Many of you will know that when I started this blog last December, I vowed not to buy another book until I had read all 746 unread books in my possession.

I can’t quite believe it, but I have stuck to that and haven’t bought a single book for myself in the last 11 months. Probably the longest I’ve gone without buying a book in 30 years!

As with all good challenges though, I did give myself a bit of a get-out clause in that I am happy to accept books as gifts, so on my birthday yesterday my husband didn’t have to think too hard about what to get me.

I got books! Lovely, new, shiny books! Oh how I’ve missed them!

David Mitchell and Sarah Waters are two of my favourite authors, so there was no question that I had to have them. A few weeks ago we went to the Abbey Theatre in Dublin to see Our Few and Evil Days by Mark O’Rowe (starring Ciaran Hinds, Sinead Cusack and Tom Vaughn-Lawlor) and as I studied Drama for my M.A. I do like to have a copy of a play to read once I’ve seen it. I’m also a big Grayson Perry fan and his latest Channel 4 show Who Are You? has been enthralling me for the last few weeks, so I’m interested to see his take on how we consume and react to Art.

Have you read any of these? Which should I start with?

I’m planning my Christmas list already 🙂

Uncategorized abbey theatre birthday books channel 4 ciaran hinds david mitchell grayson perry irish mark o'rowe our few and evil days playing to the gallery sarah waters sinead cusack the bone clocks the paying guests theatre tom vaughn-lawlor unread books who are you?