Reading Challenges 2021

It’s technically possible to squeeze in another couple of books before midnight on December 31, 2021 but unlikely, so I think I can safely draw a line under the reading challenges for the year.

I participated in six challenges this year – finished three; one is ongoing; and I failed two – (one miserably, one by a whisker). Continue reading

Catching up on reviews

I always have the best intentions to write thorough reviews of the books I read, but time is in short supply in December and I’m nine reviews behind… So, quick thoughts on a bunch of books: Continue reading

Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris

Because I am in #campold, a dinner party conversation I had last weekend was about colonoscopies. More specifically, the person who brought it up was talking about their anxiety – they’ve never had a colonoscopy. Neither have I*, which is probably why I gleefully suggested they should read the hilarious chapter on colonoscopies in David Sedaris’s eighth collection of essays, Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls. Continue reading

The Top 50 from the Best Books of 2018 List of Lists

This is my annual community service to book-bloggers – a list of the books that appear most frequently on all of the lists (37 of them) I listed on Best Books of 2018 – A List of Lists.

Here it is, the 2018 Commonly-Agreed-by-the-People-Who-Publish-Best-of-2018-Book-Lists-Before-December-31 top 50 books. Continue reading

‘My Ideal Bookshelf’ by Thessaly La Force and Jane Mount

I just came into possession of the most divine book – My Ideal Bookshelf, edited by Thessaly La Force and illustrated by Jane Mount. Let me stress, if you’re looking for a Christmas gift for book lovers (and they are difficult to buy for because you don’t know what they’ve already read…) this book is perfect. Continue reading