Attempting a slightly higher challenge this year – aiming for 30 books this year!

Here is my beginning of the year book stash:

Book 1: You are not alone, a new way to grieve, by Cariad Lloyd

Category: A book you got for free

A kind friend got this for me, and it was incredibly helpful to read. I recommend it to anyone experiencing grief.

Book 2: Butter, by Asako Yuzuki

Category: A book with a happily single female protagonist

This book was odd… I can’t decide if I like it or not. Some of the prose flowed in an odd way and I can’t tell if it’s the way it’s translated or if it’s the japanese way of speaking.

Book 3: The National Trust Gardener’s Almanac 2025

Category: A book under 250 pages

Quick read but busy studying for my garden!

Book 4: Woman of a certain rage, by Geogrgie Hall

Category: A book that features a character going through menopause

This was ok, funny in places, and sweet, but not the best book I’ve ever read. Mediocre at best.

Book 5: The last murder at the end of the world, by Stuart Turton

Category: A book about a cult

This book was EXCELLENT and I raced through it! I must admit I didn’t love his first book, The seven deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, so was not sure if I would like this one, but it was completely different and very gripping. It could have fit into several categories so just picked this one for now.

It’s half post-apocalyptic futuristic sci-fi and half classic whodunnit detective story, and it works really well. Would recommend.

Book 6: Sweat, by Emma Healey

Category: None

This book was also excellent however bear in mind the subject matter has a trigger warning. It brilliantly portrays how coercive control and abusive relationships can damage people irreversibly and how small controlling behaviours can spiral into something truly terrifying.

It also covers the difficulties victims can have in talking about their abuse with family and friends when an abusive partner is so charming and appears loving and kind to the rest of the world.

I raced through it and it left a sense of unease, and a bad taste in my mouth when I finished it.

Book 7: 101 poems that could save your life: An anthology of emotional first aid, by Daisy Goodwin

Category: None

This was a short re-read, but I like it, short and simple, lots of classics in here.

Book 8: The Marigold Mind Laundry, by Yun Jung-Eun

Category: A book about chosen family

This was odd, but nice. An interesting premise, and some nice characters, though I think she rather hammered the point home at the end a bit too much.

Book 9: The Big Door Prize, by M.O. Walsh

Category: A book where an adult character changes careers

This one was mainly because I had been watching the tv show, enjoying it a lot, and then realised it was cancelled after 2 seasons, so I wanted to know what happened!

Annoyingly the book and the tv show differ quite a bit in plot, so it didn’t help much in that regard, and the book was much darker than the tv show. One of the rare occasions where I prefer the tv adaptation over the book, although that may be because I watched it first.

Book 10: What you did, by Claire McGowan

Category: A book that fills your favourite prompt from the 2015 reading challenge (in my case, a mystery or thriller)

This was ok, a quick and easy read, fairly easy to guess what had happened but it was fine. Not great litereature or anything, but very quick to read.

Book 11: Mickey 7, by Edward Ashton

Category: A book about space tourism

This was good, I enjoyed it. Seem to be reading a lot of space-themed books at the moment. This was funny and strange and while not technically about space tourism (more like space colonisation) I liked the plot, and I read it pretty quickly. It’s also a movie but I watched the trailer and am not sure if I’d want to watch it or not.

Book 12: Sex Tips from 1894: The Secret to a Happy Marriage, as Told by the Victorians, by Ruth Smythers

Category: None

This was a short silly book and it was very funny.

Book 13: Anxious People, by Fredrik Backman

Category: A book that features an unlikely friendship

This was EXCELLENT. I love Fredrik Backman and this did not disappoint. Funny, sweet, thoughtful and great characters.

Book 14: The Husbands, by Holly Gramazio

Category: A book that features a married couple that don’t live together

This was a silly fun light easy read. A single woman discovers she has a magical attic which produces husbands for her to try out.

Book 15: The Unit, by Ninni Holmqvist

Category: A book set at a luxury resort

This was an interesting dystopian book, similar to Never Let Me Go, but with some interesting differences. I would have liked more background on the rules and laws around having children and families, but it was otherwise ok.

Book 16: Dad you suck, by Tim Dowling

Category: None

I’ve read this before, but needed a quick easy read and it’s funny and I like it.

Book 17: The Wee Free Men, by Terry Pratchett

Category: None

Life is busy at the moment so I wanted to re-read some easy books I could get through without too much brain power. I love the Tiffany Aching series by Terry Pratchett and haven’t read them as much so decided to re-read the whole series. They annoyingly didn’t fit well with any of the categories though!

Book 18: A hat full of sky, by Terry Pratchett

Category: None

Book 19: Wintersmith, by Terry Pratchett

Category: None

Book 20: I shall wear midnight, by Terry Pratchett

Category: None

Book 21: The Shepherd’s Crown, by Terry Pratchett

Category: None

Love these books. Sad that this one was Terry’s last book before he died. I have found a few fabulous quotes from his many books that I thought I would share:

“In the beginning there was nothing, which exploded.”

“The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it.”

“Give a man a fire and he’s warm for a day, but set fire to him and he’s warm for the rest of his life.”

“It’s not worth doing something unless someone, somewhere, would much rather you weren’t doing it.”

“Some humans would do anything to see if it was possible to do it. If you put a large switch in some cave somewhere, with a sign on it saying ‘End-of-the-World Switch. PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH’, the paint wouldn’t even have time to dry.”

“Wisdom comes from experience. Experience is often a result of lack of wisdom.”

“Real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time.”

“Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.”

RIP Sir Terry.

Well after all the excitement my buyer pulled out….

I was hoping against hope that we could still find a buyer before I lose the other house, but I have no idea, and there is literally nothing I can do about it.

It’s all a bit frustrating after such a fast start (putting my house on the market and then having an offer within 3 days!).

Still, there is nothing much to be done except hope for the best and try to keep the place as tidy as I can manage….

Thankfully after the house went back on the market the interest slowly picked up again, and there were some viewings over the weekend and I got another offer yesterday.

It’s a huge relief so I’m just hoping that nothing else will put a spanner in the works at the moment. Hoping if it all goes well we can still aim to move by late July/early August.

There’s an awful lot of ducks we need to get in a row, but it will all be worth it in the end I’m sure…

Lately there have been a lot of bad nights. 

She’s been waking up almost every 2 hours and screaming at the top of her lungs for me to come and sit with her. Which is exhausting. 

Now, she definitely has slept through the night in the past, at least until 5am or so, so I know that she can do it. And there are about a million reasons why she might be waking so often. 

It could be the changes and transitions from lockdown to nursery to potty training. It could be that because she is learning bladder control she is waking herself up when she wees in her sleep (she’s too little for night training so still in a nappy at night). It could be night terrors or nightmares waking her up. It could be just that her natural sleep cycle from deep sleep to light sleep wakes her every two hours and she isn’t self-soothing. It could be because she’s been growing lately and maybe has growing pains or just finds it’s hard work making more bones and muscles and stuff. It could be because she’s too hot, too cold, hungry, thirsty, frankly, god only knows. Continue reading →

Another new recipe, this one courtesy of the Co-op free recipe magazine.

It was nice, though next time I would cook the spinach a little longer as it was a tad bitter, and I would be less liberal with the lemon juice, and it rather swamped the other flavours. Also I misread it and only used one punnet of mushrooms instead of two (which seems excessive!), but may have affected the flavour overall.

Ingredients:

• 1 packet of fresh gnocchi (400g)
• 400g Chestnut mushrooms, sliced
• 1 tbsp Olive Oil
• 1 bag of baby spinach (approx 125g–200g)
• 2 garlic cloves
• 40g Walnuts, chopped
• Lemon juice and zest
• 60g Stilton
• 50g half fat creme fraiche

Steps:

1. Heat the olive oil and cook the mushrooms and garlic for 3-4 mins (the first time I cooked this I just used 1 packet of mushrooms and hadn’t realised the recipe required 2 packets of mushrooms!)
2. Add in the spinach, cover and turn down the heat for a bit (I didn’t cook the spinach long enough so make sure it’s nice and wilted)
3. Cook the gnocchi as per packet instructions
4. Stir gnocchi into the spinach and mushroom mixture with the lemon juice, (not too much lemon juice – just a little then flavour to taste later) blue cheese, creme fraiche – add in a little water if it looks too dry.
5. Sprinkle with parsley and walnuts and salt and pepper.

It’s yummy…..