Did I spend allllll day in town waiting on my car being serviced? Yes I did. And I also have to go back as my maintenance contract won‘t pay for something that needs replacing. BUT all is not lost!

I am behind the times but today I discovered there is a fruits basket sequel and the shop I was in had all 4 🎉

This was my #FoodAndLit pick for #Peru

Overall I did like the story, however it was very slow and the chapters were soooooo long it made it hard to fit in reading it, and easy to forget where I was 🤣

And my July #BookSpinBingo board is now ready

#BookSpin - Making The Monster
#DoubleSpin - Hooked

My June #BookSpinBingo round up

Not a huge reading month, but still more reading than I anticipated! So still a win 😊

I finished 3 books:
• The Boy with the Narwhal Tooth (Food and Lit)
• The Rainfall Market (Doublespin)
• Role Playing

I have given up on The Echo of Old Books for now as I couldn‘t get into the audio, but will pick it up again some other time.

I loved this one!

A grumpy/sunshine romance, with a meet cute, and some misunderstandings. But overall about two introverts learning about themselves and having each other‘s backs. All while dealing with real life and online gaming 🤣

This was pretty cute.
It reminded me of the midnight library, but with the wished for lives being shown as someone else‘s experience rather than your own.

At the start of the rainy season, humans with a ticket can visit the rainfall market, a place where dokkaebi live and sell their wares, and where for a small purchase you can swap your old life for the life of your dreams.

This was my #DoubleSpin this month

This was my pick for #FoodAndLit #Greenland.

It follows newly trained Constable Petra Jensen (who is apparently a character seen in some of the other novels by this author) searching for a boy who has been missing for 12 months.

It features an interesting cast of characters, set in remote Greenland. I felt this ended quickly, but it is a novella! There was closure, but because I feel like it needed something a bit more, it‘s a lower pick for me.

Started this one for #FoodAndLit #Greenland this morning (after much deliberation about what to read).

These are my two reading buddies. Ash is 6 now, and Pippin is nearly 11 weeks. This is as close as they have gotten so far and it lasted about 30 seconds!
Ash is so fed up in fact that some mornings he sits on the stairs so she can‘t go near him 🤣
I am sure they will be friends in no time!

Maybe then I can get some SOLID reading done 🤭

My June #BookSpinBingo board has a lot of the books I haven‘t got to yet this year, that keep reappearing! Eventually I will get to them…

My #BookSpin is The Raging Quiet (this will be a reread of one of my favourites, but it has been a long time since I have read it now)

My #DoubleSpin is The Rainfall Market

A little late posting my May roundup and June #BookSpinBingo board this month!

This is partly because we got a new puppy! 🐶
Having 2 dogs is very busy 🤣

My May Roundup
I finished 4 books:
• The Satsuma Complex (started in April)
• The Aunt who wouldn‘t Die (Food and Lit)
• Into the Uncanny (BookSpin)
• All your Children, Scattered (April Food and Lit)

I also started The Echo of Old Books on audio but haven‘t gotten very far 😂

Today we made beef brochettes for a belated #FoodAndLit #Rwanda

They weren‘t really my thing (I should probably have cooked them for longer for my tastes) but the spicy sauce was very nice. Served with sweet potato fries ☺️

This was my (belated) pick for #FoodAndLit #Rwanda

It is a multigenerational tale about a family trying to reconnect after the genocide against the Tutsis in the 90s.
It took me a little while to get into as it jumps around a little, but it was a powerful story that I enjoyed reading.

We started watching the uncanny TV show last year, and picked up the podcast later (we are late to this particular bandwagon). We are going to see this in November and are really looking forward to it! So I was excited to see that Danny had a book, and my husband was kind enough to buy me it ☺️

Very similar to the show/podcasts in structure, I found the new cases very interesting!

#BookSpin #BookSpinBingo

Tonight we made Bangladeshi Village-style chicken curry. It doesn‘t look like the picture in the recipe… but this might be because I had to swap Kashmiri chilli for a substitute so it isn‘t as red as it should be.

It still tasted delicious. And it was pretty easy, just lots of prep with all the spices (though they are standard ones for the most part).

#FoodAndLit #Bangladesh

This was a short novel for #FoodAndLit #Bangladesh

Somlata marries into a family of old wealth (that are going broke). After her elderly aunt-in-law dies, she haunts Somlata, forcing her to hide her jewellery from the family. It also follows Boshon, a teen who doesn‘t believe she needs a man to enjoy life.

This had an abrupt ending, but I did enjoy it!

My May #BookSpinBingo board!

#BookSpin is Into the Uncanny
#DoubleSpin is The Little Book of Lykke

My April #BookSpinBingo round up.

I finished 3 books:
• The Wisdom of Tea (Bookspin)
• Everyone in my Family has Killed Someone
• Sunrise on the Reaping

I also got most of the way through The Satsuma Complex, which I finished today (May)

I like Bob Mortimer, but this really wasn‘t for me. I think if I wasn‘t listening on audio I would probably have bailed.

While I often enjoy Bob‘s humour (WILTY and gone fishing etc), in a novel it just didn‘t hit right for me, and every time a squirrel was mentioned I inwardly groaned. However, other people might really enjoy it!

Story wise I found the mystery quite predictable (and I am usually not good at that)

As a prequel, there are certain things that won‘t come as a surprise in this book, but that doesn‘t mean they don‘t pack a punch!

Haymitch‘s hunger games was an excellent choice for its own book, and really shows how he became the man we meet in the hunger games trilogy. It was great to see some other familiar people in there too, along with Snow being as despicable as ever.

This was (despite the content) a fairly light audio read.
I quite liked the narration breaking the forth wall, trying to point you towards the same conclusions by making sure you are following clues and things. It was an interesting way to do the mystery thing.

And the story overall held my interest. I never work out who did it… maybe I need to read more mysteries 😂

I really enjoyed this memoir of lessons learned while learning the way of tea. I feel like I gained a greater appreciation of Japanese tea, and the lessons (life lessons, not tea) felt very timely. I also would like to try a bunch of traditional Japanese sweets now too!

A quick and inspiring book, best enjoyed with matcha 🍵

#BookSpin #BookSpinBingo

April #BookSpinBingo board

My #BookSpin is: The Wisdom of Tea
My #DoubleSpin is: The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs

March roundup.

I finished 4 books:
• Somewhere Beyond the Sea (Started in Feb)
• Sleeping Beauty (Feb Bookspin)
• The Terror (Started in Jan)
• Snowflake (Food and Lit and Doublespin)

I haven‘t started anything else yet so will make a start on my April books soon 😂

#BookSpinBingo

This was my #Ireland pick for #FoodAndLit

It was a tough read in places but it was good and I finished before I knew it!

Debbie starts at Trinity College and struggles to adapt to college life and to make friends. It‘s a coming of age story, which covers tough topics such as mental health, alcoholism, body image, death and attempted suicide, but while also being lighthearted.

#DoubleSpin

This #Chunkster has taken me a while, but I really enjoyed it!
A historical novel mixed with some folklore, based on the ill fated Franklin expedition to find the north west passage.
I watched the tv show a while ago which was amazing, so I am glad I have finally managed to read it :)

(Ash isn‘t super impressed about joining in for the photo)

Ham, champ, and baked leeks with cheese for #FoodAndLit #Ireland
It was very tasty!

This was a pretty solid retelling of sleeping beauty.
I liked the idea of magic knights, and Briar Rose was a likeable character.
I would say that I didn‘t feel super invested in the story as a whole, and it was a fairly quick resolution, but I did still enjoy it ☺️

This was my February #BookSpin

This was a lovely sequel to The House in the Cerulean Sea. A book about acceptance and standing up for your rights, and family.

While I preferred the first book overall, I did enjoy revisiting the characters and seeing how they have grown and come into their own ☺️

My March #BookSpinBingo card

Bookspin is A Gathering of Shadows
DoubleSpin is Snowflake

My Feb roundup.

Not a lot of reading done this month.
I finished 3 books:
• Fledgling (audio started in Jan)
• A Fair Account of the Traitors Snow White and Rose Red (started in Jan)
• Yak Girl (Feb food and lit finished at the last possible moment 🤣)

I also started:
• Somewhere Beyond the Sea (audio, 4 hrs left)
• Sleeping Beauty (34% through)

And still going with The Terror, though I didn‘t touch it this month 🤭

#BookSpinBingo

This book is about the early life of the author in a remote village in Dolpo in the mountains. Most of this is set in the Dolpo region with Dorje growing up and herding her animals. The last part of the book about some of her family going to Kathmandu to try and find medical help for her brother and ending with her staying and moving to America for surgery. It was interesting and I‘m glad there was a family update at the end!

#FoodAndLit #Nepal

Tonight was Dal Bhat for #Nepal #FoodAndLit
It was slightly spicy and very delicious ☺️

This one isn‘t in the database yet, but I read “A Fair Account of the Traitors Snow White and Rose Red” for #FairytaleRetellingChallenge

This is a mix of Snow White, and of Snow White and Rose Red. It was pretty good! I enjoyed the story, but in 300+ pages, the characters weren‘t fleshed out very much.

I found the overall idea interesting - MC wakes up with no memory of what has happened, begins to find out who and what she is. I found some parts of the relationships between Ina and humans interesting. There were lots of tough topics covered here.
BUT
When I put it down, I found it hard to pick back up again. It just didn‘t grip me. And I don‘t like the constant references to adults who are attracted to or sleeping with the MC who looks 10/11

My Feb #BookSpinBingo board

My #BookSpin is Sleeping Beauty
My #DoubleSpin is Cry Wolf

So, it doesn‘t look like much 😂
But this is zuurkool stamppot for #Netherlands #FoodAndLit

It‘s basically mash potato with sauerkraut and apple, served with smoked sausage.
It was very quick to make, and very tasty. But jeez it was a big portion for some serious comfort food 🤣

This was a reread for me before trying to finish the trilogy this year. I knew I enjoyed the story before, which is good, as I would probably have given up with the audio if I hadn‘t! There wasn‘t anything specifically wrong with the narrator. I just didn‘t like it (or his voices for dialogue) 🤷🏼‍♀️

This was great to revisit, and I am looking forward to the next ones.

#BookSpin

Yeongju leaves her old life behind and opens a bookshop in Hyunam-Dong. She learns how to navigate her dreams along with reality and societal expectation, makes a group of friends, and everyone helps each other think about where they are in life and where they want to be.
I have to say that some bits felt particularly poignant as I am a bit fed up with work at the moment. So it definitely left me with some things to think about!

#DoubleSpin

This was my #Netherlands #FoodAndLit pick, and first read of the year.

It was very atmospheric, and creepy. But most of the scary parts didn‘t come from the evil witch, but from what people are willing to do if they feel threatened, even if the threat isn‘t real. (And yes I looked up the Dutch ending and it sounds pretty similar. I didn‘t mind the ending 🤣)

My January #BookSpinBingo

My #BookSpin is A Darker Shade of Magic
My #DoubleSpin is Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop

Final check in for #WinterGames2024

I have a total of 17,875 points for team #ChristmasChapterChasers
Thanks for a fun festive season all! ☺️

#WinterGames #XmasChaCha

Both versions of the book bracket have Gideon the Ninth as my top read for 2024

My first trip to Dream Harbour (I got the others but wanted to read the Christmassy one first) and it was pretty good! A nice small town, romance tropes, Christmas activities etc. I certainly liked the MCs more than in some other similar hallmarky Xmas books 😂

This had 497 wordsearch words :)

#WinterGames2024 #WinterGames #ChristmasChapterChasers #XmasChaCha

Merry Christmas Everyone!

This was my #FoodAndLit pick for #Finland

I liked the way the story was set out, where you learn more about Trolls as the story progresses, through snippets of stories, web searches, a vet, and as Angel discovers things by living with a troll he rescued by his apartment block.

The characters are all awful by the way 😂 but I still enjoyed the read!

#WinterGames2024 #WinterGames #ChristmasChapterChasers #XmasChaCha

I enjoyed this one. Beautiful settings (both Prague and Wales), snow, sightseeing, second chance love, and a historical love story that brings all the characters together.

This also has a whopping 508 wordsearch words!

#WinterGames2024 #WinterGames #ChristmasChapterChasers #XmasChaCha #DoubleSpin

I was a bit dubious about this audiobook as I am not a HUGE Hugh Grant fan (don‘t get me wrong though I will watch his films 😂). But this was actually pretty good!

This Christmas classic also has 152 wordsearch words in it 😉

#WinterGames2024 #WinterGames #ChristmasChapterChasers #XmasChaCha

A short listen about the origins of Christmas traditions and how they have changed over time.

#WinterGames2024 #WinterGames #ChristmasChapterChasers #XmasChaCha

Also made some Finnish Christmas cookies (Joulupiparit) and had to freeze half the dough because damn that‘s a lot of cookies 😂

#Finland #FoodAndLit

They kinda lost their shape (and some filling) during the cooking process 😂
But this is my attempt at cinnamon rolls for #Finland #FoodAndLit (korvapuusti)

They may not look pretty but they are tasty 😋