F is for Faulks (A-Z Challenge 2026) 7/4/26

The A-Z home page can be found here.

My theme this year is authors that I've read. More about the books I've read than the authors themselves.

I'm an avid reader. I'm a member of 2 in person reading groups through my local library. I'm gradually working my way through an old BBC reading list of 100 books (I'm about half way through) and I'm taking part in the online 52 Book Club Challenge for the third time this year where the challenge is to read 52 books over the year based on 52 different prompts. You can also find me on Goodreads here.

The F authors I've read are:

• Faulks Sebastian
• Feltz Vanessa
• Fforde Katie
• Fielding Helen
• Filer Nathan
• Finch Paul
• Fitzgerald F Scott
• Flock Elizabeth
• Flowers Ashley
• Flynn Gillian
• Flynn Katie
• Foley Lucy
• Forster Kate
• Francis Clare
• Frank Anne
• French Dawn
• French Nicci
• Furnivall Kate

Nicci French is my most read F author (with 10 books) although of course that's actually 2 people writing together - Nicci Gerrard and Sean French, a married couple.  Most of the ones I've read feature Frieda Klein, a psychotherapist.  I read one of that series and was hooked so I worked my way through all of them.  "Waiting for Wednesday" even got 5 stars.  I do love a crime thriller.

I loved Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks but didn't enjoy A Week in December nearly as much.  

I enjoyed Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn and have read another couple by her.

Classics are The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald and The Diary of Anne Frank.  

There are a couple of autobiographies on there too.  Vanessa by Vanessa Feltz and Dear Fatty by Dawn French.  I'm not a great reader of biographies but a few have slipped in here and there.  

I also read "Because of You" by Dawn French which is fiction.  My review was, "This is definitely well written in terms of characterisation but the story is not unique and I really didn't find the ending plausible.  To me the ending was tied up neatly with a bow on top and life isn't usually like that.  I certainly engaged with the characters and I did enjoy it but it felt a bit light in places given the seriousness of the story." (The blurb reads: As the old millennium turns into the new, two very different women give birth to two very similar daughters.

Hope leaves with a beautiful baby girl.

Anna leaves with empty arms.)

I sometimes think authors who are also celebrities can trade on their name and popularity.  Or maybe it's just the publishers who do that but I can't help wondering if celebrities submitted their books under an anonymous pseudonym whether they would actually get published.

What do you think?

E is for Eclair (A-Z Challenge 2026) 6/4/26

The A-Z home page can be found here.

My theme this year is authors that I've read. More about the books I've read than the authors themselves.

I'm an avid reader. I'm a member of 2 in person reading groups through my local library. I'm gradually working my way through an old BBC reading list of 100 books (I'm about half way through) and I'm taking part in the online 52 Book Club Challenge for the third time this year where the challenge is to read 52 books over the year based on 52 different prompts. You can also find me on Goodreads here.

The E authors I've read are:

• Éclair Jenny
• Edwards Kim
• Ekback Cecilia
• Eliot George
• Elliot Kendra
• Elliot Laura
• Elliott Lexie
• Ellis Janet
• Ellwood Nuala
• English Rachael
• Evans Lissa

Not so many on the E list and I’ve only read one book by each of these authors!  Some of them go back to pre- Goodreads so they don’t have a star rating or reviews.

One book that does stand out, although not in a good way, is “The Butcher’s” Hook by Janet Ellis – I only gave it a 1 star and my review was,

“I read this as a book club challenge and that was the only thing that kept me reading. I really didn't like this book. The main character was a horrible person and I didn't find that all the things she did were plausible or believable.

It was set in Georgian London and was very gloomy. I'm glad to be able to say I finished it but that's about it.”

Maybe one to give a miss lol.  But there is a classic on there “Middlemarch” by George Eliot which I read for the BBC challenge but again there’s no rating or review.

I rated “Day of the Accident” by Nuala Ellwood 5 stars but didn’t enter a review.  It’s a thriller so it probably had some good twists in it for it to merit that rating.  But having read it back in 2019 I couldn’t tell you how it ends.  I think that is one downside to reading a lot of books – it’s hard to remember them all.

Have you finished any one star books?  Or are you happy to DNF a book?

Weekly Photos - 29th March - 4th April 2026

Oh my goodness, keeping up with the A-Z challenge and my regular posting is proving a challenge too far!  

I'd already decided to pause my "In the News" posts during April but this week I've missed my Read then Write post and the #SoCS post.  That was partly due to being away overnight on Thursday.  By the time we got back on Friday I was really tired but I did manage my Friday Fave Five's post.  Yesterday though we needed to get some shopping and then we were out for a meal with my daughter and her family which left little time for blogging.  Thankfully my A-Z posts for A to G were already done and scheduled to post so I had a bit of breathing space.  The remainder of the posts are all done in draft form with the outlines done but I still need to go in and add the body of the posts.  Hopefully I'll get a few more done today before my son and his family arrive because once they are here I won't have a lot of spare time!  They're planning to stay until Thursday.

But there's no A-Z post due today so I'll get on with my photos post - although as usual I've had to be a bit creative.

On Sunday I completed 2 months (60 days) of taking a collagen supplement.  My hair is definitely better and I think my joints are improving.  I'm going to be sticking with it.

I also finished this jigsaw.

Monday we had birthday cake with Grandson Nathan who turned 9 on Tuesday.  (The family were away on Tuesday so we celebrated early.)

I started this book on Tuesday - it's for the evening book club.

Wednesday I had to check on Milo, my daughter's cat.  

Such a hardship lol.

I also found time to do my usual NYT puzzles and managed to achieve the following:

 

I got to a streak of 247 previously on Wordle and was determined to get to 250.  There were a few scary days leading up to this where I was on guess 6.  (If you know you know lol.)  The April Fools' Hat was for the spelling bee.

Thursday we celebrated the life of my SIL - wife of my eldest brother.

Friday I took a picture of this as I was lacking inspiration.  I bought this a couple of weeks ago along with another book for a friend.  Of course I did not need another book but there was a deal on 2 books so how could I resist? Especially when this is such a talked about book.

        

And yesterday we had dinner with my daughter, our DIL and our youngest and eldest grandchildren.  Nathan was happy to pose, Ella was being a big shy.

Phew!  All caught up.  

Happy Easter everyone.

D is for Dahl (A-Z Challenge 2026) 4/4/26

The A-Z home page can be found here.

My theme this year is authors that I've read. More about the books I've read than the authors themselves.

I'm an avid reader. I'm a member of 2 in person reading groups through my local library. I'm gradually working my way through an old BBC reading list of 100 books (I'm about half way through) and I'm taking part in the online 52 Book Club Challenge for the third time this year where the challenge is to read 52 books over the year based on 52 different prompts. You can also find me on Goodreads here.

The D authors I've read are:

• Dahl Roald
• Darbon Leslie
• Davies Emma
• Daly Paula
• Deaver Jeffery
• Delaney J P
• Dewar Isla
• Dexter Colin
• Diamond Katerina
• Diamond Lucy
• Dickens Charles
• Diffenbaugh Vanessa
• Dillon Lucy
• Doerr Anthony
• Dolan Eva
• Donoghue Emma
• Donovan Kerry J
• Doughty Louise
• Douglas Claire
• Douglas Louise
• Drummond Elizabeth
• Duguid Sarah

There is a tie for my most read D author – I’ve read 6 books by Jeffery Deaver and Lucy Diamond. Very different authors.

The ones I’ve read by Deaver all feature Lincoln Rhyme and unusually I’d seen “The Bone Collector” film before I’d read the book. But I then carried on and I’ve read books 1-5 and 8 in the series. I must track down 6 & 7 at some point.

Lucy Diamond’s books would probably be cast as chick lit but they do have a bit more depth to them than most.

A couple of classics on there by Charles Dickens. I started with his “A Christmas Carol” which is of course quite short but then I moved on to “David Copperfield” mainly because I wanted to see if all the hype around “Demon Copperhead” was warranted and that meant reading the Dickens first. All 900+ pages of it! And soooo many characters. It ticked a box on the BBC list of books too.

And who cannot have read something by Roald Dahl if you have children?

As for 5 stars the one that stands out for me is “All the light we cannot see” by Anthony Doerr which I must get around to watching on the TV as some point.

One that I have read and seen the film of is “Room” by Emma Donoghue.

Do you tend to read first then watch or does the order not matter to you?