January 2020 – The Best of My Favorite Things Part 1 – In Memoriam
Welcome to a new year, everyone! May 2020 be all that we hope for! I was thinking about the My Favorite Things columns on my website over the Christmas break and I came to the realization that there are an awful lot of posts here. I started writing a post a month back in June 2006 which makes, according to my admittedly unreliable maths, for 163 posts. And it’s highly likely that some of you have missed some of those posts, especially if you’re new to my website. Read more…
February 2020 – The Best of My Favorite Things Part 2 – Fabulous Books!
More best of the MFT columns over the last 13.5 years. This time it’s the turn of some of my favorite reading. I recommend a lot of books here – just check the list at the bottom of the main My Favorite Things page if you’re looking for some great reading! As with the previous column, I’m going to give a short introduction to each piece and then show you the first few lines, hopefully enough to tempt you to want to read the whole article. I’m going to start today with my favorite comfort reading, the gorgeous A Countess Below Stairs by Eva Ibbotson. This piece originally appeared way back in May 2008, but I still stand by every word. Read more…
March 2020 – The Best of My Favorite Things Part 3 – Great Romantic Movies
I’ve got three real treats for you today. Two you’ve probably seen, one I introduced in this column as the very best film you’ve probably never even heard of. I love a wonderful romantic film – there’s something so pleasurable in wallowing in the emotion and the drama. If you’re a fellow aficionado of love stories on film, why not check these out if you haven’t seen them? First up, is Dirty Dancing which I’ve seen so often that I know the lines! This column appeared in November 2011. Nobody puts Baby in a corner! Read more…
April 2020 – The Best of My Favorite Things Part 4 – Great Comedies
I hope you’ve checked out some of my favorite My Favorite Things columns in this quick overview of some of the pieces I’ve written in the last 14 years. Today it’s the turn of some great classic comedies. Who doesn’t love a comedy? I’m going to start with a real charmer from 1939 that I talk about in my column in July 2014. I went through a real Greta Garbo craze at one stage. Nobody plays a tragic heroine like this spectacular-looking Swede. But it turns out she’s equally funny in a comedy when she had the right material. Read more…
May 2020 – The Best of My Favorite Things Part 5 – Favorite British Places
As those of you who are regular visitors to my website or my Facebook page know, I’m a huge Anglophile and over the last few years I’ve been lucky enough to visit every year. In fact, while I’m writing this ahead of time, when I actually put it up, I’m going to be in the Hebrides on the west coast of Scotland. Yay, lucky me. (Update, no, I’m not, I’m still in Australia. It hasn’t been a year for travel, as it’s turned out!). So this month’s best of posts talk about some glorious places you can visit in the British Isles. Read more…
June 2020 – The Best of My Favorite Things Part 6 – More Favorite Movies!
This is the last of this short series cherry-picking some of the best posts out of nearly 14 years of My Favorite Things columns. And I’m returning to classic movies! I hope you’ve had time over the last 6 months to check out the articles I’ve chosen as my favorite Favorite Things and maybe also to have a noodle among the many other articles I’ve written over the years. Read more…
July 2020 – Recent Reads Part 1
After a long series of the best of My Favorite Things, I’m about to start a long series on some enjoyable recent reads. Having said that, I spent quite a few months of this strange time while the Corona Virus rages suffering the biggest reading slump of my life. I suppose one plus of that is that this series is only going to be 6 installments instead of 12! Read more…
August 2020 – Recent Reads Part 2
If you’re a regular reader of this column, you’ll know I love memoirs. So I thought today I’d give you a taster of four recent memoirs that I really enjoyed. I’m going to start with a humdinger of an autobiography, Me by Elton John (2019). I picked this up after watching Rocket Man on the plane to Europe in 2019 (no Europe trip this year, sob). Read more…
September 2020 – Recent Reads Part 3
I’ve read so many great memoirs lately, I’m going to talk about another three I really enjoyed this month. If you like memoirs, though, make sure you check out my three recommendations from last month too. Lately I’ve become a bit of an addict of medical memoirs. Read more…
October 2020 – Recent Reads Part 4
I hope you’ve been enjoying this tour through the books I’ve particularly liked over the last year or so. Today, we’re back in fiction territory. I’m going to start with an Australian/Irish writer Dervla McTiernan who made a huge splash with her debut The Ruin, a clever crime novel set in modern-day Ireland. I read The Ruin and its sequel The Scholar and enjoyed both, but I think this third entry in the Cormac Reilly series is the best so far. Read more…
November and December 2020 – Recent Reads Part 5
Ah, don’t you love a good romance? Obviously I do! And I’m assuming because you frequent this website that you do too. Today, I’m continuing my series on books I’ve read and enjoyed recently (not all are recent releases!) with three great romance suggestions just in time for the Holidays. Read more…