And 2026 begins, and today is its first Saturday, this time the 3rd of January, which means it's time for Six Degrees of Separation--one of my favourite memes to participate in. Six Degrees of Separation is a monthly meme hosted by Kate at Books are My Favourite and Best. Inspired by the concept of 'six…
Book and Author Anniversaries 2026
Happy New Year! Another year begins which means it's time for my favourite annual post, book and author anniversaries for 2026. This is a post that talks about books that are celebrating important 'birthdays'--turning 50, 100, 150, 200, 250, and 300, as also authors who celebrate significant anniversaries this year. These lists, as readers of…
Book Review: Love Comes Home (1938) by Molly Clavering #DeanStreetDecember
Jane Cranstoun is staying with her friend Kitty, married to naval officer George Mariner, and enjoying her visit, for Kitty and she have always had a close connection. She has also met the handsome Commander John Marsh who proposes and they become engaged. Meanwhile Jane has been summoned home to Scotland mostly as her younger…
#BarbaraCartlandBuddyRead: A Rainbow to Heaven (1972): Chapters 10-End
I’m back today with the final post on Barbara Cartland’s A Rainbow to Heaven, covering chapters 10–12. As I wrote in my last post, this second half of the book falls into romantic novel territory more properly, with some aspects going a bit over the top, and a few developments that I thought were completely…
Reprint of the Year Award 2025: Nomination 2: The Spiral Staircase
Today I’m sharing my second nomination for the Reprint of the Year Award hosted by Kate@ Crossexamining Crime. The first nominations by me and twelve other bloggers including our host were shared last week: find them here (and in case you missed how everything works, find Kate's intro here). Tomorrow, voting will open where everyone…
Buddy Read: A Winter Book by Tove Jansson: ‘High Water’ to ‘The Squirrel’
Today, I’m back with the third part of Emma @ Words and Peace and my discussion of Tove Jansson’s collected short stories, A Winter Book. This post covers stories 11 to 15, the first four of these in the part titled ‘Flotsam and Jetsam’ and the fifth in ‘Travelling Light’. The first four relate to…
#BarbaraCartlandBuddyRead: A Rainbow to Heaven: Chapters 7-9
In the second half of the book, things lapse into more typical romantic fiction territory with plenty that’s over the top, especially in the last segment. Did this disappoint? Not really, since that was something on the lines of what I thought I would be getting into when I picked up Cartland. Now that Diana…
Buddy Read: A Winter Book (2006) by Tove Jansson: ‘Introduction’ to ‘German Measles’
It’s December—2025 coming to an end—and Emma @ Words and Peace and I are back with our final buddy read of the year, Tove Jansson’s A Winter Book (2006). This is a collection of assorted tales from Jansson’s previous volumes, arranged in three sections. The result is a strange mix of stories which aren’t so…
Reprint of the Year Award 2025: Nomination 1: Inspector Imanishi Investigates
I'm delighted to be participating in the Reprint of the Year (ROY) Award again this year. ROY is hosted by Kate @Crossexaming Crime, and as she explains in her introductory post, for the award, she and 12 other bloggers nominate two classic crime fiction reprints each, all of which are then opened to vote. In…
#BarbaraCartlandBuddyRead: A Rainbow to Heaven (1972): Chapters 4-6
Today I’m back with the second part of my thoughts on Barbara Cartland’s A Rainbow to Heaven (1972). This was read for a buddyread hosted by Bookstooge’s Reviews on the Road and I’m continuing to post my thoughts according to the original schedule though our host has ended up DNF’ing the book. This quarter of…
Literary Potpourri 