2023 Resolutions

I don’t really like to impose restrictions on my reading. That way lies the spectre of reading block! A good balance between own books and review copies/blog tours is essential, and I was happy with how that went last year. The key statistic from 2022 was looking at where my books came from. For the Read More

The Inside and Out Book Tag

I got this tag from Calmgrove, who got it from Bookforager who got it from someone else. (I wonder what its ‘R-number’ is? 😀 ) 1. Inside flap/back of the book summaries: Too much info? Or not enough? Unless I’m in a bookshop browsing, I try not to read blurbs in too much detail. In a Read More

Belatedly, my reading plans for 2020

I don’t intend to make formal New Year’s reading resolutions, but I do have plans! 1. State of the TBR It always has been out of control. I used to take part in the TBR Dare annually, in which participants tried to only read from their TBR from 1st Jan to 31st March. That was Read More

Literary Genre Fiction – let’s discuss

Earlier this week, Rebecca took part in a tag on the subject of literary fiction (see here), and after defining what literary fiction is for you and picking some examples, the tag asks, “Name a brilliant literary-hybrid genre novel.” Rebecca chose The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell – which I read many years ago, and Read More

Bloggers & Book Groups – Keeping the Mid & Backlist Alive?

I originally wrote this post in November 2010, and was going to reinsert it back into my blog’s timeline (it was one of my missing posts). However, it occurred to me that the subject I was discussing then, is even more pertinent today, so I’ve brushed it down a little and updated it to get Read More

Rewarding YA reading for Grown-ups! Let me persuade you…

I’m in my early fifties prime (!) and I’m not afraid to say that I love reading modern YA books now and then … but only good ones, naturally.  By using the term ‘YA’ here, I’m distinguishing them from those books we usually call ‘children’s classics’ (which still appeal to readers young and old alike).  I’m Read More

Scoring books, some musings on the subject

There are two definite camps in the book blogosphere: those who give/find useful star ratings, and those who don’t. I’ve always been in the former camp, but I do recognise that ratings are no more than a highly personal snapshot of opinion at time of publication. I started out giving whole stars out of five, Read More

Annabel's Midweek Miscellany

It’s so long since I did a bits and pieces post – it’s only worth doing when you’ve the requisite bits to talk about though… Firstly, advance warning to local quiz fans – The Mostly Bookbrains Literary Quiznight is returning in April, Friday 19th to be precise.  No further details at the moment, but all Read More

Character forming – Book then Movie or Movie then Book. Discuss:

There have been many posts about the merits of which order to do things in for novels that have been made into movies (or TV series). These tend to concentrate on the differences in plots made to give films the required conclusions, and the excising of large chunks of plot and/or characters in the novel Read More

A Miscellany of Gaskella’s 2010 Midweek Miscellany posts

In 2010,  I used to do a regular(ish) Midweek Miscellany post – full of bits and pieces. As I’ve been adding back all the reviews lost in the transfer process from old blog to new, what to do with posts like these has become a bit of a quandary, as some of these snippets are Read More

If a picture paints a thousand words …

Recently Simon T at Stuck in a Book set a challenge. To find a picture that represents your reading tastes – he’s collating entries here. I thought for a while about this, and came up with two pictures – a cheat I know, but I couldn’t find a singleton. This represents a lot of things to me … Read More

My Easter kid-lit feast

I’ve decided that in the run-up to Easter, I shall concentrate on children’s literature and ya (young adult) novels. Like many readers, and notably dovegreyreader’s recent theme of revisiting her inner child, I get an awful lot out of reading proper children’s novels, the best of which are the equal of any adult book. However Read More

What’s your relationship to your reading?

Can you have more than one book at a time on the go? In other words are you a serial monogamist or a two-timer in your relationship to your reading materials? I’m always impressed by people who can manage to read several books at a go, swapping between them as the mood takes them and Read More