People's Friend Annual 2011

This is probably going to mark me as extremely uncool, but I ordered this annual over the holidays! If you like Chicken Soup and short stories like that, and you like the UK, you'll probably like this. This annual is basically a collection of stories + paintings + columns about books + poems.

For some reason, I had a 2002 annual at home, and it was a book that I read repeatedly over the years. So when I saw that the 2011 annual was part of Amazon Prime, I decided to just order it. I don't actually own many of these, because I don't seem to see this in Singapore or Japan (only in King's bookshop in Vivocity, but it's closed now. Unless anyone from Singapore knows where it went?).

Which leads back to the question - how did the first annual even get into my home?

All the stories are about love, and I think there's quite a nice balance between the different types of love. My favourite stories are the family stories though - like A Grand Night In which is about a grandma and her grandkids who come to stay; Hokey-Cokey Weather, about a grandma who is learning to try something new; and A Patchwork of Memories which follows a recently widowed father and his daughter as they get over their grief by learning how to make a patchwork quilt.

All the stories are heartwarming, and possibly very corny/cliched. But I find them very comforting to read. To me, they're sweet but not saccharine.

The columns this year are on children's classics.  Enid Blyton also gets a column, as does Black Beauty, the book that makes me cry every time I read it. I've probably read most of the books (Little Women, anyone?), but I haven't read The Water Babies yet, so that's going to go on the ever lengthening TBR list.

I have absolutely no regrets buying this. Job hunting has been pretty stressful, and the stories here made me smile.