It was interesting that the Coronation came two days after the local elections. Regular readers of this blog may not be surprised that I was pleased by Labour gains, hee hee gloat gloat. I did also watch the Coronation. I had various thoughts during this long...
I have promised to blog this year about Charlotte M Yonge. This is not that blog. But knowledgeable people sometimes call her the “novelist of the Oxford Movement.” Novelist of the what? The definitive 1930 history book “1066 and all that” by Sellars and Yeatman is comparatively...
Did I tell you about the Monthly Eco Baby-Steps Plan, by the way? Last month’s baby-step was “try to make sure I don’t overfill the kettle” which is indeed pretty baby. It’s also trickier than I’d realised, because a short person like myself doesn’t automatically...
Round about May and November each year, I notice that the pile of “To be read” books by my bed is beginning to shrink. Not for long, however. The birthday comes; Christmas comes – the tower leaps up again. Occasionally there’s some rearranging, when books that...
What have you been reading this year? Please feel free to tell us below! What have I been reading? Well, I’m continuing slowly to work my way through medieval British literature (Chaucer’s “Miller’s Tale” is really funny), and some 20th century poetry; and I’m also enjoying a...
The Fourth Tale from Ragaris is still not imminent, but progress is being made. I am approaching the first draft of the denouement. It’s been tricky; this fact and the lollipop are my excuses. When you last heard about it, the book was called "Naming People...
I was very flattered a little while ago when a local artist I knew slightly said he wanted to paint my portrait. His name is Matthew Lyons, and I think it was during the pandemic that he decided to paint a varied series of local people,...
Someone I know asked whether, or to what extent, we do or should blame the people of Russia for the actions of Vladimir Putin. I had already been wondering about a post on the disadvantages of democracy. The obvious quote here is Churchill: “it has been said...
Recently I had a fascinating discussion about feminism with a reader of this blog. He expressed the view that belief in feminism meant believing (doubtless among other things) that women should have the same opportunities as men. What are these opportunities, he wondered? Following the Lionesses’...
In December 2020 I reviewed my Books of the Year here: https://www.penelopewallace.com/books-2020/ giving the award for Most Enjoyable Read to Becky Chambers’ “The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet.” I have now just completed the Wayfarers tetralogy of which that was the first. Despite the impression...