Something to read (soon)

 I am not at liberty to tell you anything about what I'm reading right now (because it's all a secret), but I can tell what's going straight into my post-Bisto pile and here's the latest addition:The Dangerous Journey, by Tove Jansson. Yes, she of Moomin undying fame! I've just been reading Frank Cottrell Boyce's review in the Guardian and I'm all excited about it because...:
"This is a rollicking and vivid new translation of a lavish, beautiful picture book by Tove Jansson. Depending on how you feel about Jansson, that sentence will read either like a straightforward item of publishing news, or like the announcement of the discovery of a previously unknown Shakespeare sonnet. Or Beatles album. Or species of dolphin. Among the ridiculously excited might be Philip Pullman, Ali Smith, Esther Freud, a Japanese man who had Snufkin tattooed on his arm "as a symbol of freedom" and half a million Scandinavian girls who were christened "My" after another of Jansson's characters."
You can guess which category I belong to...

The Moomins are 65!

And not a wrinkle on them! Here's a very interesting article about their creator, Tove Jansson, and the great hippo-like troll family, read in the Guardian. Six new Moomin books – four picture books, and a sticker and colouring book – are published by Puffin this year. Finn Family Moomintroll also features in Nuffin Like A Puffin, an exhibition at Seven Stories, Newcastle from 17 July until June 2011 (more details here). I definitely have to go to Newcastle one of these days... Meawhile, I can just dream about the aforementionned Moomin Cookbook...

My birthday sorted...

We're not there yet, but one must plan ahead. I've just discovered that July will see the release of The Moomins Cookbook, an introduction to Finnish cuisine peppered with illustrations and quotes from the world-famous Moomins. (You know them: the trolls that look like hippos.) Then again, I mightn't wait that long. The French edition is out already...