Friday post 27/02/26: Embracing Spring: Daffodils and Scarf Therapy

Posted on 27/02/2026 by The Librain

Friday has come around again, so it’s time to update this blog. As I sit here in bed I can look out of the window and see the daffodils beginning to open out into their gorgeous yellow trumpets. It’s so lovely to see our new front and back gardens developing into Spring for the first time. Daffodils are my favourite flowers because they bring with them a feeling of happiness and hope!

This week has been similar to the last one with some very difficult days leavened with more pleasant ones. The days when my bleak depression comes over my mind have been very hard to manage. One of the antidepressants has been causing intense sweating, which is horrible, so my psychiatrist has prescribed a different one. The downside is that I might have some issues during the adjustment process, but I am hopeful that this side effect may at least lessen over time.

On my better days I have managed to do a few useful tasks. Elder Son has a huge collection of films on DVD. For his birthday we gave him a TV with an integral DVD player. I also helped him to put all of his DVD collection into alphabetical order. It took hours even with my librarian skills! I think that he has close to 500! Anyway, he has been happily watching some of his favourites during the evening. He has invited me to join him occasionally, but I am definitely not going to watch the one about killer spiders – eeeeeeek!!!

During the weekly session with my counsellor I mentioned that I have an extensive scarf collection and also told her about this blog. So, she has suggested that writing the blog and wearing the scarves could be part of my therapy! I must admit that I love the idea of Scarf Therapy. Anyway, here are the two that I managed to wear this week…

Cyanotype cashmere scarf in blue by Clarissa Hulse
Le Premier Chant by Sophia Andreotti and Edouard Baribeaud for Hermès

Here are more images of the scarves. First the one is by Clarissa Hulse. The fabric is a very fine cashmere…

Cyanotype cashmere scarf in blue by Clarissa Hulse

And this is Le Premier Chant by Hermès. It is a silk twill 90cm scarf…

Le Premier Chant by Hermès (90cm)

I am full of hope that today will be one of my good days (I am writing this at 12.00, so we shall see).

I also hope that all my friends and visitors have a great weekend!

Love and best wishes,

Anne

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PS: If you would like to read more about the gorgeous Hermès Le Premier Chant design, my Scarf of the Moment post is here.

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Reading roundup 25/02/26

Posted on 25/02/2026 by The Librain

Welcome to my weekly post about my reading. Since last Wednesday I have finally finished the truly amazing series by James Islington: The Licanius Trilogy.

The Light of All That Falls by James Islington

This final part is called The Light of All That Falls. Let us begin with the blurb…

“The Boundary is whole once again, but it may be too late.

Banes now stalk Andarra, while in Ilin Illan, the political machinations of a generation come to a head as Wirr’s newfound ability forces his family’s old enemies into action.

Imprisoned and alone in a strange land, Davian is pitted against the remaining Venerate as they work tirelessly to undo Asha’s sacrifice – even as he struggles with what he has learned about the friend he chose to set free.

And Caeden, now facing the consequences of his centuries-old plan, must finally confront its reality – heartbroken at how it began, and devastated by how it must end.”

This series has been pretty incredible and quite difficult for me to read at times. Struggling with my mental health, as I am, the sections of bleak, desperate, darkness were perhaps not good for me. However, James Islington’s writing and imagination are pretty incredible and so, despite the extremely long books, I did persevere until the end.

Anyway, this is my response on Goodreads…

The Light of All That Falls (The Licanius Trilogy #3)The Light of All That Falls by James Islington
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I am finding it difficult to know what to say in response to this book and the trilogy as a whole! The four main characters are engaging and very well drawn, the setting is excellent and the plot drives along at a fast pace. The ending was a great surprise and very satisfying.

I do feel that the books are overlong and the magic systems became over complicated and confusing at times. So, those are my reasons for knocking off one star! It seemed to me at times as if Islington was simply adding in a new magical attribute to get his plot and characters out of awkward and dangerous situations!

Anyway, I love his writing and will continue to read his books as soon as they are published.

View all my reviews

After reading all of James Islington’s published work I think that I need something a little easier and less complex. I have already chosen my next book, so you will find out next week if it matches those criteria.

Until then I wish you all Happy Reading!

Love and best wishes,

Anne

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Friday post 20/02/26: Finding joy in small moments during tough times

Posted on 20/02/2026 by The Librain

So it’s Friday again and time to write a blog post. This has been an extremely difficult week for me. My depression has been deep and dark on many days and I have been struggling to cope with life. I am on a lot of medications for my physical and mental issues, but I can’t seem to find any kind of equilibrium. Our NHS only gives six sessions of counselling, I think, and even these are weekly and only last 30 minutes! It’s just not enough and perhaps not even what I need and what would work for me.

My kind friends have supported me on Facebook, but family members are struggling to cope with me. Yesterday, I contacted a counsellor who I saw some years ago. He knows a lot of my past and the issues that I have to manage and so I am hoping that he will get back to me soon. I am also hoping that he is prepared to do sessions by telephone as I can’t travel to his town these days.

There have been some days when I have felt “normal” and have been able to do some useful tasks around our home. These always lift my mood as they give me a sense of achievement. Also, on one of the rare sunny days, I went out for a ten minute walk around the block. It was nice to get outside and do a short exploration of our new area. I love this time of year when you can see the flowers emerging after the cold and frost of winter. The snowdrops are such a cheerful sight and there were even some daffodils coming into flower. I love daffodils so much!

It is going to be interesting to watch our new garden through the next few weeks and months. It has obviously been carefully designed in the past, but there are some patches that are covered with weeds, so they will need some attention and probably replanting.

Illness prevented me from wearing my scarves during most of the week, but I did manage to tie my first ever Hermès 90cm silk, La Promenade de Platon on one day. With it I wore a lovely turquoise cotton twin set and navy cord trousers from Lands’ End. Not my best photo as I was not feeling brilliant!

Outfit of the day 17/02/26 with Hermès’ La Promenade de Platon scarf

I wish I had a better image of the whole scarf, but this one will have to do…

Le Promenade de Platon by Hermès
La Promenade de Platon 90cm silk scarf by Hermès

If any of you wish to see my Scarf of the Moment post about this lovely scarf design, the link is in the sidebar and also here.

Happy Weekend!

Love and best wishes,

Anne

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PS: I have made use of WordPress’ AI for the first time! I wasn’t entirely happy with my title for this post. It was very negative. So I looked at the AI’s suggestions, generated from the finished text. This one, with a bit of tweaking, was so much better. I don’t think I will make a habit of using AI for my writing, but this time it has given me a positive experience and I could definitely do with more of those! What do my readers think?

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Reading roundup 18/02/26

Posted on 18/02/2026 by The Librain

This week’s Reading post seems to have come around very quickly. Today I am writing about the second book in James Islington’s Licanius trilogy: An Echo of Things to Come.

An Echo of Things to Come by James Islington

The book title is An Echo of Things to Come and here is the blurb…

“Darkness spreads across a land in need of heroes.

In the wake of the devastating attack on Ilin Illan, an amnesty has been declared for all Augurs – finally allowing them to emerge from hiding and openly oppose the dark forces massing against Andarra. However, as Davian and his new allies hurry north towards the ever-weakening Boundary, fresh horrors along their path suggest that their reprieve may have come far too late.

In the capital, Wirr is forced to contend with assassins and an increasingly hostile Administration as he controversially assumes the mantle of Northwarden, uncovering a mystery which draws into question everything commonly believed about the rebellion his father led twenty years ago. Meanwhile, Asha begins a secret investigation into the disappearance of the Shadows, determined to discover not only where they went but the origin of the Vessels that created them – and, ultimately, a cure.

And with time against him as he races to fulfil the treacherous bargain with the Lyth, Caeden continues to wrestle with the impossibly heavy burdens of his past. Yet as more and more of his memories return, he begins to realise that the motivations of the two sides in this ancient war may not be as clear-cut as they first seemed . . .”

And this was my response on the Goodreads website…

An Echo of Things to Come (The Licanius Trilogy, #2)An Echo of Things to Come by James Islington
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

James Islington’s writing is incredible. The way he handles the plot strands with the four main characters is brilliant, in my opinion. I really loved this book and have continued the tale by reading the final part of the trilogy. The only quibble that I have is with the multiple characters and places. I must admit that I found it all quite confusing at some points. At the beginning of the third book there is a synopsis of the story so far and this helped me to sort it all out in my head before plunging in to the final part! I can’t wait to find out how he rounds this all up, especially because of the surprises in the final sections of this central book in the trilogy.

View all my reviews

As this second book was so long, as is the third, I had better get back to my reading. Is that a good enough excuse for spending so much time with my ebooks?

Happy Reading everyone.

Love and best wishes,

Anne

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Friday post 13/02/26: With a celebration

Posted on 13/02/2026 by The Librain

Today’s post is going to be very short. It’s Elder Son’s birthday today and we have been very busy organising some new storage in his bedroom. He has a massive collection of DVDs and we bought some IKEA shelving for them. Over the last couple of weeks we had a real muddle to sort out with the delivery of damaged shelves which had to be exchanged. Then IKEA sent one parcel without the fittings! Those missing parts have now arrived so I helped ES to arrange his DVDs in alphabetical order (my librarian skills were very useful!).

Anyway, with all of this, plus struggling with my health issues, I haven’t had enough time to write a proper post. I will try to do better next week.

Happy Weekend!

Love and best wishes,

Anne

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Reading roundup 11/02/26

Posted on 11/02/2026 by The Librain

It’s Wednesday, so time to update about my reading journey! The last couple of Reading Roundup posts have been about my discovery of James Islington’s Hierarchy series. Now that I have finished the published books I have turned to the trilogy that he wrote first: The Licanius Trilogy…

The Shadow of What Was Lost by James Islington

Here is the blurb for The Shadow of What Was Lost…

“It has been twenty years since the god-like Augurs were overthrown and killed. Now, those who once served them – the Gifted – are spared only because they have accepted the rebellion’s Four Tenets, vastly limiting their own powers.

As a young Gifted, Davian suffers the consequences of a war lost before he was even born. He and his friends are despised beyond their school walls for the magical power they wield: a power that Davian, despite his best efforts, cannot seem to control. Worse, with his final test approaching and the consequences of failure severe, time to overcome his struggles is fast running out.

But when Davian discovers he wields the forbidden power of the Augurs, he unwittingly sets in motion a chain of events that will change his life – and shake the entire world.”

And here is my quick review on Goodreads…

 

The Shadow Of What Was Lost (The Licanius Trilogy, #1)The Shadow Of What Was Lost by James Islington
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Having read the first two books in Islington’s Hierarchy series, I was looking forward to reading his debut. I was not disappointed! It is clear that his writing skills have developed since this book was published, but even in the early days his ability to handle multiple characters, detailed scene setting and very complex plots is exceptional. He uses some familiar themes: a school, a journey, the development of magical abilities, but in a refreshing way. His plots give the reader many surprises and are often ingenious. I would love to know who are his own favourite authors and which books!

I am really looking forward to reading the rest of this trilogy. What a treat!

View all my reviews

In fact, I am about half way through the second book in the series, An Echo of Things to Come, so should be ready to write about it next week. Mind you, it is an extremely long book! Over 800 pages!

Happy Reading everyone!

Love and best wishes,

Anne

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Friday post 06/02/26: With a monster scarf!

Posted on 06/02/2026 by The Librain

Friday is here, so it’s blogging day! This week has been a bit up and down. I had intended to go to the hairdresser today, as my hair looks awful, but my mental health has been quite dreadful. Perhaps it was the sad news from last week that tipped me over the edge. I don’t know. Anyway, I did have my first telephone appointment with a counsellor, so I hope that will help over the next few weeks.

Now that all of the house buying and selling is over, we are spending some money on a few more items of furniture and decor. Elder Son needs some more storage in his bedroom, so I ordered bookcases from IKEA. Unfortunately, they were damaged during the delivery and I had to organise their replacement. The new shelves have been delivered today and the damaged ones have been taken away. The next task has been to contact our brilliant flatpack assembling chap and we are now awaiting his reply. When the shelves are in place ES will be able to organise his vast DVD collection at last! It is his birthday next week and we are going to give him a TV with a built in DVD player. His room will be amazing for him when everything is done!

Despite my mental health struggles this week, I have tried to get dressed every day. On some days I have worn a great Hermès scarf and some bright blue or silver earrings. The scarf is called Sweet Dreams, designed by Jan Bajtlik, and is from the men’s collection. The fabric is a very soft wool and the design is of monsters depicted in several shades of blue with white and grey.

Here are the modelling photos and an image of the scarf…

Sweet Dreams - Hermès
Sweet Dreams – Hermès

For more information about this scarf, including the colourways, please have a look at my Scarf of the Moment post, here: Scarf of the moment: Sweet Dreams

That’s all for now, so I will wish you a very Happy Weekend!

Love and best wishes,

Anne

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Reading roundup 04/02/26

Posted on 04/02/2026 by The Librain

Hello fellow readers and welcome to my blog. I try to post about the books I am reading every Wednesday and this week I have more good news! Last week I wrote about a book that I really enjoyed. Since then I have finished the sequel and found it fabulous! Hooray!

The downside is that I will now have to wait for the final part of the trilogy to be published next year. Anyway, here’s the book…

The Strength of the Few by James Islington

Yes, the book was the second in James Islington’s Hierarchy series: The Strength of the Few. Here is the blurb…

“The highly anticipated follow-up to The Will of the Many—one of 2023’s most lauded and bestselling fantasy novels.

The Hierarchy still call me Vis Telimus. They still, as one, believe they know who I am.

But with all that has happened—with what I fear is coming—I am not sure it matters anymore.

I am no longer one. I won the Iudicium, and lost everything—and now, impossibly, the ancient device beyond the Labyrinth has replicated me across three separate worlds. A different version of myself in each of Obiteum, Luceum, and Res. Three different bodies, three different lives. I have to hide; fight; play politics. I have to train; trust; lie. I have to kill; heal; prove myself again, and again, and again.

I am loved, and hated, and entirely alone.

Above all, though, I need to find answers before it’s too late. To understand the nature of what has happened to me, and why.

I need to find a way to stop the coming Cataclysm, because if all I have learned is true, I may be the only one who can”

This is my response on the Goodreads site…

The Strength of the Few (Hierarchy, #2)The Strength of the Few by James Islington
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In my six decades of reading I don’t think I have often found two books in a series that have engaged me as much as the first two parts of James Islington’s Hierarchy series. I have been suffering from a kind of reading desert in recent months, but these books had me getting up in the middle of the night just to read a few more chapters!

The world building is amazing, based on Ancient Rome, Ancient Egypt and a kind of Celtic setting. The characters are beautifully drawn and the plot twists are incredibly powerful, amazing and unexpected. In this book the author handles his main character splitting into three versions of himself, living in each of the three worlds. I am not sure how he managed to do this, but the effect was quite brilliant. I am really desperate to know how he will handle all of the different plot threads in the sequel.

Islington is definitely an author that I will continue to follow. I am now reading his debut book and will be intrigued to find out what he comes up with after he finishes the Hierarchy trilogy! Definitely a writer to keep an eye on! Thank you James.

View all my reviews

I am so happy to have my reading mojo back!

Happy Reading!

Love and best wishes,

Anne

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Friday post 30/01/26: With some sad news

Posted on 30/01/2026 by The Librain

So, Friday has come around again and it’s time for a new post! Unfortunately I had some very sad news this week. I found out, via Facebook, that a former boyfriend had passed away very suddenly. This was a long relationship from my youth. We met at university and were together on and off for ten years. Yes, it was a very long time ago and I hadn’t seen him for decades but first love has a long hold on the emotions, doesn’t it? I have been very happily married for nearing 40 years now, but you don’t forget young love! I have sent condolences to his family, who are great people.

After that beginning it is perhaps rather jarring to write about scarves, but I am trying to distract myself with more trivial matters. These are some of the scarves and shawls that I have worn recently…

The top two scarves are by Fetolia (Olympian Gods) and the bottom two are by Hermès (Hermès Tea Time and Le Jaguar et le Colibri).

Here are some larger images…

Olympian Gods scarf by Fetolia
The Olympian Gods scarf by Fetolia
Hermès Tea Time by Hermès (70cm)
Le Jaguar et le Colibri shawl by Montserrat Gonzales-Lugo for Hermès

I have both colourways of the Olympian Gods scarf, so I have uploaded both images. As you can guess, I love this design! I keep an eye on the Fetolia website so I can pounce when they create a new scarf that appeals to me.

Over the coming weeks, now that the stress of the house move is fading, I will try to wear my better clothes, gorgeous scarves and nicer jewellery more often.

And I am very aware that I desperately need a haircut!

Happy Weekend.

Love and best wishes,

Anne

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Reading roundup 28/01/26

Posted on 28/01/2026 by The Librain

I’m welcoming you to this week’s post with some good news: I have just finished a fabulous book! For the first time in ages I have been so engaged with a book that I could hardly put it down!

Anyway, here it is…

The Will of the Many by James Islington

The book was The Will of the Many by James Islington, #01 Hierarchy series. This is the blurb…

“At the elite Catenan Academy, a young fugitive uncovers layered mysteries and world-changing secrets in this new fantasy series by internationally bestselling author of The Licanius Trilogy, James Islington.

AUDI. VIDE. TACE.

The Catenan Republic – the Hierarchy – may rule the world now, but they do not know everything.

I tell them my name is Vis Telimus. I tell them I was orphaned after a tragic accident three years ago, and that good fortune alone has led to my acceptance into their most prestigious school. I tell them that once I graduate, I will gladly join the rest of civilised society in allowing my strength, my drive and my focus – what they call Will – to be leeched away and added to the power of those above me, as millions already do. As all must eventually do.

I tell them that I belong, and they believe me.

But the truth is that I have been sent to the Academy to find answers. To solve a murder. To search for an ancient weapon. To uncover secrets that may tear the Republic apart.

And that I will never, ever cede my Will to the empire that executed my family.

To survive, though, I will still have to rise through the Academy’s ranks. I will have to smile, and make friends, and pretend to be one of them and win. Because if I cannot, then those who want to control me, who know my real name, will no longer have any use for me.

And if the Hierarchy finds out who I truly am, they will kill me.”

And this is my review on the Goodreads website…

The Will of the Many (Hierarchy, #1)The Will of the Many by James Islington
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow! What an amazing read! OK, we have seen many of the themes in this book before: teens in a school setting, teens competing in highly dangerous games, and so on. But this book takes these tropes to quite another level. The author’s imagination and writing ability, his ingenious plotting and use of an Ancient Roman style setting is quite incredible.

I haven’t got up in the night to read another chapter for years! And, of course, I am now reading the sequel. I have also purchased other books by James Islington and am so excited to try them all. I have recently been in a kind of reading desert, but am feeling so happy that I have found these books.

Fantastic!

View all my reviews

Now I am going to finish writing and upload this post and then I can go back to my next book!

Happy Reading to you all!

Love and best wishes,

Anne

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