Blogging Anniversary - 10 years

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A while ago I checked when I did my first blog post, in order to celebrate with an anniversary post. Well, that day came and went without any reaction from me. Better late than never, so here a reminder of my very first blog post from 24 October 2012.  The book was New Finnish Grammar  by Diego Marani. Marani is an Italian novelist, translator and newspaper columnist. While working as a translator for the European Union he invented a language ‘Europanto’ which is a mixture of languages and based on the common practice of word-borrowing usage of many EU languages. It was a suitable book to start with, being a book about letters, languages and memories. With a beautiful prose, the novel went directly to my heart.  "One night at Trieste in September 1943 a seriously wounded soldier is found on the quay. The doctor, of a newly arrived German hospital ship, Pietri Friari gives the unconscious soldier medical assistance. His new patient has no documents or anything that can ide...
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Advent Calendar, box no 17 - The Brontës again!

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Just another week until Christmas. The shops are full of people buying their Christmas presents. Today is my son's birthday and we remember this day 21 years ago. It was snowy and very cold. This year it is rather cold but no snow.



Recently my friend Helen MacEwan the founder of the Brussels Brontë Group had a book launch for her fourth book about the Brontës. It is called Through Belgian Eyes, Charlotte Brontë's Troubled Brussels Legacy. We are all aware of Charlotte's view on Belgium and Brussels, but here we get to know what others thought about her, and specifically about her two books based on her Brussels experience; The Professor and Villette.


Very interesting indeed and Helen has done thorough research and the book is illustrated with 60 pictures, which also depicts life in Brussels.

On 9 December there was the annual Brontë group lunch, with a small theatre play and a quiz on Brontë characters. Very enjoyable as usual and great fun to meet people with the same interest. You are never out of a subject.

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