“Go back to your books, to your armchair. Plant your trees, watch them grow. If more people valued home above gold, this world would be a merrier place.”

— Thorin Oakenshield

Latest Posts


  • Short Story Sunday: The Lottery

    Oh, this was absolutely horrid and I hated it, hated it, hated it. Shirley Jackson may be highly esteemed by many of you, and she may be an excellent writer, but that doesn’t mean I have to like her. And… Continue reading

  • Meeting the Moomins…

    One grey morning the first snow began to fall in the Valley of the Moomins. It fell softly and quietly, and in a few hours everything was white. Moomintroll stood on his doorstep and watched the world nestle beneath its… Continue reading

  • Beautiful Bookmarks!

    Woohoo people, I have proper bookmarks!!! A friend who loves books and reading as much as I do bought them for me for Christmas. She noticed that I tend to mark my place when I’m reading with old bus tickets,… Continue reading

  • Timbuktu: As far away as the Moon!

    The Great Mosque of Djenné, which is in Mali (but not in Timbuktu, apparently, although thebuilding methods are the same in both places).Courtesy of Wikitravel When I was a child Timbuktu was one of those mysterious places that seemed to exist… Continue reading

  • Short Story Sunday: Treachery, Freedom, and Beauty!

    This gorgeous screen printed furnishing fabricis reproduced on the back endpaper of The Persephone Book of Short Stories. It’s called Cote d’Azure,and was designed by Susan Collier and Sarah Campbell for Fischbacher in 1983. Oops! I forgot the title! And the intro! Sorry… Continue reading