As I so delicately mentioned in my last post, Friday was my birthday, and I’m pleased to say that I received lots of very lovely books, not to mention some as-yet-unspent book tokens.

Behold:

• Silent in the Sanctuary and Silent on the Moor by Deanna Raybourn – these are neo-Victorian novels, and if the first volume of the series is anything to go by, they may well have some fairly glaring historical inaccuracies (a Victorian English lady using the word ‘gotten’? Really?) but they will also be fabulous romps and a delight to read. I can get over a ‘gotten’ or three in pursuit of light, entertaining reading.
• Letters to my Grandchildren by Tony Benn and Climbing the Bookshelves by Shirley Williams – Benn and Williams are politicians I admire – thanks to my husband-to-be for these.
• Edward Carpenter: A Life of Liberty and Love by Sheila Rowbotham – the acclaimed biography of a gay Victorian socialist and advocate of – amongst other things – nudism, women’s rights, recycling, free love, and prison reform. I’m anticipating quite the read.
• Family Album by Penelope Lively – her most recent novel. I’ve been keen to read more by her since the wonderful Perfect Happiness.
• Charles Dickens and the House of Fallen Women by Jenny Hartley – rather wonderfully reviewed by Catherine, this book concerns, in Catherine’s words, a home Dickens set up to “give unfortunate women shelter from the dangers of society and prepare them for emigration to the colonies.” I’ve had my eye on it for a while, so I was delighted to receive this from friends.
• Flat Earth News by Nick Davies – quite a different thing to the other books above, this is a sort of expose on the shadier sides of journalism (and newspaper owners) by a journalist who was shocked by the wrong and sometimes dishonest ways in which the press reported the events leading up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003. This led him to a bigger investigation of the nefarious goings on behind the scenes of newspapers.

I also received lots of lovely chocolate (nom), some feminist zines, and other delights. I was thoroughly spoiled, and am still full of cake.

And thanks again to everyone who left happy birthday comments on the last posting. x