The picture was idyllic, till you mentioned your children playing in the yard...you just know you're going to be disturbed in about ten minutes time with one saying "Mum, it's not fair!!" and the other one saying "It wasn't me, it was her!!"

But welcome to RP. What do you like to read?

Hi Magdalena,glad you are here. The place I picture idyllic for reading is exactly where I do read in the summer. We live out in the country with woods bordering our property in the back. I like reading in our old hammock. I can look up and see the tops of all the trees ad the blue sky. If I'm quiet enough the birds come very close as did the deer once or twice.

Welcome to RP! Like Martin, I'd like to know your favorite authors and books. We are a (humility safely stored in my pocket)...we are a wonderful bunch of people and are always pleased to welcome a new booklover.

I love to curl up on my victorian couch in front of my big front window on a rainy day. The side window behind the couch is just big enough to hold my teacup.

My winter place is on the old beaten leather couch in front of a cozy wood stove.

Both places include my doggies by my side. My realities are not nearly as perfect as your visions!

Martin, you ruined her vision! Did too, did too, did too! And it's not fair!

PAM

In reality, I read on a bright yellow settee which looks like the love-child of a sofa and a chaise longue.
In my dreams: a book-lined study with a fireplace and two proper old leather armchairs (they probably have a proper name - the one's with wings - in German they are called Ohrensessel, i.e. Earchair...). It is deepest winter, about to get dark, and the snow is softly falling. While I like the image of the cat curled up in front of the fire, it would actually make me sneeze, so replace it with my faithful lurcher, but make her less flatulent than in real life... Let's just pop a harpsichord into the room, too, and pretend that I can actually play lots of Bach minuets.

Please ignore the misplaced apostrophe above, and read that as 'ones with wings'.

My favorite place in winter is my actual chaise longue with a bookcase beside it and a tray-table lamp big enough to hold a small stack of books and a cup of tea.

In summer I like my patio that overlooks my husband's pretty flower garden, but I would like to have a really comfortable outdoor chaise, the temperature always perfect, and no mosquitoes. And no kids; just birds and butterflies.

Magda you are right about the 'lived in' Victorian house and dust, we have plenty of that here, but I never wear a white lace dress when I'm reading, it gets covered in cobwebs.
I often read sitting at the kitchen table, or when the weather is somewhat warmer than it is now, I'll read at the picnic table outside the kitchen; I even read sitting on the stairs.
Luckily we have a much too big garden and have recently bought a 'swing seat'. After scratching our heads over the sign language instructions (it was made in China) we figured out how to assemble it and now in the summer I sit or lie in splendour, like a beached whale, in the corner of our walled garden surrounded by hollyhocks, foxgloves and roses. There are no interruptions from children although I do allow the words "I'm just making tea, may I bring you a cup?" to filter through the sleepy haze of an English summer's afternoon.
If I can get someone to show me how I'll put a photo up here.

Anyanka,

For the record, Bach didn't write minuets........

I'd like to be back on my grandmother's summer house porch, near the ocean, in the adirondack chair with my feet on the railing. I was the only one who thought the adirondack chair was comfortable, so it was alwyas empty when I wanted it, and the railing was the perfect height for propping ankles up on a pillow-which I could do for hours as a teen-all the blood would rush away from my feet and I'd be unable to stand now (*g*)
In the winter, a wing chair with ottoman and expansive side table in front of the fire would be perfect-a wide wing chair, so the cats can be beside me, not on me, interferring with my book-which needs to be somewhat farther away than it did back on the porch...

Dido - I hate to be picky, but....

Here is a link that might be useful: Minuet in G - J S Bach

Dido, where did you get that idea?
Here's the complete list - admittedly some of them are now disputed i.e. attributed to other composers. The Minuet in G mentioned by Martin above is one of those - as I only discovered after learning to play it! Still a lovely piece of music, mind...

Menuett c-moll BWV 813a Menuett Es-Dur BWV 815b Menuett G-Dur BWV 841 Menuett g-moll BWV 842 Menuett G-Dur BWV 843 Menuett F-Dur BWV Anh. 113 Menuett G-Dur BWV Anh. 114 Menuett g-moll BWV Anh. 115 Menuett G-Dur BWV Anh. 116 Menuett F-Dur BWV Anh. 117a Menuett F-Dur BWV Anh. 117b Menuett B-Dur BWV Anh. 118 Menuett a-moll BWV Anh. 120 Menuett c-moll BWV Anh. 121 Menuett d-moll BWV Anh. 132 Menuett G-Dur BWV Anh. 149

And...even if Bach didn't write minuets...it's anyanka's daydream...so it can be anything she wants!

My reading posture is reminiscent of an old tomb...prone with a book on the stomach and faithful dog at foot. The only modern touch is the wall-mounted air-conditioner.
May I have music on a harp instead of a harpsichord? Sweeter and more restful by far than those jangling notes to my ears but did Bach write for the harp? Or something Celtic would do.....
(You'd never think that I once worked in a Music Library, but I mainly shelved by numbers!)

Anyanka - the Minuet in G is disputed? But it's from the Anna Magdalena Bach notebook. I thought that was a birthday present for her. Or is this just a romantic story?

Martin, as far as I understand the Anna Magdalena Bach book was a personal compilation of music by J.S. for her to play/practise - not necessarily pieces composed by him. Most of the pieces did not name the composer. In my ebay-bought modern (and abridged) edition of the AMB book, the Minuet in G (and its companion piece, the Minuet in G minor) are attributed to somebody by the name of Petzold.