REGALI

A friend called in an hour or so ago, bearing these offerings from her garden. Thoughtfulness like this can simply make your day.

And it gets better, for a parcel of goodies from Amazon has just arrived, right on time. Want to know what I've got? I'm going to tell you anyway:

Hot Mettle by Brenda Dean: For those of you who do not know of her, Brenda Dean was the first woman leader of a major British Trade Union, the printers' union SOGAT, and, as such, she had many battles with Rupert Murdoch in the 1980s. I've always respected Brenda Dean for being a tough, intelligent and very feminine woman and I am interested in the inside story . She is now a Labour working peer.

The Islamist by Ed Husain: Ed Husain was involved in radical Islam in Britain and this is the true story of why he joined the movement and later became disillusioned. I saw him being interviewed on Sky and thought he talked a lot of sense.

Delizia! The Epic History of the Italians and their Food by John Dickie: Simply because the reviews of this intrigued me.

44 Scotland Street, Espresso Tales and The World According to Bertie by Alexander McCall Smith: I have come to like AMS, having resisted his novels for a long time. They are heart-warming and well crafted and I think the character of Bertie is a wonderful creation. These books help me in that I need to read good prose in order to be able to write what I hope is good prose.

And finally a new Collins monolingual English dictionary, as my old one had decided to self-destruct. It was probably time for an updated one anyway and here's a point about dictionaries that non-linguists may not have thought about: All dictionaries have to be updated via new editions but this is happening much more frequently than it used to. When I was a modern languages student, Harrap would update their French dictionary every 8 - 10 years by bringing out supplements. Now full new editons appear from most publishers every 2 years. This is because language is changing much faster than it ever has before; whilst slang and jargon have always changed fairly quickly and there have always been new words for new inventions, dictionary compilers just can't keep up with new technological terms that appear every day!

Oh, I almost forgot: slipped into the parcel with the above was Patrizio Buanne's CD Forever Begins Tonight. I had asked the man in the nearby video / CD shop if he could get it but he was adamant that it didn't exist, though I knew that it was available in Italy, so I thought, "Bugger you - I'll get it from Amazon."

All awfully naughty, I know, but I haven't treated myself to anything from Amazon since Xmas and if you're going to order from abroad you might as well have several items to make the postage costs worthwhile. That's my excuse, anyway... Besides, this little lot should just about keep me going through the rest of the silly August shut-down of everything. Yes, I do read in Italian as well but all the bookshops are closed so what's a girl to do?!