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Despite the seeping cold and darker days, we think winter is one of the most magical times of the year. The solstice, which takes place on the 21st December, represents the longest day on the calendar and has been celebrated for thousands of years all over the world, marked by a variety of folk festivals and religious and pagan rites. Some of our favourites include.....Roman festival/Indian  festival/Stonehenge/New Grange People who celebrate the winter solstice often see the period as the opportune time for new beginnings, so why not follow suit! Perhaps you need to kick start your reading habits, ready for...

Have you heard of 'Jolabokaflod'? This is an Icelandic tradition, roughly translating as 'Christmas Book Flood', and sounds heavenly to us! During the Second World War Iceland didn't suffer rationing on paper, and this, together with Iceland's long literary history, meant that books became a particularly popular present at Christmas while other gifts were scarce. Beginning in 1944 the Icelandic publishing trade issue a catalogue of newly published books which is distributed to all Icelandic households. This has come to signal the start of the festive season which culminates on Christmas Eve, the biggest gift-giving day of the year. Purchases...

Alisha I know I’ve said it before, but I really do like to use the reading challenge prompts to help me select and decide on what to read next. Especially if I don’t know what I’m in the mood for! A highlight for me was The Summer Book by Tove Jansson, using the prompt ‘A Seasonal Book’- admittedly towards the end of summer- but I wanted to prolong the thought of summer for as long as possible! After reading Moominland in Midwinter last year, recommended by Marianne, I’ve been meaning to read more by Tove Jansson and this was the...

2024 is drawing to a close and we've been discussing our favourite reads of the year. It's been an interesting twelve months, with some absolutely fantastic literary discoveries, both newly-published and backlisted. We've read across a broad spectrum of genres, styles and authors. We've tried things we wouldn't ordinarily gravitate towards, thanks to the handy Willoughby Book Challenge. We've even been exchanging titles between us and loving our cosy afternoon book chats in the office.  We've put together a little list of some of our highlights and would love to hear which books have surprised and delighted you too this year. Let...