In some ways it has been an ideal November – mostly very cold and sunny with blue skies, with just the occasional intense storm. I’ve taken the dog for some lovely walks and read some great books.

I also saw Wet Leg live, who were awesome of course. And I went to the Bristol Drama School production of Kae Tempest’s Brand New Ancients, which I found powerful (though the friend I went with was less convinced). Tim also took me to the cinema to see the new Running Man film, which I really enjoyed.

Continue reading “November 2025 reading round-up”

October just whizzed along. I squeezed in a lot of things, which I guess contributed to time flying by. I went to two gigs – the Rizwan-Muazzam Qawwals and Panic Shack – as well as a handful of delicious meals out and amazing Lego creations at the Great Western Brick Show. And also two author talks! I saw historian Paula Akpan talk about her book When We Ruled: the Rise and Fall of Twelve African Queens and Warriors. And Tim took me to see Nick Offerman, who is touring for the launch of his new book Little Woodchucks. I’m not sure I’ll get that much out of an introduction to woodworking, but he is a very funny man. And the book does include instructions to build your own little free library, which could be a pretty cool addition to our front garden.

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We spent the last 10 days of September on holiday in France. It was glorious. We had a great time, ate great food and are mostly sad to be home. We had a chill week on a small, quiet island bookended by weekends in cities. I have approximately a bajillion photos to sort through but for now please enjoy this picture of my reading spot last week.

I spent most of the holiday reading a book set near where we stayed, The Annual Banquet of the Gravediggers’ Guild by Mathias Enard (translated from French by Frank Wynne). I didn’t quite make it to the end before we got home (it’s a pretty long book) so I’ll save my final assessment, but I do know it won’t usurp The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver as my favourite read this month, as that was truly excellent.

Continue reading “September 2025 reading round-up”

I decided this year to put some real effort into Women In Translation month and I think it paid off. Of the five books I read, four fall under that umbrella. And they were all great. I’ve ended the month halfway through three different books, despite trying not to jump between books. Ah well.

It’s been one of those months that felt jam-packed and yet I struggle to think of specific things we’ve done. There was a local brewery trail and an evening watching hot-air balloons and a particularly lovely date night for our 23rd anniversary. We went to a cocktail bar and our table had a chess board on it so of course we had to play a game of chess while we drank. We are not the best players but it was really fun.

Continue reading “August 2025 reading round-up”

I’ll keep this shorter than usual this month. I didn’t finish many books and I’ve been a bit unwell so my brain isn’t the clearest. Those two things are possibly related.

Highlights from July include Bristol Pride – which was excellent though burning hot – and a couple of great day trips to Reading and Weston-super-Mare.

We have kept up our Friday-night habit of martinis and film night. Highlights this month were The China Syndrome and K-pop: Demon Hunters. Keeping it varied! We’ve been on a Jack Lemmon streak but after China Syndrome we might pivot to a Jane Fonda season. She is awesome.

Oh, one more exciting thing. Tim and I booked ourselves a holiday for September. There will be hire bikes, beaches, museums and at least one castle. It should be a good mix of culture and relaxation.

Continue reading “July 2025 reading round-up”

Summer is already in full swing and we’ve only just had the solstice. Every weekend is busy, as are a lot of these long warm evenings. We’ve seen some great live music, theatre and comedy. It’s frighteningly easy to forget sometimes that awful shit is still happening out there.

Though June is generally considered Pride month, Bristol Pride Day doesn’t happen until 12 July. I am definitely expecting more serious protest vibes than the happy party atmosphere of recent years.

On the music front this month, our friend T managed to get us all tickets to see the Yeah Yeah Yeahs at the Royal Albert Hall, which was amazing. They not only added a string section but also made use of the huge pipe organ behind the stage. They had rearranged a lot of their songs for the venue, to great effect. It was a little weird to experience songs that started life in tiny New York clubs played by a three-piece punk band, reimagined 25 years later as epic rock songs. But good weird.

Continue reading “June 2025 reading round-up”

Slightly belated wrap-up of the month that was May. I’ve already written about our lovely holiday in Devon at the start of the month. Otherwise it was a relatively quiet month of beautiful weather and apparently overdoing the physical activity as my shoulder is plaguing me again.

I also managed to end the month with a bit of a lupus flare, which often happens in May. Right now I am really very tired, struggling to concentrate, headachy, a little dizzy – hence not posting this monthly round-up sooner.

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It feels like midsummer here in Bristol. Which is kinda lovely but also kinda terrifying on a climate-catastrophe level.

April was busy, mostly with fun things. We made our own spiced rum, went fossil hunting in Lyme Regis and saw the very excellent poet-musician Joshua Idehen perform.

April has also been a shitshow politically, especially for trans people in the UK. I am ashamed of my country right now. I’m trying to help by writing to my MP, donating to the Good Law Project and generally being vocal in my solidarity. Trans rights are human rights. No women are made safer by legitimizing the exclusion and ill treatment of a subset of women. I truly hope this is a short-term setback on an overall upward trajectory and that things will get better.

Continue reading “April 2025 reading round-up”