Everything to do with books! Mostly book reviews, but occasionally, I have the non-review bookish post too.
Once I finished the two YA Ibbotson books that I bought, I decided to move to her children’s fiction – The Dragonfly Pool. Like The Morning Gift, The Dragonfly Pool is set in the WWII era, but unlike The Morning Gift, The Dragonfly Pool focuses on the value of friendship. The Dragonfly Pool starts with… Read More Book Review: The Dragonfly Pool by Eva Ibbotson
I have always loved The Secret Countess (aka A Countess Below Stairs) and it is my second favourite Ibbotson book after Journey to the River Sea. So obviously I had to get myself a copy when I saw it being sold at an extremely reasonable price. The Secret Countess is about Anna, one of the… Read More Rereading: The Secret Countess by Eva Ibbotson (and comparing it to The Morning Gift)
One amazing thing I found on BookXcess were several titles from Eva Ibbotson. I really loved Journey to the River Sea and The Secret Countess, but I only own Journey to the River Sea. So I took the chance to get a few more books from her and this week will be very much dedicated… Read More Book Review: The Morning Gift by Eva Ibbotson
Living in a city, it’s perhaps unsurprising that I’ve been fascinated with something that doesn’t exist in my very Asian, very urban hometown: cottagecore. According to the BBC’s article on Cottagecore, such impulses may be due to a desire for simplicity and anti-modernity (though this is acted out on the Internet). But at any rate,… Read More Books with Cottagecore Vibes
After some pretty good experiences with other Alison Weir books, I was pretty confident in buying more of her biographies. I’ve read a bit about Isabella of France from Helen Castor’s book, She-Wolves, so I was excited to delve into the life of this fascinating woman. Born to a royal line, French Princess Isabella is… Read More Book Review: Queen Isabella by Alison Weir
My cousin got married recently and in true bookworm fashion, I have already borrowed a book from my new cousin-in-law! Since he and my cousin are theology students/graduates, I found an introduction to the apocrypha (literally the subject and title of the book) on their shelves. Like the title says, An Introduction to the Apocrypha… Read More Book Review: An Introduction to the Apocrypha by Bruce M Metzger
I am a simple person. I see a book about tea, I read the book about tea. Even if it’s so academic I feel like giving up. When I started Tea War, I was quite happy to find mentions of Wu Juenong, whose book An Illustrated Modern Reader of The Classic of Tea I read… Read More Tea Book Review: Tea War by Andrew B. Liu
I’ve read my second Mrs Bradley book, the first being Speedy Death, and I’m really appreciating how unusual a detective Mrs Bradley is! This is definitely a series to read if you’re looking for unconventional detectives from Golden Age writers. In Come Away, Death, Mrs Bradley follows the husband of a school friend as he… Read More Book Review: Come Away, Death by Gladys Mitchell
So yesterday, we did podcasts. Today, we’ll talk about one of my favourite things to do: reading! I want this post to mainly be a celebration of my favourite books of this year, but before that, a few stats from Goodreads: Books read: 182 Longest Book: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (which I read for… Read More 2020 Year in Review: My Favourite Books
I first heard about this book when Nicole at Tea for Me Please wrote a review on it. Since scholarly works don’t scare me, I decided to download the free ebook and give it a go. Cultivating Femininity makes the case that women have been involved in the tea ceremony as far back as Edo-period… Read More Tea Book Review: Cultivating Femininity by Rebecca Corbett