More books from the Women's Prize longlist. youtu.be/BqbGfHLRi9c?...

This seems to be an increasing problem. Companies must spend millions on telling us how to keep our accounts safe, and yet feel this kind of practice is acceptable.

A Women's Prize for Fiction shortlister. It's a lovely little book but not prize material to my mind. The Correspondent by Virginia Evans. app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/13b1...

This could've been a good book but sadly chose to go in an easy direction. Moderation by Elaine Castillo. app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/3e9f...

Loved reading this in Moderation by Elaine Castillo, a Filipino-American writer from San Francisco. I don't sound anything like David Bowie either 😂

Not sure I've ever disagreed with a shortlist as much as this one. None of my top four have made it through. I'm very disappointed.

A story of class privilege and maternal instincts. The Benefactors by Wendy Erskine. app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/e307...

A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing by Alice Evelyn Yang is £1.99 on Kobo and Kindle today. A very good read if you don't mind a touch of magical realism (and the horrors of humanity).

Another hoodie on the Women's Prize for Fiction longlist. The Mercy Step by Marcia Hutchinson. app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/486a...

We're having some work done on the kitchen, and this old Delft tile style wallpaper showed up behind the cabinets. No idea how old it might be. The house was built in 1929 but I think the kitchen was a later addition.

I learnt things I should've already known about Chinese history, and far more than I needed to know about what people can do to other people. A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing by Alice Evelyn Yang. app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/25c5...

The Original by Nell Stevens is 99p on Kobo and Kindle today. Very good plot-driven novel. Recommended.

Took my bat detector to the park. These are probably common pipistrelles. The noise you can hear is the bat detector converting the bats' sounds to a pitch we can hear. I was surrounded by them at times. Absolutely magical experience.

The next on my Women's Prize for Fiction journey. Paradiso 17 by Hannah Lillith Assadi. app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/53d1...

My March reads. youtu.be/-6lIxXxCxUk?...

For anyone working their way through the Women's Prize longlist, Flashlight by Susan Choi is 99p on Kobo and Kindle today. It was also shortlisted for the Booker last year.

I'm not sure a book has ever walloped me as hard as this one did. Gloria Don't Speak by Lucy Apps. app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/f290...

At some point today I will have been alive for 31 million minutes. And currently my knees are feeling every one of them! #mathaversaries

Took the bat detector I got for Christmas out into the garden tonight. No luck on the bat front, but by chance I caught an exceptionally bright pass of the International Space Station 🛰️

Well, this was a punch in the guts! A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar. app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/9873...

Oysterplant: very rare across coastal northern Britain and found at only a handful of sites here in Shetland. Always a highlight for our groups in spring and summer and although Gaelic isn't the mother tongue here, we love the Gaelic name Tiodhlac na mara - gift of the sea. #wildflowers #ukwildlife

thinking about the medieval cat door in Exeter cathedral again

Contrary to popular opinion, I thought this was much better than Writers and Lovers. Heart the Lover by Lily King. app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/5953...

I read this so I can read its second part, Heart the Lover, which is on the Women's Prize for Fiction longlist. A bit middling. Hope I like part 2 better. Writers and Lovers by Lily King. app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/60a8...

A lovely heartwarming story thanks to some kind people and local charity The Fox Project 🦊. Fox family reunited after cubs found hiding in car www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon is 99p today on Kobo and Kindle. By far my favourite book of 2024.

A very moving read, especially right now, but despite being quite short it took a bit of work to get through. The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran by Shida Bazyar (trans: Ruth Martin). app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/f430...

I loved the two I've already read, so I'm hoping that's a good sign for the rest on the list.

February roundup. youtu.be/aVJBITlUL84?...

I Who Have Never Known Men is 99p on Kobo and Kindle today, and the entire Three Body Problem trilogy is £2.89 on Kindle. Read the former for the portrayal of women not the science fiction, and read the latter for completely the opposite reason.

True horror novels are ones that are uncomfortably close to real life. Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica (trans: Sarah Moses). app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/d34d...

It's time to come clean. I've started a YouTube channel talking about the books I've read. My channel hasn't got much traction yet, but I hope to get more subscribers as I improve my delivery. I'd love it if you popped in for a watch. youtube.com/@geraldinesn...

An exciting novel with a lesson for us all. Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy. app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/cdcb...

Not as disturbing as I feared for a book about cannibalism. Hunger by Choi Jin-Young, trans Soje. app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/4cfa...

Although not the book it initially promises to be, it did leave me with all the feels. Still Life by Sarah Winman. app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/e97c...

An enjoyable bit of crazy to brighten up your February. She's a Lamb by Meredith Hambrock. app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/76e0...

A classic ghost story that stands the test of time. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/71ab...

Soooo many brilliant #books coming out in 2026 youtu.be/JmtBR1lbalk

Experimental narrative techniques sometimes work and sometimes don't. Often within the same book. Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders. app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/023c...

Audition by Katie Kitamura, shortlisted for the Booker last year, is £1.99 on Kobo and Kindle today. It divides opinion, but I loved it.

Not sure I would've persevered with this if it hadn't been Christmas a gift from Ian. The Green Ages by Annette Kehnel. app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/c7a9...

I knew he lived here of course, but I didn't know I'd walked past the end of his road countless times. David Bowie's childhood home to open to the public www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

If Ian and I had got married on Mercury we'd be celebrating our 90th anniversary today! #mathaversaries

We Pretty Pieces of Flesh by Colwill Brown is 99p on Kobo and Kindle today. Takes a while to get into it, but well worth the effort.

Scary stuff. Bluesky is now the only form of social media I engage with. Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams. app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/fdea...

The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden and The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller are both 99p on Kindle and Kobo today. I loved them, and you might too.

Feeling a bit delicate after this one. That's All I Know by Elisa Levi (trans: Christina MacSweeney). app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/59c4...

This was a DNF for me. I feel guilty given the subject matter, but it wasn't letting me connect with the emotion. Things in Nature merely Grow by Yiyun Li. app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/a54e...

Just popped out for a few minutes' meteor hunting and caught two good ones! #geminids

I'm fine with authors being experimental, but this wasn't for me. The Expansion Project by Ben Pester. app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/f3b1...