Tag: reading

The Best Books I Read in 2021

I managed to read 100 books in 2021. These 15 were my favourites.

I used to read a couple of books a week, which meant that over a year I would read around 100 books. It was easy. If I had to commute to work it would be on public transport giving me a couple of hours of reading time each day. My free time was spent reading. When I was travelling long-term I’d have days at a time where I’d be sitting on a bus, plane or train or hanging around waiting to get on a bus, plane or train. All extra reading time.

I thought it was normal to get through that many books a year. Then my lifestyle changed. I wasn’t travelling so much. When I was commuting I’d be driving. Now I mostly work at home. My free time is taken up with reading blogs, scrolling through social media and watching Netflix. My reading rate dropped to between 30 and 40 books a year. I’ve not been happy with this. I’m not so bothered about hitting targets as being frustrated that I have so many books to read and even if I live to be 500, I won’t get through them all.

This year, I decided to try to remedy it. I decided I was going to aim to read 100 books. I finished book 100 on New Year’s Eve.

Continue reading “The Best Books I Read in 2021”

A Reading List for Orkney

Part 2 in a series of posts collating books about a particular place.

Rather a long time ago I had the idea to put together a series of reading lists for some of my favourite places. I love reading almost as much as I love travelling and I love reading books about or set in places I’ve been or by authors who are from there.

I put together what I thought was a pretty amazing, all-encompassing reading list for my all time favourite place – Shetland – and I was on a roll.

Except I wasn’t. I never got any further with my series than to write a list of places I wanted to compile a book list for.

But now in these strange days of self-isolation and social distancing when we can’t travel and have to all stay tucked away at home, what better time to catch up with reading about wonderful places around the world and reminiscing about them or dreaming of future travels to them.

So as my contribution towards helping people cope with the Corona pandemic here is number 2 in my reading lists to world series. This one is full of books all about ….

drum roll …

Continue reading “A Reading List for Orkney”

Evaluating the Books I Read in 2019 for Diversity

This year I decided to evaluate the books I’ve read in terms of how representative of diversity they were. The results surprised me.

In recent years the number of books I’ve read has dipped vastly. I used to read around 100 a year; a couple of years ago I read 35. I love books and have a houseful of them, plus loads more on my Kindle and even more on my Amazon wish list. I really want to read all my books, but I’m not going to do this if I only read 35 a year.

It’s not because I’ve lost interest but more because of the way my lifestyle has changed. I used to get public transport everywhere and I could use that time to get loads of reading done. Also books were pretty much the only thing I read.

These days I drive nearly all the time, so have lost hours each week of valuable reading time. I also read more magazines and blogs and of course there’s social media to distract me to. So I know I’m unlikely to get back to my previous reading levels but I have really tried this year.

So how many did I read?

Continue reading “Evaluating the Books I Read in 2019 for Diversity”

The Hay Festival Survival Guide

I had a lot of questions before I went to the Hay Festival for the first time and you probably will too. So I’ve written a Hay Festival Survival Guide to answer them.

I’ve just returned from a fabulous week at the Hay Festival. It was my first time there and I really don’t know why it took me so long to actually get there. As it was my first time I wasn’t too sure of what to expect and so in case you’re planning to go next year I thought I’d write this Hay Festival survival guide whilst everything is still fresh in my mind.

Continue reading “The Hay Festival Survival Guide”

Getting Organised – January 2018 Review

An update on everything I’ve done this month, with tips on the strategies and resources I’ve used to help me achieve my goal of getting organised this year.

As I want 2018 to be my year of getting organised I’ve decided to do something a little different. Instead of writing a post each month just on the books I’ve read, I’m going to expand it into more of a general overview of how I’m doing with all my goals.

The format of these posts and what I decide to include will no doubt change as I go along. It’s all part of the process of being flexible and finding what works best – a philosophy I’m trying to apply to my whole life! Continue reading “Getting Organised – January 2018 Review”

What I Read in December 2017

Each month I write a short review of the books I’ve read. This is what I read in December.

I didn’t do too badly with my reading in December. I managed to read six books even though I was really busy. I read a couple of thrillers by authors I’m very familiar with, but also discovered a new (to me) author too. And I read a few books that weren’t thrillers. All in all, a good month.

Read on to find out more about what I read in December. Continue reading “What I Read in December 2017”

What I Read in November 2017

Each month I look back at the books I’ve read and write a very brief review. This is what I read in November.

November has been pretty busy and as I’ve jumped from one thing to the next I’ve found it difficult to focus on one thing in particular. The same thing happened with my reading. I started reading quite a few books this month, but only got around to finishing three of them. And they were all easy-reading thrillers. Read on to find out more about what I read in November. Continue reading “What I Read in November 2017”

What I Read in October

Each month I look back at the books I’ve read and write a very brief review. This is what I read in October.

This isn’t good – I only read three books in October. I was working, travelling, planning travels and erm, just reading stuff other than books. Oh well, I’ve still got two months to try to get my annual total up to something reasonable. Read on to find out more about what I read in October. Continue reading “What I Read in October”

What I Read in September

Each month I look back at the books I’ve read and write a very brief review. This is what I read in September.

September was a bit of a strange month (strange in a good way!) I came back from one holiday (Shetland and Orkney), was home for a day and then went off to Norfolk for the weekend. Came back from Norfolk, fitted a bit of work in and then flew out to Beziers for a road trip through France, Andorra and Spain.

Consequently my reading was as much all over the place as I was. Though I did manage to finish four books in September, I actually read more than this,  but because I haven’t yet finished any of the other books I started reading I haven’t included them here.

Read on to find out more about what I read in September. Continue reading “What I Read in September”

What I Read in August

Each month I look back at the books I’ve read and write a very brief review. This is what I read in August.

This month I felt like I was getting back to my old ways as far as the number of books I read went. I used to average two books a week, but haven’t managed that for years. This month I read seven books which, whilst not quite two a week, was the best I’ve done in a while.

My tally for the month went up mainly because of my discovery last month of Marsali Taylor’s ‘Cass’ books. I read the first in the series last month, had another couple of paperbacks in the series with me in Shetland and quickly downloaded the rest on my Kindle. I then spent the first few weeks of the month ploughing through them.

Of course, being on holiday the entire month in Shetland and Orkney also gave me plenty of time for reading.

Read on to find out more about what I read in August. Continue reading “What I Read in August”