Top Ten Tuesday: Books Read During Hiatus

Life chose to become complicated and difficult for a little while back there! Following on from the stress of the landlord giving us notice to quit, the process of finding a new house, deciding to investigate buying rather than renting, negotiating mortgages and making offers and putting together deposits and instructing solicitors... all took some time and generates some stress. And alongside that, my dad's health took a rapid down hill plunge. He had been suffering from cancer for some years but it had spread from prostate to bowel to bones. In the space of ten days he went from being active enough to be considering going for a drive to unable to manage the stairs to bedbound and then died. Over the last couple of months, I have been travelling up and down to Kent, a four and a half hour trip at the best of times, to initially visit and provide and arrange care, to support my mum when he died, to sort out funeral arrangements and the will... Some things had to give and for a while, the blog was one. There were things that I did keep going to maintain my own mental health though: I kept up my Italian lessons and completed DuoLingo's course, I kept up my running and of course, I kept up my reading.

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Meant to Read in 2023 but Didnโ€™t Get To

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Previous Top Ten Tuesday Topics 7th November: Book Titles That Would Make… Continue reading Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Meant to Read in 2023 but Didnโ€™t Get To

2023: A Year in Books

In 2024, we reflect on personal challenges, reading habits, and blogging statistics from the previous year. Come and discuss my book preferences, seasonal reading lists, and blogging goals for the upcoming year!

Top Ten Tuesday: Reasons Why Iโ€™m Thankful for Books

This is a lovely sweet topic - a nod towards Thanksgiving in the USA - and pretty useful considering I am in the midst of Ofsted inspection at work. Day one is done; day two still to go! So, as I assume that we all are readers - I mean, who else would be attracted to a blog entitled The Book Lover's Sanctuary? - we are all grateful for books in our lives... but can I enunciate why?