21 Dec 2013

TWAS THE WEEK THAT CHRISTMAS CAME EARLY.

What a December it's been so far ..... Father Christmas must have known that rather than being naughty I'd been nice.


  • I always feel its such an honour to be asked to read and review a book so you can imagine how honoured and delighted I was when author Michael Mullin for whom I reviewed TALESPINS emailed me to say that he was publishing a comic book version of 8: The Untold Story next year and he wanted to include a quote from my review on the back cover. Talk about excited.

  • My thanks to my blogger buddy Barbara over at MARCH HOUSE BOOKS from whom I was honoured to receive this ....



in exchange for my answering the following .....

A favourite Christmas song? Hmm, that really does depend on what kind of mood I'm in. I do however have a soft spot for Roy Orbison singing Pretty Paper which always brings a tear to the eye. 




And then there's that song with no lyrics that I like so much. Yeah that's the one, In Dulci Jubilo by Mike Oldfield (I can't believe that I put 'That Christmas song with no lyrics' into a search engine.)




What or who inspired you to start writing your blog? Husband dearest had been nagging encouraging me for a while (he'd actually set up a blog for me about a year before I first did my first post) and then we met some of his blogger buddies who convinced me to give it a go.

Do you remember the first book you ever read? No. But I do remember the first book I ever bought. You can read about The Pebbles Go To Town by Michael Cooper HERE.

Do you prefer physical books or e-books? I don't even have to think about this one, its proper books every time.

Do you have a favourite Christmas movie? If so what is it? I do like A Muppets Christmas Carol. Then there's 'National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation', and, of course, 'Bad Santa' and the Finnish film 'Rare Exports' which are both something of a guilty pleasure of mine.

Do you have a favourite series of books? Relatively recent favourites have been The Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood books by Charlaine Harris (I am however glad they are finished) and I've also been enjoying Philippa Gregory's The Cousin's War series and, how could I fail to mention, CJ Sansom's Matthew Shardlake books which are simply divine.

How often do you blog? It all depends. It was every day but at the moment its 3 to 4 times a week.

Do you blog about books or a mix of topics? Its mainly books but I do post about a variety of things including my Media Monday posts in which I take a look at the previous weeks newspapers hi-lighting the articles that stood out for me.

Do you have a favourite author? I have several. For historical fiction I love the afore mentioned Phillipa Gregory and CJ Samnsom. For crime I like Kathy Reichs and Faye Kellerman. And then of course there's all of the up and coming authors whose debut novels I've read who I'm sure will become favourites. 

If you won the lottery what would be the first thing you did? Buy a house with a library with seats in the bay windows, an open fire (one that as if by magic cleaned and lit itself) and one of those ladders that slides across the shelves - ok, so with my mobility problems this is hardly of any use but I can dream.

A couple of random facts about myself?

Err, given the time of year, how about ......
  1. As a child/teenager it was a family tradition that on Christmas morning we'd eat tinned hotdogs in a bun at my grandparents home
  2. I love Christmas crackers. Every year Hd buys a box just for me and just like a excited child I eagerly await Christmas Eve to pull the first one
  3. Want to hear a Christmas joke? 'I live in an Advent calendar, it’s freezing come December 24th because all the windows are open'
  4. I'm really no good at deciding who to pass these awards onto sooooo as its the season of good will and all that how about I give you all an early Christmas present and give you and you, and, yes, you this award with my fondest wishes.
And as if all this isn't enough I've received some real goodies in the post which given how busy he is delivering Christmas cards and parcels our postman must be cursing me.
  • BEYOND MY CONTROL also by Suzan Collins who having discovered I reviewed books asked me to review this her latest book. (See my review HERE
  • Kirsty over at THE LOVE OF BOOKS who shared her prize of this gorgeous keyring and bookmark by sending me the keyring. How kind was that?
  • CHRISTMASTIME 1940 by Agnes Irene (See my review HERE) who along with the book kindly sent a Christmas card and magnet. (A GoodReads win).

Copyright: Tracy Terry @ Pen and Paper. All original content on http://pettywitter.blogspot.co.uk/ is created by the website owner, including but not limited to text, design, code, images, photographs and videos are considered to be the Intellectual Property of the website owner, whether copyrighted or not, and are protected by DMCA Protection Services using the Digital Millennium Copyright Act Title 17 Chapter 512 (c)(3). Reproduction or re-publication of this content is prohibited without permission. In addition I would also urge that if you are reading this on any other page you contact the original blog owner/reviewer.

12 comments:

Joan said...

A truly lovely post Tracy , congrats on the award and having your review of a book on the cover ,
I,ll have to look out for that one if it's only because of your review
Best whishes for Xmas

Joan said...

Oops I,ve spelt wishes wrong , sorry
All the best
By the way I also would have a library like yours on winning the lottery

Kelly said...

This is a very fun post!

I enjoyed the Oldfield clip. I always associate him with Tubular Bells.

My favorite Christmas movie is Christmas Vacation. It's on my agenda to watch this afternoon. :)

I'm ready for another Shardlake book. It's time.

Karen said...

That's fantastic about using your quote! What a thrill.

I'm surprised that you read the Sookie series! I have up after book 10 but I loved the first four.

Tinned hotdogs in a bun?? That's so strange. My husband's family had a tradition of putting cereal and fruit in boots - left outside their bedroom door. I guess it was so that they would make their own breakfast and keep them busy so the parents could sleep in a little longer lol

Suko said...

Tracy, I've never heard this song before, but it is lovely. Fun, and well-composed, pre-Christmas post!

Mary (Bookfan) said...

I like the Oldfield song. Nice wins and review books. It's been ages since I last won a Goodreads giveaway. Christmas Vacation always makes me laugh.

Brian Joseph said...

Congratulations on your award!

The Book Lovers Companion looks to be a must read!

Have a Merry Christmas!

Stephanie@Fairday's Blog said...

Congrats on the award! Lots of fun to find out more about you- and the Christmas tidbits were excellent! Love all of the goodies that you got in the mail. Yeah for you!

Melissa (Books and Things) said...

Love these little tidbits! :)

Congraties on the award and close those windows. :)

Betty Manousos said...

oh tracy, how exciting! i'm so happy for you! congrats on the award!!

here's wishing you and yours a very merry xmas!!
lots of love
big hugs~
xx

Blond Duck said...

Have a wonderful Christmas!

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Lindsay said...

This is a lovely post Tracy. I hope you enjoy Helena Duggan's novel too. Thanks for your blog friendship this year. Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year :) Lindsay x