Great book about the second lockdown in 2020. What to do if your tempted by the forbidden Lake District. I love the stream of consciousness here and the multi narrator approach as well. Really sums up the well the whole malaise of covid, thank god that‘s over.

I‘m enjoying this so much, it‘s beautiful, uplifting and heartbreaking. Wonderful

Delightful book of short stories about life and changes, loss and coming to terms with all of the above. There is a great lightness of touch that makes you invest in these stories. The characters are so honest as well, it‘s easy to sympathise and empathise.

A quietly disturbing book with some unsettling home made witch craft. Merricat and Constance have their own world, full of rules and regulations, that at least make sense them. Constance cooks for safety and to preserve their sensibilities. Merricat protects by leaving totems buried in the ground. Cousin Charles appears and upsets their own world as well as the apple cart, glorious.

Exceptionally honest account of Kerry Hudson‘s awful early life and the escape from it, beautifully written and full of honest emotion

Loving this, glorious and substantial

What a lovely book. I‘ve met Bob Mortimer twice, once in Safeway where I blathered something about Middlesbrough and once in Game where I told him of my enjoyment of House of Fools. He said that he thought it would only appeal to 13 year olds. I gabbled something about how we are still all 13 really. Anyway this is his life, all near death, delicious comedy and being the quiet one, I loved it.

I heard some of this read on Radio 4 and it was fascinating

Love, love, love.
There is so much honesty here, it‘s almost overwhelming at times. Grace Dent talks with candour about how much she has enjoyed her time and what it means to a girl from Carlisle to be the restaurant critic on a national newspaper, even without a Maths GCSE. This book chimes with people who grew up in a house very small, with woodchip on the wall. I can‘t help feeling a little jealous at a vestibule though.

‘The past is another country, they eat chips differently there‘

Well, what a story. All about a group of people reenacting life in an Iron Age settlement. Done for academic purposes along with the family of a over bearing bus driver. The tale is so compelling as Silvie guides us on this voyage around her father while dressed in a scratchy tunic.

I‘m loving this, why be comfortable on holiday, stay in an Iron Age settlement instead!

Really enjoying the oddness of this, it‘s really everything I expected

This dropped through my door yesterday. It‘s a bit of a tonic in these lockdown days.

Back to this then, I‘ve decided to re read the first two before I get onto Middle England.

This is getting to be creepily enjoyable

A good Boxing Day book

Well, I told his partner I‘d read it so here goes. Groucho Marx said ‘I laughed when you gave me your book, one day I intend to read it‘

Well then Lyra goes east, as does Malcolm. We have as well now rose oil which has interesting properties. But the Isis inspired men from the mountains don‘t like it. As for the Magisterium, there‘s more intrigue going on there. We have breadcrumbs for the third part here. Is it any good though? I read it and enjoyed it, but didn‘t devour it. There‘s detail to get through, I maybe need to look at the other books before some things fall into place.

Here we go then book two, trilogy two, Pan‘s been running around Oxford

Delightfully all over the place. I love the way Kate Atkinson plays with the structure of novels and finds intriguing ways to tell stories. See you don‘t just get a story about a quest for identity, you get a Scottish campus novel as well. Reminiscent of A Very Peculiar Practice, but that‘s by the by. Bravo!

I‘ve been enjoying Kate Atkinson of late and this has started well...

Highly entertaining, good read. Took me back to the 80s, god I love nostalgia. Quite gripping, a bit of a page turner.

Marvellous book, I was trepidatious at the thought of this, because of the wonder of The Handmaid‘s Tale. This is everything I ever wanted from this story. Margaret Atwood is just the supreme novelist, her word craft, plot building and characterisation is just superb.