Reading roundup 15/01/25

Posted on 15/01/2025 by The Librain

Welcome to my first “proper” Reading Roundup” post for 2025! I have set my target for the year on Goodreads and have finished one, rather long, book. To make things attainable and not any kind of pressure, I set the target as 50 books. Before I had the stroke in 2019, I usually read more than 100 books every year. Probably because I read a lot of children’s books and Young Adult for my work as a school librarian. These days I usually manage to go beyond the 50 target, but I don’t want to have any kind of negative thoughts. After all, reading should be enjoyable and fun at any age!

So, what have I been reading?

The Stone of Farewell by Tad Williams

I decided to continue to read Tad William’s trilogy, “Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn”, so purchased the ebook of the second book The Stone of Farewell. This is the blurb…

“Following a brutal civil war, Osten Ard has been crushed under the rule of the two villainous High Kings. A single hope if the rebels can find the three swords of legend – Memory, Sorrow and Thorn – they might be able to bring the Storm King and evil King Elias down. Once but a humble kitchen-boy, Simon is now Simon Snowlock, dragonslayer and bearer of the mythical sword Thorn. But Simon is more alone than ever his friends have been imprisoned and his liege lord, Prince Josua, has been exiled. And the Storm King may also be in possession of one of the swords… A single chance if Simon can deliver Thorn to Josua and lead his followers to the Stone of Farewell, the rebels may be able to muster the forces necessary to rise up against Elias and the Storm King. But no one knows where the Stone of Farewell is. Or, indeed, what it is… In STONE OF FAREWELL, Tad Williams sets his characters against impossible odds – and proves that the beloved, internationally-bestselling DRAGONBONE CHAIR was no fluke, but one of the greatest fantasy novels of all time.”

The was a huge book and it took me ages to read, however, it was worth the effort! Here is my response on the Goodreads website…

Stone of Farewell (Memory, Sorrow & Thorn, #2)Stone of Farewell by Tad Williams
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Well, this was a really enjoyable book. When I was reading the first book in the trilogy, I struggled with the opening chapters and nearly put it aside. After reading some of the comments on here, I decided to persevere and ended up loving the book so much that I took the risk of purchasing the other two. And what an excellent decision that was!

The Stone of Farewell follows the adventures of several main characters, and also a few of the lesser ones, including a couple of young women. To be honest, while I was pleased that a male author, writing this series in the 1990s, included female characters, these two really irritated me! They were both becoming very odd and whinging. It would have been more interesting to “promote” some older women to the main story arc, for me at least. Perhaps the third book will put that right.

Anyway, the world building was excellent, the plot exciting and most of the character development terrific (I was trying to think of a suitable word beginning with “e”, but failed dismally). I did struggle a little with the switching around from each point of view, but that is my own issue.

I have already bought the ebook of “To Green Angel Tower”, the final volume and am looking forward to immersing myself in this fantastic (in many senses) world again.

View all my reviews

I will try to finish the huge final book, To Green Angel Tower, in time to write about it in next week’s post, but it is even longer than the above book and I would prefer to savour it rather than rush to the last chapter. Anyway, you all know how I will be occupying myself every afternoon if I can just hide away from Lovely Husband and Elder Son and get some peace and quiet!

Happy Reading!

Love and best wishes,

Snne

📚📕📚📕📚

P.S. I had a play around with the WordPress AI image generator and these are the two that it came up with for this post. But some of those book titles look a bit strange 😆😅😆. I may become addicted to this…

Generated with WordPress’s AI

Posted in Reading | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Friday post 10/01/25: Welcome back!

Posted on 10/01/2025 by The Librain

First of all I would like to wish you all a belated…

I do hope that you had a wonderful holiday season. Ours was nice, if a little quiet. Younger Son was able to get here for a short visit and it was so heartwarming to see him again. He gave me a lovely variety box of teas. I also received glamorous earrings from Elder Son and, of course the amazing Sous le Charme d’Orphée shawl from my Lovely Husband (it was a joint birthday and Christmas present). I had fun watching my three “chaps” opening their presents and then they all worked together to cook a delicious Christmas dinner, whilst I went back to bed with a pot of tea! There were also lots of nibbly bits for the evening meal 😊.

Here are the pretty earrings. I love the colours…

Earrings by Oliver Bonad

I wore Sous le Charme d’Orphée on Christmas Day with a cobalt blue cashmere v-neck jumper from John Lewis, navy cord trousers from Lands’ End and sparkly earrings.

Sous le Charme d’Orphée shawl – Hermès
Sous le Charme d’Orphée shawl – Hermès

Oh, I just have to remind you once again of the full design of the glorious Sous le Charme d’Orphée 140cm shawl…

Sous le Charme d’Orphée shawl by Alice Shirley for Hermès

And these are the other lovely Hermès scarves that I wore over the holidays…

Appaloosa des Steppes gavroche – Hermès

A view of the whole pattern of Appaloosa des Steppes. It is a small 45cm gavroche, also designed by Alice Shirley…

Appaloosa des Steppes gavroche by Hermès

You can just see one of my new earrings peeking out on the above image. They are from Skagen…

Sofie Sea Glass Blue Organic-Shaped Stud Earrings

More scarves…

Lazy Leopardesses – Hermès
Lazy Leopardesses – Hermès
Lazy Leopardesses – Hermès

Lazy Leopardesses is a 90cm silk scarf designed by Arlette Ess for Hermès…

Lazy Leopardesses scarf by Hermès

Finally, I really enjoyed showing off my Tulipomanie giant triangle (again by Hermès) when I went out, wearing the same cobalt blue cashmere v-neck over a navy cotton polo neck top…

Tulipomanie giant triangle – Hermès

The vibrant colourway of the Tulipomanie giant triangle, designed by Aline Honoré…

Tulipomanie giant triangle by Hermès

Phew! I think that is enough for this week! Next Friday I have something new, blue and interesting for you 🤩😊🤩.

Have a lovely weekend!

Love and best wishes,

Anne

💕💗💖💗💕

P.S. If you would like more information about these Hermès scarves and shawls, here are the links to my Scarf of the Moment scarf profiles. There are even more listed in the sidebar on the right hand side of the blog.

Appaloosa des Steppes

Lazy Leopardesses

Sous le Charme d’Orphée 

Tulipomanie

Posted in Family, Jewellery, Outfit of the day, Scarves, Special days, Wardrobe | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Reading roundup 08/01/25

Posted on 08/01/2025 by The Librain

Welcome to the first Reading Roundup post for 2025! In this post I am going to look back at 2024’s books. I set a target of 50 on Goodreads and actually logged 60 for the year. Actually, I read quite a few more because I comfort read some old favourites as I was struggling with my mental health.

Let’s have a look at my 2024 reading journey…

As I wrote above, I actually read more than this! These graphics were produced by Goodreads well before the 31st of December.

Well, that’s nice to know!

I try to write reviews, but I have never been very good at this, which is a rather terrible admission from a former librarian! Most of the time these days I add a quick response on the Goodreads site because I forget the details of the book so quickly.

I have read quite a few very loooooong books this year! Can we have a few very good if not excellent books in my favourite genres that are much shorter? Please…

I think that is self explanatory!

Oh, add also thrillers, crime and mystery at the very least!

One more thing: I have now read over 1000 books since I retired, just over ten years ago, which is pretty good going when you are in my state of health 😊.

So, in next week’s post I will write about the book(s) I have finished in 2025 and set my new target.

Happy Reading to you all!

Love and best wishes,

Anne

📚📕📚📕📚

Posted in Reading | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Friday post 20/12/24: Merry Christmas 2024!

Posted on 20/12/2024 by The Librain

Welcome to my blog! I am going to take a break for a few days over the holidays. Younger Son is coming over to join us – hooray!!! Our small family will be together again 💖💖💖💖.

There may be a Reading Roundup post next week, but it depends on my health and family issues. So, I may not be back until next year.

Merry Christmas! …and a Happy New Year! by unukorno on Flickr

I hope that all friends and visitors have a wonderful festive season, wherever you are in the world!

Love and best wishes,

Anne

🎄🎄🎄🎄

Image credits

Merry Christmas! and a Happy New Year! by unukorno on Flickr

Posted in Special days | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Reading roundup 18/12/24

Posted on 18/12/2024 by The Librain

Welcome to this week’s post. It may turn out to be the final one for 2024, as I can’t see me feeling like writing one on Christmas Day! Well, I might manage a “Merry Christmas” type of post.

I have been taking ages to read my latest book as it is really huge at over 800 pages. This is the cover…

The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams

Yes, I chose Tad Williams’ The Dragonbone Chair, #01 Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series. I can vaguely remember hearing of this book before, but had never actually read it. When I saw it recommended, I decided to try it. Here is the blurb…

“Kitchen-boy Simon is bored, restless and fourteen years old – a dangerous combination. It seems, however, that his life has just taken a turn for the better when he’s apprenticed to his castle’s resident wizard. As Simon’s learning to read and write under Doctor Morgenes’ tutelage, forces greater than he could possible imagine are gathering: forces which will change Simon’s life – and his world – forever.

Following the death of Good King John, Osten Ard is plunged into civil war as his sons battle for control of the fabled Dragonbone Chair – the country’s throne as well as the symbol of its power. Simon is forced to flee the only home he has ever known, a journey which will test him beyond his worst nightmares.”

Because my concentration and memory levels are so poor, it took me ages to get to the finish! In fact I really struggled with it and nearly gave up by the time I had read the first third. Then I saw a comment (I think it was on Goodreads) to the effect that the plot would improve from about 40% onwards. So I persevered and, in the end, really enjoyed the book (I only finished it an hour before this post was due to go live!) and I have immediately ordered the next one in the series! To those people who have read more of the series, was this a good idea? I would love to have some opinions of this series.

Anyway, this is my response on Goodreads…

The Dragonbone Chair (Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, #1)The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Well, I don’t think that this has ever happened to me before in all my decades of reading! To be honest, I very nearly gave up on this book when I was about a third of the way through. In the end, having read a comment on here, I decided to persevere and was totally blown away by the time I finished the book.

The reason for this is that I simply misunderstood the structure of this book. That first third is necessary in that Williams spends that time building his amazing world with historical and geographical background, the differing intelligent beings, animals and nature, and towns and buildings. He also sets up the cast of characters, showing the reader how they are living, the relationships between them, their previous deeds and so on. Our hero, Simon, starts off as a gawky, naive, teenage boy with a lot to learn and experience.

After the reader has discovered all of this, the plot then begins to gain some pace. More adventures take place and the book becomes very exciting.

So, I could have made a mistake by putting this book aside at 30%, but I am so glad that I didn’t. And now I’m really looking forward to reading the next book in the trilogy!

View all my reviews

I think I should perhaps choose something a bit shorter and lighter to read over the holiday period. Any ideas are very welcome!

Happy Reading to you all,

Love and best wishes,

Anne

📚📕📚📕📚

Posted in Reading | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Friday post 13/12/24: here come the new scarf designs for Hermès’ Spring/Summer 2025 season!

Posted on 13/12/2024 by The Librain

Hello everyone! Yes, it’s come around again! The new designs for the Hermès Spring/Summer 2025 season are emerging online. There are already some 90cm silk twills as well as a cashmere/silk giant triangle. I haven’t seen any new shawls on the UK site yet, but they are sure to be released soon.

If you want to keep abreast of the latest information, it is always worth following the new season’s thread on The Scarf Forum: …..Hermès Spring/Summer 2025 Scarves…..

Just a quick tip: if your favourite design appears online then snap it up before the expected price increase in January. Of course, Hermès might decide to lower their prices this time, but that’s very unlikely!

Here are some of the new scarves in a slideshow format:

  • Botanica Grafica Double Face 90 H903852S
  • Jour de Casting 70 H984213S
  • Carré Libre 70 H984212S
  • Le Carrousel du Tigre Royal 90 H004206S
  • Tout en Selle 90 H004204S
  • Brides de Gala en Fleurs 90 H004192S
  • Libre Comme Pégase 90 H003802S
  • La Ligne Coup de Fouet 90 H004183S
  • Un Carré sur l’Herbe 90 H004181S
  • Bottes Story 90 H004203S
  • Eperon d’Or et Tenues de Jour 140 H244216S
  • Festival des Amazones Bandana 140 H244217S
  • Inventaire Poétique pour un Conte Sellier 140 H244193S
  • Thalassa 140 H241581S

There are real beauties in that gallery! I haven’t included the one that has caught my eye because I am mulling over whether I can justify the price.

Oh, I must share this one with you it’s an old design that has been reissued as a “Forever” scarf…

Attelage en Arbalète Forever 90 H001554S

Those horses’ bums always make me laugh! (Apologies to my “horse lover” friends…).

There are also some cute (and expensive) Pegasus scarf rings!

Pegase scarf ring permabrass H603872S 00
Pegase scarf ring palladium H603873S 00

Well, I think that is it for now! This post has taken quite a lot of compiling, although I do enjoy the processes.

Happy Weekend to you all (I will be dreaming of scarves)!

Love and best wishes,

Anne

💕💗💖💗💕

Posted in Scarves, Wardrobe | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Reading roundup 11/12/24

Posted on 11/12/2024 by The Librain

It’s Wednesday so it must be Reading Roundup time! Last week I finished one book and then got stuck into a second one which is very long indeed. That one might take me a while to reach the end! Anyway, here is the cover of the book I am featuring today…

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

Yes, I selected another Jojo Moyes book: Me Before You. Having enjoyed The Giver of Stars so much, I was really looking forward to reading another of her works. Me Before You has a very unusual subject as you will see when you read the blurb…

“They had nothing in common until love gave them everything to lose…

Lou Clark knows lots of things. She knows how many footsteps there are between the bus stop and home. She knows she likes working in The Buttered Bun tea shop and she knows she might not love her boyfriend Patrick.

What Lou doesn’t know is she’s about to lose her job or that knowing what’s coming is what keeps her sane.

Will Traynor knows his motorcycle accident took away his desire to live. He knows everything feels very small and rather joyless now and he knows exactly how he’s going to put a stop to that.

What Will doesn’t know is that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of colour. And neither of them knows they’re going to change the other for all time.”

So, boy meets girl but boy is quadriplegic after a terrible accident! Regular visitors to this blog will be aware that I suffer with severe depression due to my multiple health issues. Some might say that a book like this would be totally unsuitable for someone in my condition (Lovely Husband certainly made me aware of his views!).  But… in actual fact I found the book, yes, extremely sad, but very uplifting. Here is my quick response on Goodreads…

Me Before YouMe Before You by Jojo Moyes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a terrific book! Such a difficult subject to write about but Jojo Moyes tackled it with wit, occasional and much needed humorous touches, and poignancy. The characters were beautifully and subtly crafted (I really loved the heroine with her eccentric clothing and chaotic family) and the plot kept me interested. I don’t know anything about what it must be like to live as a quadriplegic, I hope that I never have to know, but Moyes must have undertaken a great deal of research to write about this in such a realistic manner.

The subject matter of the book is almost unbearable, but Moyes’ writing lifts the gloom and gives the reader hope and a silver lining at the end.

View all my reviews

I will definitely seek out more books by Jojo Moyes and I hope I can find them on the library’s ebook list!

Happy Reading to you all!

Love and best wishes,

 Anne 

📚📕📚📕📚

Posted in Reading | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Friday post 06/12/24: with a pretty present and a gorgeous shawl

Posted on 06/12/2024 by The Librain

Am I the only person who experiences the days/weeks/months/years whizzing past at great speed? I am struggling to believe that it’s Friday once again! Anyway, welcome to today’s post, lovely friends and visitors 😘.

A dearly loved member of my family, who will not be named, sent me a late birthday present this week. I have a passion for earrings and have quite a large collection, but had noticed that I didn’t have many turquoise coloured ones. There are a couple of pairs in blue topaz, which is my birthstone, but none in turquoise itself. This is the pair that was chosen and I simply had to show you the lovely packaging from Mistry Gems on the Etsy site…

Mistry Gems’ pretty packaging
Turquoise and silver earrings by Mistry Gems
Turquoise and silver earrings by Mistry Gems
Turquoise and silver earrings by Mistry Gems

The photo at the bottom row right is the one from the Mistry Gems site. The turquoise stones are mixed with copper which gives them a beautiful gleam. Mistry Gems are worth exploring as they have some really pretty and inexpensive pieces made with semi-precious stones and sterling silver.

I managed to wear one nice outfit this week: a red cashmere round neck jumper from Pure Collection with navy cord trousers by Lands’ End and the amazing Le Jaguar et Le Colibri cashmere/silk shawl from Hermès. My new earrings seemed to work with this ensemble and anyway I wanted to try them on!

This is my “selfie”…

Outfit of the day 02/12/24 with Hermès’ Le Jaguar et le Colibri shawl

I have just worked out that I have had this stunning shawl for a year! It’s such an intricate and amazing design…

Le Jaguar et le Colibri shawl by Montserrat Gonzales-Lugo for Hermès

Over the next few weeks, apart from trying to get ready for the festive season and organising more house repairs, I am going to wear my other silk/cashmere shawls that I haven’t used so far this winter. They are so very lovely and soft and bring me such pleasure!

Happy Weekend everyone!

Love and best wishes,

Anne 

💕💗💖💗💕

Posted in Clothes, Jewellery, Lifestyle, Outfit of the day, Scarves, Wardrobe | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Reading roundup 04/12/24

Posted on 04/12/2024 by The Librain

Well, we have arrived in the final month of the year, so it’s time to read as much as I can! Sorry, poor joke. I should, of course, be planning for the festive season, but the state of Lovely Husband’s and my health means that Christmas and New Year will be, I hope, enjoyable but low effort. We will try our best to cook lovely food, etc. My chronic cough stops me from going in the kitchen when cooking is taking place. Luckily, LH and Younger Son are great cooks and Elder Son does the prep and clearing up very well.

Oh, and I will get time to read!

Right, back to the point of this post: what I have read since last Wednesday’s post…

Beguilement by Lois McMaster Bujold

Regular visitors to these weekly posts may remember that I am a fan of Lois McMaster Bujold. I love both her science fiction and fantasy writing. Recently, I decided to try another of her series: The Sharing Knife. The first book is called Beguilement and here is the blurb (very short indeed, although I did try to find a better one)…

“In this romantic fantasy novel, runaway farm girl Fawn meets Dag, a Lakewalker, a patroller who is a kind of sorcerer/soldier. Fawn’s own confidence blossoms as she travels with Dag, helping to combat evil “malices” that blight the countryside and also fight the strange and sinister “mud men.””

Well, I have very mixed feelings about this book as I wrote on Goodreads…

Beguilement (The Sharing Knife, #1)Beguilement by Lois McMaster Bujold
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Well, what can I say about this book? I am such a fan of LMB’s writing, but this was such a disappointment. Some aspects of the plot were good, mainly the first half. I mean killing monsters is usually pretty exciting stuff. However, the story then became a rather pedestrian romance with aspects of “will her family accept him?” (I expect “will his people accept her?” is the plot of the next book in the series).

But, the elephant in the room is the huge age difference between our two lovers. I mean, IMHO, ten years is acceptable, twenty is dodgy, but anything beyond that is a mixture of ridiculous, awful and possibly abusive. This spoiled the whole tale for me.

One other thing: what possessed LMB to name her hero “Dag”?

View all my reviews

Now, the question is: “do I read any more books in this series just in case it gets better?”. Anyway, if you know of any better books written by Bujold, please let me know in the comments. I am already reading the Vorkosigan Saga and her World of the Five Gods.

I am presently reading a totally different genre and will write about that book next week. Until then, enjoy your reading!

Love and best wishes,

Anne 

📚📕📚📕📚

Posted in Reading | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Friday post 29/11/24: catching up…

Posted on 29/11/2024 by The Librain

It’s difficult to believe, but we are nearly at the end of November! I expect that most of you will be organising gifts, cards, decorations, food, visitors and journeys. On the other hand, we haven’t got anything ready at all, apart from booking our supermarket deliveries. Once again, we are having a quiet and minimalist Christmas. Younger Son has promised us a visit, we will organise some lovely food and gifts for the four of us, and I will see if I have enough energy to put up a few decorations. Whatever we manage to do will have to be enough. I will be happy to have my family all together.

So, we have had a very disruptive but also pleasing couple of weeks. After loads of distressing issues (which I won’t explain because I don’t want to bore you), we finally found a roofing company! They did exactly what they agreed: the scaffolders turned up on time, the roofers were efficient and had obvious expertise, the boss was informative and helpful, the work was finished and everything was tidied up. A couple of things were quickly sorted to our satisfaction.

AND

It rained and the roof didn’t leak! Hooray!

With all of that going on, I did manage to go out, with Elder Son’s support, to have my hair done. Afterwards, we went to a pub for lunch. As usual, I seized the opportunity to wear a lovely outfit. As it was cold, I chose my new Hermès shawl, Sous le Charme d’Orphée, and selected a navy wool v-neck jumper by WoolOvers, jeans, pewter shoes by Hotter, a Liberty of London bangle, earrings by Lovisa, and a gorgeous handbag by Massaccesi.

Outfit of the day 22/11/24 with Hermès’ Sous le Charme d’Orphée shawl

And here are the usual before and after photos…

Outfit of the day 22/11/24 with Hermès’ Sous le Charme d’Orphée shawl
Outfit of the day 22/11/24 with Hermès’ Sous le Charme d’Orphée shawl

Let’s repeat some pictures of that amazing shawl (I can’t stop looking at it)…

Outfit of the day 22/11/24 with Sous le Charme d’Orphée shawl by Hermès
Sous le Charme d’Orphée shawl by Alice Shirley for Hermès

I have also been playing with my other new scarf, the gorgeous and brightly coloured present from my sister. It is so comforting to snuggle up with it!

Outfit of the day 20/11/24 with scarf by Park Lane
Scarf by Park Lane

Next week I am going to wear another of my wonderful shawls, decisions, decisions!

Happy weekend everyone!

Love and best wishes,

Anne

💕💗💖💗💕

Posted in Clothes, Family, Lifestyle, Outfit of the day, Scarves, Wardrobe | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment