I am currently enjoying 4 books from 3 libraries:
Thanks to:
@DerbyshireLibs for Doctorow’s picks & shovels
@BromleyHouseLib for Holland’s After Oscar
And @NottsLibraries two ebooks via @BorrowBox and @kobo
Barr’s The Two Roberts
Merkel’s Freedom
My Xmas has come early 🎄🎅🏻
Thanks to:
@DerbyshireLibs for Doctorow’s picks & shovels
@BromleyHouseLib for Holland’s After Oscar
And @NottsLibraries two ebooks via @BorrowBox and @kobo
Barr’s The Two Roberts
Merkel’s Freedom
My Xmas has come early 🎄🎅🏻
November 27, 2025 at 6:00 PM
I am currently enjoying 4 books from 3 libraries:
Thanks to:
@DerbyshireLibs for Doctorow’s picks & shovels
@BromleyHouseLib for Holland’s After Oscar
And @NottsLibraries two ebooks via @BorrowBox and @kobo
Barr’s The Two Roberts
Merkel’s Freedom
My Xmas has come early 🎄🎅🏻
Thanks to:
@DerbyshireLibs for Doctorow’s picks & shovels
@BromleyHouseLib for Holland’s After Oscar
And @NottsLibraries two ebooks via @BorrowBox and @kobo
Barr’s The Two Roberts
Merkel’s Freedom
My Xmas has come early 🎄🎅🏻
I loved Dur e Aziz Amna’s first novel, American Fever, and I have enjoyed this one, A Splintering, about a young woman seeking to create a life independent of the men who would rule her, and the costs to her mental well being. Recommended
November 11, 2025 at 3:39 PM
I loved Dur e Aziz Amna’s first novel, American Fever, and I have enjoyed this one, A Splintering, about a young woman seeking to create a life independent of the men who would rule her, and the costs to her mental well being. Recommended
Just knocked over a glass of water on the kitchen table, splashing the power connection of the kindle but fortunately missing the library book. How is your day going ?
*think kindle okay
*think kindle okay
September 23, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Just knocked over a glass of water on the kitchen table, splashing the power connection of the kindle but fortunately missing the library book. How is your day going ?
*think kindle okay
*think kindle okay
Just finished reading @KadiatuKM Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason’s book To Be Young, Gifted, and Black. Not true, I skimmed some sections, tears in my eyes. We in Nottingham have been truly blessed by the Kanneh-Masons. I was very depressed by some of her accounts of their treatment
September 22, 2025 at 6:55 PM
Just finished reading @KadiatuKM Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason’s book To Be Young, Gifted, and Black. Not true, I skimmed some sections, tears in my eyes. We in Nottingham have been truly blessed by the Kanneh-Masons. I was very depressed by some of her accounts of their treatment
My apologies to my followers, I am not here very often, though I try to have a quick read every day. This due to my slowness in dealing with my non reading life.
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I hope to return to normal posting later this year.
Enjoy your reading!📚
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I hope to return to normal posting later this year.
Enjoy your reading!📚
August 11, 2025 at 9:31 AM
My apologies to my followers, I am not here very often, though I try to have a quick read every day. This due to my slowness in dealing with my non reading life.
.
I hope to return to normal posting later this year.
Enjoy your reading!📚
.
I hope to return to normal posting later this year.
Enjoy your reading!📚
the Dan brown of the literary novel 😀
July 19, 2025 at 8:38 PM
the Dan brown of the literary novel 😀
Volume II of Balle’s On the Calculation of Volume, trans by Haveland, continues and expands on the plight of Tara, <spoillers> trapped in 18 Nov. Much more philosophical than vol I, Tara creates a “year” by visits eg northern Sweden = winter. with a classic cliff hanger ending.
June 16, 2025 at 9:03 AM
Volume II of Balle’s On the Calculation of Volume, trans by Haveland, continues and expands on the plight of Tara, <spoillers> trapped in 18 Nov. Much more philosophical than vol I, Tara creates a “year” by visits eg northern Sweden = winter. with a classic cliff hanger ending.
Wynn-Williams’ Careless People, starts as amusing storyof a NZ woman lawyer who joins Facebook To Do Good. We laugh at the gauche USA Tech Bros but the journey soon turns black as misogyny rises and Facebook prepare to give the Chinese gov access to user data. mesmerising read.
June 8, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Wynn-Williams’ Careless People, starts as amusing storyof a NZ woman lawyer who joins Facebook To Do Good. We laugh at the gauche USA Tech Bros but the journey soon turns black as misogyny rises and Facebook prepare to give the Chinese gov access to user data. mesmerising read.
Sad news for readers of top class crime novels, especially those set in Bath, England. www.theguardian.com/books/2025/m... I met him once, he was a truly nice man. RIP Peter, and thanks for giving me so much reading pleasure.
May 16, 2025 at 6:03 AM
Sad news for readers of top class crime novels, especially those set in Bath, England. www.theguardian.com/books/2025/m... I met him once, he was a truly nice man. RIP Peter, and thanks for giving me so much reading pleasure.
On the Calculation of Volume I by Solvej Balle, translated by Barbara Haveland, is one of my Books of 2025. An amazing account of a woman who always wakes up on 18 November. The novel is written in short sections, so very hard to stop reading, always want to read “just one more"
May 4, 2025 at 9:22 PM
On the Calculation of Volume I by Solvej Balle, translated by Barbara Haveland, is one of my Books of 2025. An amazing account of a woman who always wakes up on 18 November. The novel is written in short sections, so very hard to stop reading, always want to read “just one more"
First went to @sohotheatre in 2000. Memorable was the brilliant Roaring Trade in 2009, Andrew Scott explaining credit default swaps to his son in MacDonalds using ketchup and mustard packets. Turns out that also saw Phoebe Waller-Bridge in early role www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/a...
April 26, 2025 at 6:22 PM
First went to @sohotheatre in 2000. Memorable was the brilliant Roaring Trade in 2009, Andrew Scott explaining credit default swaps to his son in MacDonalds using ketchup and mustard packets. Turns out that also saw Phoebe Waller-Bridge in early role www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/a...
Azem’s short novel, Book of Disappearance, trans by Antoon, published in Arabic in 2014 has no plot but describes from several characters point of view, what happens when all Palestinians in Jaffa disappear. I found the lack of plot difficult. But the scenes linger in my mind.
April 16, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Azem’s short novel, Book of Disappearance, trans by Antoon, published in Arabic in 2014 has no plot but describes from several characters point of view, what happens when all Palestinians in Jaffa disappear. I found the lack of plot difficult. But the scenes linger in my mind.
Lalami’s Dream Hotel,longlisted for the Women’s Prize, is very topical. The protagonist arrives back in USA, is arrested: ‘algorithms” analysed her dreams and believe she will commit murder. Sent to a camp for 21 days, then longer. Very upsetting in parts. Recommended
April 15, 2025 at 8:36 PM
Lalami’s Dream Hotel,longlisted for the Women’s Prize, is very topical. The protagonist arrives back in USA, is arrested: ‘algorithms” analysed her dreams and believe she will commit murder. Sent to a camp for 21 days, then longer. Very upsetting in parts. Recommended
Happy Valentine’s Day to all my followers ❤️
February 14, 2025 at 9:49 AM
Happy Valentine’s Day to all my followers ❤️
Sven Holm’s Termush, translated by Sylvia Clayton, is just 119 pages of sparse prose. Written in the late 1960s, it tells about a group of people living in a hotel after an atomic war. It reads relevant to post pandemic life, and reads in eerie detail about the claustrophobia of existence.
February 8, 2025 at 8:27 PM
Sven Holm’s Termush, translated by Sylvia Clayton, is just 119 pages of sparse prose. Written in the late 1960s, it tells about a group of people living in a hotel after an atomic war. It reads relevant to post pandemic life, and reads in eerie detail about the claustrophobia of existence.
Made the mistake of picking up Ben Macintyre’s latest: The Siege [of the Iranian embassy in 1980] Riveting from the first paragraph. Brilliantly written. I remember watching the snooker as the story broke. Problem: it is late but I can’t go to bed till I read just a bit more . .
February 2, 2025 at 11:04 PM
Made the mistake of picking up Ben Macintyre’s latest: The Siege [of the Iranian embassy in 1980] Riveting from the first paragraph. Brilliantly written. I remember watching the snooker as the story broke. Problem: it is late but I can’t go to bed till I read just a bit more . .
Really enjoyed the latest William Boyd novel: Gabriel’s Moon. The enmeshing of the protagonist in the complex spying world of the early 1960s, is brilliantly done. More than a spy novel, reminded me of Graham Greene.
February 1, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Really enjoyed the latest William Boyd novel: Gabriel’s Moon. The enmeshing of the protagonist in the complex spying world of the early 1960s, is brilliantly done. More than a spy novel, reminded me of Graham Greene.
Always enjoyed the spy novels of Henry Porter, well plotted with a left wing slant. His latest, The Enigma Girl, is the best yet. Long, and a bit complicated, but nicely plotted with a great female protagonist
January 21, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Always enjoyed the spy novels of Henry Porter, well plotted with a left wing slant. His latest, The Enigma Girl, is the best yet. Long, and a bit complicated, but nicely plotted with a great female protagonist
Happy Xmas to all ! * and, no, that isn’t my TBR in the background
December 22, 2024 at 11:23 AM
Happy Xmas to all ! * and, no, that isn’t my TBR in the background
After DNF-ing several books and generally being unhappy at what I was reading, I am very happy to have found a novel I am simply enjoying. The pleasure of a comforting read. 📚❤️😀
*Clare Chambers Shy Creatures
*Clare Chambers Shy Creatures
December 19, 2024 at 9:45 PM
After DNF-ing several books and generally being unhappy at what I was reading, I am very happy to have found a novel I am simply enjoying. The pleasure of a comforting read. 📚❤️😀
*Clare Chambers Shy Creatures
*Clare Chambers Shy Creatures
I declare 2024 reading is over, here are my lists for top books for 2024:
Fiction:
Tan Twan Eng, The House of Doors
Percival Everett, James
Samantha Harvey, Orbital
Alan Hollinghurst, Our Evenings
Hari Kunzru, Blue Ruin
Agri Ismail, Hyper
…c/
Fiction:
Tan Twan Eng, The House of Doors
Percival Everett, James
Samantha Harvey, Orbital
Alan Hollinghurst, Our Evenings
Hari Kunzru, Blue Ruin
Agri Ismail, Hyper
…c/
December 18, 2024 at 11:19 AM
I declare 2024 reading is over, here are my lists for top books for 2024:
Fiction:
Tan Twan Eng, The House of Doors
Percival Everett, James
Samantha Harvey, Orbital
Alan Hollinghurst, Our Evenings
Hari Kunzru, Blue Ruin
Agri Ismail, Hyper
…c/
Fiction:
Tan Twan Eng, The House of Doors
Percival Everett, James
Samantha Harvey, Orbital
Alan Hollinghurst, Our Evenings
Hari Kunzru, Blue Ruin
Agri Ismail, Hyper
…c/
Will read this feeling melancholic , the last one
December 13, 2024 at 1:33 PM
Will read this feeling melancholic , the last one
Sobel’s new book: Elements of Marie Curie, How the Glow of Radium Lit a Path for Women in Science is light on the science. Excellent on her life, the book also explores the backgrounds of the women scientists who worked with Marie Curie, and who struggled against the misogyny of science
December 1, 2024 at 1:20 PM
Sobel’s new book: Elements of Marie Curie, How the Glow of Radium Lit a Path for Women in Science is light on the science. Excellent on her life, the book also explores the backgrounds of the women scientists who worked with Marie Curie, and who struggled against the misogyny of science