Chris Lovegrove πŸ’™πŸ“š's Avatar

Chris Lovegrove πŸ’™πŸ“š

@calmgrove.bsky.social

πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡Ί πŸ“š 🎹 πŸ›οΈ Woke European, book review blogger, piano accompanist, culture vulture. https://CalmgroveBooks.wordpress.com

586 Followers  |  160 Following  |  713 Posts  |  Joined: 03.11.2023  |  2.0044

Latest posts by calmgrove.bsky.social on Bluesky

Preview
Life tasks: #NonficNov Β© C A Lovegrove. The Courage to be Happy (Shiawase Ni Naru Yuuki, 2016) by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga. Allen & Unwin, 2019. The essence of happiness is the feeling of contribution. The fo…

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€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Road sign for 'Skirmish Paintball'

Road 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€” πŸ‘ 3049    πŸ” 540    πŸ’¬ 54    πŸ“Œ 17
Preview
Science-Fiction A-Z #SciFiMonth 2025 At the urging of Emma @ Words & Peace (here), and as a contribution to #SciFiMonth, I have cobbled together a list of science-leaning speculative fiction titles I’ve read over the years t…

Science-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€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

My 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€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Petition: Defend BBC independence from Trump’s interference Stop Trump Coalition

stoptrump.org.uk/petition-bbc/

10.11.2025 20:48 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Well this is DEPRESSING

09.11.2025 18:57 β€” πŸ‘ 60    πŸ” 10    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 0

Absolutely fascinating article!

09.11.2025 11:03 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

I 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€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
The β€˜real’ Northanger Abbey? #ReadingAusten2025 The Sham Castle, Claverton Down, Bath, from an old postcard. High upon Claverton Down to the east of Bath is positioned the eye-catching faΓ§ade of the Sham Castle: commissioned in the mid 18th cent…

The 'real' Northanger Abbey? Which building(s) may have inspired Austen? #Booksky #ReadingAusten2025 wp.me/sezD85-hngr

09.11.2025 09:07 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1
Preview
Light and dark: #GermanLitMonth #NovNov25 Photo: C A Lovegrove. DemianΒ by Hermann Hesse. Demian: Die Geschichte einer Jugen von Emil Sinclair (1919) translated by W J Strachan (1958). Penguin Modern Classics, 2017. β€œThe bird is …

My review of 'Demian' by Hermann Hesse for #GermanLitMonth and #NovNov. #Booksky wp.me/sezD85-demian

06.11.2025 08:45 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
β€œBorn to be an heroine”: #ReadingAusten2025 William Beckford’s Fonthill Abbey, Wiltshire, 1796 to 1813, demolished 1845. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, in Northanger Abbey & Persuasion, introduction by R Bromley Johnson. J M Dent…

A review of 'Northanger Abbey' by #JaneAusten after a second visit for #ReadingAusten2025 and #RIPxx. wp.me/sezD85-nabbey

31.10.2025 07:51 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 7    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Engraving of Regency Bath and its Abbey.

Engraving 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€” πŸ‘ 7    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
The changeling’s daemon: #1925Club Phoenix design by Coralie Bickford-Smith (1960) for Penguin. β€˜The Princess’ (1925) by D H Lawrence, in The Princess and Other Stories edited by Keith Sagar.Penguin Books, 1971. β€œO…

My review β€˜The Princess’ (1925), a novelette by D H Lawrence, for the #1925Club. #Booksky wp.me/sezD85-dhl

26.10.2025 09:31 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Gosh, I still haven't read my copy of this, hmm, why've I delayed...

26.10.2025 09:27 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Restoring Britain’s first language and forgotten identity Thomas Steres, Founder, Linguistic Legacies Initiative As historical revelations about the British past emerge, the most compelling seems to be the heavily British nature of the population. In short, ...

Restoring Britain’s first language and forgotten identity. nation.cymru/feature/rest...

23.10.2025 13:41 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Fear no more: #1925Club Virginia Woolf in 1927, aged 45. Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf:Β The Definitive Edition, edited by G Patton Wright, introduction by Angelica Garnett. Vintage Books, 1992 (1925). Oh! thought Cl…

'Mrs Dalloway' by Virginia Woolf, reviewed for the #1925Club. #Booksky wp.me/sezD85-mrs

23.10.2025 10:54 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
The ley of the land: #1925Club Beech wood Β© C A Lovegrove. The Old Straight Track by Alfred Watkins. Methuen & Co, third edition 1945 (1925). β€˜What really matters in this book is whether it is a humanly designed fact, …

'The Old Straight Track' (1925) by Alfred Watkins, reviewed for the #1925Club. #Booksky
wp.me/sezD85-ley

20.10.2025 08:57 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Surprise, surprise! I wrote a poem of eight lines:each line eight syllables comprised.Each poet then a scheme assignsto written poems of eight lines; each triolet true rhymes combines,a tricky task. Don’t be sur…

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. Don’t be surprised
I wrote a poem of eight lines!
Eight syllables each line comprised.

wp.me/p4H9zI-AC

18.10.2025 13:21 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Authors' intellectual property, copyright, and #AI and #Meta. ihttps://wp.me/p5jC7U-Ru

17.10.2025 16:44 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Dreamed cities: #RIPxx β€˜Another World’ by M C Escher (1947): Escher Foundation. β€˜CelephaΓ―s’ (1922) by H P Lovecraft, in The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories, edited by S T Joshi. Penguin Tw…

Dreamed 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€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Climate conferencing Β© C A Lovegrove. From Katmandu to Casablanca,racing back to yesterday,or heading off to reach tomorrowβ€” Kazakhstan to old Cathay β€”crossing and crisscrossing oceansβ€” Carlisle to Kalamazoo, then Cana…

'Climate conferencing': a satiric #poem on hypocrisy. zenrinji.wordpress.com/2025/10/16/c...

16.10.2025 08:50 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Hell is other scholars: #RIPxx King’s College Chapel, Cambridge University, circa 1870. Katabasis by R F Kuang. HarperVoyager, 2025. β€œ[It] started as this cute, silly adventure novel about like, β€˜Haha, academia…

My review of 'Katabasis' by R F Kuang for #RIPxx. #Booksky wp.me/sezD85-kata

14.10.2025 17:08 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Games of Let’s pretend: #ReadingRobertsonDavies Robertson Davies, 1913–1995. The Cornish Trilogy by Robertson Davies. Penguin Books, 2011 (1991). β€˜Be not another, if you can be yourself.’ β€” Epigram by Paracelsus. Consisting of three …

Overview of 'The Cornish Trilogy' by Robertson Davies (1991). #Booksky
wp.me/sezD85-corn

12.10.2025 20:03 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

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€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Post image

#Booksky. Today's buy: 'Evelina' by Frances Burney, one of Austen's favourite authors, for #NationalBookshopDay and #ReadingAusten2025.

11.10.2025 12:40 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Lovely. I felt I could've quoted half the poems in this anthology, they were so evocative or affective.

10.10.2025 08:51 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Five 60-Second Reviews, Some Of Which Are #RIPXX Work is very busy at the moment, so I decided to do some quick-fire reviews: Kate Folk,Β Sky Daddy.Β Yep, it’s the novel about the woman who is sexually attracted to planes! I was a big fan of …

Short thoughts on what I've been reading recently: drlauratisdall.wordpress.com/2025/10/10/f... #ripxx #booksky

10.10.2025 07:35 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Stolen away by magic Detail from Jan Brueghel the Elder’s β€˜The Senses of Hearing, Touch and Taste’ (1620), Prado Museum. Peacock Pie: a book of rhymes by Walter de la Mare, drawings by Edward Ardizzone (194…

A 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
wp.me/pezD85-M4

10.10.2025 07:36 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1
Preview
Global renewable energy generation surpasses coal for first time Record solar expansion and steady wind growth driving world’s shift away from fossil fuels in 2025, report finds

For the first time in history renewable energy sources are now generating more power than coal worldwide.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

07.10.2025 15:20 β€” πŸ‘ 2173    πŸ” 837    πŸ’¬ 14    πŸ“Œ 46

This is good news, but Trump and his ilk are trying to undo these gains.

We’ve got to get Democrats in charge of Congress again.

09.10.2025 17:25 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

@calmgrove is following 20 prominent accounts