London by Jack Chesher – A Guide for Curious Wanderers* is nicely illustrated by Katharine Fraser. This is not the usual kind of guide book, as it has no photos but only illustrations, and it doesn’t cover the “must-see” that you are familiar with from…
Chess for Dummies by James Eade is the first book I read on chess and it is a very good book to start with. It gets a bit repetitive at times with the directions to other parts of the book, but it is worth reading…
I was hoping for 6 new countries last year, but I managed a total of 11. It brings the total to 36! These are the books I’ve read, all reviewed on the blog. This year I will aim for another 6 books from 6 new…
I bought Designing Graphic Props for Filmmaking by Annie Atkins when I visited a museum in London. It seemed interesting even if I’m not too keen on movies. Well, this book didn’t disappoint at all. It is a behind-the-scenes insight into the complicated design of…
After a long pause of these posts, today I’m sharing 5 words, the first this year. I can’t remember where I heard them. Some are from lectures, such as catenary. For fun we are watching a series of lectures on architecture, which is fascinating. Others…
The Architecture Lover’s Guide to London by Sian Lye* is a must for anyone visiting London. It’s such a wonderful book, filled with interesting details, some are on how buildings were made, others on why the buildings were built in the first place. It starts…
Joy of Jigsaws by Holly Lambert* – A Puzzler’s Guide and How to Make Your Own – was just the book I wanted to read. In the last few months we’ve started making a lot of puzzles and, even more, we mounted 9 on them…
From the first post, in which I talked about the challenge, published in January last year, I read 6 more authors. This was my target for 2021. This year I have the same target of 6. Here is the list of the new countries and…
My 2021 in Books. I had the target of 100 books, but managed only 89, which is not bad. I’m happy even if I didn’t reach the 100 mark. My 2021 in Books: 22 fiction books. My favourite fiction book: Animal Farm by George Orwell.…
Today I’m sharing 4 words. Although I heard eschatology before and understood its meaning from the reading I was doing, but, even so, I’ve decided to include it. Mores is a word I was puzzled about and didn’t get its meaning from the reading, so…
A Photographic Journey Through the London Underground by Elke Rollmann, Niko Rollmann* is a great book. I just moved to London and so I was very keen to read this book. Luckily it arrived before moving and I could take it with me. What’s amazing…
I bought Flora Japonica by Masumi Yamanaka a few years ago from Kew Gardens. With the Olympics starting, I thought it will be the best time to finally read it. I read a similar book, about roses, and I liked it a lot. I liked…
It’s been a while since my last Wondrous Words. Today I’m sharing 5 words in total. One is very well known, but I did not know its story and that is the last one. besom is a broom, a household implement used for sweeping. The…
The Apartment by Alexandra Litvina – A Century of Russian History. A known online bookseller marks this book as suitable for 8 to 12 years old and I think they are right about the 8+ mark. But this is not boring for older children at…
I have three new words for today’s Wondrous Words. Words New To Me #4, a new instalment in this fascinating series. This time I have an interesting mix of words. The first word is from a non-fiction history book on the Spanish Civil War, it…
Wondrous Words. Words New To Me #3 comes really soon after the second one, but I wanted to share two words I learned while at Oxford and a new one, so this was the best time to do it. The first word comes from Kamala…