So I am back after Christmas and there is lots to catch up on. I had so much spare time that I have raced through a few books that I will tell you about soon. But despite my reading frenzy I still haven't got my reading to buying ratio right yet as I read 4 books but got given/bought myself 11.... I also enjoyed a break from work but I am back and ready for round (semester 2) and will be spending much of this week in the library reading around my dissertation topic - open access - which it turns out is now something I have got my dad interested in. I don't know if that's because he's genuinely interested though or whether I just bang on about it a lot and he's just had to get interested to survive. Either way I'm ready to go so get ready for another semester of work placement worries, interesting talks and seminars and assignments (boo).

My year starts with a 2 week work experience placement with TQMI management consultants beginning on the 7th so get ready to hear all about it.

This time it's the Specsavers National Book Awards. With 10 different prizes before the coveted book of the year draw the nominees include a range of big name authors (J.K Rowling and Zadie Smith), famous faces (Gok Wan and Miranda Hart), prize winners (Hilary Mantel) and new-comers (Alison Moore) - to name but a few.

It's nice to see such a well rounded list and I cannot wait until December when the winners are announced.

Yesterday was an important day for book lovers everywhere as the list of books for World Book Night 2013 and the shortlist for the Guardian First Book Awards were announced.

There's a real mix of titles on both lists but unfortunately I haven't read any of them, yet, but I am going to set myself the challenge of reading as many of the World Book Night books as I can before the big day in April next year.

To see who made it onto the lists and to set your own challenges (if you want of course) visit the World Book Night website and check out the Guardian.

So it's official. This year saw Hilary Mantel has won the Booker Prize for Bring Up the Bodies and in doing so has become the first woman to win it twice, the first British author to win it twice and the first author to win the prize for two books in the same series. So history has been made.

I should probably go out and get a copy then, I'll put it on my to-read list just under 50 Shades of Gray.