This week’s prompt: In December, many people like snuggling up with a nice book and a warm beverage. What kind of reading environment do you prefer during the winter? These days most of my reading is done in the format of audiobooks. I read while I’m cleaning, while I’m tidying, while I’m preparing meals or READ MORE
TOP TEN TUESDAY | BOOKS ON MY WINTER 2024-25 TBR
As usual, I don’t have a proper TBR set for my winter reading. I’ll either be too busy to read much, or I’ll breeze through a whole bunch of random books that strike my fancy at the particular moment I’m looking for something to read for no specific reason. You know how I do. But READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | THE QUEEN AND I – SUE TOWNSEND
Sue Townsend is one of those authors I grew up with. Her Adrian Mole books were introduced to me by one of my cousins, Chris (I still have the copy of The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4 with his inscription in it), and were some of the first I couldn’t get enough READ MORE
SITE ISSUE | WTF???
Hello all! Just a quick note to say that my blog, over night, somehow seems to have completely had an identity crisis. Menus have appeared where there were none, post images have become too big for their boots and distorted themselves, and I have my suspicions the issues have only just begun. As I am READ MORE
WEDNESDAY BLOGGING CHALLENGE | MYTHS OR LEGENDS FROM WHERE I LIVE
I don’t know that many myths or legends from my area, but I do know there are a lot of them because we live on the unceded land of multiple first nations, including the Squamish (or Skwxwúʔmesh). One of their legends that I’ve heard about is of The Two Sisters (or Twin Sisters) – a READ MORE
TOP TEN TUESDAY | BOOKS TO READ DURING A STORM
Oooh this is a fascinating prompt! I love it! Of course, now I have to actually find books that match the emotions I’m pairing with it, which may be little more challenging! Let’s see how I do. Books that feel as stormy as the weather: The Witching Hour by Anne READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | BUCKET LIST – RUSSELL JONES
Let me be up front – I loved this book. It was recommended to me by Joanne over at Portobello Book Blog as a great book about intergenerational friendship, and boy was she ever on the mark! It’s the story of two people who, for different reasons, are having a hard time in thier READ MORE
BOOK BLOGGER HOP | SEASONAL READING RECOMMENDATION
This week’s prompt: Can you recommend a book that catches the spirit of year-end thoughts or generates a sense of nostalgia in you? This is an interesting thing to consider, because I don’t really have any books that specifically deal with Christmas or the changing over of the year that I come back to each READ MORE
WEDNESDAY BLOGGING CHALLENGE | SOMETHING I WISH WOULD COME BACK INTO FASHION
I don’t care much for fashion. My own dress sense stalled out somewhere between the late 90s and early 2000s, arguably not so much because I liked the fashion particularly, but because there was more unisex and simple clothing, and in some cases more comfortable. I don’t like skirts much, or dresses. I hate READ MORE
TOP TEN TUESDAY | BOOKS I WANT TO RE-READ
This week’s topic is a freebie, so I’m looking back at books I’ve read, and either I read them long enough ago that I only have a vague recollection of them that I’d like to update, or I loved them so much I want to experience them again (or, possibly, both). Others I want READ MORE
LINK-UP | IT’S MONDAY! WHAT ARE YOU READING?
It’s been another busy week and, as usual, I’ve not had much time for reading. But my mum was here to visit, and we went to the library with my kid and they each found something to read, came home, and instantly curled up on the sofa to start reading. They’ve pretty much kept READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | NOTHING TO DECLARE – MARY MORRIS
I first read this book when I was a teenager. I think it was shortly after I had discovered the travel memoir genre thanks to Frances Mayes’ Under the Tuscan Sun, Bill Bryson’s In A Sunburned Country and Peter Mayle’s A Year In Provence. I loved the armchair exploration of places and cultures I yearned READ MORE
QUARTERLY WRAP-UP | AUTUMN 2024
As anyone who’s been around here for a little while knows, my reading tends to fall off for a little while at least once a year. I’ve learned to just roll with it, because usually there’s a reason and it’s a chance to catch up on TV until the reading desire returns. So long story READ MORE
BOOK BLOGGER HOP | READING SLUMPS
This week’s prompt: How do you deal with reading slumps or moments when you can’t get into a book? This is always a conundrum. I suppose there are a couple of options when you’re in a reading slump. Either shrug and give up, or push yourself through to keep reading. I’ve tried both, and READ MORE
WEDNESDAY BLOGGING CHALLENGE | A MUSICAL I LIKED
I used to like musicals when I was a kid, but that was partly because a neighbour had quite a few that I could borrow, and since we didn’t have TV anything I could watch on video was going to get me to watch it. Repeatedly. I watched some Barbara Streisand ones like Hello READ MORE
TOP TEN TUESDAY | THANKFUL
I think it must be Thanksgiving for our Southern neighbours around now, so this week’s prompt is “thankful.” I’m not big on Thanksgiving in general because the whole history thing, plus it wasn’t ever much of a thing in my family. But the concept of being thankful in general is something I try to READ MORE
LINK-UP | IT’S MONDAY! WHAT ARE YOU READING?
Another busy week and I’ve been picking up books and even reading them in dribs and drabs, but have completely failed to actually finish a single one. But I’m hoping this is the beginning of an upward swing in my reading efforts and that it’ll lead to actually finishing a book one of these READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | KNIFE – SALMAN RUSHDIE
Salman Rushdie had been living under threat of assassination for more than three decades when he was finally attacked on stage in the summer of 2022. A man with a knife ran up to the stage and stabbed him multiple times before he began speaking. He survived the attack, but was left with some permanent READ MORE