
2020 in Facts and Figures
I already posted my main 2020 in Review and Looking Ahead to 2021 posts a while ago — only on my new blog (separate post to come) –, but I held back on my 2020 reading statistics until the year was well and truly over. And for all my good intentions when posting my mid-year […]
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2020: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
We’re still a month away from the end of the year, but my reading will probably consist mainly of Christmas books in December, and I hope and pray that life won’t come up and throw anything else at me in the final month of the year, either. So I might as well post my “Year […]
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Book Characters Turning Over a New Leaf
24 Festive Tasks: Door 4 – Japanese Culture Day, Task 2: Japanese Culture Day was first held in 1948, to commemorate the announcement of the country’s post-war constitution on November 3, 1946, which was to make a new start for Japan. Which book did you read this year where someone was searching for or starting […]
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BL-opoly, Pandemic Edition – Fourth Roll
For once my “quick roll before going to bed” is turning out just that — hooray. Knight’s entries in the Medieval Murderers series are not necessarily among my favorites, but it is clear that he knows his stuff, and I might just as well finally catch up with his protagonist Sir John de Wolfe’s earlier […]
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Dorothy L. Sayers: Love All (aka Cat’s Cradle)
Sayers Does Drawing Room Comedy When I bought the joint edition of Busman’s Honeymoon and Love All (published in 1980), the obvious pièce de résistance, for me, and the reason why I spent some time hunting down an affordable copy at all, was the stage version of Busman’s Honeymoon – the final full-length outing of […]
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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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This is good to see – please pass it on to anyone who might find it useful
Reblogged from: Mike Finn Original post: ThemisAthena.booklikes.com/post/2091994/this-is-good-to-see-please-pass-it-on-to-anyone-who-might-find-it-useful
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Patricia Moyes: Dead Men Don’t Ski
A huge shout-out to Moonlight Reader for favorably reviewing this book earlier this year and thus bringing it to my attention. Henry Tibbett and his wife Emmy are a joy to be with, and like MR and Tigus (who has also read the book in the interim), I’ll definitely be spending more time in their […]
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Spicy Red Pepper Pesto
24 Festive Tasks: Door 24 – Epiphany, Task 1: Prepare your favorite spicy dish or drink; share a picture and enjoy. (Sharing the recipe is optional.) My BFF (Gaby) and I went on our traditional pre-Christmas shopping trip to “that store” in Frankfurt yesterday. Among the many goodies and gifts for others that the trip […]
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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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Halloween Bingo 2019 PreParty — Question for 08/02 (Day 2): Vampires, Werewolves, Zombies or Other?
Witches. One of my very first literary heroine was a little witch who manages to get the better of all the bigger, older witches after having been put down by them — the heroine of Otfried Preußler’s Little Witch. (In fact, I loved that book enough to write my very first fan letter to […]
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BL-opoly: Dice Roll #18
So, I finished M.M. Kaye’s Death in Kashmir and am allowed to roll again, and what shall I say — whenever it’s an “oh, I’ll just quickly do this before going to bed” situation, it’s raining doubles and extras like there’s no tomorrow. My first roll ends up being doubles, which land me on the […]
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My Historical Fiction Essentials
Finally getting around to this — as per Chris’s invitation, here’s my list (in no particular order, and with major reliance on Chris’s dictum that it’s “fine to list a whole author’s work or series and have it count as one entry”): Hillary Mantel’s historical fiction I’ve yet to try her contemporary writing, but both […]
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The Language and Writing System of MS408 (Voynich) Explained
(2019). The Language and Writing System of MS408 (Voynich) Explained. Romance Studies. Ahead of Print. Source: The Language and Writing System of MS408 (Voynich) Explained
Read MoreBristol academic cracks Voynich code, solving century-old mystery of medieval text | EurekAlert! Science News
News Release 15-May-2019 IMAGE: Vignette A illustrates the erupting volcano that prompted the rescue mission and the drawing of the map. It rose from the seabed to create a new island given the name… view more Credit: Voynich manuscript A University of Bristol academic has succeeded where countless cryptographers, linguistics scholars and computer programs have failed – […]
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