The Christmas Letter 2021

Ah the Christmas letter. A dying art form. Some are very dull while the truly great letters are witty and light hearted, bringing joy and exaggeration to the most mundane of lives.

It’s not really needed in my case, as most of my friends and family have already read my blow-by-blow accounts of the minutiae of our lives all year and are pretty much up to speed. Nevertheless, I thought I would attempt a Christmas missive to recap the year.

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2021 Book Challenge

For the 5th year in a row, my dad and I are embarking on the Popsugar reading challenge. It’s been a fairly slow reading year for me what with one thing and another, so I haven’t read much at all this year but here’s what I’ve read in 2021

Book 1: The Survivors, by Jane Harper

Category: A book published in 2021

I love this author. Her first book The Dry was AMAZING and has just been made into a movie. I didn’t love Force of Nature, her second book, but her third The Lost Man and this one were both also excellent. They are proper, gripping, page turners. There is almost always a murder or suspected murder and a whodunnit style exploration of a small town and it’s inhabitants, who all seem to have secrets and motives etc. They are quintessentially Australian and the scenery and setting is vividly pictured.

This was technically released in Australia in 2020, but is not released in the UK until later in Jan 2021 so I’m counting it. My friend in Oz sent it to me as a Christmas present so I was able to read it before it’s even released here, and I literally raced through it in 2 days. A strong start to the year! Continue reading