Welcome to this week’s post. Unfortunately, I am very ill with a nasty virus which has lasted quite a few days. I think that I am just beginning to recover, but it has been really horrible. You can tell how bad I have been feeling because I haven’t managed to read my usual kind of book. However, instead, I have downloaded the rest of the Amazon Original Collection called The Far Reaches. It is an interesting collection of science fiction stories by some great authors. I wrote about one of short stories from this collection, John Scalzi’s Slow Time Between the Stars, a couple of weeks ago, so I thought I might manage to read the rest of the series.
As I am feeling so lousy, I can’t cope with writing proper reviews. I will just say that I enjoyed all of the series. Only one story was not quite as good as the others, but the rest were well worth reading and very thought provoking.
Here are the covers of the whole series:
How it Unfolds by James S A Corey, #01 The Far ReachesVoid by Veronica Roth, #02 The Far ReachesFalling Bodies by Rebecca Roanhorse, #03 The Far ReachesThe Long Game by Ann Leckie, #04 The Far ReachesJust Out of Jupiter’s Reach by Nnedi Okorafor, #05 The Far ReachesSlow Time Between the Stars by John Scalzi, #06 The Far Reaches
There is another set of short stories, called the Forward Collection, that I will probably read soon if I don’t feel I can tackle a full book yet.
NOTE: if you accessed this post on Friday 31/05/24 you may have noticed a huge error! I mistakenly identified one of the scarves as De la Mer au Ciel, when it is Under the Waves. That has now been corrected.
It’s Friday once again! The weeks pass by so swiftly. Anyway, welcome to my blog where I write about the books I read and the scarves I wear. Oh, and a few other things, occasionally! Unfortunately, I also have a set of nasty chronic illnesses that mean I am stuck in bed most of the time. Hooray for my iPad and WiFi!
Over the past couple of weeks I have been making a real effort to get up and go downstairs to spend time with Lovely Husband and also to wear a nice outfit rather than stay in my pyjamas. I have been working my way through my scarf collection, choosing old favourites as well as more recent purchases.
Here are some examples:
Outfit of the day 20/05/24 with Hermès Dans un Jardin AnglaisOutfit of the day 24/05/24 with Hermès Sous le Charme d’OrphéeOutfit of the day 28/05/24 with Hermès Under the WavesOutfit of the day 29/05/24 with Hermès Escales Mediterranéenes
Let’s have some larger images of the scarves. Some of the images of the older scarves are smaller or of low resolution.
Dans un Jardin Anglais by Alice Shirley for Hermès
Sous le Charme d’Orphée by Alice Shirley for Hermès
Under the Waves by Alice Shirley for Hermès
Escales Mediterranéenes by Christine Henry for Hermès
It’s such fun choosing a scarf from my collection and then deciding on a suitable outfit to go with it (yes, that is the way that I dress).
LH is a bit exasperated with me because I had some scarf mail yesterday. “Do you really need yet another scarf?”, he said. Well, we scarfies know the answer to that! Which scarf did I purchase? Sorry, but you will have to wait a week to find out! Let’s just say that it is a rare format in my collection…
Happy weekend to you all.
Love and best wishes,
Anne
💕💗💖💗💕
PS. These are my detailed “Scarf of the Moment” posts for each design, if you would like to see the other colourways and get more information…
So it’s Wednesday again and time to write about the book I read since last week’s post. Yes, I have one book to tell you about…
Homecoming by Kate Morton
I chose this book from our library’s ebook service: Homecoming by Kate Morton. It sounded interesting and so it proved to be! Here is the blurb:
“Adelaide Hills, 1959. At the end of a scorching hot day, in the grounds of a grand country house, a local man makes a terrible discovery. Police are called, and the small town of Tambilla becomes embroiled in one of the most mystifying murder investigations in the history of Australia.
London, 2018. Jess is a journalist in search of a story. Having lived and worked in London for nearly two decades, a phone call summons her back to Sydney, where her beloved grandmother, Nora, has suffered a fall and is seriously ill in hospital.
Seeking comfort in her past, Jess discovers a true crime book at Nora’s house chronicling a long-buried police case: the Turner Family Tragedy of 1959. And within its pages she finds a shocking personal connection to this notorious event – a crime that has never truly been solved.
An epic novel that spans generations, Homecoming asks what we would do for those we love and how we protect the lies we tell.”
Well, that sounds intriguing, doesn’t it? You can see what I mean. Well, it took me all week to read the book, but it was worth it. This is my response on Goodreads:
I have taken off one star for the sheer length of this book! Otherwise, I really enjoyed this wonderful story, the scene setting was so atmospheric, both in London and also in Australia. I felt that I could see and walk around the two main houses and gardens, and drive around the area. I was also intrigued by the clever writing that pointed to one seemingly guilty party and then to another, before reaching a satisfying conclusion. The main characters are shown from different angles as if inside a mirrored room.
All in all, an excellent read! I will definitely seek out more books by Kate Morton.
Yes, it’s Friday already so welcome to this post. I have been looking through my wardrobe and sorting out clothing for warmer weather, to wear if it stops raining! Mind you, I seem to spend most days in pyjamas. I have also put on quite a lot of weight, which is disappointing and upsetting, but quite expected when I have such a sedentary life and have to take steroids.
Anyway, I realised that I could use a couple of new pairs of trousers. One pair needed to be in linen or cotton and navy blue, and the other in grey. It’s so difficult to find grey in the summer! However, I wanted that colour because I have some lovely grey items that I want to wear.
So, I spent quite a while hunting through my usual sites, M&S and Lands’ End, for example, and found some items I thought would be suitable. When the trousers arrived they just didn’t work for me at all. First the fabric was far too thick for the summer and, secondly, the legs were too long. Now, in the past I would have just shortened them for my little legs, but nowadays I just haven’t got the energy. These were sent back.
I had another look around and visited a company that I used to use quite a lot: Cotton Traders. I was pleased to find some linen blend trousers with a choice of leg lengths. Great! When these arrived, I was so pleased that they fit perfectly and are just right for my wardrobe. Here they are (I couldn’t find an image without the model):
Linen-Blend Relaxed Fit Trousers – Cotton Traders
Then I began my hunt for grey trousers. I had no luck finding anything suitable in linen, after all grey really isn’t a summer colour. So, I changed my focus and looked for something in a jersey fabric and I found these, again offered in a choice of leg lengths. OK, the whole Cotswold Collection site is obviously aimed at a certain age range, but I have to accept that I am in that range! Eek!
Plain jersey trousers – Cotswold Collection
Let me show you the outfit I am going to put together soon…
Outfit with grey and silver
Ooh, I had better show you a larger image of the kimono jacket which I bought last year but haven’t worn yet. It’s by One Hundred Stars.
Ancient Columns by One Hundred Stars
I have also considered that these trousers would work well with my grey cashmere jumpers (I have one in almost silver and another in dark grey) and this gorgeous Hermès scarf:
Sous le Charme d’Orphée by Alice Shirley for Hermès
Or this by Fetolia:
Olympian Gods scarf by Fetolia
I think I had better make a resolution to stop wearing pyjamas all day and shock Lovely Husband by wearing a nice outfit! After all, these gorgeous scarves are crying out to be worn and seen.
Happy Weekend to you all!
Love and best wishes,
Anne
💕💗💖💗💕
PS. The links for Fetolia, Hermès and One Hundred Stars are in the sidebar.
Hello fellow readers! Last week I read a great book by a favourite author and a great short story by another favourite author. Totally different genres but both really enjoyable.
Let’s have the book first…
The Raging Storm by Ann Cleeves
My chosen book was The Raging Storm by Ann Cleeves (#03 Two Rivers). I think I have probably read all of her books to date, although I might have missed a few. Anyway, here is the blurb:
“Fierce winds, dark secrets, deadly intentions.
When Jem Rosco―sailor, adventurer, and legend―blows into town in the middle of an autumn gale, the residents of Greystone, Devon, are delighted to have a celebrity in their midst. But just as abruptly as he arrived, Rosco disappears again, and soon his lifeless body is discovered in a dinghy, anchored off Scully Cove, a place with legends of its own.
This is an uncomfortable case for Detective Inspector Matthew Venn. Greystone is a place he visited as a child, a community he parted ways with. Superstition and rumor mix with fact as another body is found, and Venn finds his judgment clouded.
As the winds howl, and Venn and his team investigate, he realizes that no one, including himself, is safe from Scully Cove’s storm of dark secrets.”
I have really enjoyed this series so far and this third instalment was excellent. Cleeves writes so well about the setting of her stories. I could smell and hear the sea, and also see and feel the raging storms. The characters were also very well written, although I did get a little confused by the large cast – but that is my issue.
Certainly, I didn’t work out “whodunnit” before the reveal and that is really unusual for me. I will definitely continue to read the series if Cleeves decides to write some more books!
Some time I must check Cleeves’ work, particularly the Vera Stanhope series, to make sure that I haven’t missed any of her books.
Now we have the short story…
Slow Time Between the Stars by John Scalzi
Regular visitors to these Wednesday posts may remember that I am a huge fan of Scalzi’s work. When I came across this short story, Slow Time Between the Stars, I just had to read it and I wasn’t disappointed. This is the blurb…
“An artificial intelligence on a star-spanning mission explores the farthest horizons of human potential—and its own purpose—in a mind-bending short story by New York Times bestselling author John Scalzi.
Equipped with the entirety of human knowledge, a sentient ship is launched on a last-ditch journey to find a new home for civilization. Trillions of miles. Tens of thousands of years. In the space between, the AI has plenty of time to think about life, the vastness of the universe, everything it was meant to do, and—with a perspective created but not limited by humans—what it should do.”
This is such a beautifully written and thought provoking story. Basically, the idea is “what if a human made AI took its own decisions to break away from its human programming amongst the distant stars!” The timescales of the tale are mind boggling to the human brain: countless millennia. Just inconceivable to such short lived creatures.
Very touching and almost brought tears to my eyes! Now I must search out the rest of this series.
Hello and welcome to my blog. This Friday I am trying something a bit different. Every Spring, since I bought this wonderful Hermès scarf, I have taken it out of the box, admired the gorgeous colours and then worn it as a kind of tribute to the season. The scarf is: Dans un Jardin Anglais by Alice Shirley (and no that isn’t me in the pic below – I wish I were so young!).
Dans un Jardin Anglais by Alice Shirley for Hermès
Back at the end of April, I found a collage from 2018 with this scarf. It looks as if I had just been to the hairdresser!
Outfit of the day 25/08/18 with Hermès Dans un Jardin Anglais scarf
And here we have today’s version, nearly six years later:
Outfit of the day 17/05/24 with Hermès Dans un Jardin Anglais scarf
I had to tilt my head because I couldn’t get the pretty soutache earrings into my left ear! Also, it took me quite a while to find the same aspect of the scarf – 😂. I had a look back at the post from 2018 and this is the full outfit:
Purple sapphire cotton vest – Land’s End. This colour matches exactly one of the shades on the scarf, which is nice 😍.
Silk scarf, 90cm, in lilac, aqua, purple, green – Dans un Jardin Anglais – Hermès. Necklace tie.
It has been fun to deliberately recreate an outfit from the past and I might do this again, someday. If you are interested in the design, then here is the link to my Scarf of the Moment post with more details, including images of the 90cm size and the mousseline, gavroche and twilly versions.
Hello and welcome to my blog! Every Wednesday I write a post about the books I have read during the previous week. I list all of my books on the Goodreads website and use links from there when I am building the post.
Regulars to the blog will know that I have been a voracious reader for most of my life (I wasn’t born able to read although it feels like that sometimes!). Unfortunately, I had a stroke in September 2019 and, since then, I have recovered my ability to read but cannot manage quite as many books as I used to. My target for this year is 50 and I read ebooks on my iPad because the stroke left me with some vision issues.
So, what did I read this week and did I enjoy it? Well, there is more than one story to be told…
No Less the Devil by Stuart MacBride
Long term visitors will have realised that I am a huge fan of Stuart MacBride. I think that I have read most of his books, so I was really looking forward to this one: No Less The Devil. Let’s begin with the blurb:
“‘We are each our own devil, and we make this world our hell.’
It’s been seventeen months since the Bloodsmith butchered his first victim and Operation Maypole is still no nearer to catching him. The media is whipping up a storm, the top brass are demanding results, but the investigation is sinking fast.Now isn’t the time to get distracted with other cases, but Detective Sergeant Lucy McVeigh doesn’t have much choice. When Benedict Strachan was just eleven, he hunted down and killed a homeless man. No one’s ever figured out why Benedict did it, but now, after sixteen years, he’s back on the streets again – battered, frightened, convinced a shadowy ‘They’ are out to get him, and begging Lucy for help.It sounds like paranoia, but what if he’s right? What if he really is caught up in something bigger and darker than Lucy’s ever dealt with before? What if the Bloodsmith isn’t the only monster out there? And what’s going to happen when Lucy goes after them?”
This book appears to be a standalone and is not from one of the author’s brilliant series. Anyway, this is my response on Goodreads:
I am struggling to find the right words to describe this book. Usually, I love MacBride’s work. The dark humour and twisting plots are amongst my favourites. I don’t think I have ever struggled to finish one of his books or contemplated stopping reading one altogether!
I really enjoyed a large part of the book. MacBride’s storytelling, characters and amusing but grim plot was as gripping as ever. Then I got to about the 80% mark of this particular book. Having read many of the reviews on here, I am definitely not the only person who was shocked by the change of tone. It took a real effort to finish, something that has never happened to me when reading the work of a favourite author.
After getting through the – I’m not sure what to call it – obstacle, perhaps? The book did reach a quite satisfying ending. But I am now rather nervous about reading another book by MacBride!
As for the star rating. I could give it anything from none to almost four, so I haven’t a clue what to click!
Now, I was feeling very ill as I read the book, but my response was not affected by that as many others on Goodreads have reacted in a similar way. Anyway, I think I will choose something very different for my next book!
Hello and welcome to today’s post. This week a new scarf arrived. What a surprise! Well, no it isn’t really because, as regular visitors and friends know, I am a total scarf maniac!
Usually these days I buy scarves from brands that are familiar to me. This time, however, an advert caught my eye and I fell into a whirlpool of, well what should I call it, stupidity or foolishness?
Why? Because I didn’t research the company before I purchased the scarf! Luckily for me I still like it and my own experience with the company was without any issues, but do read on…
First we have the reveal:
The packing box – OK, not very exciting!The opened box – this looks interesting!The rather nice card inside the boxWhy am I so obsessed with this box?
Here are the images from the website…
Views of Vesuvius scarf by Camilla
Aren’t the colours lovely? We have blues, aqua, turquoise, a golden brown and white. There are bronze silken tassels at the corners and tiny glittering multicoloured crystals. The whole scarf is very pretty and glamorous. Even the pretty labels match the scarf! By the way, there are other items available in this fabric: kaftans, dresses, blouses etc.
I took some quick photos and put them into a slideshow…
Then, I tried on the scarf with two of my cotton short sleeved jumpers from Lands’ End, one in cobalt blue and the other in turquoise. I also have summer dresses that would work too.
Cobalt blue top – Lands’ EndTurquoise top – Lands’ EndViews of Vesuvius with cobaltViews of Vesuvius with turquoise Views of Vesuvius with cobaltViews of Vesuvius with turquoise
Here’s one of my summer t-shirt dresses from Marks and Spencer, which would work with this scarf…
Jersey V-Neck Midi T-Shirt Dress – Marks and Spencer
Right, so now you have seen the good things about this scarf and the company, Camilla (the link is to the UK site). Now to the rest of the story. Let me emphasise that the scarf arrived, well packaged, with no issues. I had explored the Camilla website, looking at all the gorgeous prints on scarves, clothing and accessories. The prices are very high, but I could afford a scarf. My first issue is that the fabric of the scarf doesn’t feel like silk, although the website says that it is. The material is crepe and feels like polyester!
The second issue is totally my fault for not reading properly. I thought that the company is based in Europe, but it turned out that my parcel was shipped from Australia! Not very Green of me!
Then we have the third issue. As I said above, I had no problems with Camilla’s service, but when I looked at the reviewing sites like Trustpilot I had quite a shock. There are loads of very negative reviews, mainly about customer service.
So, have I done something idiotic? Well, I will certainly learn something from this and retrieve my librarian instincts!
Wednesday’s Reading Roundup post has arrived again! In last week’s post I mentioned that a lovely friend had recommended an author who might help me during my gloomy moments. Fortunately, I found one of the books on our library’s ebook site and here it is…
Getting Rid of Matthew by Jane Fallon
The book was Getting Rid of Matthew by Jane Fallon. Here is the blurb:
“Breaking up is hard to do. Especially when he’s left his wife for you . . .
What to do if Matthew, your secret lover of the past four years, finally decides to leave his wife Sophie and their two daughters and move into your flat, just when you’re thinking that you might not want him anymore . . .
PLAN A: Stop shaving your armpits. And your bikini line. Tell him you have a moustache that you wax every six weeks. Stop having sex with him. Pick holes in the way he dresses. Don’t brush your teeth. Or your hair. Or pluck out the stray hag-whisker that grows out of your chin. Buy incontinence pads and leave them lying around.
PLAN B: Accidentally on purpose bump into his wife Sophie. Give yourself a fake name and identity. Befriend Sophie. Actually begin to really like Sophie. Snog Matthew’s son (who’s the same age as you by the way. You’re not a paedophile). Buy a cat and give it a fake name and identity. Befriend Matthew’s children. Unsuccessfully. Watch your whole plan go absolutely horribly wrong.”
Well, the book turned out to be just what I needed! A great way to dispel some of my dark thoughts! This is my response on the Goodreads website:
This was suggested by a kind friend as a way of lifting my mood. Whilst not condoning adultery, I found the book very amusing, especially the descriptions of the wayward husband. The group of nasty co-workers very also funny, although I am glad that I have never come across such a cabal in real life.
So, this served as a perfect pick-me-up! Many thanks!
Some people on Goodreads feel very strongly about the adultery in the book and have written very negative reviews, by the way. I just found Helen’s predicament very funny indeed!
After that, I have returned to the work of a favourite author. One who writes with very dark humour! Who is this? Well, you will have to wait until next week’s Reading Roundup post to find out!
So, it is Friday again and time for a post. It has been a bit warmer in this part of the UK, although we have also had grey skies and far too much rain!
Over the last few years we have had bursts of higher than usual temperatures, lasting for a few days. When the Summer months come around, the sun shines into our bedroom during the latter part of the afternoon and it gets very hot in here. As I spend so much time in bed, I decided to buy a more powerful fan, just in case we have a repeat of those higher temperatures in the coming weeks/months. Anyway, it has just arrived and I put it together straight away. I think/hope it will do the trick!
I have worn a couple of nicer outfits this week, although not with any of my Hermès scarves. Here is the first one with a lovely small scarf by Bien Abayé and a navy cotton top by Lands’ End…
Peacock silk scarf by Bien Abayé
This is a larger image of the scarf. More information about the scarf, plus a slideshow with closer photos, can be found in this post.
Peacock silk scarf by Bien Abayé
In addition, I decided that the cute hummingbird earrings that I bought the other week from the John Franklin Jewellery sale would work well with the colours in the scarf…
Hummingbird earrings by John Franklin Jewellery
Another outfit this week incorporated some elements from Ancient Greek architecture: columns! I didn’t take a selfie, but here are the t-shirt and earrings.
Classical Order t-shirt by Identity InventoryIonic column earrings by Meg on Ko-fi.com
Last week I promised to wear my gorgeous Hermès scarf Dans un Jardin Anglais. I haven’t managed to do so this week but I will get it out of the box in anticipation!
Former professional school librarian, now retired through chronic illness. Trying to keep cheerful by reading, drinking lots of tea, blogging my new life, and my love of bling!
The Librain
The Librain......retired 
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