this is how my year in reading looks so far

at the beginning I had my books lined up but there's quite a few I probably won't get round to reading, and I realise 😂 my error of leaving the longer reads to the end, hopefully I'll learn from this next year

on the flip side, my fav part was reading some amazing books, not all were easy but I tried so I am happy about this

#sundayfunday @BookmarkTavern

I tend to muddle through, but I love reading screenplays and this would be my go to read.

#TLT #ThreeListThursday @dabbe

I'm going to miss these. In this list, of the books I have read, the one that stands out is David Guterson's Snow Falling on Cedars, a truly beautiful read, and at the same time troubling and poignant.

#Fiction #2025reads #blackhistorymonth

I like how the story draws a complex picture to attain racial equality, and so many times I felt the pain for the unnamed narrator wanting things to work out for him. When he is unfairly expelled from college, I couldn‘t believe it, this was his dream but it would be nothing to what comes later, then things seem to be looking up when he joins the brotherhood only to realise a very, very harsh truth.

#classicschallenge 2025 @Lunakay #poetry #2025reads

I like text that presents language in unexpected ways. I didn‘t warm to this as much as I wanted to but there were parts that stood out. I could see how daring this was in its own time.

#TLT #ThreeListThursday Thanks @dabbe for another interesting list, where quite a few were new to me and look really interesting.

It's funny seeing this result, having quite a few Shakespeare plays helped boost this number. This year I have lined up to read again a modern adaptation of Shakespeare 's Othello, “New Boy“ by Tracy Chevalier.

#sundayfunday @BookmarkTavern

Yes, several+, one of these is Never Let Me Go, I'm so glad I gave that a second chance, what a haunting read.

#sundayfunday @BookmarkTavern

yeah, it's a very, very, (and) very long list, a few are:

War & Peace - Leo Tolstoy
The Waves - Virginia Woolf
The Collected Stories - Grace Paley
L A Confidential - James Ellroy
Jason and the Argonauts - Apollonius of Rhodes, translator Aaron Poochigian

#TLT #ThreeListThursday @dabbe

another great list

I really want to read Look Homeward, Angel (Thomas Wolfe) after seeing the movie Genius.

one of these days I will get to The Good Soldier (Ford Madox Ford)

Invisible Man (Ralph Ellison) is my next read, yeyyy

#2025reads #Fiction

This is a beautiful read in how it shows a complicated dynamics between race and personal identity. All the way through I could see something dreadful was ahead, and then it happened and I had to pause, recollect myself before carrying on.

#SundayFunDay @BookmarkTavern

for me it's this (translation by Julia Lovell) and Don Quixote part 1. Both reads I thought would be heavy and dry but what a surprise, especially the comedy.

#2025reads #ClassicLSFBC @RamsFan1963 #sciencefiction

This has been in my Kindle library for a while, this did not disappoint and was an amazing read. This has everything I enjoy in a read, quirky, poignant and thought-provoking. I have so many favourite stories but all of them have moments that stand out. I thought some stories were brave, and its light-hearted style was an invitation to just sit back, absorb and enjoy. And enjoy I did.

#two4tuesday @TheSpineView

1&2 - For me this book covers it, the other close choice was the graphic novel / animation Dilbert, where sometimes things are so absurd that you just have to laugh about it.

#TLT #ThreeListThursday @dabbe

This was fun, there were so many here I have not got around to reading and it was a good reminder, and by sheer coincidence I will soon be reading An of the People, translation by Arthur Miller. I am really excited about this one as I didn't even know I had it and found it in one of my anthologies as I was looking through the content.

#kindledeals #FellowshipOfTolkien #JRRTolkien @Daisey #ClassicLSFBC @RamsFan1963

hi @RamsFan1963 and @Daisey, I saw this deal in Amazon US but being newish to the platform I'm letting you know. I'm not sure if your lists will be interested or if you already know about this and others who would be interested.

I have the physical version and love the illustrations incl, but only open on occasions and read the one I have on Kindle.

#2025reads #poetry #classicschallenge 2025 @Lunakay

A 1912 translation of Chinese poems in the public domain. The poems in this collection are plain and what runs through most of them is stillness or nature. This occurs through a variety of themes, including resignation, loss, love or appreciation. I found some poems to be a poignant read, whilst others charmed or humoured me.

#SundayFunday @BookmarkTavern

this one, and it's lined up for this year's reads - yeyyyy - and looking forward to it

#Two4Tuesday @TheSpineView

brilliant question and a tough one to find the book that fits, for me it's a variety of Japanese prints including those by Hokusai

#SundayFunday @BookmarkTavern #stageplay #2025reads

I found this to be a wonderful, thought-provoking play, which did take me several attempts to see the nuances but I‘m glad I kept trying.

#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl #ClassicLSFBC @RamsFan1963

I am really looking forward to this one, I've been wanting to read it for ages

#classicschallenge 2025 @Lunakay #2025reads #narrativepoetry

Reading this for the second time, was as hard as the first. Through Hecuba‘s agony, Euripides shows the senselessness of war. Her voice is also the voice of the surviving women, and its truly awful, but I‘m still glad I read this. What stands out for me is the women‘s strength. They have been through so much and yet they are not broken.

#classicschallenge 2025 @Lunakay #2025reads #poetry

18 pieces of prose poetry of varying length scattered with wonderful imagery.

I read “A Hunger Artist: Four Stories“ by Franz Kafka last year, it was beautiful though not a happy read but since then I've become more interested in Kafka‘s work.

#Two4Tuesday @TheSpineView great question

1/ yes but life has also taught me to say mostly yes, as sometimes yes can also make things tougher

2/ this is the closest I could find to Coen brothers' screenplay of “O Brother, Where Art Thou?“, a fantastic read and I love the movie just as much.

#classicschallenge 2025 @Lunakay #JaneAustenThenAndNow @Crinoline_Laphroaig #VirginiaBloomsberries @AllDebooks #2025reads

Current read and one of the 62 books I've lined up in 2025. I read a mix of fiction & nonfiction, classic & contemporary. This year my main focus is Jane Austen, Bloomsbury Group, reading poetry, continuing with mythology, and trying to read a bit more science. I'm not very good at stickling to my plan, but I try.

#SundayFunday @BookmarkTavern

I love reading poetry but stumble at the theory, so I'm going to try and work on this next year.

I finished this a month ago but it was this month‘s read for #VirginiaBloomsberries, and post it now. Overall, an interesting read, especially the insight of what the 5 women achieved against the odds, which frequently was overshadowed by other biographical details of these women‘s lives. Mixed response but still a pick.

#2024reads

#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl #JaneAustenThenAndNow @Crinoline_Laphroaig #2024reads #2025reads

I‘m currently listening to an abridged Jane Austen collection (bookcover right) after listening to an audio drama of JA‘s Emma (bookcover left). The production of this audio drama was a touch dated but I like how the script uses narration to bridge scenes of dialogues, and after an hour I warmed to it. I have more JA books for 2025.

#12Booksof2024 @Andrew65

Jan: Cannery Row - John Steinbeck
Feb: War Music: An Account of Homer's Iliad - Christopher Logue
Mar: Hollywood Behind the Lens - Marc Wannamaker & Stephen Bingen - ARC read
Apr: Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe
May: Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath - Heather Clark
Jun: We - Yevgeny Zamyatin
Jul: Vincent: a Graphic Biography - Simon Elliott - ARC read
Aug: Les Misérables - Victor Hugo

#SundayFunday @bookmarktavern

Choosing this was tough, I‘m going with Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. It has a bit everything, romance, drama, social novel, crime, survival story.

#SundayFunday @bookmarktavern

definitely with something in mind, I can't browse, it's no good for me, 😂 😂 if I did, I'd come out with the whole store .

Mind you, that doesn't work either, I have 3 translations of The Aeneid, and let's not even get to how many versions of Frankenstein or Romo and Juliet I have - ummm, 7 for the first and 5 for the second, so yeah, no browsing for me 😂

thanks @RamsFan1963 and #ClassicLSFBC, great pick

I enjoyed the wackiness and the comedy, but the flat characters, especially the women, left me a little exasperated at times. So, not a perfect novel but there are some interesting parts to it and I am intrigued to know how the story continues in the sequels.

#TLT #ThreeListThursday @dabbe

We're the Millers
The Terminal
Love Actually

#hitchtoscreen #2024reads

mid-pick, I enjoyed some parts more than others and for this I would read again.

#Two4Tuesday @TheSpineView

1/ always fun putting up the decorations

2/ Tale of Genji, not a snowflake in sight but I'm really looking forward to it as I've been on the waiting list on Libby for, something like over a year, and it just delivered it, a wonderful surprise

#SundayFunday @BookmarkTavern

This is one of the many which I have, along with the Iliad: A New Translation by Peter Green. Before I had discovered these books, I did not know that they were around to make these old works an easier read. At first, they were tough but the extras that these books come with, really helped, it's been amazing, I'm reading books that I always thought would be out of my reach, I am truly grateful to these books.

#WondrousWednesday @Eggs

I hope I'm not too late to play this
2/ City and It's Uncertain Walls - what a brilliant title, just caught my eye, so I'm intrigued
1/ that would be a room with ambient lighting, a fire going on the background, the one that crackles, coffee and a stack of books, yeah, a nice dream 😂 reality where ever I can fit it in

#Two4Tuesday is my fav question, thanks @TheSpineView

1/ I tend to plan ahead what I read, one of my favourite things is lining up future reads.

2/ I'm going to go for the #currentread for #hashtagbrigade, this one didn't go to plan, it took me 5 months to read and I was sure when I finished I'd think never again but no, it's left an impression and I would definitely read again, next time I'm hoping it doesn't take this long.

#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl #ClassicLSFBC @RamsFan1963 #currentread

Libby hold became available. What a fantastic opening.

#currentread #hitchtoscreen #PoetryMatters #vivid

#TodayILearned #nfnov #nfn #writers #currentread #VirginiaBloomsberries

This was an amazing discovery. I‘m always in awe of writers who not only create works in different forms but can also do translations. From what I have discovered in other books, I‘m thinking Dante was not easy to translate.

thanks @TheSpineView for #Two4Tuesday

1/ for eternity? this is a tough, it's close, I guess I would go for stripes

2/ the last one I borrowed was a few weeks ago, Labours of Hercules (Poirot # 26), by Agatha Christie, 4*, an entertaining read

#PoetryMatters is giving me the time I‘ve always meant to put aside for #poetry. This extract is from an anthology that covers the twentieth century. Koenig is the protagonist of this long #poem. I like this one in how its unexpected, #vines here are of wild yams and bananas described as cows with unmilked fruit; just wonderful descriptions that remind me why I 💛 poetry 😊

thanks to @dabbe for #TLT #ThreeListThursday

A Christmas Carol, what can I say, it‘s the spirit 👻 of 🎄. The other 2 are Shakespeare‘s Twelfth Night (probably better to watch then 📖, & is a little dark in places but the mayhem and misunderstanding makes it entertaining to read / watch). The one that surprised me, Emma / Emmuska Orczy‘s Scarlet Pimpernel, I found this fun to read, it‘s a classic with a heroine who goes on a daring adventure.

I know poetry and prose are always talked about separately but to me they always feel like one. Like many #writers this also shows Woolf's work. #PoetryMatters #vision

This is an extract from this month‘s #VirginiaBloomsberries , Woolf talks about the process of writing but I think this applies to many things, where we start of with an idea but the end product is not what we had quite envisioned but somehow we still find a way to carry on.

#2024reads #nonfiction

I read this a few months back, at times this was a touch dry but the examples and illustrations included made this an easier, fun read.

Keith Houston throws in many facts and trivia of 11 typography symbols, at times this is a touch overwhelming but at the same time fascinating. One of these is how the ampersand used to be the 27th letter of the English alphabet. I‘m still grappling with this one.

Square Haunting: Five Women, Freedom and London Between the Wars by Francesca Wade is lined up for next months #VirginiaBloomsberries. I started reading it and 😍. This is a #nfnov, a #nonfiction that covers the lives of 5 women, three of whom are HD (Hilda Doolittle), Dorothy L Sayers and Virginia Woolf.

#PoetryMatters #Villa

my #currentread for #2024reads is the abdridged ed of Sylvia Plath's journal, for me all of Plath's writing is like reading poetry

#Two4Tuesday, thanks @TheSpineView

1/ both - I can't choose, I 😍 them both
2/ dusty, unexpected, informative
extras (couldn't resist 😃) amazingly this is older than The Iliad and has somehow surived

#HitchToScreen @JenlovesJT47

here's my #FirstLineFridays thanks to @ShyBookOwl for this fun idea.

I'm looking forward to reading this, 😂 it will be a lot lighter than my other current, myths about Mesopotamia

The artist Vanessa Bell is Virginia Woolf‘s sister. This is a companion catalogue to an exhibition running at MK Gallery (Milton Keynes, UK). The first time I saw Vanessa Bell‘s art I was struck by her style and how her art is painting, crafts and interior decorating. I love how this catalogue shows this. I would have liked more depth in the writing but the images of Bell‘s art make up for it. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

#2024reads #VirginiaBloomsberries #art