My review of 'The Courage to be Happy' (Shiawase Ni Naru Yuuki, 2016) by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga. #NonficNov #Booksky wp.me/sezD85-hap
21.11.2025 13:19 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0@calmgrove.bsky.social
πͺπΊ π πΉ ποΈ Woke European, book review blogger, piano accompanist, culture vulture. https://CalmgroveBooks.wordpress.com
My review of 'The Courage to be Happy' (Shiawase Ni Naru Yuuki, 2016) by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga. #NonficNov #Booksky wp.me/sezD85-hap
21.11.2025 13:19 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0Road sign for 'Skirmish Paintball'
How delightfully quaint some of these old Devon village names are, their etymologies lost in the mists of time.
17.11.2025 15:24 β π 3049 π 540 π¬ 54 π 17Science-Fiction A-Z: speculative fiction titles I've read over the years in alphabetical order, posted for #SciFiMonth 2025. Have you read these? #Booksky calmgrovebooks.wordpress.com/2025/11/16/s...
17.11.2025 17:38 β π 4 π 1 π¬ 0 π 0My review of 'Another Part of the Wood' (1968/79) by Beryl Bainbridge, for #NovNov25 #Booksky wp.me/sezD85-apw
14.11.2025 19:33 β π 2 π 1 π¬ 0 π 0Well this is DEPRESSING
09.11.2025 18:57 β π 60 π 10 π¬ 3 π 0Absolutely fascinating article!
09.11.2025 11:03 β π 2 π 1 π¬ 1 π 0I remember seeing Farleigh Castle as a teenager on an outing with my parents, but I have no memory of the anthropoid coffins! Perhaps they weren't on show back in the 1960s...
09.11.2025 11:26 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0The 'real' Northanger Abbey? Which building(s) may have inspired Austen? #Booksky #ReadingAusten2025 wp.me/sezD85-hngr
09.11.2025 09:07 β π 3 π 0 π¬ 0 π 1My review of 'Demian' by Hermann Hesse for #GermanLitMonth and #NovNov. #Booksky wp.me/sezD85-demian
06.11.2025 08:45 β π 2 π 1 π¬ 0 π 0A review of 'Northanger Abbey' by #JaneAusten after a second visit for #ReadingAusten2025 and #RIPxx. wp.me/sezD85-nabbey
31.10.2025 07:51 β π 5 π 7 π¬ 0 π 0Engraving of Regency Bath and its Abbey.
Almost two-thirds of the way through a re-read of Austen's 'Northanger Abbey' and finding much new of note that escaped me the first time around!
26.10.2025 09:57 β π 7 π 2 π¬ 0 π 0My review βThe Princessβ (1925), a novelette by D H Lawrence, for the #1925Club. #Booksky wp.me/sezD85-dhl
26.10.2025 09:31 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0Gosh, I still haven't read my copy of this, hmm, why've I delayed...
26.10.2025 09:27 β π 4 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0Restoring Britainβs first language and forgotten identity. nation.cymru/feature/rest...
23.10.2025 13:41 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0'Mrs Dalloway' by Virginia Woolf, reviewed for the #1925Club. #Booksky wp.me/sezD85-mrs
23.10.2025 10:54 β π 5 π 5 π¬ 0 π 0'The Old Straight Track' (1925) by Alfred Watkins, reviewed for the #1925Club. #Booksky
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I wrote a #poem of eight lines:
each line eight syllables comprised.
Each poet then a scheme assigns
to written poems of eight lines;
each #triolet true rhymes combines,
a tricky task. Donβt be surprised
I wrote a poem of eight lines!
Eight syllables each line comprised.
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Authors' intellectual property, copyright, and #AI and #Meta. ihttps://wp.me/p5jC7U-Ru
17.10.2025 16:44 β π 1 π 1 π¬ 0 π 0Dreamed cities: comparing and contrasting short stories by Angela Carter and HP Lovecraft, not such a strange pairing of authors. #RIPxx #Booksky wp.me/pezD85-MP
17.10.2025 09:04 β π 2 π 1 π¬ 0 π 0'Climate conferencing': a satiric #poem on hypocrisy. zenrinji.wordpress.com/2025/10/16/c...
16.10.2025 08:50 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0My review of 'Katabasis' by R F Kuang for #RIPxx. #Booksky wp.me/sezD85-kata
14.10.2025 17:08 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0Overview of 'The Cornish Trilogy' by Robertson Davies (1991). #Booksky
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Entirely apt! The arquebus, followed by the musket, had been around since the 15th century, and gunpowder and rudimentary cannons appeared in Europe from the mid 13th. And Don Quixote appeared a couple years after the Gunpowder Plot.
12.10.2025 19:50 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0#Booksky. Today's buy: 'Evelina' by Frances Burney, one of Austen's favourite authors, for #NationalBookshopDay and #ReadingAusten2025.
11.10.2025 12:40 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0Lovely. I felt I could've quoted half the poems in this anthology, they were so evocative or affective.
10.10.2025 08:51 β π 2 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0Short thoughts on what I've been reading recently: drlauratisdall.wordpress.com/2025/10/10/f... #ripxx #booksky
10.10.2025 07:35 β π 3 π 1 π¬ 0 π 0A review of 'Peacock Pie: a book of rhymes' (1913) by Walter de la Mare, drawings by Edward Ardizzone (1946): a belated acknowledgement of #NationalPoetryDay. #Booksky
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For the first time in history renewable energy sources are now generating more power than coal worldwide.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
This is good news, but Trump and his ilk are trying to undo these gains.
Weβve got to get Democrats in charge of Congress again.