India & Indian Subcontinent
Q1 / 2022 Reading Recap
Well, as it turned out 2022 began as 2021 had ended — all work and no play, albeit with the addition of a hospital detour to boot. (Nothing serious, just way more painful and, all told, protracted, than it had any right to be.) So I’m back to posting one summary post for the first […]
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Abir Mukherjee: A Rising Man
Blurb: Captain Sam Wyndham, former Scotland Yard detective, is a new arrival to Calcutta. Desperately seeking a fresh start after his experiences during the Great War, Wyndham has been recruited to head up a new post in the police force. But with barely a moment to acclimatise to his new life or to deal with […]
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An Alphabet of My Likes and Dislikes: “U”
This is a post belonging to a new blogging project — the title is pretty much self-explanatory, I think; the project’s introductory post can be found HERE. Credit for the idea: BeetleyPete. As always, the only thing linking the two items mentioned in this post in my mind is that they both start with the […]
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An Alphabet of My Likes and Dislikes: “T”
This is a post belonging to a new blogging project — the title is pretty much self-explanatory, I think; the project’s introductory post can be found HERE. Credit for the idea: BeetleyPete. As always, the only thing linking the two items mentioned in this post in my mind is that they both start with the […]
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Festive Tasks 2020: … aaaand we’re off!
Door 14 – Reveal & Task 1, Door 15 – Book, and Door 16 – Task 1 The king is dead; long live the king … with Halloween Bingo behind us, Festive Tasks is already well under way! Since we ran a poll this year to determine which holidays were to be included in the […]
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Spices!
The sort of online rabbit hole one is liable to fall down in lockdown times … There’s a company named Spirit of Spice that specializes in “whole seed” spice mixes all coming in their own little mills: I’ve been a fan of theirs for quite a while, though so far I’ve been buying their products […]
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An “Out of My Reach” Book Wishlist to St. Nick
24 Festive Tasks: Door 14 – St. Nicholas’ Day / Sinterklaas, Task 1: Write a book wish list to St. Nick / Santa Claus for books that you’ve been eyeing but can’t justify the expense of purchasing. (E.g., art books? Collector’s editions? Boxed sets?) Dear Saint Nick, it would be really nice if one […]
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Chicken Tikka Masala
24 Festive Tasks: Door 15 – International Human Rights Day, Task 1: Cook a dish from a culture other than your own or something involving apples (NYC = Big Apple) or oranges (for the Netherlands, seat of the International Court of Justice & International Criminal Court). Chicken Tikka Masala Original post: ThemisAthena.booklikes.com/post/2016088/24-festive-tasks-door-15-international-human-rights-day-task-1
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My Favorite Books with Music as a Plot Element
24 Festive Tasks: Door 21 – Kwanzaa, Task 2: Music is an important part of a Kwanzaa celebration. Which is / are your favorite book(s) where music plays an important role in the plot? In no particular order, books (of all genres, except for artist biographies)* that I love where music plays an important […]
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Books 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 […]
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M.M. Kaye: Death in Kashmir
Well, that was somewhat more of a slog than I had expected — and only in a minor part owing to M.M. Kaye herself; even though she does rely more on “dark and stormy night” scenarios than I would have liked to see, as well as on characters, including protagonists, behaving TSTL to such an […]
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BL-opoly: Dice Roll #17
It’s past midnight CEST, so having finished my very satisfying return visit with Crowley, Aziraphael and the world of Good Omens, I am allowed to roll again. This takes me to square 20: The Lake House — read a book featuring a dog, with a dog on the cover, or set in an area known […]
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More Favorite / Essential Historical Fiction: Towards the 200!
OK, so I did get to another full list after all. Here goes, without any further ado: Virginia Woolf: Orlando I’m happy I’m getting another shot for this book alone — could have kicked myself for leaving it off my first list. I’m not a big fan of either time travel or main character sex […]
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Snakes and Ladders Poll: TA’s Final Book to Read? – Decision
OK, executive decision time then! Of the two books that are ahead of the others by just about a nose (1 vote) at this point — namely, Chitra Banerjee Divakarumi’s Sister of my Heart and Rosario Ferré’s House on the Lagoon — Ferré’s House on the Lagoon is calling more to me at this point. […]
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Snakes and Ladders Poll: TA’s Final Book to Read?
I’ve made it to square 100 (yey!), which calls for letting the BookLikes crowd decide my next read. So, please vote: Which book should I read next? Chitra Banerjee Divakarumi: Sister of My Heart Rosario Ferré: The House on the Lagoon Alexandra Fuller: Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight Elif Shafak: Three […]
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11 Public Libraries Invaluable to World History | Oldest
Source: 11 Public Libraries Invaluable to World History | Oldest 11 Public Libraries Invaluable to World History Libraries around the world have long been revered as temples of human knowledge. They’ve been a part of monasteries, royal palaces, museums, universities and even hospitals. Some boast an incredibly romantic past while others, like the Library […]
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Happy Independence Day – and, my Freedom and Future Library
Related Blog Post: Book Recs Solicited: Freedom and Future Library Reading Project: Freedom and Future Library Could there possibly be a better day on which to finally follow up on my Freedom and Future Library post? Truth be told, I’d been hoping to compile this much faster, but RL threw a major spanner in […]
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Book Recs Solicited: Freedom and Future Library
You’d have to be living under a rock buried somewhere halfway down to the center of the earth in order not to be aware that in recent years our beautiful world has been shaken up by a number of crises the likes of which I, at least, have not experienced in my entire lifetime — […]
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16 Tasks of the Festive Season: Final Tally
The Markers: Stack of Books: Books read Red Bows and Ribbons: Other Tasks completed Joker cards used: The Squares, Books and Other Tasks: Square 1: November 1st: All Saints Day / Día de los Muertos & Calan Gaeaf Book themes for Día de Muertos and All Saint’s Day: A book that […]
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The Dalai Lama: The Power of Compassion
16 Tasks of the Festive Season: Square 10 – World Peace Day Words of Wisdom The Dalai Lama speaks about the Four Noble Truths, maximizing your inner strength, dealing with anger and death, the power of compassion, the challenges facing humanity today (including globalization, warfare, environmental protection, overpopulation), and the great world religions’ core tenets […]
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