Continuing to progress my learning of Italian, I have started to read Agatha Christie’s A Murder in Announced in Italian! Although I have not read the novel in English before, I found the juxtaposition of Italian language and quintessentially English placenames and character names highly incongruous and amusing! Why am I posting this… it is ..read more

A beautiful and optimistic image of the future of mankind where, despite our differences and the ravages we have inflicted on the planet, we emerge as ready to take the first steps on a galactic scale ..read more

The daffodils are out in force, the apple trees in my garden are ablaze with blossoms, new buds are bursting from the trees in the woods opposite. We are truly in the grip of springtime in the UK. We know this because over the course of the long May Day bank holiday weekend we have had blazing sunshine, heavy winds, torrential rain and thunder! So I thought this would be an easy TTT list to compile: of the 3189 books in my Calibre library - How did that number creep so high? Is this a healthy number of books to own? - I was sure there must be dozens, hundreds, with "flower" or similar in the t ..read more

Good evening and welcome to another TTT. The theme this week is focused on books that we have not finished... not books that we have set aside temporarily or that we have not finished yet but books that we have made a conscious decision not to continue with. This is a tricky one for me as I do not tend to make that decision. There are many books that I have begun, not been gripped by and put aside only to return to it later and end up loving it! These might be books that I am not emotionally ready for, or I am too tired for, or which are too close to a particular issue at that moment... or a b ..read more

They - whoever 'they' may be - say that buying books and actually reading them are two very different hobbies! They must say it, it is a google-able image! And as I am in the process of moving house and trying to pack in advance. What were the first things I packed? Obviously my physical books! And ... there have been quite a number of boxes filled already. Old favourites and a few that I have been intending to read and never quite got around to it. Nor will I be able to for a little while as they are all still sealed in boxes. As is my crockery (save for one plate, one bowl, one cup each) and ..read more

Life chose to become complicated and difficult for a little while back there! Following on from the stress of the landlord giving us notice to quit, the process of finding a new house, deciding to investigate buying rather than renting, negotiating mortgages and making offers and putting together deposits and instructing solicitors... all took some time and generates some stress. And alongside that, my dad's health took a rapid down hill plunge. He had been suffering from cancer for some years but it had spread from prostate to bowel to bones. In the space of ten days he went from being active ..read more

An eminently readable and accessible account of an extraordinary experience, rendered with clarity and precision; for me, however, it seemed to sacrifice the drama and horror of the events ..read more

Well, it has certainly been a week this week: we have just had the landlord around for a property check, during which he chose to give notice to quit the property by the end of May... which feels very close at the moment. And there are not that many homes available in the limited areas in which we are looking in order to avoid disrupting our daughter's schooling too much... And today, out of the blue, I discover that my boss has been suspended pending investigations... So, the chance to reflect on short book, books to devour in a day, or when time is short, feels rather fitting! Many thanks to ..read more

Is it my imagination or are the days starting to stretch out a little bit again? It's still pitch dark on my morning runs but I don't feel that I am both driving to and home from work in the darkness! And this week's theme is a lovely one, a celebration of the books I have read in 2023 - which already seems a very long time ago and we have not yet finished January! - from authors I have not come across before. We all have those familiar favourite authors, don't we? Those writers who we just know we will feel welcome and comfortable and familiar with, even in a new book - and that is a wonderfu ..read more

A tender and sweet story that is in part a political thriller, in part a romance, set on Mars in the near future in which the kindest characters have the most objectionable politics. As a political commentary it was, for me, not unproblematic; as a character-driven romance, it was tender ..read more