The Maroon Diaries

 Another year, another book list.  1. Circe by Madeline Miller 2018 2. This is Happiness by Niall Williams 2019 3. Lily On The Dustbin by Nancy Keesing 1982 4. Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman 1990 5. Inspiration Sandwich by SARK 1992 (re-read) 6. Burial Rites by Hannah Kent 2013 7. Monkeys With Typewriters by Scarlett Thomas 2012 8. Literary Witches by Taisia Kitaiskaia 2017 (re-read) 9. Beautiful Losers by Leonard Cohen 1966 10. milk and honey by Rupi Kaur 2014 11. After Story by Larissa Behrendt 2021 12. The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood 2005 13. Hansel and Greta by Jeanette Winterson 2020 14. Nights At The Circus by Angela Carter 1984 15. Dearly by Margaret Atwood 2020 16. Home Body by Rupi Kaur 2020 17. Lovers' Knots by Marion Halligan 1991 18. Sugar Crush by Dr Richard P Jacoby and Raquel Baldelomar 2015 19. 12 Bytes by Jeanette Winterson 2021 20. Homecoming by Elfie Shiosaki 2021 21. Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue by John McWhorter 2008 2...

My mum loved the bunting I made from children's book pages, and she asked me to make her some cards with pieces of similar pages. I didn't want to buy new cardboard and matching envelopes to make a set, though, that would be going against my buy-(almost) nothing-new guidelines. But then I found a set of ten matching cards, new and unopened, in an op shop. They had pictures on the front and logos on the back, but the insides are blank. So, this is what I came up with. I covered the logos on the back with some scraps of book pages or wrapping paper. Each card has its own matching square envelope, with the postcard squares and everything. Schmick. And there we go, that's a project finished that I started years ago and have been meaning to get around to finishing one day for all the time in between. Satisfaction feels! 

Well I must say I am ashamed at the paucity of this list, yet again. I have recently been learning about how social media changes your brain, making it want to take in information in small pieces and articles, rather than reading books the old-fashioned way. I've had to realise that this is an issue, and I've started making some changes to address it. I hope that my efforts will be reflected in the next Year in Books. 1. The Walworth Beauty by Michele Roberts 2017 2. Bright Young Things by Scarlett Thomas 2001 3. The Children's Home by Charles Lambert 2016 4. After Me Comes the Flood by Sarah Perry 2014 5. Christmas Days by Jeanette Winterson 2016 6. Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick 2011 7. Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig 2015 8. The Summer of the Bear by Bella Pollen 2010 9. Songs of the Gorilla Nation by Dawn Prince-Hughes 2004 10. Dragon's Green  by Scarlett Thomas 2017 11. Kleinzeit by Russell Hoban 1974 12. The Olive Readers by C...

Hello dear readers, I hope you are enjoying your New Year's Eve celebrations. I am getting back on track with publishing my book list in a timely fashion. I'm afraid it's quite paltry pickings this year. I've had a lot going on. Not to mention the discovery of streaming services and binge-watching... I've linked the title of each book to its page on Goodreads , so you can click through and quickly get an idea of what kind of book it is. 1 Glad No Matter What by SARK 2010 2  The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman 1997 3  Wise Children by Angela Carter 1991 4  The Forbidden Library by Django Wexler 2014 5  The Palace of Curiosities by Rosie Garland 2013 6   The Great Automatic Grammatizator and Other Stories by Roald Dahl 1982 7   The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman 2000 8 Gypsy Cante: Deep Song of the Caves selected and translated by Will Kirkland 1999 9  Caught in a Story: Contemporary Fairytales and Fables edited by Christine Park ...

Hello dear readers. I'm very pleased to say that 2015 was a very good year in books for me. Especially through the autumn and winter, so many really excellent books passed through my hands. I must admit, Goodreads deserves some of the credit. Checking out their recommendations and 'other readers enjoyed' I've found a few precious ones I might otherwise never have heard of, such as The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North. Absolutely brilliant. Each book title is linked to its page on Goodreads, so you can quickly see what kind of a book it is. 1. True Brews by Emma Christensen 2013 2. Mothers Grimm by Danielle Wood 2014 3. Awake in the Dream World: The Art of Audrey Niffenegger by Audrey Niffenegger et al 2013 4. Gypsy Boy by Mikey Walsh 2009 5. The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Eddie Campbell 2014 6. Another Roadside Attraction by Tom Robbins 1971 (re-read) 7. Hollow City by Ransom Riggs 20...

Happy New Year, everybody! Cheers! I meant to spend the New Year's Eve putting this post online, but instead, I spent the evening socialising with Loved Ones over drinky-poos like a normal human being. I'm so pleased with myself. So here we are with my Year in Books for 2013. 1. Tiny Homes: Simple Shelter by Lloyd Kahn 2012 2. The Joy of Less: A Minimalist Living Guide by Francine Jay 2010 3. The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin 1974 4. The Pickled Pantry by Andrea Chesman 2012 5. Wild Women edited by Sue Thomas 1994 6. Ignorance by Michele Roberts 2012 7. The Daylight Gate by Jeanette Winterson 2012 8. European Mythology by Jacqueline Simpson 1987 9. The Stone Key by Isobelle Carmody 2008 10. Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs 2011 11. The One Hundred Year Old Man who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson 2009, English translation 2012 12. World Made By Hand by James Howard Kunstler 2008 13. Precious ...

This year, for the first time since primary school when such lists were pretty much compulsory, I've kept a list of all the books I've read. I was inspired by the various blogs I was reading. Many bloggers were publishing their reading lists, and I really loved seeing everyone's lists. In fact, I have found several amazing, gorgeous books that I would not have ever heard of but for a mention on a blog I was reading. I thought it was such a good idea that I tried it too, and I must say, it has been very enjoyable to keep this list throughout the year. I like that I can now place exactly when I read a book, and compare it to other events happening in my life at the time. When I started by typing in the first title here, Love Times Three by the Darger Family , I immediately remembered laying on my bed, reading this book and listening to the sounds of the New Year's Eve revellers lurching around the streets outside. I remember that New Year's Day was hot, so I sta...

It was a late night for the Maroon Household last night. Yesterday afternoon, Mr. CJ managed to bang his head hard enough to be concerned about a concussion. The thing to do in these situations, of course, is to keep the person awake for a decent amount of time, twelve hours being a pretty good rule of thumb. So we prepared our favourite caffeinated beverages and settled in for a late night. We watched Pirates of the Caribbean , and some Stargate SG-1 . I read my current library book, Hallucinations by Oliver Sacks , which caused me to occasionally open the computer to google things like interictal personality syndrome ,  palinopsia and  the relationship between spirituality and temporal lobe epilepsy . I kept an eye on Mr. CJ to make sure he wasn't falling asleep. He's fine, by the way, and didn't fare any worse than a nasty headache. Amongst all these noctural activities, I somehow had a thought, a memory, come to me quite strongly. I was thinking about a series of ...

"Take three seeds, and put them in the bitterest place." I had been praying deeply, asking for guidance. There's been Stuff going on, people, major Stuff. And when I wonder, 'what will I do?", this is what I do. I turn to the Goddess and ask her to show me the way. And this what what she had to say. "Take three seeds..." It soon became clear that She wasn't going to talk to me anymore until I had taken on this message. It's not so common for me to receive such concrete, deliberate instructions in my spiritual guidance. I was intrigued, piqued and puzzled. Um, what does that mean? So I pondered. It sounded like I had been presented with a Quest of sorts, a mission to carry out just for the sake of following Her wherever She may guide me. I thought of a book I had read a little while ago, a beautiful children's story published in 1872, The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald. In the story, the little princess meets her Grand...

I didn't expect to be writing children's book reviews for my blog, but it just goes to show that I have no idea what to expect from blogging at all. We're all in on the journey of discovery together, and it just so happens that one of the most exciting things that's come my way lately has indeed been a children's book. As usual, I will tell you the whole story of how this came about. Quite simply, I went to the library to return some books - a fairly regular event in the life of Lady Demelza. There is often a trolley full of books and magazines out the front that have been withdrawn by the library and are sold to the public for a tiny price. Usually there is not much of great interest there, which I find very reassuring, as I would like to think that the library is keeping its really cool stuff in stock. Sometimes the outdated magazines make good art fodder. But on this particular day, an unexpected treasure trove of artistic delights was waiting for me. It seemed...