Monthly Archives: December 2023

Reflecting on 2023

It’s time once again to write up my thoughts on the year – it doesn’t seem long ago at all that I wrote Reflecting on 2022, but there you go. Last year, I started by saying I couldn’t help but … Continue reading

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The Greatest Gift by Philip Van Doren Stern

This book’s title isn’t one that’s going to stand out to most people, and the author’s name is also one that’s fallen into relative obscurity. However, if I were to say that this is the story upon which the Christmas … Continue reading

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A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

Based on the title, I expected this to be something like A Short History of the World by H. G. Wells, which offers a complete world history in a piece of writing the length of a novel. Though I was … Continue reading

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The Pact by Jodi Picoult

This is a novel about young love, and how obsessive, and even dangerous, it can be. It tells the tale of a young woman (Emily) who died suddenly – seemingly as the result of a suicide pact that she had … Continue reading

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How Do You Live? by Genzaburo Yoshino

This is a delightfully cosy novel about a boy named Copper growing up in 1930s Japan (which is when the book was written). The chapters switch between Copper’s life and the situations he gets into with his friends, and letters … Continue reading

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