Category: Blog

January 2020 reading round-up

Kinderdijk
New Year’s Day excursion to Kinderdijk.

Today is not a good day. I’d quite like to pretend Brexit isn’t happening, even though I know that the better approach is to reaffirm my love for Europe and the EU. I love the EU so much and will greatly miss being part of it.

This month started strong, with our holiday in the Netherlands, and ended terribly. Maybe February could average out a little? That would be nice. (There is a chance I am also suffering a little from late-winter blues, so as the days get longer I’ll hopefully cheer up, whatever politicians gets up to.)

As well as the Dutch loveliness, this month we also had a very nice weekend with friends in Leicestershire and we saw the excellent JoJo Rabbit at the cinema. If you’re a Taika Waititi fan (and why wouldn’t you be?) you will not be disappointed.

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2019 reading round-up and favourites

fireworks in Rotterdam
New Year fireworks on the Erasmus Bridge in Rotterdam.

Well I don’t know if it was a lucky guess or if I know myself well, but this year I read exactly the number of books I set as my 2019 Goodreads challenge: 70. I’ve had a few dry spells so a lot of those have been mini books, but I have enjoyed sampling several famous authors that way.

Of those 70 books, 37 were written by women and two were by multiple men and women, so that’s pretty close to even. 27 were translated from other languages, which is much higher than I have achieved in previous years and is probably the result of my EU Reading Challenge.

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Merry Christmas from Amsterdam

Amsterdam city hall, only slightly raining.

Merry Christmas, happy holidays, wherever you are and whatever you celebrate. This year we are in the Netherlands, where it has been a little grey and very chilled. I decided I wanted to do more film photography again, so I don’t have many digital photos to share, but at some unknown point in the future I’ll hopefully have some cool film photos to post.

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November 2019 reading round-up

Holly tree

Well, once again I only finished four books this month, but in my defence one of them was massive. We started November with a weekend away in London and ended it with a trip to Glastonbury. Both involved bookshops, as did the weekends in-between in Bristol. I bought far more books than I read this month and I am not sorry (about the first half of that statement; I’m a little sorry about not reading more).

Happy December!

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The real physics of fantasy

Fire Ice and PhysicsThis is just a quick note to say that my review of Fire, Ice and Physics: the Science of Game of Thrones by Rebecca C Thompson has been published over at Physics World.

The book is just what it sounds like: a popular-science study of the book and TV series Game of Thrones / A Song of Ice and Fire, from the materials science of an ice wall to whether an animal the size of the Game of Thrones dragons could actually fly. It’s really well written, and a fun way to approach topics from hypothermia to nonlinear dynamics.

The book also includes a foreword by physicist and science writer Sean Carroll that reminded me that I really should check out some of his books, as he’s very eloquent.

Intrigued? You can read more over at Physics World.

October 2019 reading round-up

reading at the pubNot my greatest month on the reading front. I blame lupus. I’m partway through two large books, but even so I only finished one full-sized book, plus three comic trade paperbacks. It’s a poor record and means my EU Reading Challenge hasn’t progressed at all. Probably not the best reason to be glad of another Article 50 extension, but yay! We’re still in the EU (for now).

Happy November.

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October is #LupusAwarenessMonth

Lupus UK 2019 posterRoughly once a year I write a post about having lupus (SLE), partly to raise awareness of the disease, but also because it helps me to talk about it in a space where I’m not worried about boring the same poor people who hear about it all the time! Here in the UK, October is Lupus Awareness Month so this seems like a good time.

The symptoms of lupus that I struggle with most are fatigue and brain fog. I had a really dispiriting experience with my rheumatologist earlier this year when I asked him if there is anything I can do medically to help with this and he responded “Everyone gets tired.” That’s so incredibly unhelpful and frankly offensive, though I didn’t have the words to explain that to him at the time.

For one thing, chronic fatigue is not just “feeling tired”, it is extreme and long-term and has a lot of side-effects that can make daily life really hard. Think about the most tired you have ever been. You may have experienced headache, sore eyes, double vision, dizziness, nausea or confusion. You might find yourself unable to think clearly or concentrate. You might find lights too bright, or noises hard to distinguish. Now imagine some or all of that happening every day, no matter how much sleep you get or how careful you are to eat healthily and do regular exercise.

A medical professional should know that’s what chronic fatigue means. So did he not believe me, or was he just being glib without realising how rude and dismissive it sounded? I’m annoyed at myself for not speaking up but then one of the things that I find especially hard is conversation with strangers. I often can’t manage to say what I want to because either I can’t find the right words, or I’m too tired to judge the right moment to jump in and speak.

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September 2019 reading round-up

Edouard Manet - The Railway
Edouard Manet – The Railway, 1873

Like most years, September started with sunshine and ended with rain. Lots of it. We had another weekend in London and a week off work doing DIY, but the most book-related non-reading activity I did was going to see Pride and Prejudice* (*Sort of) at Bristol Old Vic. It’s an excellent production, using a small all-female cast to great effect. It made me laugh and it made me think, which isn’t bad going for a play based on a book I don’t especially like.

Happy autumn!

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August 2019 reading round-up

bookshop on a barge
Word on the Water is a bookshop on a barge moored on Regent’s Canal near Kings Cross.

Oh dear, I bought far more books than I read this month. Too many great bookshops and publishers, too much of my time filled with stuff other than reading. Such as celebrating mine and Tim’s 17th anniversary with an awesome weekend in London, a few minutes’ walk from the British Library and Word on the Water. Or a trip to the giant secondhand bookshop Bookbarn. Or a night at the theatre to see the Malory Towers musical, which faithfully reproduces the tone and feel of the books (by which I mean it was a bit twee but still enjoyable).

I did also lose some time this month to being unwell, of the head too foggy to read variety. It always happens during summer. I try to take plenty of precautions but lupus will find a way.

I am currently halfway through two books, so hopefully my September list will look a little healthier. How was your August?

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July 2019 reading round-up

Janelle Monae

July was a good month in many ways, but most importantly because we saw Janelle Monáe! In the real life! We went to Manchester for the first four days of the Manchester International Festival and it was excellent. She is amazing and I love her.

I also went to see Amélie the Musical and survived the UK’s mini heatwave. In the world of books, I read 12, which is loads! Quite a variety of types of book, as well. My favourite was probably The Night Circus by Uršuľa Kovalyk.

Our August will end with a weekend away, but for now we’re going to enjoy the summer in Bristol.

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