About the Book: A beautiful, illustrated adventure story with a classic feel, about a quiet boy and a talking crow on an extraordinary hot-air balloon ride to the Arctic. “Matthew stood on the snowy peak and stared out at the world spread before him. Every picture in his books had been limited by the size … Continue reading Book Review: The Song of Lewis Carmichael by Sofie Laguna, illustrated by Marc McBride
Month: Aug 2021
The Week That Was…
International dog day: Mine celebrated by trying to blend into the rug that he is NOT allowed to lie on! Well played Zeus, you picked your day right but still no. ~~~ A thing of joy (that only readers will understand): I was early to the ebook scene, straight in once they were released and … Continue reading The Week That Was…
Book Review: Freckles by Cecelia Ahern
About the Book: Five people. Five chances. One woman’s search for happiness. Allegra Bird’s arms are scattered with freckles, a gift from her beloved father. But despite her nickname, Freckles has never been able to join all the dots. So when a stranger tells her that everyone is the average of the five people they … Continue reading Book Review: Freckles by Cecelia Ahern
Book Review: People Like Them by Samira Sedira (trans. Lara Vergnaud)
About the Book: Winner of the Prix Eugène Dabit There are no monsters. Only humans. Anna and Constant Guillot and their two daughters live in the peaceful, remote mountain village of Carmac. Everyone in Carmac knows each other, leading simple lives mostly unaffected by the outside world – that is until Bakary and Sylvia Langlois … Continue reading Book Review: People Like Them by Samira Sedira (trans. Lara Vergnaud)
The Week That Was…
I had a few plants on my front balcony with my bird statues and I decided this weekend that a little expansion was in order, particularly the injection of some flowers. I do really love flowers but actual gardening in garden beds is not my strong point, nor is growing things from seeds. But so … Continue reading The Week That Was…
Book Review: Velvet Was the Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
About the Book: 1970s Mexico City: while student protests and political unrest consume the city, Maite seeks escape from her humdrum life in the stories of passion and danger filling the latest issue of Secret Romance. She is deeply envious of her neighbour, a beautiful art student apparently living the life of excitement and intrigue … Continue reading Book Review: Velvet Was the Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Book Review: Whereabouts by Jhumpa Lahiri
About the Book: The new novel from the Pulitzer Prize-winning, Man Booker Prize-shortlisted author: a haunting portrait of a woman, her decisions, her conversations, her solitariness, in a beautiful and lonely Italian city. The woman moves through the city, her city, on her own. She moves along its bright pavements; she passes over its bridges, … Continue reading Book Review: Whereabouts by Jhumpa Lahiri
Book Review: Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy
About the Book: From the author of the international bestseller Migrations comes a pulse-pounding new novel set in the wild Scottish Highlands. Inti Flynn arrives in Scotland with her twin sister, Aggie, to lead a team tasked with reintroducing fourteen grey wolves into the remote Highlands. She hopes to heal not only the dying landscape, … Continue reading Book Review: Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy
The Week That Was…
Thinking of everyone in lockdown and wishing you all ongoing health and safety. Life is tough for many at the moment. I hope that there are some things bringing you joy, even in a small way, each day. ~~~ Joke of the week: Sshhh! Don't tell my children this... ~~~ What I've been watching: I … Continue reading The Week That Was…
Book Review: Still Life by Sarah Winman
About the Book: 1944, in the ruined wine cellar of a Tuscan villa, as bombs fall around them, two strangers meet and share an extraordinary evening. Ulysses Temper is a young British soldier, Evelyn Skinner is a sexagenarian art historian and possible spy. She has come to Italy to salvage paintings from the wreckage and … Continue reading Book Review: Still Life by Sarah Winman
Theresa Smith Writes 