There are so many reasons why books get left behind, lost in the meandering paths of the to-be-read pile, superceded by other releases and purchases, swamped by life and family and work commitments. Or perhaps you do pick them up but they don't chime with your mood at that point or your expectations... So, this Tuesday, let's take a gander at those books that I was excited about but which - for whatever reason - I have not read ..read more

Good evening all and welcome to another Tuesday.. This week's topic to which I must turn my thoughts is authors who I'd like more from.... the easy route here, as a reader who loves the classics, would be to go down that route! Who wouldn't want to see Jane Austen's take on social media? Or Mary Shelley's imagination spliced with our AI technologies! Dickens' response to the cost-of-living crises... It is quite scary to imagine how similar some of our concerns are to theirs, how little the world has progressed in some ways. But let us turn our thoughts to contemporary writers instead, those wh ..read more

A gripping twisty little thriller set in a evocative - if underused - location and populated by a range of deeply unpleasant characters, one of whom doesn't survive much beyond the opening scene ..read more

Quotations... as an English Literature teacher and English Literature graduate, there are so many quotations bouncing about in my head! And we are also in the midst of GCSE Exam season so I hope - please god I hope - that there are plenty in my students' heads too! And for me, you say quotation, I go to Shakespeare ..read more

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