This was a reread of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950) as part of #Narniathon21 hosted by Chris at Calmgrove. He has discussion prompts for the book up so do head there if you'd like to join in. Banner from Calmgrove The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a truly classic children's…
Book Review: A Short History of Spaghetti and Tomato Sauce by Massimo Montanari
My thanks to Europa Editions and NetGalley for a review copy of this book. A Short History of Spaghetti and Tomato Sauce is a short, readable, interesting and well-researched account of how Italy’s most iconic dish, described by some as the ‘premier Italian dish’, came to be. The author, Massimo Montanari, a professor of mediaeval…
Book Review: A Mystery at Lili Villa by Arathi Menon
My thanks to NetGalley and Yalli Books for a review copy of this book. The Mystery at Lilli Villa is a children’s mystery set in a small village in Kerala. We have 10-year-old Tam (Tamara) from Bangalore who is visiting her cousins Arj (Arjun) (11) and Mina (9) in Elathoor, Kerala for the summer holidays.…
Bookquotes: Quotes from Books (125) #TheWindintheWillows #Food #Quotes
The smell of that buttered toast simply talked to Toad, and with no uncertain voice; talked of warm kitchens, of breakfasts on bright frosty mornings, of cosy parlour firesides on winter evenings, when one’s ramble was over and slippered feet were propped on the fender; of the purring of contented cats, and the twitter of…
Children’s Book of the Month: The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge
This is a book that I hadn't read (or heard of) as a child, but was recommended to me by a 'book' friend who has led me to discover many 'new' favourites, and so I was very much looking forward to reading this. I had seen parts of a movie version of this (The Secret…
Bookquotes: Quotes from Books (67)
Come come Mr. Arabin, don't let love interfere with your appetite. It never does with mine. Anthony Trollope, Barchester Towers (1857) Image source: Pexels
Breakfast Woes #poetry #AAMilne
MarmaladeImage source: Kate [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)%5D How do you like your toast at breakfast? Hot, buttered "cut thick , very brown on both sides, with the butter running through the holes in it in great golden drops, like honey from a honeycomb", like Toad of Toad Hall, or with honey and condensed milk (but…
Malory Towers Challenge: Upper Fourth at Malory Towers
Book #4 for my Malory Towers challenge. I would like to clarify that for this ‘challenge’ I’m only reading the original six books written by Enid Blyton herself. There are six further books by Pamela Cox which explore more of Felicity’s adventures. Read a little about them on the World of Blyton Blog here. …
Review: Tokyo Tarareba Girls, Vol. 1
My thanks to NetGalley for a review copy of this one. This was my very first manga read. I have watched some of the animated versions of course, Fushigi Yuugi (Curious Play), Nodame Cantabile, Emma, and Yatitake Japan, among them but had never really read any. So when I saw this on NetGalley, and…
Children’s Book of the Month: Band of Soldiers by Sardindu Bandhyopadhyay
The first of my ‘theme’ reads this month (my reading theme is here), and this ‘King’ in question in this one is the Maratha warrior–king Shivaji, who ruled in the latter part of the seventeenth century. More about him here. This book, originally Bengali was written by Sardindu Bandhyopadhyay, a screenwriter (for both Bollywood and…
Literary Potpourri 