Hello and a Happy New Year
29 January, 2015
*Along Marine Drive in Colombo, Sri Lanka
Well, hello there.
It’s almost the end of January and I’ve only posted one review after a month’s silence. I’ve been away, you see, on a three week holiday to Sri Lanka and Thailand where I was planning to catch up on my reviews and read. I even took my heavy laptop with me. However, it was just too warm and sultry and I got no writing done. All I did was eat, sleep and shop and get lots of Thai massages. However, I did a lot of reading, unencumbered with work and commuting and socialising, so my pile of reviews to write has grown even bigger. But I’m happy to say that I’ve read some fantastic books and can’t wait to share them with you this year. The second half of last year was eaten up with work, a promotion and lots of overseas visitors leaving me with little energy to write but I hope to get back into the swing of things again. I miss writing about books, especially the ones which have worked their way into my brain and left a pocket in my heart when they finished and there were so many of them last year.
*The Grand Palace complex in Bangkok, Thailand
But one thing I did when I wasn’t blogging was just reading. Whatever I liked and in any order I liked (that is, except for series which I need to read in order, obvs.) So I read Tom Rob Smith’s Child 44 series one after the other after finishing Connie Willis’ Oxford time traveling historian books one after the other. And it was great. I even dipped into a collection of stories about mummies, The Book of the Dead, and the extremely diverse and qualitay We See A Different Frontier. So many books I want to talk about. I took my kindle with me and picked random books I fancied while attempting to wrestle my digital TBR into something more manageable (I failed as I kept buying more titles on sale). It was kind of nice to read without a schedule and something I missed since I started blogging. So this year, I’m hoping to achieve some kind of balance between the two and be a little more consistent in my reviewing.
*Look choop -the best traditional Thai sweets ever
You’d be surprised to hear that I bought NO books in Sri Lanka. I figured I had enough from the last few years to keep me going – they are safely stashed away on my shelves and I really need to start reading them.
So what have you all been up to and what have I missed?
chasing bawa 
29 January, 2015 at 1:14 pm
Happy New Year! That sounds like the perfect holiday to me – I don’t blame you for not blogging 🙂 I loved Child 44 so I’m looking forward to seeing what you make of the rest of the series (which I haven’t tried yet) and hearing about all the other fantastic books. Those sweets look great too!
29 January, 2015 at 4:04 pm
Thanks Jackie:) It was a great holiday – I recommend doing nothing but reading if you can. I have nothing but praise for Tom Rob Smith – I was completely hooked.
29 January, 2015 at 9:36 pm
Happy New Year. It sounds like a great holiday!
29 January, 2015 at 10:01 pm
Hahaha, yes it was:)
30 January, 2015 at 5:20 pm
Welcome back 🙂 I was in Sri Lanka too! Had really good time…even if it has been raining every single day! How was your trip? Happy New Year to you as well!!
30 January, 2015 at 5:27 pm
Yes, it rained so much in the first week and was pretty chilly for SL but afterwards there was more sun. But it was nice and relaxing – I hope your trip was too. And thank you 🙂
12 February, 2015 at 11:33 pm
Happy almost chinese new year : ) A balance sounds like the very right thing. I recently had to admit that I couln’t get into number9dream by D.M. – It’s a bit disappointing and hard to admit that you can’t connect with a book you thought would be your next revelation… Maybe it was my mistake to try and cut short by getting the JP translation, unlike his other books I’ve read in their originals. Maybe another time.
Do you have a favorite bookstore in London?
13 February, 2015 at 11:58 am
That’s a shame about number9dream but connecting with a book can depend on several things, where you are in life, you mood etc. So maybe you can try again in a few years? And possibly read in English?
I have several favourite bookshops in London – Watermark Books in Kings Cross Station (near platform 9 3/4), Waterstone’s in Piccadilly Circus, Daunt Books on Marylebone High Street, LRB Bookshop near the British Museum, Persephone Bookshop on Lambs Conduit Street near Russell Square Stn and of course Foyle’s on Charing Cross Rd. I’m sure I’m missing some but you get the picture.