Nobody reads anymore. A wild exaggeration perhaps, but it is true that the amount we read, collectively, is on a slow and steady decline. Not that this will shock anyone. In a world where Netflix marathons have all but become an Olympic sport it is no wonder that reading time is squandered. In fairness there is so much good stuff on the small screen these days it’s hardly surprising that we are all culpable of this armchair sport (which pairs so well with a nice glass of red). It is sad though. Studies have shown that reading a good book has…
Author: <span>Amanda Clayton</span>
~Happy Valley If it’s grit you’re after, it’s grit you’ll get with this show. This series plumbs the depths of human nature with its heartbreak, despair and just sheer stupidity. More than that, it takes a look at the many times a few words or an action can set people off in directions they really had no intention of going. The ripple effects from these decisions leave you squirming in your seat, because…well…you can just see the disaster that’s looming on the horizon. Catherine, played by the incredible Sarah Lancashire, is a cut-through-the-bullshit, hard-as-nails cop. Her teenage daughter committed suicide after…
~Beasts Of Extraordinary Circumstance Ruth Emmie Lang If a little bit of happy is what you’re in need of then you’ll enjoy reading this enchanting book. It’s warm and inviting and light and charming, without ever being silly. On the day Weylyn Grey was born, the doctor knew there was something special about him when it started to snow…in the middle of June. Years later when Weylyn’s parents die in a car crash during a snowstorm, he grabs the emergency money from underneath the mattress and runs away to the woods where he is taken in and raised by a pack…
This is a short post about a simple cocktail. Because everyone’s busy. There’s no recipe either because it’s far too easy for that. This is what you’ll need. A bottle of sparkly, a bottle of pear nectar and some St Germain Elderflower Liqueur. I used 2/3 nectar to 1/3 sparkly although you could do 1/2 and 1/2 or any ratio you like really. I preferred it heavy on the pear because it tastes light and refreshing while still festive and it avoids any unnecessary hangovers. Because… no time. It also keeps the cost down if your serving a big crowd.…
This chocolate whisky liqueur is a little piece of Christmas heaven in a glass. Bring it out on Christmas Eve when you’ve finally managed to wrangle the kids into bed, waited patiently until they’re soundly sleeping and are left facing several hours of finishing up the wrapping and assembling of presents to go under the tree before they wake up again, in oh, maybe five hours. Unless of course you live in an alternate universe (quite popular these days) and Santa delivers yours, in which case you can turn on a favourite Christmas movie and relax. This recipe was in,…
I’m something of a minimalist when it comes to decorating for the holidays. Actually I’m a bit of a minimalist all the time, it’s just a little more obvious at this time of year. I have very little in the way of store bought Christmas knickknacks, other than all the ornaments collected over the years which hang on the tree. I tend to feel a little claustrophobic if I have a house brimming with decorations and so much Christmas stuff involves a lot of red. So much red. I don’t like red. I do love Christmas cheer and holiday sparkle…
~Fates and Furies Lauren Groff A story told in two halves. Lotto – 6’6″, privileged and blessed with a charm and charisma that draws people to him, marries Mathilde a mere few weeks after they meet. They move to New York where Lotto struggles to make it as an actor and Mathilde works in an art gallery to make ends meet. They are poor but happy, with a marriage that’s the envy of their friends. The years pass until one New Year’s Eve in a drunken stupor, Lotto writes a play about his family and goes on to become a successful playwright.…
I know summer is just a distant memory at this point with the holidays just around the corner, but I’m finally getting around to posting what I read over the summer. ~Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death M.C.Beaton I had heard rumblings that people who had read this Agatha Raisin series were not happy with the screen version (see my review of that here). Curious, I decided to read the first book, Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death, and make a judgement call for myself. As a self-confessed lover of the so called “cosy” English mystery, I thought this was…
~The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo Taylor Jenkins Reid At 79, Evelyn Hugo has spent her adult life as a Hollywood darling. Now that everyone important to her is dead, she has decided to put a tell-all memoir of her life out into the world… to be published posthumously. Evelyn knows her story will be a hot commodity: after years of her life playing out in the media she then chose to hide herself away in relative anonymity. It is something of a surprise then that she hires an unknown journalist to write the book. Evelyn grew up poor and trades her…
~Killers Of The Flower Moon David Gann A true crime story that makes your blood boil and stuns you into stony silence at the potential for human depravity. In the 1800’s the Osage Indians were run off their reservations several times by the US government, in the end being forced to hand over nearly a hundred million acres of their ancestral land. In the 1870’s they found land in Kansas that was so hilly and rocky they deemed it of no interest to the white man and decided to purchase it. Then, in an amazing twist of fate, it turned out that…