Tag: #recommendation

Kindling some e-shorts

As I’ve been on annual leave this week, one of the things that I wanted to do was some reading.  Trouble is, I’ve read all the fiction books that I’ve invested in and although I have some non-fiction to wade through, felt that being on “holiday” wasn’t the best time to read those.

I haven’t downloaded a Kindle edition of a book in ages.  I much prefer the physical thing to hold, turn pages and even the smell.  I am also a bit OCD when it comes to collections. If there are a number of books by an author I enjoy, or a series that run together, then I have to buy all of them, and read them in order.

My favourite genre is historical fiction, most specifically Tudor period. I’ve read all the Jean Plaidy, Phillipa Gregory et al.  Having most recently thoroughly enjoyed Alison Weir’s series on the Six Tudor Queens.  I have the final instalment already on pre-order.  I happened to be rummaging around that well known online purchasing site and came across a series of Alison Weir e-shorts.  These seem to be companion stories to the Six Tudor Queens series.  There are 7 e-shorts so far that relate to the first 4 books of the Tudor Queens, so one can assume that there are more to come. For £0.99 each, it was a no brainer to download the lot.

I’ve gone through the precis for each e-short and listed them in order of which main Six Tudor Queens books they sit along side so that I can, as with full series, read them in order.  There appears to be 1 that sits with Katherine of Aragon, 1 that bridges that with Anne Boleyn, 1 that accompanies Anne Boleyn, 1 for Jane Seymour and 2 for Anna of Kleves. 

I have a whole day with no meetings or need to be anywhere else or do anything in particular, that I can give wholeheartedly over to reading these e-shorts.  Give me a nudge when dinner’s ready!

Start as you mean to go on

New Years Day morning. A new year ahead that hasn’t been written yet. C made a cooked brunch. I could get used to that 😋.

This year will mark a significant birthday for me. The day this blog is uploaded will mark 50 days until I turn 50. I don’t have any issues with turning 50, it is but a number after all.

The 12 months before I turned 40 I kept a daily diary. I did think of doing something similar for the year that I turned 50 but somehow never got round to it. I guess you could say that I’ve used this blog as a sort of diary, although there’s lots that I haven’t written in a blog that I would have written in a diary.

Starting a new year and a new decade of life gives me the opportunity to start afresh and start as I mean to go on. I could get used to C cooking me breakfast every day but thats not practical or too good for my health. I could take this opportunity to establish some new habits. Start or do more of the things that I ought to do better and drop things that I should not, do less of or that self sabotage.

I read somewhere on line recently that it can take from 18 to 254 days to form a new habit and an average of 66 days for a new behavior to become automatic. Now, I’m not one for New Years resolutions, but I have 50 days to do 50 things that will have a positive habit forming effect on my life to take me into my 50s.

Where to start? Drop me some suggestions 👇

Late to the party

We don’t watch a lot of tv as we’re usually quite busy with virtual #bellringing, meetings or other stuff. We also only have terrestrial tv channels and Netflix. Our knowledge of what’s worth watching is therefore limited and we end up watching repeats of repeats of NCIS or Law and Order.

Despite the fact that we’ve watched most episodes multiple times and its our “go to” viewing, I am now starting to get a bit bored with the same old, same old. I was flicking through channels the other day and came across Travel Man presented by Richard Ayoade. He takes a celebrity on a mini break somewhere and crams in as many touristy things as they can in 48 hours. Richard’s style is quite sardonic but its that that makes the show more entertaining. I think the series was originally aired in 2016.

Our daughter is usually good for a recommendation on Netflix but she has Amazon Prime as well and sometimes forgets that we don’t. She recommended something the other day saying that I would enjoy it because it was based in Henry VIII time. She screenshot a photo and sent it to me. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that actually that style of wig was from 1700s not 1500s. At least she recognised it was historic!

I’d like to watch something different, but just don’t know what’s worth my while on terrestrial TV or Netflix.

Happy to receive recommendations.