March was a complete washout, and one whole day without rain wouldn't go amiss. The best you can say is that at least it didn’t snow, but we did get a few proper hail storms. Anyway, I got out and about and as usual there was plenty to read and watch. Books Before I started to write this I felt I didn’t read a lot this month, but looking back I didn’t do too badly. First up was ‘Wild Houses’ by Colin Barrett, a thriller set in the West of Ireland. Set in a small Irish town and perfectly capturing the ties that bind you, as well as the sense of hopelessness and isolation that can happen, the a ..read more

I don’t usually do one-off blog posts, but rather than wait a month for another monthly review I thought, what the hell; I’ll do a review now whilst the movie remains fresh in my mind. I was in Belfast for the weekend to meet a friend, and as we’d both loved the first instalment, we booked an afternoon trip to see ‘Dune - Part 2’. There was no way I was leaving this to the small screen. I suffer from tinnitus, so I usually like a talky movie, something with no loud bangs. ‘The Holdovers’ was a recent fave but I’ve mostly avoided the cinema in recent months. But I had a set of earplugs to help ..read more

When asked previously, I would have said February was one of my least favourite months. Damp, dank, not yet spring. But you know what? To walk around a forest on a misty morning, to listen to the patter of the rain on the leaves. To give your ears over to birdsong. To feel a wee kick when you spot a clump of snowdrops or daffs. So up February and F*ck the begrudgers. Saying that, the evenings are conducive to sitting in and reading/watching/listening. So lets get on with my round up for this month. Palestine I can’t start without saying something about what’s happening in Palestine. I feel li ..read more

As a Bookblogger, receiving an ‘Advanced Reader Copy’ is one of the perks of the job (or rather, the part time hobby). It’s great to receive copies of forthcoming titles from your favourite authors or much hyped books, and in this article I’m going to look at how you go about receiving this booklovers bounty. What is an Advanced Reader Copy? (ARC) They are galleys/proofs of books that are yet to be published and come in the form of physical or digital copies, as the publishing company works at generating pre launch publicity. Reviewing the book and sharing details on social media helps to bui ..read more

Just a post to say that I've decided to start my own Challenge, and it can be found here. I always enjoy other reading challenges, as it encourages me to read books outside of my comfort zone, always a good thing. As much as I enjoy blogging about my own reading journey, I get just as much enjoyment from reading other reviews and seeing what everyone else is reading. It informs my own book choices, and I've discovered so many new authors over the past couple of years. But even more importantly has been the connection with other book lovers - blogging can be quite the lonely pastime, but it has ..read more

Great balls of planets The above picture is from the grounds of the local Armagh Planetarium, where I have enjoyed some walks when weather has allowed. Not that I mind a bit of rain, but we’ve had a couple of storms and going by the amount of fallen trees and branches, walking would not have been advised. The footpaths have been at times like an ice rink, with more fallers than the grand national. It’s mostly been a time for being indoors, which means more books and screen time. Let’s have a look at what I enjoyed over holiday period (remember that?) and the month of January. Books Hard to be ..read more

Only the one reading challenge for me this year, and that’s the 2024 Non Fiction reading challenge, hosted by the lovely Shelley Rae over at Bookdout. The list of topics is below so lets see how many I hit. I got seven out of twelve last year, so not too bad. As usual I’ll be using the Bookriot Reading log to keep track. I still use goodreads but I find the bookriot log to be more detailed. That’s the only challenge I’ll be doing this year as I’m just to get to see where my reading takes me. Mostly, I’ll be reading what I want to read. History Memoir/Biography - Pouring Concrete: A zen pat ..read more

I haven't done a round up since September so thought I'd squeeze one in before the years end. Gigs Managed to get to a couple of gigs in the past few months. Teenage Fanclub in the Mandela was a a harmonious, hook laden trip down memory lane. It was kind of the organisers to make this a seated gig, as many of us aren't able to jump around as much as we used to - I first heard the fannies back in the early nineties. I should say there were a number of people considerably younger than me in the crowd (one of our own party included) so good to see they still have appeal. Thoroughly enj ..read more

Running out of space, books read and unread It’s that lovely time of the year when I look over my stats for the year and list my favourite books. I’ll leave them at the bottom of the page in an obvious attempt to get you to scroll down. Let’s go. Stats I was surprised to see that I’ve read 52 books this year, about 16500 pages. This is the same figures as last year, and I suppose a book a week is a nice soundbite. I’m surprised because from September onwards, I’ve felt that the arse has really fallen out of my reading. If I had wanted, I really could have read 60 titles this year but I lost m ..read more

September was a quiet month in terms of reading and screen viewing but busy in other areas. Let’s crack on. Life I celebrated a birthday this month, and loved the family dinner, party and lovely gifts. Getting on a bit,  I've realised that spending time with loved ones is the most important thing of all. I enjoyed it all, but in maudlin middle age I also find there's that bittersweet tang, because as they saying goes, 'time moves slowly, but passes quickly.' If I had a penny for every time someone said to me that 50 is just a number, I think I would have about 38p. I've never known ..read more