brixtonbrood

Him: Gibbon. When in doubt it's always either Gibbon or Moby Dick. This makes me feel somewhat inferior, especially as I love the bits of Gibbon that I've read, but have never actually got past half way through Book 2 (of 6 in our edition). Maybe it should be next year's resolution. Or maybe I could resolve now to finish it before I reach 40 - that's achievable if I start now, but not if I start next January.

Tiny: The truly horrific 101 Fun Foods to Make - published in 1976, and an enduring record of the decade that taste forgot (Instant Whip features heavily) - and the only marginally more depressing Titanic: The Disaster that Shocked the World which he has insisted on us reading every day for a week - he's even managed to persuade his teacher to find him clips of Lego Titanic models sinking on YouTube during playtime - in strict contravention of school rules. Even worse, Small now goes round humming "My Heart Will Go On".

Small: If I ever harboured any suspicions that Small had been accidentally switched in the NICU then the sight of her alternating chapters of Harry Potter 1, Percy Jackson 3, Roman Mysteries 1, and whatever she finds on Tiny's floor has confirmed beyond doubt that she is definitely my daughter. I don't think she's watched any telly for days. Percy Jackson was winning for several weeks, but she's now definitely more hooked on Potter.

Me: ummmm, Percy Jackson, stolen from Small's room. What can I say - I blame gingerelanor, who recommended them, and the World Book Day sampler. We accidentally ended up starting with volume 4.5, then 4, then 1,2,3 - which is probably a good way to do it, because although it does ruin a couple of plot twists it means I got hooked before I read the initial set-up which is appallingly derivative of Potter - but just as Rowling adds a lot of extra value to the basic Worst Witch set up, Riordan throws the whole of Greek myth at his stories, so if nothing else Small is finding them educational. I was also hooked on Greek myths aged 6-10 - is this a common geek girl thing? is it a systematisation/gotta catch them all thing?

The books of my childhood have been much in my mind at the moment, as Tiny has entered that stage of life where pulling the books off Small's bookshelves is the best game ever. Thus I have re-shelved the Noel Streatfeild's more often than I care to remember, and I had been musing on my lack of copies of the Gemma books, which I loved in my pre-teens. And when I glanced at the Clapham library sale trolley yesterday - there they were - hooray! in the outstandingly hideous 1999 covers - boo!

Which prompted me to find this interesting appreciation of her work, which I commend to your attention if you are that way inclined (I think this probably means you jinty).