Hello lovely bookish blogosphere,
I haven’t been around much in 2020 and the end of the year even less so, despite my best intentions. My reading has taken such a hit and sadly I’ve fallen behind with your blogs too, when they have been a beacon of sanity and light in this horrible year.
So I just wanted to pop in and wish you all a very
even if that Christmas is looking very different to how you hoped. I know things won’t change overnight but here’s hoping 2021 is better all round.
(I originally titled this post ‘It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas’ and then I thought, what on earth am I doing? It looks nothing like Christmas for most people. I think my brain has had enough…)
A weird and unforeseen side-effect of this year has been that I have picked up a genre I rarely, if ever, look at: celebrity autobiography. For some reason I can’t manage fiction but I can manage a life story. So although I won’t be blogging on them, just a note to say I can recommend No Shame by Tom Allen; Maggie and Me by Damian Barr; Fathomless Riches by Rev. Richard Coles; Not My Father’s Son by Alan Cumming and Vanished Years by Rupert Everett. If this symptom carries on into next year I’ll try and add some women to the list – Patti Smith, Colette and Joan Didion are all languishing in the TBR…
Having said that, I just started yesterday The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman, which I bought my Dad for his birthday in October and which he has now read and gifted back to me, as he knew how much willpower it took not to read it before I wrapped it 😃 I’m enjoying it a lot, so hopefully more fiction is on the horizon for me.
Anyway, that’s me for now, but I hope to be in your company a lot more next year. I wish you all a bookish and peaceful festive period.
Mme B xxx
P.S Just so this post isn’t completely out of my usual style, here’s a horrific 80s tune to finish on, which helped me win the work Christmas quiz this year (I often win and its always my knowledge of appalling 20th century Christmas pop songs that helps me secure victory – listen and learn, kids 😉)
Happy Christmas to you as well Madame B – as happy as it can be, anyway. I’ve missed your posts, but life does get in the way sometimes, especially lately, and if the urge to read and write isn’t there I can understand you not wanting to engage! Stay safe and here’s to a better 2021! xx
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Kaggsy, I hope you and your family have a safe, healthy and festive Christmas and new year! I’ll look forward to catching up with your blog soon.
LikeLiked by 1 person
How lovely to hear from you! I can recommend Richard E Grant’s diaries if you run out of celebrities. A little too long but good for dipping into and he comes over as a throughly nice chap. A very happy and safe Christmas!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh, excellent recommendation, I like REG. A dipping into book sounds perfect too. Hope you have a lovely Christmas and new year Susan!
LikeLiked by 1 person
My reading has been completely derailed this year as well. It doesn’t make sense, given that we’ve had so much tome on our hands but then again, it makes perfect sense… our minds were elsewhere. So, in the category of celebrity biography, I can highly recommend Andrew Ridgeley’s Wham! George & Me. It’s not about to win any prizes but I know it will also appeal to your excellent taste in music.
Hope you and your family are safe and well. Take care. K xx
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sorry you’ve struggled with reading too Kate, I hope we both get back on track next year! As you say, it’s a pain because there’s all this time to read and yet my brain is not on board.
Excellent recommendation- I’m sure I’ll enjoy Andrew’s reminisces!
Hope everyone with you is safe and well too, take care of yourself xx
LikeLiked by 1 person
And I forgot to say, that I feel worse about not keeping up with replying to comments, leaving comments etc on blogs, than I do about my lack of reading. The only comfort is that other bloggers have experienced similar.
May 2021 be filled with reading and blog activity!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Absolutely! I’m really sad that I’ve fallen behind with other peoples blogs. As you say, it feels worse than not blogging myself. It does help to know I’m not the only one so thank you Kate. Yes, may 2021 see us in a flurry of blogging activity – fingers crossed!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nope! 40 seconds was as much as I could take of that one – can’t decide whether the music or the visuals were more dreadful! 😉
Merry Christmas, Madame B, even if it is going to be a strange one this year. Stay safe, and I look forward to us all feeling a bit more normal soon. 🎅
LikeLiked by 1 person
Haha! I did warn you FF – its awful 😀 But it did mean I won the quiz, so I felt it deserved some recognition….
Merry Christmas to you FF, I’m sure I’ll be back reading your blog and blaming you for my spiralling TBR throughout 2021 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
All the best for the festive season and for a happ(ier) new year!
LikeLiked by 1 person
And to you Lisa!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Have a lovely Christmas, and I hope that your reading – and everything else! – can improve dramatically in the coming year.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks very much Kirsty – wishing you a lovely Christmas too!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Have a lovely Christmas. And the whole point of buying books as gifts is so that we can borrow them after 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re so right Janet! Wishing you a lovely Christmas too ☺️
LikeLike
Have a lovely Christmas and look forward to more of your blogs next year – no pressure! I like the sound of the Rupert Everett. . .
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Jane!
The Rupert Everett is interesting, it starts out with some snarky showbiz anecdotes, but it turns into a prolonged meditation on death and dying – I was really surprised! I’d be really interested to know how you find it if you read it.
Hope you have a lovely Christmas too 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I like the sound of that!
LikeLiked by 1 person
How nice to hear from you and I hope you get your reading mojo back in 2021.
I wish you a merry Christmas and we all hope 2021 will be better than 2020.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Emma, wishing you a lovely Christmas and New Year!
LikeLike
I hope you are wholly enjoying your holiday, MadameBibi. Here’s to a better and even more bookish 2021.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I am thank you, I hope you are too. Wishing you a book-filled 2021!
LikeLike