Many thanks to the author for so kindly sending me a review copy of the book, and apologies for taking so long to get my thoughts down. Life on a Mulberry Farm (2025) is a charming collection of short/episodic tales drawn from the author's childhood memories and nostalgia of years spent living on a Mulberry…
Six Degrees of Separation: From Land to A Tale of Two Cities (August 2026)
1 August 2026 and and for a change I'm on time posting this month's Six Degrees of Separation--one of my favourite memes to participate in--today. Six Degrees of Separation is a monthly meme hosted by Kate at Books are My Favourite and Best. Inspired by the concept of 'six degrees of separation', originally set out…
Book Review: Second Best (2022) by David Foenkinos (trans. Megan Jones) #ParisinJuly2026
I received a review copy of this book from Pushkin Press via Edelweiss for which many thanks. The Boy Who Lived--in a sense the chosen one (by fate perhaps)--that is how the boy wizard we all know is described and in some senses that second description can likewise apply to Daniel Radcliffe, the actor who…
Book Review: The President’s Hat by Antoine Laurain #ParisinJuly2026
I received a review copy of this book from Pushkin Press via Edelweiss for which my thanks. Imagine chancing upon a lucky charm, an object, the finding of which changes your life, immediately and forever, bringing new confidence, new experiences, and a very different life to what one has known. Antoine Laurain's The President's Hat…
Book Review: Ghosted: Delhi’s Haunted Monuments (2025) by Eric Chopra
Stories of ghosts, of hauntings are ever a subject of fascination, even more so when associated with a city and spaces that are familiar. Delhi, with presence of life in its vicinity dating back to a 100,000 years, and which consists of multiple cities that evolved either atop each other, or in different spaces alongside,…
Six Degrees of Separation: From Yesteryear to Chef Maurice and a Spot of Truffle (July 2026)
July 2026 and as has become the norm for me, I'm once again behind time posting this month's Six Degrees of Separation--one of my favourite memes to participate in--today. Six Degrees of Separation is a monthly meme hosted by Kate at Books are My Favourite and Best. Inspired by the concept of 'six degrees of…
Blog Tour and Book Review: Murder at the Country Fair (2026) by Merryn Allingham
I’m delighted to be participating in the blog tour for Murder at the Country Fair (2026), fourteenth in the Flora Steele mystery series, on which it is my stop today. Many thanks to Sarah Hardy at Bookouture for the invitation to participate. While regular readers of this blog will be familiar with this series (which…
Book Review: City of Cats (1933) by Lao She #ReadingtheMeow2026
Only when the people of a country lose their personal honesty, does that country lose its natural integrity and no one wants anything to do with a country that has no integrity. Cat Country is celebrated Chinese novelist and playwright Lao She’s dystopian satire first published in Hsein-tai Magazine in serial form and later as…
Guest Post: Book Review: Paw Prints in the Moonlight (2004) by Denis O’Connor #ReadingtheMeow2026
Today I have a Guest Post from my friend, advertising professional, Papiya Biswas, who reviews Denis O' Connor's 2004 memoir, Paw Prints in the Moonlight for Reading the Meow 2026. * * * Atmospheric. Relatable. Beautiful. Set against the isolated chill of a Northumberland winter, Denis O’Connor’s memoir describes the night he rescued a freezing,…
Buddyread: Thomasina (1957) by Paul Gallico: Chapters 18-25 #ReadingtheMeow2026
Today I’m back with part 3 of Emma@Words and Peace and my discussion of Paul Gallico’s 1957 novel Thomasina. Though ostensibly a story of a little girl who get separated from her cat Thomasina after the cat is diagnosed with an illness and put away, it is one that considers some much profounder themes and…
Literary Potpourri 