I randomly felt like reading some medieval historical fiction and grabbed this off my shelves … so here‘s me and Joan of Kent and some tea on a chilly Sunday evening. 😆

Thanks for the recommendation, @TrishB ! I‘m thoroughly enjoying it.

I have these two little books on the go to see me through the rest of the year.

Does anyone else have the compulsion to have all current reading finished so they can start January 1st (fresh) with a new book? Or is it just me? 😆😆

Thank you for these lovely Christmas gifts, @rubyslippersreads ! I have never even heard of the tagged book (by the author of The Velveteen Rabbit) and it sounds so good! And more LM Montgomery tales … yay! I‘m going to thoroughly enjoy these reads whilst hiding away with my minty chocs. 😆

Merry Christmas, dear friend!! 😘

The “extras” to my #JolabokaflodSwap from @merelybookish ! Look at those covers! 🥰

Thank you so very much, my friend, for sharing these beauties with me. You‘ve truly made my day. Happy Christmas to you and your family! 😘😘

@merelybookish ! Thank you so much for my #JolabokaflodSwap (and extras!! See next post).

I‘ve been restraining myself from buying this book before Christmas and look how my good behaviour repaid me! 😉 And Anne of Green Gables chocolates and hot chocolate and that lovely card! I‘m thrilled. Thank you! 😘😘

Thanks once again to our always wonderful swap leader, @MaleficentBookDragon ! ❤️

My current Christmassy reads (one‘s sweet and one‘s a bit nasty). 🎄

This year‘s (skinny) little book tree with #JohnnyBergen
😆

Here it is, #PersephoneClub … our 2026 reading list! Thank you all for your nominations and votes and we‘ll see you in February. 👏

(Please take note of the new list of members ( ⬇️) when tagging your posts).

I‘ve been spending this snowy afternoon reading this book for my IRL book club and enjoying this wonderful yearly newsletter from @TheLudicReader ! Thank you so much for sending it and for the lovely extras, too. I love the little wood ornament! 😘😘

I really enjoyed this short 1975 novel about a young widow with three daughters. Anna runs into a younger man from her past “one afternoon” and they embark on a love affair that is not exactly approved of by everyone in her life. The 1970s setting, and the social mores of that period, gave it such an interesting vibe. And I desperately covet her glorious Georgian house. 😆

#PersephoneClub

#PersephoneClub
Okay, @CarolynM , you can post your voting selections for October!
@Cathythoughts , you can post yours for December now, too!

Our tag list has changed a bit and we are now at 14 members: you two and myself plus ⬇️

@merelybookish , look what arrived! I‘m all excited and now off to hide it from myself. Thank you, thank you! 😘😘

#JolabokaflodSwap

Okay, @Bookbuyingaddict and @Teresereading … it‘s your turn!

Please create a post with your two choices of Persephone books for the group to vote on for June and August (respectively).

Please tag everyone in my previous “voting order” post. And don‘t forget to vote on the posts that are already up for February and April! Thank you. 😊

#PersephoneClub

@CarolynM ! Look what arrived today! I really wanted to read this book after your review but found that it‘s not available here yet. That little Charles Dickens book purse is AMAZING! And a gorgeous Christmas card along with the birthday card. I‘m thrilled!

Thank you so much, my dear friend! 😘😘😘

Here we go! Choose two Persephone books that you are interested in reading (for your month) and create a post. We will all then vote on the winner. Please don‘t post your suggestions until I give the go-ahead: let‘s start with February and April!

February: @andrew61
April: @Tamra
June: @Bookbuyingaddict
August: @Teresereading
October: @CarolynM
December: @Cathythoughts

Any questions? Ask away! 😄

*Please tag the 14 members on this post.

My #JolabokaflodSwap was sent out this weekend, @MaleficentBookDragon !

Thanks so much for carrying on with this truly wonderful swap. ❤️❤️❤️

It‘s now December (!) so that means it‘s time for one of our #PersephoneClub reads!

@rubyslippersreads ‘ pick for us this month is One Afternoon by Siân James.

ALSO: Will you all chime in below ⬇️ and let me know if you‘d like to stay on this list? We are going to start voting on next year‘s picks very soon! ?

I‘m thoroughly enjoying this humorous, cozy mystery set in 1960s Sydney, Australia.

Thanks again for sending it my way, @CarolynM ! 😘

My 8th sequential Elizabeth Jane Howard buddy read with @shawnmooney and it‘s SO good!

Gavin, a 30-something hair stylist in early ‘80s London, is giving me such adult Adrian Mole vibes. It‘s hilarious and wacky and even a little bit touching.

Here it is, #FurrowedMiddlebrowClub : Our 2026 reading list!

I just received this graphic biography of the Mitford sisters as a belated birthday gift from my family … and it‘s AMAZING.

Here is our “master list” of what we‘ve read together as a group (to help out those of you who will be nominating our 2026 reads). Sorry for the small print; I threw it together quickly! 😆

#FurrowedMiddlebrowClub

Hello, #FurrowedMiddlebrowClub !

We‘ve trimmed down our member list after @Ruthiella ‘s roll call and are now ready to begin voting. Our next six people to nominate our 2026 reads are: @willaful , @kwmg40 , @Tamra , @catebutler , @bookandbedandtea , and @Cuilin .

Please reply to let us know if you want to be excused from nominating two books for us to vote on and I will adjust the list accordingly. You may still vote on our reads, of course!

Well, I ended up enjoying this rather more than I thought I would (which is probably due to the quirkiness of Gibbons‘ characters). “Wise woman- ish” Ivy Gover and her menagerie of creatures were just so charming!

I read the introduction after I finished the novel and was fascinated by the links to Stella Gibbons‘ own life. A biographer said the character of Helen Green was the closest thing she had written to a portrait of her young self.

Thank you so much, @Cathythoughts , for this lovely birthday parcel!!

The Jenny Packham memoir sounds fascinating and I‘ve been intrigued by the sound of Our Evenings ever since reading your (and @CarolynM ‘s) reviews. It will be my first from this author.

You are so thoughtful, my dear friend! 😘😘

The Sunday night “perusal pile”. 😆

Oops! I almost forget to post my #AllHallowsReadSwap today. Thank you so much @ShelleyBooksie for these lovely gifts! I actually HAVE read The Broken Girls (and really enjoyed it!) and the tagged book is one I‘ve been longing to read. The bookmark is so great and so are the Smarties!

A big “thank you” to @MaleficentBookDragon for hosting once again. ❤️

#AHRS2025
#AllHallowsRead

Thank you so much, @rubyslippersreads , for these wonderful birthday gifts!! This book sounds AMAZING and I laughed at the candle. I‘ll be setting that out for the husband to see when I‘m reading. 😆😆 It smells so good, too!

Thank you , dear friend! 😘😘

An 18-year-old girl is hired as an assistant secretary at an exclusive Swiss finishing school and finds herself involved in the recent mysterious death of a former student.

This 1969 YA novel, written under one of Mabel Esther Allan‘s pseudonyms (any Drina fans? 😆) is light and fun.

I think my #AllHallowsReadSwap has arrived as I‘ve received two unordered Amazon parcels (the box today and the puff envelope a couple of days ago). Who is the mysterious sender? 😆

#AHRS2025
#AllHallowsRead

Well, my local post office was open yesterday after the Canada Post strike and I could finally get my #AllHallowsReadSwap in the mail. Unfortunately, the tracking shows it‘s probably going to be late. 😭 So sorry, @BookishMadHatter !

#AHRS2025
#AllHallowsRead

This is starting out so well! A middle-aged woman finally buys her dream house (Victorian! A wraparound porch!) and nothing - not her husband nor the numerous ghosts or bleeding walls - will get her to leave it. I‘m really enjoying the satirical tone. 😆

And yet another book I‘ve had on my shelves for YEARS. I‘m loving it so far!

We had a fun night out at the theatre last night.

I‘ve never read the play but now I want to see the Hitchcock film!

It‘s now October so that means it‘s time for one of our #PersephoneClub reads!

@quietjenn ‘s pick for us this month is The Blank Wall by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding. This is a casual buddy read; read and comment on each other‘s posts and reviews as you see them. We usually aim to finish by the middle of the month but that‘s not written in stone. 😉 And anyone is welcome to read along with us, of course!

Do you ever find yourself standing in front of your bookshelves, wondering what to read next, and your eyes land on a book that you‘ve had for years? That happened to me with this one and it‘s so good!

Ursula Flight is a young girl in Restoration England, married off to a bit of a gruesome older husband, who wants to write and see the theatre and act and do so much more with her life. Her narrative voice is quirky and absolutely delightful.

I‘ve finally finished our #FurrowedMiddlebrowClub pick. It was a lowish pick for me (is that a real rating? 😆). Like @quietjenn said, I went in with low expectations and it wasn‘t as bad as I thought it would be. And her work definitely doesn‘t have the charm of her neighbour, DE Stevenson … as @CarolynM said! You‘ve all pretty much summed up my thoughts on this book (and that‘s what I get for chiming in late 😆).

Look what I‘m reading, @Centique . You were the last person to post about this book … 8 years ago. 😆

A young girl discovers that she can visit the past while riding her pony, Candy (aka Candlelight). I can‘t resist a vintage time-slip story!

Well, here I go once again, starting my IRL bookclub pick just a few days before our meeting. Oops. 😆

I‘m currently reading my 7th Elizabeth Jane Howard with @shawnmooney and this one is a volume of her short stories. We‘ve been working through her books in publication order (and may even get to the start of The Cazalet Chronicles next year 😆).

I‘m late to review our latest #PersephoneClub read as I‘ve been travelling around the interior of British Columbia (and very close to the setting of this novel).

I loved it! And who was surprised by the “reveal”?? I felt like I could have continued on with Frankie‘s story just a little bit longer.

I‘ve been away travelling in our trailer and not doing much reading AT ALL but I still found time for buying a couple of new books.

(And attending the beautiful wedding of my much-loved niece/goddaughter ❤️).

#JohnnyBergen

It‘s now August so that means it‘s time for one of our #PersephoneClub reads!

@LeahBergen ‘s pick (my pick!) for us this month is Hetty Dorval by Ethel Wilson. This is a casual buddy read; read and comment on each other‘s posts and reviews as you see them. We usually aim to finish by the middle of the month but that‘s not written in stone. 😉 And anyone is welcome to read along with us, of course!

I took this Georgette Heyer off the shelf today (but then had to check Goodreads to see if I‘d already read it 😆).

Friday night reading (with wine and a thunderstorm).

Spinsterish Penelope Shadow becomes an overnight success as romantic novelist and can now afford her own house. The only problem is that she is deathly afraid of being alone at night and needs a live-in servant. Enter 20-year-old Terry, who seems to be perfect in every way … but is he really?

This is touted as a domestic novel that evolves into a thriller and I‘m here for it (thus the popcorn 😆).

My current read for my IRL book club and it‘s so good! It‘s one of my favourite niche genres: the “reinvented western”.

A novel about the “impoverished semi-gentry of a country village, consisting of cantankerous parents and frustrated adult children… Each family quarrels with itself in the same laconic and polite way”. That quote from an early review sums up the plot perfectly. It seems to have a more wry feel to it than many of our other #FurrowedMiddlebrowClub reads (and one of the best descriptions of an awkward tea party ever 😆).

I enjoyed it!

Currently reading and thoroughly enjoying! Celia Dale is becoming a firm favourite of mine.

This was a fascinating look at post-WWII Austria, a time of which I knew very little about before reading this novel. We follow three exiles on their return to Vienna from America and try to figure out how their lives will intersect to explain the “accidental” death described in the prologue. So good!

#PersephoneClub