Away, books

Today is my last day at work and tomorrow I am required to get up unfeasibly early to go to Paris. This should in no way be interpreted as a complaint!

Evania and I will spend Christmas in Paris, before heading to the Jungrfrau region of Switzerland for a few days. Next we visit the Rhine Valley before taking in Amsterdam for New Year. It's the perfect time for a holiday, with a particularly hectic final quarter nearly over and various projects requiring breathing space for perspective. Much as I'm loving London of late, I need to get away, and particularly away from my mobile phone and its inherent temptations. 2009 promises challenge, both new and old.

Katy has given me Sloane Crosley's 'I Was Told There'd Be Cake' for Christmas, and I'm looking forward to reading this over the break. Also in the stack are Ken Follett's 'World Without End' and finishing off the latest build-a-better-me book, 'Persuasion: the Art of Influencing People' by James Borg.

Happy Christmas everybody: enjoy the sun, if that's where you are, and if not: it's all about the mulled wine.