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Showing posts from June, 2020

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...

Paris in July 2020

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Tamara at Thyme for Tea  is hosting another Paris in July. I am happy to participate again. One of my favourite challenge. Looking forward to seeing fellow Paris-bloggers to see what you are up to this year.  Simple rules; we talk about everything Paris and French. Ill-prepared this year, so no high-level plans for the month. Here are some ideas I might fulfil.  Usually, I do a French dinner, but considering the times, this will be out of the question this year. I might make up a dinner menu at least.  I still have an unfinished post from last year(!) about saloons in Paris in the 1920s, which I will finalise. Someone recommended R.A. Scotti's Vanished Smile, about the theft of Mona Lisa at the beginning of the 20th century. I have never heard about this theft, but it sounds interesting. Especially, since I know the painting came back to the museum. Will try to find the book.  I will go to the library and see what French they have. Maybe I will try two of my fa...

before we met by Lucie Whitehouse

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" A whirlwind romance. A perfect marriage. Hannah Reilly has seized her chance at happiness. Until the day her husband doesn't come home... Can you ever really know what happened before you met?" Hannah goes to Heathrow to meet her husband, en route from the US.  It is his usual weekend visit. However, this weekend he is not on the plane and he is not available on his phone. Hannah naturally worries that something has happened. When he finally contact her by message, she is relieved. When she by chance is told that he is supposed to be with her in Rome, her mind moves towards the idea he is having an affair. She starts investigating and more and more mysterious details are detected. This is a kind of 'Gaslight' story. Is Hannah just imagining things? Everybody seems convinced that she is the love of his life. The more she detects an unknown part of his life, the more the mystery is shrouded in darkness. This is a story keeping you hooked and guessing unt...

Catching up

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A while now since my last post. I don't know what is happening, but time seems to go very fast. We are still self-isolating, although we do venture out a little bit more. Being careful and keeping distances. It is quite comfortable to have no demands on you because there is not so much you can do in comparison to normal times. I recently asked my husband how we will be able to cope with all the things to do, once we are back to normal. These days I am only capable of concentrating on the few daily tasks that we have. I do long for normal times, misunderstand me right, and hope that the lack of energy I feel now, will come back. It is heavy to think that we might have to stay like this for another year. We are continuing our walks in the area and have discovered a lot of nice national parks and areas to walk or bike. If this situation would not have occurred, I don't think we ever would have had time for these discoveries. I read 11 books in May. Many of them very good. So ...