We are in the middle of a heatwave at the moment, so I trying to type and move around as little as as possible. I have just finished reading a book that will be featuring on my #12booksofchristmas list. Woohoo! Even in July it is perfectly acceptable to read a Christmas book.

The supermarkets were stuffed to the gills yesterday with summer reads, and I will confess I found 2 such books in my shopping basket. I can't possibly comment on how they got there. (Obvs I paid for them in case you think a life of crime has begun for me!). Today is a day for reading something summery and slightly frothy.

Read a list of my favourite Christmas books reviewed on the blog.

It is one week to the Paris Olympics and I cannot wait! We have been watching our 2012 Olympic Games DVDs in preparation and I have been an emotional wreck watching the likes of Mo, Jess, Alistair and many, many others push themselves to their limits. It has brought back many happy memories of London 2012. We of course will be cramming as much Olympic watching in as we can when the games start, especially the Triathlon which we follow avidly.

Today's review is a wonderful book, perfect for those lazy, summer days when only a boiling hot cup of tea with an old friend will do. I have gone rogue and am reading this Fairacre series out of sequence, because that is how I roll! hahaha. It is number 17 in the series, absolutely fine to read on it's own.

Just like the Highlights episode in the wonderful Friends series, this feels like a recap of one of Miss Read's most beloved characters. Mrs Pringle is the cleaner at Fairacre school who 'bottoms' out Miss Read's home once a week. Often found with a downturned expression on her face, she is overjoyed by bad news, especially the relaying of sad tidings, is fiercely protective of her beloved tortoiseshell stoves in the school, and can be found in the Church choir 'mooing' in the lower register. But gosh, as readers, are we are fond of her.

Miss Read has enjoyed many battles over the years with Mrs Pringle, the victory split evenly between the 2 women. There has been a resignation, a broken arm and a hat covered with cherries. Mrs Pringle comes with a niece, Minnie who is daughter of Mrs Pringle's black sheep brother. She has a number of children, a complicated love life and a rather unusual approach to cleaning when Mrs P is away. It's a wonderful, colourful fabric of a relationship and is celebrated in this book.

The book recaps, Miss Read's meeting of Mrs Pringle, and various other incidents that have happened throughout the series as well as some new stories not previously shared. All are told with Miss Read's noted sense of dry humour and act as a fitting tribute to this formidable lady.

This was a perfect book to read, comforting, warm and funny. I found myself looking at Mrs Pringle with a sense of fondness which I'm sure she would have delivered a withering comment about.

We have a children's party this weekend, summer book reading and London 2012 watching. Have a great weekend xx