Classic #LockedRoomMystery that I, at last, have on my reading list for next month.

#Celebrate
@Eggs
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Author whose previous work I‘ve enjoyed + oh so pretty cover = #ChoseWithoutReadingBlurb
#Celebrate
@Eggs
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

I wasn‘t too sure about this one at first, but it started to grow on me. It‘s a little gem of a book, a gentle exploration of a community in late 60s/early 70s Vienna.

Book 2/100 #Read2026 @DieAReader

#TTT #TakeThreeThursday @dabbe

This may be my own bias talking, but I feel that I don‘t even need to say what generation I am, because people will know thanks to the infamy of these icons of the dinner tables of my childhood:

- the prawn cocktail
- the cheese and pineapple hedgehog
- Angel Delight (Butterscotch, obviously)

According to the Barnes and Noble blog, Peter Pan has gerascophobia (fear of growing old).

#InclPhobia
#Celebrate
@Eggs
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

My planned #NF read for this month

#celebrate
@Eggs
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Am I allowed to use one cover for four #Pantone2026 colours? @Lauredhel

Yes, I know, it‘s a classic children‘s book, everyone adores it… and yes, the story‘s fun, the characterisation is great… but… I couldn‘t settle into the crossover between human and animal world. How big is the toad that he can pretend to be a human?!

#AnimalKingdom #FictionalTraveler @julieclair
#LetterW #LitsyAtoZ @Texreader
#Read2026 @DieAReader

Thank you so much to everyone who joined in on #12BooksOf2025 and made my first time hosting an event such a huge pleasure. The range of genres has given me some inspiration to widen my reading horizons.

This picture is an accurate representation of the resultant TBR….

I seem to have taken a different to route to most people for the #HolidaySetting prompt in the #Celebrate event. I went for a book set in a place where I am hoping to spend my holiday this year, Sorrento.

@Eggs
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Considering I thought 2025 had been a poor reading year for me, I‘ve actually struggled to narrow this down to three.

My Top 3, I think, are:
- Sea of Tranquility
- Tasting Sunlight
- No Friend To This House

(If I were allowed and top 6, then We Need To Talk About Kevin, Our Man In Havana, and Bonfire of the Vanities would be in there)

Sorry, @Eggs for breaking the rules 🤣

#majicmonday

Me: I overdosed on Challenges last year

Also me: signs up for 10 challenges/events…

#LitsyAtoZ @Texreader
#ChunksterChallenge @Amiable
#FictionalTraveler #MonthlyNonFiction @julieclair
#FurrowedMiddleBrowClub #PersephoneClub @LeahBergen @Ruthiella
#Pantone2026 @Lauredhel
#SeriesLove2026 @Susanita
#192030 @Librarybelle
#Read2026 @DieAReader

On the 12th day of Christmas, my TBR pile gave to me: Cider With Rosie, Laurie Lee‘s memoir of his childhood growing up in the 1910s/20s about 10 miles away from where I now live. Some beautiful moments in it, though not all quite the bucolic tales I expected.

Honourable Mention to Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. It still blows my mind how much I liked reading that one.

#12BooksOf2025

Gotta love a Waterstones “Buy One Get One Half-Price” #StickerOnCvr

#Celebrate
@Eggs
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Ok, I‘ll follow the trend ☺️

If anyone wants me, I‘m TheEllieMo on StoryGraph.

https://app.thestorygraph.com/profile/theelliemo

#HasAuthorsNotes
#Celebrate
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
@Eggs

Very dark humour, and not one for dog lovers: my choice of November #12BooksOf2025

Most of my October reads were rather disappointing so top billing for the month goes to the fifth instalment of the Harry Potter series.

#12BooksOf2025

One of my reads from last year, this ponders on zen and motorcycle maintenance over the course of the protagonist‘s #Journey across America by motorbike with his son.

#Celebrate
@Eggs
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

I appear to have unintentionally colour co-ordinated my physical books choices for this month…

This delight of a book is set in Tokyo

#SetInLrgCity
#Celebrate
@Eggs
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

My favourite read of September was, without doubt, this retelling of Medea‘s story. You can tell Haynes loves her subject.

#12BooksOf2025

Giving this a pick because of the interesting story of an art research student tracking down the identity of an unknown woman in a newly discovered portrait - even though there‘s much conjecture in getting to the conclusion. But, while the particular situation may warrant a double eye-roll, the quoted paragraph annoyed me!

Im not sure if there are any conclusions to be drawn from the fact that my reading got darker as the year progressed…

This one seems appropriate for New Year New Me day!

This one takes its title from the lyrics of Hold On by Wilson Phillips.

#TitleBasedOnSong
#Celebrate
@Eggs
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

My favourite book of August was this beautiful depiction of the power of friendship. The rural landscape was so vividly described.

Honourable Mention to Uncle Paul by Celia Fremlin.

#12BooksOf2025

July was a bit of a low month reading-wise, but I did enjoy the first in Boyd‘s series featuring reluctant spy Gabriel Dax

#12BooksOf2025

June was a good month for me, but I think this look at family life in the lead-up to a wedding just edged it for me. Honourable Mentions to Redhead By The Side of the Road (also by Anne Tyler) and Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Read

#12BooksIn2025

Probably my last finish of the year, this was good fun. It‘s written in the second person because you, the reader, are the main character. As you progress through the book, you reach points where you‘re given a choice, and your choices determine whether you collect enough clues to solve the crime, or whether you come to a dead end. Your first choice is which crime to investigate. I messed up my first go, but solved the second ☺️

My year in books according to Goodreads.

I have no idea what happened in August!

I read this book because I‘d read a more recent novel by the same author for book club, and couldn‘t understand the author of the later book could be so highly acclaimed. The answer: this book and her more recent novel are like chalk and cheese. We Need to Talk About Kevin is stunning, a brilliant, disturbing novel.

#12BooksOf2025

I read this one over the course of about three months,but finished in it March, so it qualifies as@my day 3 #12BooksOf2025.

Honourable Mention to Cold Comfort Farm.

I‘m not trying to take over, honestly! Just care-taking for absent friends.

@TheSpineView and @Andrew65 have hosted the very popular year-long SeriesLove event in recent years, and I‘d like to keep it going, at least until the original hosts return.

Let me and @Susanita know what series you‘re planning to read (though you can bail on or add new ones at any time!), and tag me us in on your reviews of your series reads, using #SeriesLove2026

I didn‘t really have much idea what to expect from The Sea of Tranquility; I didn‘t think speculative fiction was “my thing”.

But it turned out to be not just my favourite read of February, but my favourite read of the year!

#12BooksOf2025

Favourite book read in January. I loved the humour, the two female leads, and the touching way it shows how easily people can be drawn into something people see as bad.

#12BooksOf2025

I wonder if I‘ve learned anything from all the crime novels I‘ve read over the years….

I was slightly disappointed by this one. The main character being a crossword-setting amateur sleuth lead to unfavourable comparison‘s the Judith Potts from Robert Thorogood‘s Marlow Murder Club series.
This novel was a good idea not particularly well-executed.

It‘s almost time to celebrate your reading year, with your 12 books of 2025, starting on 25th December.

To join in, simply post your favourite book of each month on each of the twelve days of Christmas, starting with January on Christmas Day, finishing with December on the twelfth day (5th January).

I can‘t wait to see what your favourite books have been this year!

Please use the hashtag #12BooksOf2025 and tag me into your posts

@LitsyEvents

It has “winter” in the title and one of the novellas is set a Christmas, so this qualifies as a Christmas read! The Giordano Bruno series by SJ Parris has been on my radar for a while, but this collection of three novellas, covering Bruno‘s life 17 years before the start of the first book in the series, is the first I‘ve read. I now very much want to read the full series!

Hello all. Slightly nervous about posting this, as I don‘t want to be treading on anyone‘s toes. But…

I‘ve really enjoyed taking part in the “12 Books of… “ event hosted by @Andrew65 in the last few years, bit O notice that Andrew hasn‘t posted for a while, so I wondered if anyone minded if I picked up the mantle for this year?

If there are no objections, I‘ll do a more official post…

@LitsyEvents

A bit later than usual, as I overdid it on the reading challenges this year, but I have finally started the Christmas reads.

I enjoyed this one, a nice easy read with likeable characters and a feel-good vibe.

When the Harry Potter books first came out, I was in my 30s, child-free, and saw no point in reading a children‘s book, so apart from marvelling at the phenomenal success of the books, I mostly ignored them.

Now, I‘m in my 50s, still child free, and, having enjoyed the Cormorant Strike series, decided to read the first HP book, just to see what it was like…. And now I‘ve just finished book 7.

#UnpopularOpinion because most people seem to rave about this book, but on balance I found it just OK. There are some beautiful moments - the relationship between Dodo and “Monkey Pants” moved me to tears. But there are too many diversions from the main story; in some cases we get the full life story of minor characters. There‘s a great story here, but I felt like it struggled to get out

Book 10 #10BeforeTheEnd 🎉
Book 104 #Read2025

Cher has had an incredible career, spanning 7 decades. You‘d think her biography would be a great read.
Sadly, Cher needs to either sack her editor, or her ghost writer, or her own verbosity. This memoir focuses far too much on unnecessary detail. There also seems to be little responsibility taken for her own actions; I don‘t really like the Cher of this book.

Book 9 of #10BeforeTheEnd @ChaoticMissAdventures
Book 103 #Read2025

I‘ve lived in Gloucestershire for 35 years, so it‘s shocking that I‘ve only just read Laurie Lee‘s tales from his post-WW1 childhood growing up in Slad. The tales vary from almost whimsical to quite brutal recollections, covering both the hardship and the happiness of a lifestyle that no longer exists.

#HomeForTheHolidays #FictionalTraveler @julieclair
Book 8 #10BeforeTheEnd @ChaoticMissAdventures
Book 102 #Read2025 @DieAReader

Here‘s my full list of reads for the #LitsyAtoZ challenge hosted by @Texreader

I‘m probably more on the “self-absorbed ranting” side of the above quote, and philosophy is not my thing at all, but as the wife of a MechEng who maintains all his own vehicles, I found much of interest in this book.

#LetterZ #LitsyAtoZ @Texreader
Book 7 #10BeforeTheEnd @ChaoticMissAdventures
Book 101 #Read2025 @DieAReader

I‘ve enjoyed this trilogy of murder mysteries set in a remote village in Siberia. The main character is sweet and likeable, backed by some amusing side-characters.

Book6 #10BeforeTheEnd @ChaoticMissAdventures
Book 99 #Read2025 @DieAReader
#SeriesLove2025

It‘s Woolf, so of course it‘s well-written; it‘s just@not the sort of writing I enjoy. The PoV jumps around from person without warning, so it takes a minute to work out whose head we‘re in, which then makes it hard to feel the characters and the themes.

Book 5 for #10BeforeTheEnd @ChaoticMissAdventures
Book 98 #Read2025 @DieAReader
#BiteSizeBooks Goodreads Fall 2025 Challenge

This one is on the high side of so-so for me. The concept, a crime scene photographer who can see and talk to the ghosts of the victims, is a good one, but this first in the series has too much childhood back story to be properly considered a thriller, and there‘s too much unnecessary detail in places. But my kindle copy included the first chapter of book 2 and I‘m kinda already invested in that story
Book 4 of #10BeforeTheEnd
Book 97 #Read2025

The story of a former member of the French Resistance turned expert hit-woman is humorous but turns very dark very quickly. Not for the faint-hearted.
TW for animal cruelty.

Third finish for #10BeforeTheEnd @ChaoticMissAdventures
Book 96 #Read2025 @DieAReader