Christmas has come early ...

Can't wait for the x-mas break, the reading list is growing, a hot toddy is waiting, only three more sleeps. Here's what's been waiting for me on my dressing table

This needs no introduction: the eagerly awaited autobiography of the one and only

; a German book about the modern dirndl:

; and last, but not least, the wonderful Uman 5: Franz Ferdinand, a book about 'Tracht', German traditional costume, which is where the tradition of the dirndl stems from, but this is a book about 'Tracht' from a man's perspective. It's gorgeous too.