This month started in Sweden, which rather set the tone for the choice of reading, yet again. I was incredibly restrained, though, and only bought five books while we were there. And the week after we came back, we went to one of my favourite independent bookshops near here, so of course I had to buy another book there to support them, right? I'm trying to ensure that I don't just spend my days watching TV or YouTube, so am making the effort to put down the screens and get in

A few months ago I posted about facing my own personal Autumn , in which I was thinking about a fallow time, a season of withdrawal and energy conservation. Now somehow feels like an appropriate time to consider the hope of renewal and new growth. For the past 10 months or more I've been dealing with severe fatigue and exhaustion as well as awful brain fog. This has been - and continues to be - utterly debilitating, and has led to my retirement from work on the grounds of ill

Like many booklovers, my capacity for buying books rather exceeds my bookshelves' capacity for storing them. Combine this fact with a husband who is also a book hoarder and far too many house moves, and the result is bookshelves which are a jumble of genres with an almost total lack of order and reason. As an example, one shelf behind the sofa currently houses children's fiction, biography, classics, whodunnits, Japanese fiction, and more. Other than the Terry Pratchetts, th

We've done quite a bit of driving this month, so I've been listening to audiobooks while in the car. I'm not setting myself any targets for the year in terms of books read, but hope to carry on reading more than I buy... I've also managed to make inroads into my 'to be finished' pile, with four titles from there finally making it to my blog! Larma, släcka, rädda i Rosengädda by Emma Hamberg [audiobook] Vårjakt i Rosengädda by Emma Hamberg [audiobook] The next two books in th

One of the joys in life which I have rediscovered in recent years is building book nooks and miniature rooms. Since completing my first one at Christmas three years ago, I now have eight (I think!) around the house. I don't know quite what it is about these cosy scenes which I find so alluring, but they're utterly captivating. Maybe it's that as my world has shrunk, they offer a glimpse into a magical miniature world, where the imagination isn't limited and the possibilities

I didn’t quite manage to finish as many books as I’d hoped to this month, but at least I’ve started fewer than I’ve finished, so I think that’s a good sign…! I’ve stuck with much of the Swedish theme again, unsurprisingly. De fenomenala fruntimren på Grand Hôtel by Ruth Kvarnström-Jones Set in Stockholm's Grand Hôtel in the first decade of the twentieth century, this is a fictional account of the lives and friendships between a group of women working there, led by (the real)

I'm not quite sure where the year has gone - I think I've literally slept through a large part of it! - but here we are in Advent again. We've had the wonderful Advent Carol Service at church, got out the advent calendar at home, and have now decorated the Christmas tree which beautifully illuminates its corner of the living room. For the past six years, this has been a particularly reflective time for me - not only in the ways the church intends, but also in a very personal

October started particularly well, with my birthday at the start of the month becoming a day dedicated to reading the new Richard Osman - a lovely gift from Offspring #1. after that, sadly, my reading declined again and is only just starting to pick up. The other day I discovered a pile of 5-6 half-read books, which probably goes rather a long way to explaining why although I’m sure I read more than this suggests, I don’t have many finished items to list here! The Impossible

For the past few months I've been living with extreme exhaustion, and have been confronted with the need to adapt my life to fit my vastly reduced energy levels, both mental and physical. One concept which has been brought up to me a couple of times recently, by different people and in different contexts, is that of wintering, retreat, or sabbatical. That we all have occasional fallow periods in our lives; times of retreat, of quiet withdrawal, of reflection or preparation. W

The Swedish theme definitely continues this month as it begins while I’m North of the Arctic Circle (by quite some way!). Even once home...

There's definitely a theme to my reading this month - whereas I often have a book or two on Swedish, this time it's more than half the...

For as long as there have been books, there have been authorities wishing to censor their contents in order to protect a narrative,...

If I thought June's three books was a rather low month, July has somehow managed to be no better. Things have been pretty busy here with...

A while ago I wrote about starting to play Minecraft , and my surprise at how utterly captivating I found it. Safe to say, I'm still...

Despite still being signed off work, I haven't managed to do very much reading at the moment. Somehow it just takes more energy and focus...

Despite all the difficulties I had during my steady decline between March and May, I managed to continue reading fairly steadily - sort...

Well, it's been a few months since I last wrote anything here, so it feels as though I'm long overdue a post. I've been struggling with...

Life has suddenly got a bit busier, as i'm back doing musical things regularly, but i'm still making sure I have time to read. The...

My earliest memory of birds is as a primary school child looking out of the kitchen window with my dad as he pointed out a wren in the...

For as long as I can remember, music has played a huge role in my life - from learning piano, recorder and guitar in primary school, to...