Update. Family brought me back some chips 🤣

Gonna read some more of Bimini's book.

Uuurrrgh. Fellow Littens, I've come down with a lurgy and am feeling very sorry for myself. My family are all having a lovely meal out and I'm here in my sick bed being sat on 😭😭😭😵

(Maybe Pickles senses I am in need of comfort and has decided that coming and dribbling on me will cheer me up?) #catsoflitsy

I feel too grotty to get any quality reading done 😖

Please send emergency tea, hugs and poffertjes 🫖🥞

Bookspin Bingo for December... like an advent calendar but better.

I regret choosing Us because I have only read one book by David Nicholls and it is both one of my favourite books and also one of the most heartbreaking. I'm hoping he doesn't hurt me again 😅

Also, what in the hell was I thinking when I put Rhythm of War on December's list??! I'm only 13.6% through it 😵😵😵

I always look forward to Bookspin day 😊 Thanks @TheAromaofBooks ❤

Lincoln Xmas market with Mum & Dad. No books, but we stocked up on luxury Xmas pudding and pie and Mum & I now have matching bobble hats 🎄🧣

Also, poffertjes with golden syrup might be the best thing in the world ever.

When you're searching your shelves for palindromes, but just keep finding cutlery 🧐

#pop22

Woohoo! The Popsugar Reading Challenge for 2022 has dropped 🥳🥳🥳🥳

I already have a book with cutlery on the cover (tagged)...

Fave prompts? A book featuring a party... A book about a secret... A book with a misleading title (🤣)... A book with the name of a board game in the title... and lots of prompts to encourage diverse reading...

Book with a recipe in it will be trickier (I'm a terrible cook)... and what on earth is Book-Tok??

Thank you for the tag @Yuki_Onna

1. BAH HUMBUG... I mean..
Twinkly lights
Muppet Christmas Carol
Snowballs (Advocaat + lemonade, that is)
Winter drinks menus
Love Actually
All the dreadful Xmas decorations we made as kids
Wrapping presents up
Un-wrapping presents
More twinkly lights
Dad running around the garden with "sleigh bells" despite all of us being over 28 now ??

2. Can't wait to join in with #cloakanddaggerchristmas ??????

Yay! That's my 70th book of the year, meaning I've completed my Goodreads reading challenge too!

If anyone isn't friends with me on GR and wants to be... add me using the link below ❤

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/35995783-rae

And that's a Bingo, my friends!

Woohoo 🥳🥳🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉💕

@TheAromaofBooks #bookspinbingo #doublespin

It's impossible for me to read this series without having the videogame in mind. It's one of my favourites of all time.. I was worried that reading the books would be a disappointment, especially since Andrzej Sapkowski is purportedly not a fan of the games.

I needn't have worried. Dark, morally ambiguous retellings of fairy tales, Witcher missions and tales of destiny make this a brilliant introduction to the world.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5 stars

My cute & cosy kitty tshirts arrived 🥰🥰

(No, I haven't been shopping again... I already had them on order and they are so so sweet!)

(Actually, I did go shopping again but that was for books so I'm sure you'll all understand - see yesterday's post for book haul 💕🙊)

And naturally, there was an opportunity for BOOK SHOPPING!!!! 😉 Looking forward to these ❤ [3/3]

We managed to completely overdo it on the sushi as per usual... 😀 Where I live is very much in the countryside so when I do get a chance to have sushi, I have to be stopped from ordering everything on the menu 😋 [2/3]

Festive shopping in Nottingham with Ta 😊 Yes, that is snow and yes, that is an iced drink I'm holding. No, it wasn't a good idea... HOWEVER! the gingerbread chai rooibos latté was! [1/3]

@vivastory #cloakanddaggerchristmas

Victorian era: The Strings of Murder

Bilingual detective: Murder in Mesopotamia

Amateur sleuth: The Honjin Murders

Golden age: Mystery Mile

Translated mystery: Murder in the Crooked House

Private detective: The Real-Town Murders

New to me series: Death in August

Now all I need is a mystery starring a great team 🤔 Hmm... that's trickier. Do I have to go back and read The Secret Seven 🤭 Any ideas?!

@vivastory #cloakanddaggerchristmas

Me yesterday: I'm far too busy to take on another reading challenge.

Me today: ^^ ... no harm in looking to see if I have any suitable material 🤔😅

Overall, this was a decent piece of writing. It captured very vividly the experiences and struggles of frontline NHS staff and brought the horrors of COVID to life.

I felt there was a bit too much emphasis on the political side of things, without the in depth, balanced analysis required to make it well-argued polemic, but the human side of these stories was very moving.

I expected a bit more breadth in the case studies, but it still gets: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Finally getting round to reading the first Witcher book. I'm an enormous fan of The Witcher 3, but apparently Andrzej Sapkowski doesn't like what they did with the videogames... I'm curious to read the inspiration behind them anyway...

If I finish this and Breathtaking in the next week then I've got myself a bookspin bingo!

Here is my Bookspin for December 🎄📚 @TheAromaofBooks

I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed and down in the dumps this week. My plan for now is to focus on what I'm already reading and take the pressure off myself.

I may be on track for a November Bingo, but I don't want to count my chickens just yet... 😋

This is a first hand account from a doctor about the early months of the pandemic. I'm expecting it to be a difficult and emotional read.

I was unable to work during this horrific time and I can only say how much I respect and am grateful for all the healthcare workers that were there on the front line... You're all incredible ❤

#nonfictionnovember

Just some more quotes & lyrics that I jotted down because they spoke to me.

No prizes for guessing my favourite band 😄

Cake with Jue at the garden centre 💕

Ordered these last week along with my DVD haul... (I blame @DaveGreen7777 for getting me in the movie mood!) ?

Three completely different books...

Bimini was my fave from drag race UK last year ?
I love The Institute's cover art
And I know very little about Nigerian politics so I'm hoping to learn something from Chronicles... (plus it had the word "whodunnit" in the synopsis)

Not going to buy any more books until I've made some TBR headway..

Day 2 of being left to fend for myself. Am trying to get the house looking clean & tidy as a surprise for my parents when they return on Tuesday. The place looks worse than when I started so far 🙈

At least the hoover has run out of battery and Pickles has claimed me as her perch for this afternoon so I have an excuse to take a break.

Wish me luck... as soon as I've finished having kitty snuggles I'm going back in! 😭😭😭

#catsoflitsy

Love this! @ozma.of.oz

1) I'm going to say Stuart Turton & Richard Osman today: 2 authors whose books have brought me enjoyment over the last few years 💕

2) Top tip: As well as keeping a gratitude journal, make a note of things that made you laugh... that way, when you read it back it'll spark joy (& set you off laughing) all over again.

3) I am grateful for the tagged book for getting me back into reading as an adult. I've never looked back!

This was charming and wholesome and adorable. If you like the found family trope and don't mind things getting a bit saccharine, this is a lovely little diamond in the rough.

Perfect palate cleanser.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Does anyone else make a pile of unmatched socks and say "right, if you lot aren't paired up by the end of the year then you're getting binned"?

But then start empathising with the unpaired socks because they shouldn't be discriminated against for being single!!!

And then consider making a sock dating agency for lonely socks.

And end up with like a billion unmatched socks that I can't get rid of, like, ever?

Just me??!! ??

Help! It's just me and Pickles this weekend... I've been left to fend for myself and finally have the house to myself for a weekend. Do I...?

A) Spend the weekend trying to get the house looking neat and tidy for my parents' return?

B) Invite all my friends and neighbours over for an impromptu disco rave?

C) Spend the weekend in deep meditation now that I finally have some peace and quiet?

D) Make some headway with these bad boys (pictured)?

💕

I love this Thursday's questions @MoonWitch94
#thoughtfulthursday

1) I 🖤 them... especially if it's not immediately apparent they are unreliable. I'm quite easy to fool because I'm quite trusting (I.e. gullible) 🤣

2) I 🖤 my new Eddie the Bookworm bag.

3) I'd usually say Poirot or ASOI&F, but I've been thinking about Fitz and the Fool today - I still have the second trilogy to look forward to! Highly recommended.

My new tights have constellations on them 😀😀😀

Right, Rae.. NO MORE SHOPPING. Unless its Xmas shopping for my friends ❤🎄 'tis the season etc etc. And I might allow myself one more Xmas jumper... or two.

And no more books until I've read another 10!!! Apart from the ones I've already ordered. Maybe.

My little Pickle-friend 💕
I didn't get to sleep until 7am last night 😵 Need to find something boring to read so I can drop off 😴

#catsoflitsy #picklescat

David Olusoga was on Portrait Artist of the Year this evening!

So far, I'm impressed with his book: Black and British. I'm not that far in yet, but I think it will be an informative and important read.

#wondrouswednesday @Eggs

Thanks for the tag! @TheNeverendingTBR

1. One of my faves from last week - not got many new ones, sorry 🙈

2. Don't get me started about David Suchet again 💕 Still starstruck from Sunday 🥰

3. For Pickles. Our cat, not the gherkin. I love her in all her furry spikiness.

Want to play? @aperfectmjk @Daisey @BarbaraBB @BeeMagical @DaveGreen7777 @Larkken @IuliaC

It's 5am and I'm still wide awake. I thought reading on my Kindle might help with the insomnia, but NOPE

This was a poetic essay about sexual desire and how it doesn't always gel harmoniously and conveniently with society's expectations and ideals. Katherine Angel explores the conflict between how she feels and how she thinks she should feel.

It was interesting, but I'd have liked it to go a lot deeper.

⭐⭐⭐ 3 stars

Goodnight! (Hopefully)

OK, let's see what they did with it... don't let me down, comic book...

Have just spent the last hour or so logging on Goodreads which of these books I've read so far... turns out I've managed 53 / 1001 (which isn't too bad to say I'm 33 and only started reading seriously about a decade ago!)

I feel inspired to write my own book of book lists... I own and ❤ so many of them (several are in storage) and this one has some dodgy choices for the 2000s 😅

I may try to recruit some Litsy help when I start the project!

Started a new "feel good fiction" shelf on my Goodreads, because I expect The House in the Cerulean Sea is gonna be cheerful and heart warming. The only other books I could think of to add to it were the Thursday Murder Club books and the tagged... maybe the Hamish Macbeth mysteries too if I remembered them better...

DO I SERIOUSLY JUST READ MISERABLE FICTION?!?!?!!

Been looking over my photos from the Spectacle of Light again... I'm so sad it's over and I don't get to go and enjoy the Disco Cedar and it's buddies again. It combined two of my favourite things - lights through the darkness and trees... and I got Gingerbread-flavoured hot chocolate at the end.

Still buzzing from watching David Suchet yesterday too 🥰 It's been such an insane week.

I've got the afternoon free and it's cold outside, so I'm just going to rest here in bed in my snuggly jumper with a snuggly book and try to stay awake and try not to feel guilty for not doing anything productive today!

I don't think I would have discovered this book if it wasn't for Litsy 💕

Just got back from an evening with David Suchet at the Theatre Royal. It was wonderful to see my acting hero on the stage in person (we were lucky enough to have front row seats 😀)

Picked up both these books (signed) in the foyer 😊🥰

I'm a Poirot superfan so it was a wonderful evening 💕💕

Very thought provoking and quite hopeful in outlook by the end. ⭐⭐⭐

#pop21 A book found on a Black Lives Matter reading list.
#nonfictionnovember
#33by33 Another book finished this readathon!

Next up: Black and British by David Olusoga.

Also, have some more quality Pickles content 😺😸

(She's not supposed to be sat on my Gravity blanket, but she doesn't exactly look remorseful.)

#catsoflitsy

Me earlier: Right, Rae... now you have your new Project Book we can start working on a new healthy diet and lifestyle change...

Me a little later: ......riiiiiiiight after this salted caramel and winter fruits Eton mess 💕

(Sorry, not exactly book related 😄 )

(Delicious though)

Anyone else do the I-can't-possibly-sort-my-life-out-until-I-have-the-correct-stationary thing? Yeah... me too. Now I have no excuses!

I absolutely love my new planners 🥰🥰

Now to sort my life out...

Pickles says hi 💕
#catsoflitsy #picklescat

And a few more from Spectacle of Light 💕
⭐🌛

Rufford Spectacle of Light Part 1... absolutely spellbinding evening ❤🧡💛💚💙💜
I took so many pictures I can hardly fit them into collages! 🥰🥰

Sunburn was heading for an easy 4 stars... I was hooked from the start. Intrigue built and built in this domestic noir psychological thriller and for the first two thirds I absolutely devoured it.

Unfortunately, much as I enjoyed the ride, the ending lets it down. Without giving anything away, there are a few holes in the plot and it kind of... fizzles toward the end.

Worth reading if you enjoyed Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train.

⭐⭐⭐

This was OK, but it wasn't as awesome as I was expecting.

It's about a series of New Yorkers becoming the embodiment of each borough and using their NewYorkishNess to fight off a Lovecraftian tentacle invasion. It was pretty cool, but most of the "battles" were a bit meh and overall I didn't find myself racing to pick it up each day.

Worth a read, for sure, but not one of my favourites.

⭐⭐⭐