Monday, 1 January 2024

Books I've Read 2023

 


The TBR shelf - ready for shrinking!!

January
Oops - not a good reading month!

February
Spare - Prince Harry
One Corpse Too Many - Ellis Peters

March
Monk's Hood - Ellis Peters
The Virgin in the Ice - Ellis Peters
The Devil's Novice - Ellis Peters
A Prisoner of Birth - Jeffrey Archer

April
The Raj - Donald H Robinson
Smiley's People - Le Carré
Eyesore's Little Book of Gloom - A.A. Milne & E.H. Shepard
Georgia O'Keeffe - Paintings
A Little Book of House Messing Feng Shite - Anna Crosbie
Lessons in Chemistry - Bonnie Garmus 

May
The White Queen - Philippa Gregory
Windswept and Interesting - Billy Connolly
My Grandmother Sends Her Regards and Apologies - Fredrik Backman

June
The Omen Machine - Terry Goodkind
Munich - Robert Harris
Living with the Enemy - Freddie Knoller with John Landaw
Stormbreaker - Anthony Horowitz
Point Blanc - Anthony Horowitz
Skeleton Key - Anthony Horowitz
Eagle Strike - Anthony Horowitz
Scorpia - Anthony Horowitz
Ark Angel - Anthony Horowitz

July
Snakehead - Anthony Horowitz
Ten Things I Hate About Me - Joe Tracini
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry - Rachel Joyce
The Cruel Sea- Nicholas Monsarrat
Bones to Ashes - Kathy Reichs
This Much is True - Miriam Margolyes
The Amazing Edie Eckhart - Rosie Jones

August
What should you do with your life - Po Bronson

September
All the Broken Places - John Boyne
Starry Starry Night - Marcia Willett
Win - Harlan Coben
The Betrayals - Bridget Collins

October
Liam's Story - Ann Victoria Roberts
Tuf Voyaging - George R. R. Martin
The In-Between - Hadley Vlahos, RN
Outbreak - Melissa F. Olson

November
Armageddon Rag - George R. R. Martin
Hold Tight - Harlan Coben
Simple Matters - Erin Boyle
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow - Gabrielle Zevin


I moved all the furniture around so it looks different - the bottom shelf is cook books so they don't count!!!

Sunday, 1 January 2023

Books I've Read 2022


This is a picture of my TBR shelf/pile - my aim...to shrink it by the end of the year!!! 

January

The Book of Two Ways - Jodi Picoult
Drama Queen - Sara Gibbs
The Tattooist of Auschwitz - Heather Morris
Little House on the Prairie - Laura Ingalls Wilder

February

Julie & Julia - Julie Powell
The Cat that Overcame - Helen La Penta
Superstar India: From Incredible to Unstoppable - Shobhaa De
Rites of Passage - William Golding

March

The Botanist's Daughter - Kayte Nunn
Sleeping Murder - Agatha Christie

April

Anne of Green Gables - L M Montgomery
Next - Michael Crichton

May

Killing for Company - The Case of Dennis Nilsen - Brian Masters

June

Double Cross - James Patterson
Many Different Kinds of Love - Michael Rosen
The Key to Rebecca - Ken Follett

July

The Railway Man - Eric Lomax

August

Where the Crawdads Sing - Delia Owens

September

A Promised Land - Barack Obama

October

The Robber Bride - Margaret Atwood
Fatherland - Robert Harris

November

Velocity - Robin Tamblyn
Bridgerton...The Duke & I - Julia Quinn

December

A Slow Fire Burning - Paula Hawkins

That's 24 books read and out of the building!! However, because I changed buildings (moved house) I can't do a comparison photo!! So below is the TBR shelf at the new place. You'll notice the shelf is shorter but it's two books deep!!


Lets see how looks at the end of 2023!!









Tuesday, 11 January 2022

New Year - Same Me

Have I made any New Year Resolutions - no
Do I have a 'word of the year' - no
Have I set any 'intentions' - no

Right now getting through each day is achievement enough for me!!!! It's only 11th and this year has already thrown a couple of curve balls my way so I'm making no plans ;-)

Will I try and be a bit healthier - yes
Will I succeed - who know
Will I beat myself up if I'm not - probably - but I'll try and be kind to myself - and if that's all I manage this year - I'm good with that!

#FundingFlo - The outcome

Well what can I say, other than a HUGE Thank You to everyone that helped boost Flo's adoption grant. The final total for the MACC fundraiser was $1111 - AMAZING.


In total the campaign raised $127,694 split over 110 children waiting to be adopted - how incredible is that?

Flo now has a total of $1883 to help her on her way to finding a family.


Sunday, 2 January 2022

Books I've read 2021

I fell off the reading wagon in June of 2020 when I went back to work after the first lockdown so I'm trying to get back on it this year. I've joined a FaceBook book club so I'll tag the monthly book too - looking forward to reading something that I probably wouldn't pick myself.

Sophie Cousons - This Time Next Year (January book)
Chick lit 6/10

Dean Nicholson - Nala's World
The story of a guy cycling the world who finds a kitten on his travels 8/10

Alan Davies - Just Ignore Him
Autobiography, tough subject matter 10/10

Alan Davies - Teenage Revolution
Talking about the 'icons' of his life from '78 to '88 7/10

J.M. Barrie - Peter Pan (& Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens)
Didn't like the characters, the story or the writing style! 3/10

Geraldine McCaughrean - Peter Pan in Scarlet
The official sequel to Peter Pan - I preferred it, but not much! 5/10

Caroline Kepnes - You (February book)
Creepy stalker story didn't really enjoy it but couldn't put it down! 6/10

Michael Connelly - The Black Ice
A Harry Bosch, US detective, novel. Enjoy these lots 8/10

Michael Palin - Erebus: The Story of a Ship
This is the history of the ship Erebus from building in 1824 to it's wreck being discovered in 2014 and all that happened in between 10/10  

Michael Connelly - Lost Light
Another Harry Bosch. Ending seemed a bit rushed 7/10

Michael Connelly - The Night Fire
Another Harry Bosch. I do love a good detective novel 8/10

Jenny Eclair - Camberwell Beauty
Urban living with friends you learn to hate. Didn't like the writing, didn't like the story, didn't like the ending! 1/10

Matt Haig - The Midnight Library (March book)
A book about choices, regrets and embracing life. Loved it 9/10

Bernardine Evaristo - Girl, Woman, Other (June Book)
Follows the lives and stories of 12 very difference women. Another goodie 9/10

Tara Isabelle Burton - Social Creature
Female friendship taken to it's toxic extreme 5/10

Christy Lefteri - The Beekeeper of Aleppo (April book)
The story of a journey to a new life. Not entirely sure what all the hype was about although I did like it. 6/10

Blake Pierce - Once Chosen
A Riley Paige Mystery (Book 17) The last in a series of FBI agent cases. 6/10

Elly Griffiths - The House at Sea's End
Murder mystery featuring an archeologist (third in a series) - makes a nice twist on the normal police procedural, will look out for her other books - 7/10

Steve Cavanagh - Fifty Fifty (May Book)
A courtroom based whodunnit with many twists. First time I've come across this author but will keep an eye out for more. 7/10

Theresa Breslin - Remembrance
How the Great War changed the lives of a group of youngsters from a Scottish village. Another author I'll keep an eye out for. 7/10

C J Sansom - Tombland
Only discovered half way through that this is book 7 in a series!! Works fine as a standalone too (luckily!) An 800 page beast based on historical events in the 1500s. I enjoyed it but I don't think it really needed to be so long! 6/10

Glendy Vander - Where the Forest Meets the Stars (August Book)
Really enjoyed this one and wasn't 100% sure where it was going to go which is always good! Quite a light read and maybe a bit chick lit (there's some boy meets girl etc!) 7/10

Jews Don't Count - David Baddiel
This was a short read but very interesting/enlightening.  Baddiel points out how there appears to be a hierarchy of racism, with anti-semitism being at the bottom and how the furore around slights to those who are black, disabled etc far outweighs anything that comes up when the same is aimed at Jews. 7/10

Gone For Good - Harlan Coben
I've enjoyed all the Harlan Coben books I've read and this was no exception. A well written whodunnit with quite a few twists I didn't see coming. 8/10































Sunday, 14 November 2021

#FundingFlo - fundraising starts here

Better late than never!! This is the first of the fundraisers for Flo's adoption fund.  I signed up to the Reece's Rainbow Miracle of Adoption Christmas Campaign or MACC for short!! The idea is to try and boost your chosen child's adoption grant by $1000. But maybe, more importantly, get them and the other waiting children SEEN. Who knows who might see a post and find their son or daughter!

Anyway, without further ado - here we go...

In this badly decorated envelope is a £50 note. 

As you know our banknotes have serial numbers and the last two digits of that number must fall between 00 and 99. The below grid covers all those numbers. 

You can buy a number (or more) for £1 and once they are all sold I will reveal the last two digits on the £50 and if you've got them it's yours!! Sound good? Please message me with the number(s) you'd like and if they are still available we'll sort the payment. I'll be posting this on different platforms so please do message first to make sure your numbers are still available. I'll keep you updated on how it's going! Fingers crossed this fist one goes well!

Who could resist helping out this face...



Thursday, 7 October 2021

Flo - An Update

Actually that's not really a fair title as listings aren't updated very often so there isn't really any update on Flo herself.

There is an update on my side though - I have signed up to be a MACC Warrior for her this Christmas. MACC is the Reece's Rainbow Miracle of Adoption Christmas Campaign - with the aim being to raise $1000 for your child's grant between Nov 1st and Dec 31st, as well as making the child visible so that their family may see them. I'm working on a couple of fundraising ideas so keep an eye out.  I'm also asking that anyone that may get me a Christmas present gives money towards Flo's grant instead (either direct or via me but not before Nov 1st!)

Every night, when I'm tucked up in bed, I say to myself 'Goodnight Flo, I love you' and silly as it may seem I truly hope on some level she knows there's someone so many miles away rooting for her. I found out that this month she will turn 5. I don't know the date so I'll be adding a 'Happy Birthday' every night this month.