it, I've been reading with a focus on mindfulness and growing out of your comfort zone.

Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes

This book has been on my to-read list since I first heard about it. I was drawn in by curiosity about the people who create the shows we watch and that having an entire evening of TV being dedicated to shows lead by one show-runner is a major deal. The Shonda-land shows are filled with tough, powerful, outspoken women and yet Rhimes impresses on readers that a few years ago this was not reflected in her own life. In the Year of Yes, Rhimes speaks openly about how a simple comment from her sister made her take on a project of saying yes to many things, first and foremost being the things that scared her. As a writer she calls her process as one similar to that of her childhood adventures playing in the store cupboard of her mother's kitchen, sitting in the dark and coming up with characters and stories, finding strength there. She talks about how she wrote the strong characters of her TV shows, particularly Cristina Yang, as a form of wish fulfilment. Rhimes classifies herself...

Violet Clouds

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