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The Safekeep by Yael Van Der Wouden “What was joy, anyway. What was the worth of happiness that left behind a crater thrice the size of its impact. What did people who spoke of joy know of what it meant, to sleep and dream only of the whistle of planes and knocks at the door and on windows and to wake with a hand at one's throat— one's own hand, at one's own throat. What did they know of not speaking for days, of not having known the touch of another, never having known, of want and of not having felt the press of skin to one's own, and what did they know of a house that only ever emptied out. Of animals dying and fathers dying and mothers dying and finding bullet holes in the barks of trees right below hearts carved around names of people who weren't there and the bloody lip of a sibling and what did what did she know” This won the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2025 and was shortlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize. It is set in The Netherlands in 1961. The main protagonist is Isabel. She lives alone in the family home, although the home is tentatively owned by her elder brother. Isabel is lonely, obsessed with tidiness and order and apparently very self-enclosed. Essentially the novel tells the story of a period of time where Louis has to leave the country with his work and requests that his girlfriend, Eva, stay in the house: for about a month/six weeks. It's the story of Isabel and Eva’s relationship and how it develops. As there is a queer element to this, it’s not too difficult to work out what happens. However, the novel is multi-layered and there are plenty of twists and turns. The aftermath of the war is a significant aspect part of the novel and the house itself is an important part of this. Much property belonging to the Jewish community was redistributed and that caused complications in later years. Family guilt and hidden scars are a factor. There is lots of hidden history. There are also themes of identity, power, control, class, the silence of queer desire, the risks and benefits of chaos. This is an exploration of human vulnerability and on the whole it works and the prose is good. “What was joy, anyway? What was the worth of happiness that left behind a crater thrice the size of its impact.” 7and a half out of 10 Starting The End of Mr Y by Scarlett Thomas

Breakfast in America - Supertramp

Beans for Breakfast - Johnny Cash

Happy New Year, everyone, from me too 😃

smelly gorgonzola and other

So true! 🤭

Happy New Year everyone.

I have to make an effort to remember

Currently re-reading Albert Camus’ The Stranger so that I can follow it with The Mersault Investigation by Kamel Daoud, which I knew nothing about until recently.

I just finished reading The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins. The writing was very good, and I enjoyed the book. my only complaint is that the book really drug on in places and maybe it could have been shorter in text. On the other hand shortening the book may eliminate some of the excellent descriptions.

One more, he's presumably over indulged a bit...actually this was when they were first putting up the sculptures so I guess he wasn't properly installed at that point.

I guess this is the female equivalent of a man buying a train set for his son/grandson/nephew etc so that he can "help" the child play with it, though he ends up using the set himself!

Am I the only one who still doesn't know what day of the week it is? It's Friday at the moment!🙃

ones full of rancid

Good luck, enjoy your reading!

They are lovely aren't they, I might invest as well. Would love to see the blanket's progress, good luck!

No promotional posts please.

I bought the Bramley Hedge book containing all the stories, theoretically for a family member, but probably more so for myself. It's not a book we ever had but I love the illustrations and I'm crocheting a blanket based on some of the colours. I've also bought a Bramley Hedge diary 😃

What a great idea! I never thought of using one of those for knitted garments 😊

brown paper bags, the

i finally got back into reading and im currently reading a pirates life for tea,my goal is to read 25 books in the next 6 months :)

Hooray! Enjoy 🙂 I have Blindness and Seeing by Saramago

Aye- 2 by Jose Saramago 2 by Elif Shafak. Great stuff.