BOOK REVIEW: THE TOLL HOUSE | CARLY REAGON

I plumped for The Toll House on whim, as I finished my last physical book while out of the house and wanted to make a start on something new. I bought this on Apple Books last year as the premise intrigued me and the cover is beautiful, then I promptly forgot about it for the remainder of 2023. Finding it in my digital book list was a pleasant surprise, so I dove straight in. 

BOOK REVIEW: THE VIRGIN SUICIDES | JEFFREY EUGENIDES - BOOK CLUB 1

The Virgin Suicides is the year’s first pick for the online book club I’m part of, and is a book I’ve read a few times before. I really like the film adaptation as well, so starting the book club year with something familiar felt like a nice way to ease into things.

BOOK REVIEW: MEXICAN GOTHIC | SILVIA MORENO-GARCIA

Here we are with book one of 2024 finally completed. Mexican Gothic was recommended to me by a few people, and I also saw it talked about in a number of places as being an excellent read. I ordered my copy from World of Books on eBay and ended up receiving a beautiful hardback first edition copy - not bad for £3.45!

EATING OUT: GOCHU | POULTON

Eating out at lovely places is one of my main enjoyments. Finding new restaurants, trying different dishes and indulging in plenty of tasty food...what's not to like?!

Gochu in Poulton is one of my favourite places to go after unexpectedly discovering it a couple of years ago and instantly falling in love.

WORDS, WRITING AND READING

I love books. Literally for as long as I can remember I have loved books. Always. They’ve brought me endless joy since my early childhood and continue to be a source of great enjoyment. 
From the early days of Beatrix Potter and Roald Dahl, to Jacqueline Wilson and Enid Blyton, growing up with The Babysitters Club and visiting Sweet Valley High, mixing in Goosebumps and learning about Horrible Histories, then Horrible Science, and reading the Point Horror series under my bedcovers by torchlight. Be it children’s classics, regular classics, modern classics, ancient classics, biographies, true crime, encyclopaedias, fiction, non-fiction, or anything and everything in between, books have always been my constant comfort. So much is my adoration for reading that it has even been in my mind for the better part of 20 years to have ‘BOOK WORM’ tattooed across my knuckles someday…but that’s an idea for a different time.

December

Comfortable and cozy is how I love to be. This month I'm achieving that with plenty of festive joy, dashings of Christmas spirit and lots of chilled, happy times with Jackson. My boy is incredibly excited for Christmas and I can’t wait to make the day as magical as possible for him. This will be the first ever year it’s just us two so it’ll be a completely new take on Christmas Day - but how lucky I am to spend it with my tiny best friend!

My parents are coming to visit for the new year so I’m keeping some of Jackson’s gifts to one side, planning a lovely dinner, and fully intend to treat New Year’s Day like a family Christmas. It’ll almost be like having two Christmases, a real blessing, and the house will be so full of love and happiness even moreso than usual.

Remembering Matthew Perry

When the question is asked about who my favourite character is from the main six in Friends my answer has always been Chandler. No second thought has ever been needed. For me it’s always been an easy conclusion to place him at the top of the pile because, simply, why wouldn’t it be?

I first saw Friends when I hit high school in 1998. The show was almost halfway through its run but I was captivated from the first time I watched, despite not knowing a single ounce of backstory. A lot of the humour must’ve gone over my 11-year-old head but the excitement of being allowed to stay up late to watch Friends on Channel 4 every Friday night quickly took hold, and I looked forward to it until the show came to an end in 2004.