Do you know its Christmas…

This will be the last post for a bit.

There’s a holiday celebration at the end of the week, you see, and then a New Year’s celebration (of sorts I think, because everyone’s affected this year – one way or the other). Gosh, to say that we hope for a better year in 2021 is the understatement of the year!

However, onwards by all means and so let me just list the books I’m reading currently because there’s NOTHING like opening a present of books on Christmas Day. Or spending gift vouchers from the favourite book shop.

Mine is a somewhat short list as I have had two disasters on audio (terrible narrator) and have finally, after quite a search, found a decent story with a super narrator. The book is Jeffrey Archer’s Nothing Ventured read by Geoffrey Blagden. The storyline is quite good – I like artworld crime. Archer certainly knows his onions in this respect. The narrator lifts the story to another level – the sort of narrators I love; those who can give each character a unique voice. Like listening to a radio drama.

No print books at the moment. (Kind of hoping Father Christmas will help out there!)

But on Kindle, and with much excitement, the first of a new series by Matthew Harffy, A Time for Swords. It’s fulfilled my hopes – characters with soul and an enigmatic plot set in the time of Aethelred. It’s odd to see Beobrand referred to as a hero from the distant past and took some getting used to. I’m only half way through, but trust me, it’s good!

To be able to read Swords, I had to finish From Sand and Ash by Amy Harmon. Wonderful story, beautifully written, about Italian Jews at the time of the Nazi Occupation. It was a page turner and would make a marvellous movie. Prior to that, I had read a light, fluffy piece which is always nice at times of stress – Bella Cigna by Wendy Dass.

And that’s it from my little library. It’s the time of year where I fall asleep after three or four pages, so only two in my sights at the moment is perfectly acceptable.

Those who know me know I take time to potter in the garden as a means of escape. It continues to reward and like the wardrobe into Narnia, takes me to places far away. In fact, staring into the garden today, I came up with my lead character in Book Two of The Peregrinus Series and how he might have got to be lead character. See? Places far away…

And of course, evenings in front of Britbox watching Richard Armitage…

…while I stitch is de riguer.

Happy Holidays, everyone. I think of all those in Covid zones and hope you can remain safe and well. Let’s believe that by Jan 2nd 2021, the world has turned a corner as vaccinations become more widely disseminated.

See you on the other side. Cheers!