The Real Pink Panther by Robert Sellers – Stories Behind the Classic Films – is a lovely book. I gave it 4 stars and I would recommend it to anyone who has seen at least the first Pink Panther movies. It is a rather short…
I haven’t made an update for the Read the World challenge in 3 years. Because I read 2-3 books a year in this challenge, it’s not that urgent to update it faster. Now I am looking for new countries for this year from the grey…
Unlike the previous years, when I managed to read 89 books (2021 to 2024), in 2025 I reduced the number of books I was aiming to read from 89 to 79 and then to 70. I had to do that as I couldn’t read as…
An Anthology of Christmas by Auriol Bishop is a random book I got from the library because it had Christmas on it. I wanted to read it during Christmas and because I didn’t look properly I didn’t realise that it is a book for children.…
A Tommy’s Sketchbook by Henry Buckle – Diary and Drawings from the Trenches – is a very nice book. I bought it from the gift shop of the Tank Museum. It’s a diary and sketchbook of a soldier in WWI. He spent a bit over…
Estonia, Latvia & Lithuania – Lonely Planet – is a travel guide about the Baltic States. I wanted to visit them and this book was available at the local library, so I borrowed it. What a mess this book is. Each country is covered by…
Lawnmowers by Brian Radam – An Illustrated History – was an impulse purchase. I bought the book when we visited the museum, as part of the Heritage Open Days. I’m so glad that I bought it because in it there are many of the stories…
Ukrainian script hacking by Judith Meyer – the optimal pathway to learn the Ukrainian alphabet – is better to be avoided. I gave the book 1 star because it is such an appalling mess. This should have been about the Cyrillic alphabet as it is…
The Cat Encyclopedia by D.K. Publishing – The Definitive Visual Guide – is a 5 stars book without any doubt. I borrowed this book just before adopting our cat. I postponed returning the book as I looked over half of it, with the breeds and…
On the Streets for Ukraine by Elke Rollmann and Niko Rollmann. They are a mother and son team who make lovely books with pictures. Elke was selling her book at an event I’ve been to in London, in support of Ukraine. The money for the…
I can say that for the 4th year in a row I finished 89 books in a year. I answered some questions found on Kezzie’s blog in previous years, so I am doing that again for 2024. Here is the 2023 roundup. Crime fiction –…
Still City by Oksana Maksymchuk – Diary of an Invasion – is the debut poetry collection of a Ukrainian poet. She wrote and published in Ukrainian, but after the full-scale invasion she started writing in English. I was at the launch of the book in…
I found Maria Merian’s Butterflies by Kate Heard as a free to download pdf on Royal Collection Trust’s website. See the link at the end of the post. I loved the book. It’s not long and most of it are reproductions of beautiful artwork made…
An Underground World by Sylvie Robin – The Catacombs of Paris – written in collaboration with Jean-Pierre Gély and Marc Viré – is the second book I read about the Catacombs in Paris, which was bought from their gift shop. On its own, the book…
The Catacombs of Paris by Gilles Thomas using photographs by Emmanuel Gaffard. This is one of 2 books I bought from the gift shop of the Catacombs in Paris. I visited the place and it is fascinating. I read this book and the other one…
The Book of the Queen’s Dolls’ House by Lawrence Weaver, A.C. Benson, and E. V. Lucas. The one I read had the note: “This edition is limited to 1,500 copies of which this is no. 322.” This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Dolls’…