Welcome to Day 7 of #12booksofchristmas. During December I am sharing 12 festive reads. The idea came from the wonderful Icelandic tradition of Jolabokaflod where a book is given on Christmas Eve

Our local pub is a little gem of a place and we are lucky enough that an excellent chef called Ian works there. Ian is half-Finnish and each December holds a Finnish night.

I am publishing this slightly early, as I am fully in the reading of (and sweating a bit about if I'm honest) my #12booksofchristmas. I have not been organised this year at all.

Do not adjust your sets folks, that IS a picture of Arnold Schwarzenegger staring back at you. Now, this might seem a bit of a departure from the usual books read here on the blog

We have a lovely dewy morning here in North Yorkshire. The sun is out, it's chilly, but I've just been for a lovely walk with Hattie where the melting dew is making the grass look like swathes of green velvet.

As a family we have form in this as for a long time we did believe my mother ran the SAS following her account when she was a 'scout leader' hiking with a group of scouts in what sounded like descent into madness in Scotland.

Do not adjust your TV sets folks, this is a review for a non-fiction book, which is quite a rare thing to see on this blog.

At the time of writing this review, my thoughts are turning to Autumn and all the golden leaves, pumpkins, crisp mornings and pumpkin spice lattes that it holds. I’ve had my eye on this little gem of a book.

I've had a real blast reading a lot of non-fiction recently and have very much enjoyed them. I first spotted What Would You Do If You Weren't Afraid? by Michal Oshman in the Independents Summer Book Catalogue

My husband and I tend to read wildly different books. He reads a lot of sci-fi, graphic novels and books about dystopian wilderness, whereas I am more along the lines of cosy reads

At the time of writing, we have just witnessed the final of the Euros. England vs Italy at Wembley and just in case you missed the result, Italy won on penalties. It was pretty heartbreaking to watch.

Like many people, I have a guilty obsession. I LOVE following blogs and Instagram accounts based on cleaning and organisation. I swear there is nothing more satisfying then watching Mrs Hinch clean her kitchen worktops

You may remember that a few months ago I reviewed 'Fried Eggs with Chopsticks' detailing Polly Evans' travels around China. With foreign travel firmly off the menu at the moment, I wanted to be transported somewhere new

One of my best friends, Catherine, has the most amazing knowledge of planes and flying. If you are jetting away on holiday and you tell her your flight number. she can tell you what type of plane you will be flying on.

When I started to put together my list of titles for the 2020 #12BooksofChristmas, I knew I wanted to include a book about food. Food forms such an important part of Christmas, we all have memories of a great Christmas meal

There has been a wonderful look back on the travel documentaries of Michael Palin. Back in the late 1980s, Michael Palin recreated Phileas Fogg's journey in 'Around the World in 80 Days'. It was a remarkable series

I saw a great meme the other day about the seasons and it certainly applies to Yorkshire. At the start of September, we enter something called 'False Autumn', which lasts about a week and then goes into 'Second Summer'

At its heart is how interesting America and its people are, the kind generosity of strangers and never to let prejudice stand in the way of making a new friend. Something which I think we all could do with hearing right now.

Like many people around the world at this time, I have been horrified at the death of George Floyd, a young African-American man who died when a police officer knelt on his neck for nearly 8 minutes and 46 seconds.

The sub-title is 'How to Stop Worrying about what you do so you can finish what you need to do and start doing what you want to do' which kind of sums up the whole book really. But before you switch off and think this sounds

At the start of any New Year, there will be a slew of 'New Year, New You' books promising anything from new bodies, personality change, more friends, more money and genuinely a better life for you. as a former bookseller,