So many books, so little time. — Frank Zappa (attrib.)
Categories
As this is principally a book review blog most of the posts will be about … books. There are individual pages about longstanding interests of mine, Arthuriana (archaeology, history, mythology, popular culture, folklore) and its associated topic the Grail, but my tastes are generally rather catholic.
So you’ll find an awful lot of fantasy titles reviewed here, a few by favourite authors E Nesbit and her successors Joan Aiken and Diana Wynne Jones. Much of fantasy shades into magic realism and SF or speculative fiction and so these are categories that are explored too. More highbrow literature is not neglected either, whether classic or modern, but fiction comes in all shapes and sizes so adventure stories rub shoulders with ghost tales, thrillers, crime fiction, historical romance and the occasional graphic novel.
Non fiction makes an appearance, from popular science to pseudohistory, from reference to biography, and from art to travel. I try to ring the changes, so if your interest isn’t immediately piqued have patience, something intriguing should come along soon. Feel free to start a conversation or discussion about any post — I aim to respond to each and every one so you won’t be wasting your time commenting into the ether! The only constraint, as Zappa is reported to have frankly and wisely remarked, is time.
Reading goals in 2023
1. Goodreads Reading Challenge
I’ve subscribed again to the Goodreads Reading Challenge for this year, pledging to read at least 52 (fifty-two) books in 2023. This will be regardless of whether they are first-time reads, rereads, library books or whatever. I don’t anticipate any difficulties with this total: follow my progress here.
And that’s it. I’ve decided that this year, as before, I shall read for pleasure. If I join in any reading event — I prefer to call them prompts — it will probably be last-minute and on a whim!
As for Classics Club I hope to make some more inroads on my list, but only as the mood takes me…
Prompts 2023
January. Nordic FINDS. Love Hain. Vintage SciFi Month. TBR year10. JanMARKuary.
February. Love Hain. TBR year10.
March. Reading Wales Month. Reading Ireland Month. March Magics. Love Hain. TBR year10.
April. Reading the Theatre. 1940 Club. Love Hain. TBR year10.
May. Love Hain. TBR year10. Wyrd & Wonder.
June–August. 10 (or 15 or 20) Books of Summer. Love Hain. TBR year10.
August. Tove Trove (Reading Tove Jansson). Reading Robertson Davies.
September–October. Readers Imbibing Peril XVIII. Love Hain. TBR year10.
October–November. Witch Week.
November. SciFi Month. Love Hain. TBR year10.
December. Love Hain. TBR year10.
Calmgrove 
Love the photo. Emma.
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Thanks, Emma! This is the tidiest it’s ever been in the loft, in preparation for a move…
* Following the move the loft photo (now on another page) has now been replaced by an image of the bookshelves in the new house. 🙂
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Seeing Aiken on your list makes me want to re-read her Dido books.
I’ve just started my DWJ re-read 🙂
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Are you planning to read Diana’s whole back catalogue, Daphne, as Marisa’s doing? My progress is proceeding at a very stately pace … The next Dido book is softly calling for me too, but she’ll have to wait while I demolish my bedside pile a bit more. 🙂
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I really like that dream versus reality, sunset edge between historical fiction and magical reality/fantasy. Kind regards. 🙂 For me plants, gardens and landscape are the triggers.
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Thank you. I suppose one is internalised landscapes against which narratives are played while the other is real landscapes in which real life is played out. Btw I like gardens and nature too. 🙂
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I love the idea of selecting twenty classics from your classics list to complete by 2020. 😀
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Thanks, I thought it was a good way to encourage me to actually pick up and read the darn books! And three years shouldn’t be too threatening a period, giving me plenty of time to choose among all those other works on my shelves.
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May I please be permitted – with appropriate acknowledgement – to reproduce part of your “Outrage” post at my WordPress site, “The Pub”? Reason: it is highly relevant to Australia’s current deplorable political condition.
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Of course, Fiona, do, and thanks for asking. Yes, we’ve all seen your PM in a particularly unfavourable light in the aftermath of such awful recent events: he comes across as someone who’s as dangerous a buffoon as our own PM.
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