Friday Five

If you received books as holiday presents, how many and what were they? Did you buy any for yourself, and if so what are the titles?
I bought myself several books: The Daily Prayer of the Church; two books from Marva Dawn, Unfettered Hope and Truly the Community; and a book called Women's Work, about the history of women and textile-making, that I picked up for a quarter at a flea market.

Have you read any of them yet?
Nope.

What’s next on your list?
The copy of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency that I gave my mom for Christmas. (This is a fringe benefit of buying books for the people you live with.) And P.D. James' The Lighthouse, which I've heard nothing but good things about.

Do you have a favorite place to read a new book? And does the weather have an impact on that choice?
Curled up on the sofa is where I do my reading. And bad weather helps me justify being curled up on the sofa reading instead of doing something onerous and productive, like cleaning. (Recreational cooking -- another pastime made easier by inclement weather. I mean, who can argue with a big pot of soup during a blizzard?

Does reading in bed make you sleepy?
Since my dog has become the sultan of our harem, I do not read in bed, not even with a booklight, because it annoys him. He sighs deeply -- the sigh of one in pain; he grumbles; he tosses and turns. ("My God," noted one of my work friends, "he sounds like a husband.") These past few weeks, I'm so tired that I don't need to read myself to sleep anyway -- it'll be 9:30 p.m. and I'm already snorking away in the living room.