We never read Little Golden Books as we were growing up. Having two librarian/teacher parents I think I somehow decided that books you bought from the supermarket were not real books at all. They were inferior to library or bookshop books, at any rate. My friend up the road had some, though and I remember always being very underwhelmed by them. She had one particularly insipid one about a black rabbit and a white rabbit that weren't allowed to be friends and even when the metaphor was pointed out to me I thought it was dumb. I didn't like the look of the books - the cheap paper, the poor quality colours (maybe I wasn't actually able to analyse it quite like that but I knew there was something I didn't like about them.)
But perhaps my aesthetics have changed, because I really like these Little Golden Book illustrations. They seem to be all in French. Perhaps the French Little Golden Books were of a higher standard? Or am I just trying to make myself feel better?
Quatre Musiciens is my favourite - I love those self-satified cats - but I also like Pourquoi Pas. The best bit is that six years of high school French means that I can almost understand what's going on.
So is this going to turn into some kind of pregnancy blog?
What do you mean?
You know - where you talk about your obstetritian appointments and how fat you're getting.
Do you think I'm getting fat?
Oh I don't know... no, not really.
Should I be getting fat by now? Do you think there's something wrong?
Look, I'm an ant. I have no idea. I'm only interested in how this is going to impact on your blog. Is it going to change?
No, I think it'll stay as it is - a research blog.
Oh is that what it is? Could've fooled me.
What do you mean?
Well, you haven't exactly done much "research" on it, have you?
That depends on what you consider research.
Hmm.. let's think back to what you've written about recently... losing your flat and battery chickens. What was your MA topic again?
I blog about a variety of stuff that's going on in my life. That's the whole point. Blogs aren't like academic papers - the trivial and the important are inextricably entwined.
And the important bits have been....?
I maintain that it's all important. So I can't see why I shouldn't write about the pregnancy as it's obviously affecting everything else I do, including any research I may - or may not - be undertaking.
