Everything to do with books! Mostly book reviews, but occasionally, I have the non-review bookish post too.
This review is long overdue but I cannot miss reviewing a book about tea because… well it combines two of my favourite things. While I have read a few books on the history of tea and Britain, Putting the Tea in Britain is unique because it focuses on the contributions of the Scots. Starting with… Read More Tea Book Review: Putting the Tea in Britain by Les Wilson
“Peace at all costs” I can’t remember how I found this book (or why I decided to buy it) but no regrets because this was a long and intense story that was difficult to put down. Set eight years after the Battle of Hastings, The Year We Lived follows the story of two Anglo-Saxon siblings.… Read More Book Review: The Year We Lived by Virginia Crow
Hello friends, I have resurfaced from the world of books (and work, I guess) to bring you a mini monthly update! If you’ve noticed, I’ve not had many of the planned “themed” posts because they’ve not been written! I did have a few posts here and there (and the review of the smoked Japanese teas… Read More June 2024 in Review
Friend, I think the draft of this post has been sitting here for well over a year! So I’m going to take my best attempt at finishing it and I welcome more recommendations from you. The idea of this post comes from the Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai (百物語怪談会), an Edo-period storytelling game. Essentially, participants sit in a… Read More Book List: Spine-Chilling Books for Hot Summer Months
I’m always very excited when I realise a new Below Stairs mystery is out. In this case, I was even more excited when I got the book because I found out about it before the library bought copies. So once it was available in my local library, I rushed to get it. Speculations in Sin… Read More Book Review: Speculations in Sin by Jennifer Ashley
Hello! I’m poking my head back up from my reading/crocheting hole to talk about what’s been happening in May. First up: I’ve still not finished my smoked tea review post. If I don’t get it done in June, I’m just going to have to accept that I’m just enjoying teas and not writing about them… Read More May 2024 in Review
I chanced upon this book at an online bookstore and immediately bought it because of its title. But when I read it, I was pleasantly surprised to find there was quite a lot of substance in this beautiful book! Broken into five sections, Kimono Now aims to explore the world of the contemporary kimono (at… Read More Book Review: Kimono Now by Manami Okazaki
I’m back with a short review to tell you to buy Gwelf: Into the Hinterlands! If you remember, I really adored the original Gwelf: The Survival Guide for its detailed worldbuilding that made the pictures come to life. The only downside of the original book was that it was all world-building and no story. But… Read More Book Review: Gwelf – Into the Hinterlands by Larry MacDougall
Since I have been reading books that look at culture more broadly (and through a lot of examples of modern art), I thought it might be time to reread How to do Nothing. As it turns out: yes, the book felt a lot easier to read this time, no doubt helped by the difficulty level… Read More Rereading: How to do Nothing by Jenny Odell
I have to say that when it comes to Singlit, I definitely am enjoying the older works more. And not just the older works – the stories written by the first generation of Singapore politicians. I previously wrote about reading S. Rajaratnam’s short stories and this time, I managed to read a collection of ghost… Read More Book Review: A Mosque in the Jungle by Othman Wok