Are they not perfection? This pic is of a mulled wine candle but the one I bought was eggnog and it smells amazing and looks soooo pretty when it’s lit. I adore vintage teacups anyway but sticking scented candles in them just makes them even better. I am now officially in love with Creme Nouveau (http://www.cremenouveau.com/)

In other news, my little interview on the Kevin Moore show was on over the weekend. I have vetted it and, since it isn’t too embarrassing and I managed not to say anything grievously inappropriate, I’m putting a YouTube link up here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaFtc7p5H3w Everyone at the studio was so nice and really made my first TV experience a really positive one so a big thank you to Kevin, Joanna and everyone else who chatted with me, slapped make-up all over my face (because of the lights and stuff – not because of some sudden dreadful skin-problem) and generally made me feel at ease before we began.

And, lastly, one further reminder that I’ll be in Southampton signing at the wonderful Waterstones in West Quay this Thursday (8^th December) from 5.30-7.30pm, along with several other fine authors. Apparently there’s going to be some sort of giant gingerbread house in West Quay that day, and I’ve been told that Waterstones will be putting on mince pies again this year, so do come along and say hello to us all and help us eat the pies!

I was watching an episode of Bewitched the other day (Eat at Mario’s) where Sam is trying to save this little Italian restaurant, and it made me think of Capers (http://www.caperspizza.co.uk/index.html). Capers is ten minutes away from where I live and it is my new favourite restaurant. The Bewitched episode reminded me of it because Mario’s seemed very similar with its exceptional food, and friendly service, and small, cosy, local feel. It’s so much nicer than going out to some big posh noisy swarming place in Southampton. Plus it’s not cold in Capers. It’s amazing how many pubs and restaurants get stingy with the heating in the winter, which just makes you disinclined to linger. The only thing Mario’s had which Capers lacks is the red and white checked tablecloths and candles in wine bottles. But I can forgive Capers that because they have pizza cutters in the shape of penny farthings on every table (to say nothing of the Jaffa drizzle cake).

And the best thing about Capers is the food. It is unbelievable. I would go there for the curried sweet potato cakes alone. Not only is the menu ridiculously huge but there are loads and loads of vegetarian options on it. The first time I went there I was so excited I almost couldn’t pick anything. I am unused to choice when eating out. Normally it’s the work of ten seconds to scan the menu and locate the vegetarian option. At Capers I am spoiled for choice and this is such a novelty to me that I literally spend all day thinking about what I’m going to have before I go. I obsess about it, if you will. To the extent that I’m going there in about half an hour and here I am writing a blog post about it because I can’t concentrate on anything else.

It just goes to show that a restaurant doesn’t have to be a vegetarian one to cater to vegetarians. Capers has plenty of meat and fish options as well as countless delicious vegetarian ones. I wish more restaurants would follow this example. Italian restaurants are usually pretty good but this one is exceptional. I went to an Italian in Southampton last week and counted just two vegetarian pizzas on the menu. Capers have seven. In addition, the Southampton restaurant had two veggie starters and Capers have – and I’m not kidding here – thirteen! That’s right – thirteen vegetarian starters. I know. I couldn’t believe it either.

I go out for dinner with my Dad quite a lot and, before, if he texted me from work and asked where I wanted to go I would reply that I didn’t mind. Now my text looks like this: CAPERS CAPERS CAPERS! If you live anywhere near Dibden Purlieu then I heartily recommend it.

First up, it’s Pimms:

Is there anything better than sitting in the garden on a sunny day enjoying a nice tall glass of Pimms? It’s refreshing, it’s tasty, and it’s served in a glass chock-full of ice and fruit and sprigs of mint.

Invisible Stockings:

My new summer must-have are these invisible stockings from Tess Daly’s beauty range at Marks and Spencers. Not only are all the products in this range reasonably priced and beautifully packaged, but the invisible stockings are scented with jasmine and sweet vanilla. For someone like me who has naturally pale skin but no desire to sunbathe, this product is perfect. Not as heavy as a fake tan, it just adds a little bit of bronzed shimmer to legs whilst making them smell really good at the same time. A bronzer and a body butter all in one.

 Tortoises:

My third reason for loving summer is that the tortoises come out of hibernation. You know summer has arrived when you see them stumping about in their pen, mashing up their food and getting it all over their faces. Pompey and Hannibal are both in their sixties – and very grand old men they are too.

Minx pedicure:

Clearly, there is no point paying out to have your toes look like this if they are hidden away in slipper-socks and boots the whole time. Summer, with its flip-flops and open sandals, is the perfect excuse to get a Minx pedicure. It would be a shame to ruin an outfit with plain feet, after all.

Bubbles with Moose:

Anyone who follows me on Twitter will know that I love my Great Dane very, very much. And during the summer we get to spend more time playing bubbles in the garden. They’re a little hard to see in this picture but the bubbles are there, and she is catching them. Bubbles is Moose’s favourite game – she never really got the hang of chasing balls, and will give me an evil look if I throw one of her toys across the lawn. The only downside to the bubble game is that, sometimes, after I’ve blown them for her, the wind changes and they come right back towards me. And Moose doesn’t really see me when she’s intent on the bubbles. You can get knocked right off your feet that way . . .

Summer Reads:

You know the books I mean. Something that’s fast paced and easy to read. Something to take on holiday with you. Something to read whilst drinking Pimms. These books are sheer, unadulterated pleasure that has nothing to do with anything. I usually read novels for a reason – like I’ve heard good things about the author and want to see what the fuss is about, or I’m trying a different genre, all the time with my own writing in mind. But, during the summer, it’s nice to treat yourself to a book you know you’re going to enjoy. There’s often an element of guilty pleasure in this as well. My top summer read indulgences would be anything by Victoria Holt, Madeleine Brent or Deanna Raybourn.  

Travel treats:

You know when you go on holiday and decide to buy yourself some little thing that you don’t need but really, really want? This hydrating face spray by Evian was my holiday purchase this year. Yes, I know. It’s a little bit much. I acknowledge the foolishness. But it’s the perfect size to take on the plane with you and it has a pink lid and pink bubbles on the packaging and it did make me feel more refreshed after the long flight. And pure mineral water is much better for your skin than hard tap water. Go ahead and laugh at me - I don’t care – I will still love my dinky tube of face spray and I will still take it with me every time I travel.

And, finally, Starbucks frappucino:

A little piece of chilled blended heaven in a cup – ahhh! My favourite is the peppermint mocha frappucino. I could drink it all day.

So – there are some of my favourites. Now that I think about it, there is quite a lot I like about summer. So perhaps I will focus on the good stuff and try to make the most of it rather than wishing summer away.

Apart from loads of new books and a shiny new bookcase to put them in, I also received, from my brother, what is probably one of the most favourite gifts I have ever received in my life.

Meet Hamish:

Is he not both handsome and magnificent? I’ve always wanted a shrunken head ever since first going on the Jungle Cruise in Disney World. Why don’t they sell ‘em in the gift shop, I asked? Apparently not everyone is as fond of the shrunken dead things as I am. Go figure.

But now, after all these long years of waiting and wishing, good ol’ little bro comes through big style. It’s his birthday next month and his effort with Hamish has paid off because I have got him some seriously cool presents, which I am valiantly resisting keeping for myself.

Unsurprisingly, Suki has also taken a shine to Hamish. She likes weird things too. Here they are together:  

So far this year I have read a lot of just-released books, and have found many of them to be insipid and bland, and now that I am reading Marquez, those other books seem even more insubstantial and unsatisfying – like having a glass of water for dinner as opposed to a three course meal. Time of Cholera is something to really get your teeth into and, right now – just over 100 pages in – I feel like the book is nourishing my reader’s soul. I am not massively engaged with the characters or their story (although I suppose that could still change), but, with this book, it honestly doesn’t matter. I feel almost hungry for Marquez’s words. How refreshing to read a book that is not a fast-driven frenzy of activity from beginning to end. What a welcome change for there to not be some sort of fight scene or car chase on every page. This is a book that allows itself to breathe – and is all the better for it.

Pace is something I am painfully aware of with my own writing. I’m aware of a constant pressure to make sure the action doesn’t slow down, even for a second, in case – God forbid – the reader gets bored, and the reviewers begin baying for your blood etc etc. Surely we have not sunk so low as a society that all we want to see is pretty people running away from explosions? It is a notion that I dislike intensely. Not so much for Lex Trent or other comic fantasies because they’re naturally more fast-paced – but for serious adult books I find it very frustrating that there should be such a single-minded focus on grabbing the reader’s attention by doing the writing equivalent of bashing them over the head with a heavy object. Personally, I generally dislike books that start with action scenes or fights or chases. They bore me. If I don’t know the characters yet then I couldn’t care less what happens to them as they run madly through the house whilst being pursued by a werewolf/man with gun/love-sick sparkly vampire. Still, I am told that this is what most people want in an opening chapter.

In the story versus style debate I would hold up Dan Brown as a brilliant example of the former. I realise it’s dreadfully unfashionable of me to like Dan Brown, and many people (some of whom openly admit to having never even picked up one of his books) seem to almost fall over themselves in their eagerness to proclaim that the man cannot write, or that his writing style is clumsy at best. I do not accept this. I think Dan Brown is a very skilled and intelligent thriller writer, and no aspirations to literary snobbery will make me say otherwise. Dan Brown does not write beautifully but the stories he tells do not require that he should. I enjoyed The Da Vinci Code but I absolutely loved The Lost Symbol. I devoured it because every time I got to the end of a chapter I couldn’t wait to learn what was going to happen next. It gripped me very differently from the way Time of Cholera is gripping me now.

I am in awe of Marquez’s writing – literally, I am in awe of him – but I’m still more likely to take a Dan Brown book on holiday with me, or reread a Dan Brown book, or rush to the cinema to see a film adaptation. I am still more likely to eagerly seek out other work of Brown’s that I have not yet read – not because I think his books are better than Marquez’s but because, for me, story is still more important than style. I read Brown’s books – and others like them – for a different reason. Fundamentally, I read those books to enjoy them as a reader, whereas a book like Love in the Time of Cholera I’m reading mainly as something to aspire to as a writer – a fondly nurtured dream that perhaps if one worked at it solidly for fifty years or more, one might become even half as good.  

And now, as a post script to this post, for anyone who hasn’t heard about this yet, my good pal, and blogger extraordinaire, Amanda Rutter, along with several other very fine people, have organised and set up an auction in aid of the Red Cross Japanese Tsunami Appeal. I’d like to encourage you to head on over to http://genreforjapan.wordpress.com/ where you can bid on all manner of exciting things, including rare signed books, critiques from authors and the chance to have your name in an author’s upcoming book. There is some super exciting stuff up for grabs – and, as a genre fan, some of the lots have left my fingers itching to reach for my credit card. As an example, if you’d like to be a baddie who dies horribly, but has some great powers (and who wouldn’t?!), in my friend Suzanne McLeod’s upcoming Spellcrackers novel then go here http://genreforjapan.wordpress.com/2011/03/24/item-27-appearance-in-the-next-suzanne-mcleod-novel/ and place your bid. I’d bid on this myself if I hadn’t just donated to Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue and Support. Sadly, animals tend to get overlooked in natural disasters of this type but they are just as much in need of aid as their human counterparts. If I and my whole family were killed in an earthquake and my spoilt, pampered pets were left to fend for themselves I would hope to God that there would be someone there to help them. If you’d like to donate to their ongoing efforts on behalf of animals in Japan then you can do so here: http://japanearthquakeanimalrelief.chipin.com/japan-earthquake-animal-rescue-and-support/