I was going to write a blog post. It was going to be full of the normal New Year roundups – how many books I read last year. How many I didn’t buy; Hooray! for the library. How many I actually bought anyway. It would have been fascinating, incisive, obviously witty, full of smart things to…
Despite what others might say, I am not a collector. I mean, you casually say that you like teapots and suddenly, every birthday and Christmas, it’s a teapot! Pink tea pots, red tea pots, vintage 70s matching tea and coffee pots. There was even an exquisite early 20th-century suffragette teapot, which, by the way, I…
Greetings, gorgeous ones. How has your week been? I’ve been visited by the Lady Covidia; throat scarred with razor blades, mind numbing fatigue and muscle aches that have left me winded. After a long weekend in bed, I was feeling if not better then less ill, but then my sense of taste disappeared, I felt…
I have flaps! (Oi! You in the back, get your mind out of the gutter! ) Have I mentioned that I’ve written a book? No? I’m sure I have. Is there something wrong with your memory? Do you need to see someone? What is the name of the current Queen? What year is it? For…
Sorry, I’m late. I seem to be snowed under, but with what I’m not sure. The truth is I’ve been feeling a little anxious. Did I mention I’ve been writing a book, that has a title and a cover and everything? No? It must have slipped your mind. Well, the book is about to go…
I’ve lost my reading classes, so if this post has more than the usual number of spilling mistakes you’ll know why. The last time I remember having them, I was squinting through one lens attempting to dye my eyebrows, the other half of the glasses balanced on my head, all skew-whiff. I’d look where I’d…
Well, Hello there my lovelies, How are you doing, and most importantly what are you reading? I've been reading this gem of a book, and excitingly the writer, fellow A Writing Chance Award winner, Tom Newlands is here to tell us all about it. TOM NEWLANDS is a multiply neurodivergent Scottish author. He is the…
The dog and I are wintering. Well, I am, the dog is being a dick but more on that another day. I am embracing the season and have slipped from the winter festivities into the warming embrace of hibernation. My health, always declining in the darker days like some Victorian invalid, requires this time of…
I’m struggling to read. I don’t know if it’s all the writing wearing out my eyes, or my brain sinking into a stupor, but after a morning writing in bed, all I want is some Disney + and my knitting. I’m missing books. The house is filled with them so it's not a lack of…
So, I’ve written a book. Well, to be fair it's nearly two-thirds done. It's a bit like this blog, only bigger and more personal, though I’m not sure how much more personal you can get than discussing your boobs on the internet. It’s a bit weird, writing about yourself. Even though I do it every…
I always struggle with this question as the answer changes from day to day. Often it's the last book I read. Sat looking at my book shelf I can see Maggie O'Farrell's Hamnet, which I adore, so today I shall say that's my favourite. Though that said I am listening to Agatha Christie’s The Adventure…
I love stories. I love to read and watch and hear all kinds of tales. I love the sway and swoosh of words, the almost-not-there creak of the turn of the page. I love the sing and dance of stories in my ear, suspended in a world that, for a moment, only I can feel.…
It's my blog-aversary and coincidentally this is my 100th post. Two whole years writing to you, and I don’t even get a card! I told a friend that it was my blog-aversary and she looked at me sideways, ‘God, do you still have anything left to say?’ It sounds worse than how she meant it.…
As autumn ended I lost reading. My energies, turning like the seasons, faded. I needed a little more rest, took a little longer to do things, but this is normal for me and is often a time to disappear into books, a cup of tea and a few biscuits to keep me going. This year…
According to the Internet, the average person in the UK reads ten books a year. This figure is inflated by those of us that read a lot, so the figure is more like four or five books a year, with just under half of all UK adults not reading books at all. I read a…
I am a writer of lists My life could be measured in my to-do lists, their contents varying depending on the stage of my life. Early lists might have included Do Homework Try not to argue with sister STOP BITING NAILS Find missing library books Early motherhood saw lists as the only way to function…
I am looking for a book, I wonder if you can help? It was my favourite read as a kid, repeatedly borrowed from the library, and read cover to cover. I’ve been searching for this book for years. On the cover was a black cat, possibly a girl, by some water with a dark Victorian…
Photo by Element5 Digital on Pexels.com I learnt to cook in the library. Not literally but the library has been there for all of the major developments in my life and by my late teens, a mum with no money it was natural to learn to cook, borrowing a new book each month. Turkish, French,…
Bordering Grey 