Month: November 2019
Machu Picchu
24 Festive Tasks: Door 7 – International Day for Tolerance, Task 4: If you were offered an all-expenses-paid trip to one (one only!) of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites, which one would you pick (and why)? I’ve been lucky enough to have been able to visit a fair number of World Heritage Sites already — […]
Read MoreSt. Andrew’s Day – Task 12
Reblogged from: Moonlight Snowfall Sorry I’m late this morning! Husband and son & I were watching 1980’s rock concerts into the wee hours last night. Door 12: St. Andrew’s Day Task 1: Tell us: Who is your favorite Scottish (or Scots-born / -descendant) writer? Task 2: Ian Rankin likes to say that […]
Read MoreBooks With Antonyms in Their Titles
24 Festive Tasks: Door 5 – Bon Om Touk, Task 4: The South Korean flag features images of ying / yang (the blue and red circle in the center) and four sets of three black lines each representing heaven, sun, moon and earth and, in turn, the virtues humanity, justice, intelligence and courtesy. Compile a […]
Read More24 Festive Tasks: Door 12 – St. Andrew’s Day
Door 12: St. Andrew’s Day Task 1: Tell us: Who is your favorite Scottish (or Scots-born / -descendant) writer? Task 2: Ian Rankin likes to say that the Scottish national diet is sugar, fat and alcohol. The traditional Scottish dessert – Raspberry Cranachan – contains all three of these (and of course the […]
Read MoreJoy Ellis: Jackman and Evans & Matt Ballard Series
As a new discovery, this is a carry-over from 2018, when Ellis’s Their Lost Daughters completely knocked me sideways during Halloween Bingo. I’ve since read her entire Jackman & Evans series — my favorite entries still being Their Lost Daughters as well as, coming very close, book 4 of the series, The Guilty Ones […]
Read MoreRoyalty Moonlighting as Commoners in Fiction
24 Festive Tasks: Door 10 – Russian Mothers’ Day, Task 2: Towards the end of the 17th century, there was a Russian apprentice carpenter and shipwright going by the name Peter Mikhailov in the Dutch town of Zaandam (and later in Amsterdam), who eventually turned out to be none other than Tsar Peter the Great, […]
Read MoreHyeonseo Lee: The Girl with Seven Names
A riveting read and proof positive of the old adage that truth is vastly stranger than fiction: the true story of a young woman who defected from North Korea to China “by accident” right before her 18th birthday and, after ten years of trials and tribulations, eventually ended up in South Korea and, later, in […]
Read MoreKofi Annan: Interventions: A Life in War and Peace
Mr. Annan was far and away the most influential and important Secretary General of the United Nations in its more recent history; his memoirs set forth with great passion and understanding how the experience of a lifetime, from growing up in post-WWII Ghana all the way to serving as Under-Secretary for Peacekeeping under Boutros Boutros-Ghali, […]
Read MoreLesley Cookman: Murder in Steeple Martin
24 Festive Tasks: Door 10 – Russian Mothers’ Day, Book: Read a book set in Russia, by a Russian author, featuring a story within a story (like a Russian “matryoshka” doll), or featuring a character who is a mother. Well, it turns out this book has a dual timeline (or at least significant flashbacks […]
Read MoreArthur Conan Doyle: Danger
What a timely read: Much more than “merely” the author of the Sherlock Holmes books, Conan Doyle was an astute observer of the politics of his time, and he did not shy away from speaking his mind, even if that meant offending the highest in the land. Danger is a short story that he wrote […]
Read MoreMy Most-Missed Authors Who Died in 2019
24 Festive Tasks: Door 6 – Veterans’ / Armistice Day, Task 2: In keeping with the minute of silence, tell us about the authors who have passed this year that you will miss the most. Here’s hoping this year won’t see any more authors’ deaths, because too many of the great ones have already left […]
Read MoreHappy Thanksgiving!
Enjoy your turkey, pie, family gathering, books, movies, TV, and whichever other way you’re spending the day (and evening)! And thank you all for being such a wonderful community, online or otherwise. Original post: ThemisAthena.booklikes.com/post/2001771/happy-thanksgiving
Read More24 Festive Tasks, Door 11: Thanksgiving
Reblogged from: Mrs. Claus’ Tea House On tap today is taking my mom to Mass, watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade for the first time in years, cooking, eating, playing board games with the kids, and going for a walk to make room for more food. Enjoy! Door 11: Thanksgiving Day Task 1: […]
Read MoreJoy Ellis: Beware the Past
Reading progress update: 20%. Since I’ve read all of Joy Ellis’s Jackman & Evans books (or all that she’s published to date), what a good thing she’s come up with yet another series set in the Fens … and so far, I’m liking it — and DCI Matt Ballard — really, really very much. And […]
Read More@Linda: They’re here — thank you so much (again)!
They’re beautiful — and actually bigger than I thought … what a wonderful surprise! As I said in my PM, I know they will be treasured, both by me and by the friend who’ll be receiving one of them as a present. Original post: ThemisAthena.booklikes.com/post/2000071/linda-they-re-here-thank-you-so-much-again Beyond the 100th Meridian Project Page Reviews and […]
Read MoreCyril Hare: An English Murder
24 Festive Tasks: Door 8 – International Children’s Day, Book: Read a children’s or YA book or a book where children or teenagers play a significant role, or written by an author who was under the age of 18 at the time of publication. OK, so I thought about this for a while, because […]
Read MoreMy Favorite Children’s Books
24 Festive Tasks: Door 8 – International Children’s Day, Task 1: What was your favorite children’s book growing up? Your favorite middle grade book? The first books I really loved, even before I had learned to read myself, were a number of recorded fairy tales that I owned (in actual record format) — a little […]
Read MoreMy Reading, Rating, and Reviewing Philosophy
24 Festive Tasks: Door 9 – World Philosphy Day, Tasks 1 and 2: Share your reading philosophy with us – do you DNF? If so, do you have a page minimum to read before you declare it a DNF? And: Share your reviewing philosophy with us – how do you rate a book? Do you […]
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