Surprised by Joy – by C.S. Lewis

14 06 2024

As part of my ongoing “one C.S. Lewis grown up book per year” target, I picked up Surprised by Joy. This is his autobiography, but focussing solely on his journey towards Christianity, finishing with his conversion as a young adult.

A lot of the time seems to be given to his schooling in various forms (“Life at a vile boarding school is in this way a good preparation for the Christian life, that it teaches one to live by hope.”), and then through WWI, university and into work in academia. I enjoyed reading his story, but occasionally, and more so towards the end, he got quite philosophical, which got a bit too clever for me, which I’ve found to be a common occurrence with these books.

He’s friendly in the way he talks though, and quite self-deprecating, at the end of chapter one saying he’s written it so that people can “see at once what they’re in for and close the book with the least waste of time.”





The Lazy Genius Kitchen – by Kendra Adachi

11 06 2024

I love the Lazy Genius content on social media, and I loved her first book, so getting this one was a no brainer! If you’ve not heard of her, I’d recommend reading my write up of The Lazy Genius Way to get a feel of what she’s about (TL:DR, be a genius about what matters, lazy about what doesn’t, and you name what matters, so it’s not a cult). Kendra writes in a lovely chatty way, so it’s very easy to read. She describes herself has having big sister energy, which she most certainly does!

This book is not a recipe book, but how to use the Lazy Genius principles in the hardest working room in most homes. There are two recipes in it, but they are more like side notes to her main points. The book is in three sections, the first goes through the five steps to use to Lazy Genius any part of your kitchen, the second helps apply these steps to various parts of of your kitchen, and the third section, my favourite, is a whole load of resources, lists, methods, advice, to help you use your kitchen better.

The only reason I didn’t give it five stars is, while this book does work for anyone, single, family, etc, there are a couple of points where it definitely assumes your kitchen is a little bigger than my tiny one-bed-flat kitchen, she’s a big fan of the zone, and I don’t have space for as many as she sometimes suggests, nor is any part of my kitchen far from any other part, so when she suggests storing certain things near each other, mine all is already!

But this doesn’t detract, it’s a great book to read through once, and then come back to as a reference, most definitely.





Internet highlights – w/c 26th May 2024

1 06 2024
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Internet highlights – w/c 19th May 2024

25 05 2024
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Internet highlights – w/c 12th May 2024

18 05 2024
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Friday F-three Favourite – Eurovision 2024

17 05 2024

This is normally a five favourite, but this year the standouts for me were only really three acts, so that’s what you’re getting!

Interestingly, of my top three, my second place was the actual competition winner, and my first and third took the bottom two slots on the official leader board, so I’m not sure what that says about my taste…

And my beautiful spreadsheet for this year:





The No2 Feline Detective Agency – by Mandy Morton

16 05 2024

I bought this for my mum as a bit of a joke as she loves the Alexander McCall-Smith books, and then she, possibly as an act of revenge, leant it back to me.

The thing is, there is nothing about this book that requires the characters to be cats, which is surprising given that’s the main thing they’ve changed from the books they’re spoofing. The cats drive cars, they use pens, they sit at tables, they wear human clothes, they don’t even lick themselves clean (there’s reference to scrubbing their fur with soap).

The story itself is fine. It’s cute and cosy, has dramatic turns and likeable characters. But the story would have been exactly the same if they were humans, so it all seemed a bit pointless. There is one tiny bit of the story that being a cat sort of worked better for, but a negligible change would have made it work for people too so it didn’t seem enough of a point.

Nice idea, decent story, just not enough made of it’s main selling point to make the joke work for me.





Internet highlights – w/c 5th May 2024

11 05 2024
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The No-Show – by Beth O’Leary

6 05 2024

I needed an easy read and this definitely was one, evidenced by the fact I read it in eight days even though I was trying to get through a magazine at the same time!

Three women, unknown to each other, have valentines plans, but are stood up, all by a man by the name of Joseph Carter. Each of their stories begins there, and we see what happens over the following year.

It’s easy to read, engaging, becoming addictive later on, and I very much enjoyed it – great bank holiday weekend read!





Internet highlights – w/c 28th April 2024

4 05 2024
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