Well that was November. We had snow! I met my Dad’s puppy! Also there were fireworks for weeks, which is not great with a nervous dog. And my shoulder pain is back with a vengeance. Chronic illness is fun.

I didn’t speed through books this month. Pain makes concentration harder, so I watched a lot more TV instead. We’re most of the way through season one of Three Body Problem – based on the book by Cixin Liu – and I’m also most of the way through the K-drama Hometown Cha-cha-cha. One of those is considerably lighter on the ol’ brain.

I went with friends to see the stage production of Never Let Me Go – based on the book by Kazuo Ishiguro – at Bristol Old Vic. It was excellent. Tissues definitely required. I also went with the same friends to an evening of traditional Egyptian and Lebanese music. We sat on cushions on the floor, drinking tea – a very chill night out.

The Christmas activities have already begun. I took my Mum to see Luxmuralis: In the Beginning at Bristol Cathedral – a light art installation that tells the story of the Nativity through laser projections. It’s a bit cheesy but also quite impressive. And again, quite chill.

Continue reading “November 2024 reading round-up”

We knew August was going to be packed and indeed it was. We bookended the month with holidays celebrating weddings. It’s been a lot of fun and I am exhausted. I need a quiet September.

Somehow I did manage to read eight books in August, three of them by women in translation, most of them excellent.

Also, Tim and I celebrated 22 years together. Which is a lot of years. More than half my life. Go us.

Continue reading “August 2024 reading round-up”

This was a great month for reading, a mixed month in other respects. I mean, it started with my birthday and is ending with a holiday in Paris so it’s certainly not a bad month.

I’ve also watched some excellent films this month, including Poor Things at the cinema. It is honestly so dark and strange, I would only recommend it if you have a high tolerance for weird. But if that’s you, I hope you love it like I did.

We’ve come to Paris for the massive Rothko retrospective at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, which is impressive. But Rothko is really Tim’s thing so in return I made him go to the Catacombs, which I enjoyed a lot. We have eaten a lot of excellent food and the sunsets from our hotel room balcony have been beautiful. Plus the roof terrace is a great spot for reading.

Happy February!

Continue reading “January 2024 reading round-up”

As I mentioned in my December reading round-up last week, 2023 was an odd year for me. I feel more in need of the arbitrary fresh start of a new year than I can remember for a very long time.

However, “odd” doesn’t mean all bad, and among my highlights were some truly great books. According to Storygraph I read 81 books and gave 5 of them the maximum rating of 5 (though the ratings are a gut reaction when I finish the book and don’t always match which books I’m still enthusing about months later). My most-read genres were literary, contemporary, LGBTQIA+ and classics – so no surprises there. My average book size was 240 pages and the mood of the books got darker over the course of the year (the mood is based on aggregate “light” or “dark” ratings from readers so isn’t necessarily an accurate reflection of what I thought of a book’s mood).

But I know what you’re here for is my favourite reads of 2023. So with the usual caveat that these are chosen from books I read in 2023, not necessarily published last year, here goes…

Continue reading “My top books of 2023 and reading goals”

Another year is over. It’s been a strange one. This month has been wet and grey, which at least had the side effect of giving me time to read nine books (admittedly four of them were trade paperbacks of comic series).

I also watched a lot of Christmas films – most of them terrible, cheesy fare that I would not recommend at any other time of year. The best by far was The Apartment, which is Billy Wilder, Jack Lemmon and Shirley Maclaine so really how can any other film compete?

As usual, I got a lovely tall stack of new books for Christmas. Because my loved ones know me well. I did a clearout of my TBR and library before Christmas to create some space so for now I can still fit all my books on shelves. But it is my birthday next week so they may well be spilling over again soon. It’s my favourite problem to have.

I failed to finish any of the three books I’m in the middle of for a nice, neat end to the year. But that does give me a headstart on my 2024 book count! I’ll post next week with my 2023 round-up. In the meantime, happy New Year!

Continue reading “December 2023 reading round-up”

We spent most of October in a slightly chaotic state having some building work done on our house. I did not appreciate getting up extra early and doing extra cleaning for three and a half weeks but it is satisfying to have finally fixed some big problems. We still have a long list of redecorating tasks and Christmas is scarily close so there’s that to plan too. Adulting is hard.

Roll on November.

Continue reading “October 2023 reading round-up”

September has been full, and exhausting. I finally got the tattoo I had planned for my 40th birthday present to myself. Emily Ingman at 555 Studios in Bradford-on-Avon did a beautiful job, I am so happy with it.

Work got busy, plus we started a big building project on our house, but somehow I managed to get through eight books this month. They were a varied bunch too, and not a dud among them.

On TV we devoured Poker Face (soooooo good). We’re now partway through The Power, based on the Naomi Alderman book, which was one of my top reads of 2021 so I think it’s a good start that I’m not constantly comparing the TV show with the book, I’m just sitting back and enjoying it.

Continue reading “September 2023 reading round-up”

August was another mixed month. We had a lovely holiday and two weekends away. Tim and I celebrated 21 years together. I went to the cinema twice, three and a half years after my last trip to the big screen (Spider-Man Across the Multiverse and Oppenheimer – I would have liked to add Barbie to the list but haven’t managed to find the time). We also squeezed in a few long bike rides – both on holiday and back home in Bristol.

On the book front, there were no real standouts this month and I definitely bought more books than I read. Oops.

Continue reading “August 2023 reading round-up”

Suddenly, it’s summer and we’re trying to do all the things all the time. It’s fun and exhausting. We had our first barbecue of the year. I started reading in the garden at lunchtimes and after work.

Yay for sunshine and friends. Happy summertime.

Continue reading “May 2023 reading round-up”

I read a lot in April. I mean, yes, I set aside the long Easter weekend to mostly read, and that accounts for 3.5 books. But that still means in the rest of the month I read 5.5 books, more than March or February.

Partly it’s because this has been a cold, wet spring so far. And I think I’ve been better than usual at creating time to read as I really liked most of the books I read this month. I’ve watched half a dozen films with Tim, but none on my own. Admittedly, though, the K-drama I’m watching has 80–90 minute episodes so you could argue I’ve watched eight more films…

April was quite up and down for us. We seem to have a number of friends going through tough times. It can be hard not being able to prevent bad stuff happening to people you love. But it has made me stop to appreciate the good things in my own life, which it’s important to make time to do.

Continue reading “April 2023 reading round-up”