Ali Hope 📚📚
@heavenalibooks.bsky.social
Birmingham UK based book lover, former blogger, fan of 20th century women writers. Rheumatoid arthritis warrior. TV binger, jigsaw addict. Here mainly for the book talk. 📚📚
Reposted by Ali Hope 📚📚
Lovely review on Instagram for Furrowed Middlebrow's The House Opposite by Barbara Noble. #bookreview #booksky
www.instagram.com/p/DRAhRtWgaCE/
www.instagram.com/p/DRAhRtWgaCE/
League of Lexicographers on Instagram: "THE HOUSE OPPOSITE by Barbara Noble is another great war time novel. Although not a memoir as Frances Faviell's A Chelsea Concerto - but rather a fictionalized ...
5 likes, 1 comments - leagueoflexicographers on November 13, 2025: "THE HOUSE OPPOSITE by Barbara Noble is another great war time novel. Although not a memoir as Frances Faviell's A Chelsea Concerto -...
www.instagram.com
November 14, 2025 at 9:15 AM
Lovely review on Instagram for Furrowed Middlebrow's The House Opposite by Barbara Noble. #bookreview #booksky
www.instagram.com/p/DRAhRtWgaCE/
www.instagram.com/p/DRAhRtWgaCE/
It seems my world weary soul needs certain kinds of 'nice' books at the moment. Having to try and not just read vintage middlebrow and golden age mystery. I'm craving them. However, I just started The Mingham Air by Elizabeth Fair. The last of her books I had to read. @deanstpress.bsky.social 💙📚
November 13, 2025 at 7:36 PM
It seems my world weary soul needs certain kinds of 'nice' books at the moment. Having to try and not just read vintage middlebrow and golden age mystery. I'm craving them. However, I just started The Mingham Air by Elizabeth Fair. The last of her books I had to read. @deanstpress.bsky.social 💙📚
Well I finally finished (it hurt my brain) with help from @piedwarbler.bsky.social 😁
The #Hiddenbooksgame is here. It's totally fiendish. After getting 5 in ten minutes, I feel I may be stuck for several hours now. @nationalbooktokens.bsky.social 💙📚
November 13, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Well I finally finished (it hurt my brain) with help from @piedwarbler.bsky.social 😁
The #Hiddenbooksgame is here. It's totally fiendish. After getting 5 in ten minutes, I feel I may be stuck for several hours now. @nationalbooktokens.bsky.social 💙📚
November 13, 2025 at 12:26 PM
The #Hiddenbooksgame is here. It's totally fiendish. After getting 5 in ten minutes, I feel I may be stuck for several hours now. @nationalbooktokens.bsky.social 💙📚
Reposted by Ali Hope 📚📚
We are delighted to announce the shortlist for the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation in 2025! "Each of these books arrives in English in expert and accessible translations that honour the art and voice of their original authors."
tinyurl.com/f9sccz4v
tinyurl.com/f9sccz4v
November 11, 2025 at 12:08 PM
We are delighted to announce the shortlist for the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation in 2025! "Each of these books arrives in English in expert and accessible translations that honour the art and voice of their original authors."
tinyurl.com/f9sccz4v
tinyurl.com/f9sccz4v
I put a call out on FB for jigsaws - so I didn't have to buy any more. I'm now in the midst of a jigsaw explosion, think I may enough to last me until about February maybe even longer. 😁 It's little things that keep me happy these days.
November 11, 2025 at 7:47 PM
I put a call out on FB for jigsaws - so I didn't have to buy any more. I'm now in the midst of a jigsaw explosion, think I may enough to last me until about February maybe even longer. 😁 It's little things that keep me happy these days.
Reposted by Ali Hope 📚📚
New on the blog today, I've written about CROOKED CROSS by Sally Carson.
A brilliant, terrifying novel about the rise of Nazism, the falling apart of a country’s codes of decency & the moral fortitude required to oppose persecution. Frighteningly timely. 💙📚
jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2025/11/09/c...
A brilliant, terrifying novel about the rise of Nazism, the falling apart of a country’s codes of decency & the moral fortitude required to oppose persecution. Frighteningly timely. 💙📚
jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2025/11/09/c...
Crooked Cross by Sally Carson
For a novel first published in 1934, Sally Carson’s Crooked Cross feels remarkably timely, charting, as it does, the rise of Nazism in the early 1930s, the falling apart of a country’s fundamental …
jacquiwine.wordpress.com
November 9, 2025 at 7:17 AM
New on the blog today, I've written about CROOKED CROSS by Sally Carson.
A brilliant, terrifying novel about the rise of Nazism, the falling apart of a country’s codes of decency & the moral fortitude required to oppose persecution. Frighteningly timely. 💙📚
jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2025/11/09/c...
A brilliant, terrifying novel about the rise of Nazism, the falling apart of a country’s codes of decency & the moral fortitude required to oppose persecution. Frighteningly timely. 💙📚
jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2025/11/09/c...
Last night, I started reading a book that I have had for ages. The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street by Helene Hanff. My goodness, it's sooooo charming. 😁 No idea why I hadn't read it before. 💙📚
November 11, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Last night, I started reading a book that I have had for ages. The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street by Helene Hanff. My goodness, it's sooooo charming. 😁 No idea why I hadn't read it before. 💙📚
Trying to get my book group book read for Monday evening. My First Murder by Leena Lehtolainen - I really need to commit to long reading periods, but it really isn't very good tbh. So get distracted by other things.Oh well, at 42%now. 💙📚
November 8, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Trying to get my book group book read for Monday evening. My First Murder by Leena Lehtolainen - I really need to commit to long reading periods, but it really isn't very good tbh. So get distracted by other things.Oh well, at 42%now. 💙📚
I finished Lucy Carmichael by Margaret Kennedy this afternoon. I spent several days reading this as I have had so much going on since moving. I absolutely loved it, the ending was superb! Such a fab novel to spend a week with. 💙📚
Will be very interested to hear what you think of this one.
November 6, 2025 at 5:22 PM
I finished Lucy Carmichael by Margaret Kennedy this afternoon. I spent several days reading this as I have had so much going on since moving. I absolutely loved it, the ending was superb! Such a fab novel to spend a week with. 💙📚
Oh gosh! I adore Muriel Spark, I shall definitely need to get this when it comes out. 😍
Here’s the cover for LIKE A CAT LOVES A BIRD: THE NINE LIVES OF MURIEL SPARK, out 16 April with @sceptrebooks.bsky.social
Preorder here: lnk.to/LikeaCatLove...
Please share! The book doing well means I can write another (and fulfil my dream of owning a pizza oven), so it’s pretty serious
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Preorder here: lnk.to/LikeaCatLove...
Please share! The book doing well means I can write another (and fulfil my dream of owning a pizza oven), so it’s pretty serious
🐈⬛ 🐈⬛ 🐈⬛
November 2, 2025 at 10:15 PM
Oh gosh! I adore Muriel Spark, I shall definitely need to get this when it comes out. 😍
It's been quite a slow reading month. Moving upheaval had an impact. I still managed to read some good books. In addition I'm a third of the way through Lucy Carmichael by Margaret Kennedy on Kindle. That will go into November's pile. In the meantime here's my October reads. List in alt text. 💙📚
November 1, 2025 at 11:26 AM
It's been quite a slow reading month. Moving upheaval had an impact. I still managed to read some good books. In addition I'm a third of the way through Lucy Carmichael by Margaret Kennedy on Kindle. That will go into November's pile. In the meantime here's my October reads. List in alt text. 💙📚
Beryl Bainbridge is such a good writer, The Bottle Factory Outing was the first novel I read by her. I can't remember now, if An Awfully Big Adventure is one I have waiting somewhere on my shelf. So delighted she is getting reissued.
The sharp, dark, dazzling fiction of Beryl Bainbridge is being reissued by @dauntbookspub.bsky.social, starting next year with ‘The Bottle Factory Outing’ and ‘An Awfully Big Adventure’ with new introductions by Yiyun Li and A.K. Blakemore.
October 29, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Beryl Bainbridge is such a good writer, The Bottle Factory Outing was the first novel I read by her. I can't remember now, if An Awfully Big Adventure is one I have waiting somewhere on my shelf. So delighted she is getting reissued.
Started reading Lucy Carmichael by Margaret Kennedy. I have previously read several of her novels, and this one seems to have been newly reissued. My version is the Kindle edition, but I do love this new cover art. 📚💙
October 29, 2025 at 12:43 PM
Started reading Lucy Carmichael by Margaret Kennedy. I have previously read several of her novels, and this one seems to have been newly reissued. My version is the Kindle edition, but I do love this new cover art. 📚💙
I have moved into an overview 55s retirement village.
At 57, with chronic illness and serious mobility issues it seemed a good idea. I'm the youngest here! 🤷🏽
Yesterday, I had lunch with my mum and sister in the bistro, then mooched around the stalls of the craft fair they had on.
At 57, with chronic illness and serious mobility issues it seemed a good idea. I'm the youngest here! 🤷🏽
Yesterday, I had lunch with my mum and sister in the bistro, then mooched around the stalls of the craft fair they had on.
October 26, 2025 at 6:32 PM
I have moved into an overview 55s retirement village.
At 57, with chronic illness and serious mobility issues it seemed a good idea. I'm the youngest here! 🤷🏽
Yesterday, I had lunch with my mum and sister in the bistro, then mooched around the stalls of the craft fair they had on.
At 57, with chronic illness and serious mobility issues it seemed a good idea. I'm the youngest here! 🤷🏽
Yesterday, I had lunch with my mum and sister in the bistro, then mooched around the stalls of the craft fair they had on.
I moved to my new flat on Friday!
Already, my books and I are feeling very much at home!
Already, my books and I are feeling very much at home!
October 26, 2025 at 6:28 PM
I moved to my new flat on Friday!
Already, my books and I are feeling very much at home!
Already, my books and I are feeling very much at home!
Had to start the phone calls etc today (some things via online) to switch accounts to my new address. Moving on Friday!
I'm fairly sure a certain broadband provider whose services I have dispensed with will be using my call for training and monitoring purposes. 🤭
I'm fairly sure a certain broadband provider whose services I have dispensed with will be using my call for training and monitoring purposes. 🤭
October 22, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Had to start the phone calls etc today (some things via online) to switch accounts to my new address. Moving on Friday!
I'm fairly sure a certain broadband provider whose services I have dispensed with will be using my call for training and monitoring purposes. 🤭
I'm fairly sure a certain broadband provider whose services I have dispensed with will be using my call for training and monitoring purposes. 🤭
I raced through that Patricia Wentworth novel for #1925club it was such a rollicking good page turner. I needed something in a similar vein (having a busy, exhausting week) so my second @deanstpress.bsky.social golden age mystery of the week is The Witness on the Roof by Annie Haynes. 💙📚
October 22, 2025 at 6:30 PM
I raced through that Patricia Wentworth novel for #1925club it was such a rollicking good page turner. I needed something in a similar vein (having a busy, exhausting week) so my second @deanstpress.bsky.social golden age mystery of the week is The Witness on the Roof by Annie Haynes. 💙📚
Just finished watching S3 of The Diplomat, which was hugely watchable. Having both Alison Janney and Bradley Whitford in it was genius.
October 21, 2025 at 10:25 PM
Just finished watching S3 of The Diplomat, which was hugely watchable. Having both Alison Janney and Bradley Whitford in it was genius.
Reposted by Ali Hope 📚📚
On the Ramblings today! My first post for the #1925club - my thoughts on some GA crime here! kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2025/10/20/l...
Launching the #1925Club – with two examples of Golden Age Crime!
Historically, I always like to feature some classic crime on the Ramblings for the first day of our Club Reading Weeks – and more often than not, it turns out to be Agatha Christie! The 1920s…
kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com
October 20, 2025 at 7:14 AM
On the Ramblings today! My first post for the #1925club - my thoughts on some GA crime here! kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2025/10/20/l...
Reposted by Ali Hope 📚📚
My first #1925Club contribution is A Saturday Life by Radclyffe Hall - much funnier than I was expecting
A Saturday Life by Radclyffe Hall – #1925Club
Radclyffe Hall’s name echoes through any history of early 20th century women’s writing, or queer writing. We all know that The Well of Loneliness was banned for its portrayal of a lesbi…
www.stuckinabook.com
October 20, 2025 at 10:26 AM
My first #1925Club contribution is A Saturday Life by Radclyffe Hall - much funnier than I was expecting
Reposted by Ali Hope 📚📚
It's time for the #1925Club and my first offering is Greenery Street by Angela Thirkell's little brother: tinyurl.com/4wm5xn22 @stuckinabook.bsky.social @kaggsy59.bsky.social
Greenery Street by Dennis Mackail, for the #1925Club
Greenery Street, Denis Mackail, review
tinyurl.com
October 20, 2025 at 11:32 AM
It's time for the #1925Club and my first offering is Greenery Street by Angela Thirkell's little brother: tinyurl.com/4wm5xn22 @stuckinabook.bsky.social @kaggsy59.bsky.social
No blog posts from me these days, but I can still join in with the #1925club reading the entertaining The Black Cabinet by Patricia Wentworth. I can't remember if I have read her before, so I may have many to explore. 💙📚
October 20, 2025 at 11:52 AM
No blog posts from me these days, but I can still join in with the #1925club reading the entertaining The Black Cabinet by Patricia Wentworth. I can't remember if I have read her before, so I may have many to explore. 💙📚
I do so enjoy Penelope Lively's writing. Ten minutes ago, I finished Judgement Day which she published in 1980. I would highly recommend everything I have previously read by her too. 💙📚
October 19, 2025 at 11:56 AM
I do so enjoy Penelope Lively's writing. Ten minutes ago, I finished Judgement Day which she published in 1980. I would highly recommend everything I have previously read by her too. 💙📚
Duh!! Only just realised this must be a sequel to A Spring of Love. Only 70% in before the penny dropped. 🙈
I'm currently reading Other People by Celia Dale. It's very good! I have loved everything I have read by her to date.
October 15, 2025 at 10:45 AM
Duh!! Only just realised this must be a sequel to A Spring of Love. Only 70% in before the penny dropped. 🙈