As a manager of 3 public libraries and part of our service’s reading strategy team, I can totally relate with the pressure of feeling I have to read certain books. Like you I turned to a lot of modern classics last year, I got work to buy some more of that stock too. We’re having a big drive this year on encouraging reading for the enjoyment sake only, it might sound so obvious but is actually a message easily lost or forgotten so this is lovely to hear Miranda, I hope you have a year full of reading fun and pleasure x
I'm all for encouraging reading for pleasure - that sounds like a great drive! It can be tricky when reading is part of your job though! Thank you very much, and I hope you have a lot of fantastic reading ahead of your this year too. xxx
Happy New Year Miranda!!! this video came just in time🥰🥰...I was glued to the news in horror over here in the US until I had to take a break from the madness which was nighttime and saw you had a new video. I was so HAPPY🥰🥰😭.. I almost cried and I’m not kidding...thank you💕💕 oh I read SO MANY books in 2020 thanks to You..(more than I have in my whole life) and I bought a lot too..(it was so much fun to spend my money on books, books, and more books)😊
I was appalled reading the news this morning, Kiki. Such nightmarish madness, as you say. Hope you're doing ok. And I hope my videos keep providing a bit of welcome escapism in 2021! I'm really thrilled you've enjoyed reading so many books this year. I also seem to blow most of my budget on books 😂 Wishing you all the very best and lots more fabulous reads in the year ahead xxx
Happy New Year to you and your mum! I bought Wintering and am really looking forward to starting it, I think it will be a perfect read for the current situation we’re in. A new to me author last year was Patricia Wentworth so I want to read more of the Miss Silver books. As a child one of my favourite series was Ruby Ferguson’s Jill books as I was pony mad! I have been tracking down the books on eBay as I always regretted giving my childhood books away! One goal for this year is to use my local library more, I’ve discovered that we have a mobile library van that stops in our village which will be perfect. Looking forward to the resumption of Tea Reads 😀
I love the Miss Silver books and the Jill series too! Both such lovely reads. I hope you enjoy Wintering; I found it such a comforting read, even before the coronavirus was a part of our lives. Hope you have lots of bookish joy in the year ahead xxx
Having to read to review is exhausting. In 2018, after 12 years, I closed my blog and since then I have been reading just for fun and it’s amazing! Whatever you read, I’m sure you’ll have fantastic reads to share with us! Happy new year to you and your lovely mother! 🎊📚
Hi Miranda. I am very happy to visit with you again. I love you stack of your favorite 2020 books. I have never set reading goals. I just read whatever strikes my fancy. I love the Miss Read series, both of them. I had them all, however, my daughter wanted them and I gave them to her. I think I will try and gradually collect them all again this year. I will definitely be looking for the Little Women edition that you mentioned would be released. I love all things Little Women. In fact, I have a Little Women Christmas Sampler that I really want to stitch in 2021, that is if I can get my wrist pain to diminish enough to allow me to. I am so looking forward to Tea Reads this Friday and visiting with your dear mom, Donna, again. Until then, take care and happy reading....... Crystal.
Thank you so much, Crystal! I hope you're able to track down the Miss Read books again, and that your wrist pain diminishes. That sampler sounds very pretty! I'm excited for whenever the new Little Women edition is released! xxx
Hello! So good to hear from you again! I don't know why I always feel the pressure to read certain books, either ones that have won awards or are currently popular, especially because that pressure is only coming from myself. But last year I became so discouraged when I was reading a book which I wasn't interested in, but everyone else was reading, and I didn't like it. I do have to remind myself a lot that's it's okay to read for my own enjoyment. And I think that's a great goal for this year and those ahead, to read what will bring you pleasure. And I think your books are part of what makes you you, and why we're here. So, best wishes for a new year!
I, also, read Angela Thirkell’s Barsetshire books out of order and have finally collected them all (and a few non-series ones). I have slowly started reading them in order, although it’s been a bit, and I might have to begin again. BTW If you haven’t read it, I recommend her memoir Three Houses about her childhood. Another of hers that is due for a reread.
You must read for your own enjoyment. This will become natural and organic, so your enthusiasm and joy will come across to the viewer. You are such a pleasure to watch and listen to. I receive lots of tips and recommendations. The videos have a calm quality and are a feast for the eyes, they are beautifully edited. You and your lovely mother have been a wonderful discovery during 2020. And welcome to Yorkshire, it will be lovely seeing you and your mother discover this amazing, large and varied county through the coming year and changing seasons xx
Great video! Shirley Jackson is a new favorite of mine too! I read "The Haunting of Hill House" this year and loved it! I just posted a video on my channel talking through the 100 books I read in 2020. It was definitely the year for lots of reading!
Thank you for the wonderful video, Miranda! I'm afraid I'll have to splurge on this special edition of Pride and Prejudice. Oh-oh. I discovered your channel only recently and am very glad I did. Our taste in books is so similar, I love everything cozy, too, I adore Georgette Heyer and own even the same wonderful Arrow-books-editions of most of her books that you do. Thank God that she was so prolific! To read a series in a row is not always easy, especially when you are reading many - I love mysteries and those are notoriously almost always in a series - but now I have found a way to keep up with them by adding the next book of each series to the end of my tbr-pile when I have finished the one before that. I hope I'm making myself clear :-) Looking forward to your next video, especially the ones with your mom Donna. You two together are a joy to watch. I'm being reminded of my own mom and it makes me happy each time. Have a wonderful new year, both of you, and take care. :-)
Thank you very much! I’m very glad GH was so prolific too. I still love to reread her books when I’m in need of something light and soothing. So glad you’re enjoying my channel 😊📚❤️
The P&P book reminds me of one of my favorite children's books about a postman who delivers mail to fairy-tale characters, and reproducing each of the letters in an envelope! So fun.
Happy New Year! I loved hearing about your top books. My favorite book of 2020 was A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. Such a fitting read for a lockdown. I have a love/hate relationship with goals. Sometimes they work for me, sometimes they don't, so I try to hold all my reading goals loosely. Your "goals" sounds wonderful. I hope the freedom is restorative. I love Angela Thirkell so much. I just finished The Duke's Daughter at the end of December.
Thank you so much, Elizabeth! So interesting to read your thoughts. I've heard a lot of good things about A Gentleman in Moscow. I'm definitely looking forward to reading more for myself this year. The Duke's Daughter is lovely! xxx
Happy new year dear Miranda, for you and your mum🌟 I agree with you: reading for pleasure is so important! I don’t have a lot of time to read so I only read what I really enjoy, and without pressure of goals or trends😉 In 2020 I re read Nancy Mitford, Elizabeth Jane Howard, Rosamunde Pilcher and some Portuguese classics. And I also discover some new authors , I really like to mix the classics with the recent writers. Thank you very much for your recommandations and lovely videos, I am very grateful for this moments ! Happy reads and stay safe! 😘
Loved this Miranda. I’m so glad I’ve tried to read at least 5 of your top 20 books for 2020. Some of the books you mentioned are on my wish list I’ve tried to source them but because of post delays we haven’t had them in Australia yet. My favourite last year was definitely we have miss bensons beetle. Also unwrapping the pride and prejudice book by Barbara Heller was my favourite thing on Christmas Day (gift to myself). I read for pleasure and my unspoken goal is always to have time for myself to read. Your new year reading goal sounds very insipiring and I hope you are able to enjoy the journey of reading what you like lore this year. Looking forward to watching tea reads next 😊
Thanks so much for the lovely comment, Yumi! I’m so glad you got that P&P for Christmas. Wishing you all the best and lots of lovely reading ahead in 2021 xxx
Happy New Year Miranda . Live your video as always. I actually just read The Go Between again recently and loved it. The opening line always gets me! I think book lovers all have some sort of reading goals. Mine are fairly vague but I would like to read a Persephone book every month as well as an Agatha Christie. Let’s see how I go
Hi Miranda Happy New year to you and your mum, everything you said made perfect sense over reading goals, as a child and as a young women I used to read complete series and immersed myself in the characters and story’s and find such joy, then as I got older I started reading books I thought I should read and didn’t give as much time to classics or books I thought maybe were not the kind of books people now read perhaps I thought out of vogue. Now i think books should be for pleasure and enjoyment and if you enjoy a good cosy mystery or adventure story or whatever genre is your thing then don’t force yourself to read things you think you should. Life at the moment is difficult for all of us so find enjoyment and escapism in whatever book or books you enjoy personally. The Ruth Galloway books i stared reading a couple of years ago i thoroughly enjoy them at the moment I am reading Miss Read and Agatha Christie plus listening to p g Wodehouse pure joy. Thank you for the videos you post more enjoyment to keep us all going looking forward to seeing you again soon Janet x
Hello, lovely to see you back again. It’s interesting the comment you made about reading goals. I write in the back of my diary when I complete a book, so I know what I’ve read when. At the end of last year I was disappointed to have only read 65 books, I thought with lockdown I would have read more. Then I realised I do have to read a lot for work, I will read several chapters of different texts when lesson planning and I do feel obligated and sometimes I do begrudge them. I also have to confess to looking at/listening to too many book blogs and feel I have to buy the recommendation but don’t read it for ages. Thank you for challenging my practice, see you Friday and thank you.
It is hard when you have to read a lot for work. I personally find I read a lot more when I'm reading whatever I want to for pure pleasure, but this isn't always possible! However, I'm glad to be cutting down a bit on review books etc. Hope you have lots of wonderful reads ahead of you this year! Take care xxx
Happy New Year! Wonderful video with lots of ideas. Just ordered City of Bells by Elizabeth Goudge after your comments on it in a previous video. Definitely important to read what you like - you could review the Oxford dictionary and I would still watch lol.
Haha, that's so kind of you to say, Corinne - thank you very much! I hope you enjoy A City of Bells; I think it's a good place to start with Goudge for adults. xxx
Enjoyed this video as always. I plan to read the rest of the Daisy Dalrymple series which I started last year and loved and also Miss Read's Fairacre series. There is something so indulgent about allowing yourself to read through a whole series of books. I excited just thinking about it!
Happy New Year to you too 😁 There were a number of your books that stood out for me but two in particular have stayed with me, namely Dear Reader, I read this in one sitting and like you it sent me off researching, and purchasing other books. The second was On Chapel Sands, I listened to your interview on Tea & Tattle last year and was very moved by it, I still find myself reflecting on it, what an incredible story and author. Another great read was October October, I felt quite bereft when I finished it! Personally, I like the sound of your reading goals, I find it very hard to read books out of sequence 😂. I also have a lot of the series of books you mentioned, one of my all time favourites for a comforting read is most definitely Miss Read. What a great way to really get to know an author, and their characters. It would be great to hear your thoughts and views, to hopefully share some of them and, more excitingly, to perhaps discover new authors and their collections. Looking forward to it already 🤣 Tea reads is back, woohoo 🥳 I’ve missed you gals 🥰
Thanks so much for your comment, Karen! I'm so glad those were two of your favourite books from 2020 too. They both stuck in my mind too! I'll definitely be sharing my thoughts on the series I choose to read over the year. Look forward to 'seeing' you again on Friday! Take care xxx
My top two favorite fiction reads this year--all thanks to you!--were The Fortnight, The Camomile Lawn and One Fine Day. Nonfiction fave: Dear Reader. I'm rather sad to be moving away from the holiday season of cozy mysteries, although I have a few tucked away for snowy, stormy days. I'm excited to begin Wintering. I bought it earlier in the year and have made myself wait for its appropriate season. It's next on my list. Looking forward to your first Tea Reads of 2021!
Oh I’m so happy to hear that, Pamela! I love all those books 😊 I’m still on a Georgette Heyer mystery roll on audible 😄 I’m looking forward to the first Tea Reads of 2021 too - hope you enjoy it! Xxx
Thank you for another great video. The reason I love watching is because you're not all about new books, and the latest releases. Of course there is always room for new books, but there are so many great classics out there. Neither do you set yourself crazy reading goals - like you say reading should be a pleasure, not to meet a target. I hope you and Donna have enjoyed the festive season - so looking forward to the return of Tea Reads!🙂
Hi Miranda! Happy 2021! Lovely to see you back again!! I definitely agree with you that tou have to read for pleasure and enjoy what you are reading without any rush...I Aldo enjoy reading modern clàssics and backlisted books! I m planning to read t'he girl with t'he louding voice which sounds fantastic and you seem so enthusiastic about It!!! Thank you for t'he lovely vídeo! Take care and stay safe!
The edition of Pride and Prejudice is just beautiful. I would love to add it to my collection also. I also read Passing several years ago, and I’m sure it will be a reread again within just a few years. I also want to read other works by her also. Mysteries are very much loved and I’ll have to look into Elly Griffiths. I had a hard time narrowing down my favorite read of 2020 but if I had to name one I think it would be When We Were Vikings. I reread some of my favorite classics but I won’t count them as I could never choose one over the others. All of the books you spotlighted sound wonderful and I’ve added many to my tbr list. I always enjoy your videos and smile when I see a new one in my feed. Thank you Miranda and I hope you have a very happy new year.
Thank you so much, Sandy! I definitely recommend giving Elly Griffiths a go - her books were a great discovery for me this year! Hope you have lots of wonderful reads ahead in 2021 xxx
I love the way you speak so clearly. I come from Liverpool but wish I spoke like you. Love your videos. Love and blessings to you and your wonderful mother ❤️xxx
Happy New Year Miranda and Donna! Yes, this completely resonates with me! I read whatever I'm in the mood for, and I love the wild zig-zag journey that takes me on, often veering dramatically between Brambly Hedge and Burial Rites! And I usually have 5 books on the go at any one time for just this reason. I too think a project can be a good thing though sometimes, exerting a little discipline when it's something special you are trying to achieve. For example I'm going to try listening to the whole of Proust this year while I'm walking the dog! Then I can curl up with something lighter when I'm tired in the evenings. Looking forward to 2021 in your reading company! 😘
I absolutely love your wallpaper, just gorgeous! My favorite book of 2020 was A Thirst For Love by Yukio Mishima, such a beautiful classic. So far this year I've enjoyed The Girl Who Drank The Moon by Kelly Barnhill. One of my reading goals for this year is to read any unread books on my shelves and also to read more classics. Wishing you a happy reading year. 📚
So happy to see you again, Miranda!! Yay! I love your reading goals for this year - I'm actually very goal oriented and I love reading books by season (or by author). Your idea of reading all of the Angela Thirkell or Miss Read books in order sounds wonderful! I got stuck on 'August Folly' by AT, but I've wanted to give it another go. I'm hoping to finish the Betsy-Tacy series this year, read more Rosamund Pilcher, O. Douglas, Furrowed Middlebrow books and Jane Austen (I've only read 'Pride and Prejudice'). My favorite books (it was so hard to narrow it down to only one!) were 'October October' (thank you so much for recommending it!), 'Linnets & Valerians' (plus, so many other Elizabeth Goudge books), 'Daddy Long Legs' and 'The Christmas Hirelings', though I could go on and on with others. Happy New Year and super excited to watch more of your videos. Hugs to you and your mom! xoxo :D
Happy New Year, Miranda, good to have you back! Great end-of-year list and only two male writers, so go, sisters! My book of last year was In the dream house by Carmen Maria Machado, I adored it. Your reading goals sound great, I like your videos because you highlight lots of older books so of course you should read whatever you enjoy, keep doing what you're doing best, it works! Similarly I intend to read more from my shelves, more classics (George Eliot, Gaskell, Bronte and Wharton) and more non-fiction this year. By the way, I read RC Sherriff over Christmas, The Fortnight in September and Greengates and I loved them, so thanks to you and Donna!!!!
Oh I’ll have to look up Carmen! Thanks for the recommendation Georgia. Your reading goals sound great too. So glad you enjoyed the R C Sherriff books! Xxx
I completely understand what you mean by wanting to read more for yourself, including total immersion and indulgence in one author or series. I read The Light Years in the middle of last year on your recommendation and loved it (thank you x). I've just ordered Marking Time, but am slightly frustrated that it took me so long to let myself read the next one. No more! This year, especially during lockdown, if I want to sink into the same fictional world book after book then I will. It's how I read as a child and I miss that almost obsessive feeling. I'm also planning a foray into the books of Dorothy Dunnett and have ordered the first book of the Lymond Chronicals as well as revisiting my beloved Chalet School books which I haven't re-read as an adult, so that should be fun. I hope you enjoy your passion-centred reading.
Thank you! Yes, that's exactly what I meant. I miss the indulgence I used to allow myself in childhood and early adulthood of truly immersing myself in a series and reading book after book by the same writer. How fun to reread the Chalet School books this year! I hope 2021 brings you much fantastic reading xxx
Thank you Amanda for a very thorough and entertaining resume of your favourite reads this year. I am so glad that you have decided to do more reading for yourself this year, I’m sure you will enjoy it. X
Happy new year to you and your mum. I adore Shirley Jackson and one of my favourite reads of 2020 was Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life by Ruth Franklin. I was given a copy of Dear Reader for Christmas so I am looking forward to enjoying that.
Hi Miranda, I have slowly been reading through the Angela Thirkel, books for several years. It took a good while to collect them, and I pull the last book I read out from the bookcase so I know where I am. I also read all the Miss Read in order within the two series. I loved her characters and the beautiful nature writing aspect of the books. It did bug me that in the first series you never found out the main characters first name! You gave me lots of interesting books to look for. Thank you.
Hope you and your mother had a great Christmas and new year. Thank you for another lovely video. Great selection of best books and love the goals for 2021.
Happy New Year for you and your adorable mother! Thank you for all precious recommendations and for all videos during 2020, they have helped me a lot in many ways.You should really follow your reading in freedom goal, reading happilly is your right!😘😘😘
I want to thank you for recommending Square Haunting, I really enjoyed it so much. not only learning more about Virginia Woolf and Dorothy Sayers but all the women that were covered by the book and the history of the square and what happened afterwards. Great book!
Hello Miranda, another enjoyable review with some thought provoking observations at the end too. I find it hard to pick a favourite book but I can say that there were some standout books I enjoyed immensely and sometimes that is dependent on the moment in which I read them. One was Nicola Upson's The Dead of Winter and another was Francesca Wade's Square Haunting and also Rachel Joyce's Miss Benson's Beetle. A few years ago I opened a Goodreads account to record books I have read and research reviews (which I look at after I have read a book) and I discovered that I enjoy setting a target of number of books to read as I have found that having a lot of hobbies means I want to do everything! I have enjoyed curating books for seasonal reading which you have inspired and have thoroughly enjoyed that. I also enjoyed the read along because it is fun to read someone else's suggestions which I feel enriches my reading experience too. I'm looking forward to travelling along the reading path in 2021 with you, and Donna, and it will be fun and exciting whichever way you take us!! Teresa 💖📚💖
Thank you so much as always for your interesting comments, Teresa! I love your choice of books! It is fun to curate seasonal books; I do love to read in tune with the seasons as much as possible, and I'm so pleased to have inspired you to create some of your own seasonal reading lists! I hope 2021 brings you a lot of bookish joy xxx
What a lovely video, Miranda! One of my favourite reads of last year was The Long View by Elizabeth Jane Howard (and I think you would enjoy it, as well). I’m also working my way through Angela Thirkell’s books (in publication order) right now, too.
Happy New Year to you and Donna! Lovely to have your content back in my subscription feed and to hear about some of your favourites in 2020 - as well as your excellent 2021 "reading plan". 😊
I've just finished Dear Reader, which my son gave me for Christmas (prompted by my daughter who follows your videos). It was my first read of the year & I thoroughly enjoyed it but it has to be read with pen & paper close at hand for the multitude of book recommendations. I totally understand your reading goals for 2021. We need to make life in lockdown as bearable as possible & not be dictated to. I record all the books I read on Good Reads (I have a terrible memory) & don't plan to set a reading challenge this year, although the pressure to beat the previous year's target only came from myself! Angela Thirkell is new to me & I'm tempted to give her a try. What would you suggest would be a good one to start with? Happy New Year & I'm looking forward to spending time with you throughout 2021.
So glad you enjoyed Dear Reader so much too! The first in the Angela Thirkell Barsetshire series is High Rising, so I'd recommend starting with that one. Hope you've got lots of lovely reading ahead in 2021! xxx
Happy New Year Miranda and thanks again for the book recommendations. I enjoyed reading Falling last year too. I found it gripping and very fast-paced. I will check out some of the books in this video. I just finished a 5 Star read called "The Signature of All Things, by Elizabeth Gilbert, actually, it was an auditable read by Juliet Stevenson. I think you might like that as well. Hugs Maggs
Oh yes, I have that Elizabeth Gilbert and agree it's very good! So glad you enjoyed 'Falling' as well. Hope you have lots of lovely reads ahead of you in 2021 xxx
Regarding goals, it’s very interesting to hear your thoughts and plans. For the most part, I read backlists and reread classics as well. One of my goals last year, and I’m continuing this year is to read a current release once per quarter. I would sometimes find myself feeling left out when everyone would be talking about the latest book out and that was what prompted me to set that as a goal. I do have a total goal on Goodreads but I don’t really stress over the numbers, so it’s fun for me. I also want to read a minimum of five new to me authors over the course of the year and read or reread at least five classics over the year. Some I haven’t read since high school, a long long time ago, and I’m wondering how I would find them now. Some I have no desire to read again, but for instance, I would like to re read Catcher in the Rye and Of Mice and Men again. And some that I should have read and haven’t that I want to rectify, Anna Karenina being one. I seldom set a monthly tbr because I am mostly a mood reader and love choosing my next book on a whim usually.
I really like your reading goal of reading whatever you want. I think that sometimes there is unspoken pressure to read the books that are popular on Good Reads or Booksagram. I have put many of your years favourites on my tbr. 😊
Thanks very much! I'd suggest starting with whatever takes your fancy! I hope to reread the Miss Read Fairacre series and start my chronological read of Angela Thirkell this year! xxx
@@MirandaMills am in a Anthony Trollope read along on the barchester books though out the year on instrgram but going read other books to .that’s ok no worries 🙂☺️
I definitely have also changed to just reading what I want and for no other reason! Except maybe to eliminate books from myself… Which I’ve been doing as they are overflowing.
Happy 2021, Miranda! xx I added My Garden World to my wishlist, it sounds lush. I completely relate to what you said in the last part of your video about not allowing yourself to really read what you want to read. Take last year for example, I read Cotillion for the first time and immediately thought 'so I obviously need to read everything Heyer's written now, this was too good' but I had all those things getting in the way - I needed to buy favourite books to feature in a video so didn't have the money for the Heyers, could I justify reading all those books when advanced copies were just sitting in my NetGalley account unread, everyone was talking about this other shiny book and maybe I should be reading that instead. I love that the Internet has provided me with so many recommendations for books I'd never have found alone but it's added pressure too when most days all I really want to do is reread favourites over and over and I sometimes think I should completely delete my 400+ book wishlist. I spent 2012 and 2013 reading almost nothing but Agatha Christie, I can't believe the freedom I used to have haha!
Thank you very much! I’m glad you relate to what I said, and I definitely think it’s important to make time for reading what you want to read - even if it’s binging a whole series! I hope you read more Georgette Heyer as I adore her regency romances - they were what I read every exam period in my youth when I needed a break 😂📚❤️
@@MirandaMills That's so lovely, what a wonderful memory! I loved Cotillion and my best friend has recommended Arabella, Frederica, Sylvester and The Grand Sophy and I can't wait to read those. I might join you in the Thirkell read too, I've been meaning to read her for ages. xx
These look good. I’ve read wintering and pride & prejudice as well. My favorite books of 2020 were Where the forest meets the stars and The scent keeper. My fav non fiction was Ichigo Ichie. I agree with your goal. The past couple of years I’ve felt like I should read the popular books for conversational purposes but this year I want to read what I want as well.
Really enjoyed this video. I've just finished 'We have always lived in the Castle' on your recommendation - what a brilliant read, thank you! Reading what you want sounds good to me :-)
this year thanks to you I have discover new authors that i know I could not met in any otherway so thanks and i hope to see you cooking with your mom soon .
Happy New Year 💖! I read The Go-between many years ago for my A level in English. I must confess to not loving it at the time, but I'm going to give it another go this year! I have found that being very active on Bookstagram has made me feel the need to read more and read quickly. I've decided this year I'm going to slow down and really take my time instead of rushing through books. I think your book goals make perfect sense. Xx
Slowing down and reading for you sounds a great idea! I think it’s a shame how many books are ruined by studying them in school!! I definitely recommend giving The Go Between another go 😄
I really enjoyed reading Passing last month--that preface sounds like it would be helpful! But at least the volume I have also has Quicksand, another Larsen novella, and that might help me see more of her particular themes and cares.
Have you read Elly Griffith's Magic Men/Brighton mysteries? They are set in 1950s Britain and have a slightly Golden Age feel. I love all her series, though.
I dont know why when you spoke about the corona and lock down i get surprised that you live in the same year as me haha . I always pictured you living in the 1800 something lol
I’ve got reading envy- I want to have read those books as well! 😄 my favourite book of 2020 was The Other Bennet Sister by Janice Hadlow. I’m planning to work my way through some Victorian and Russian classics this year- I’ve read quite a few Victorian classics, but want to dive into some lesser known ones. And my Russian classics reading has been a bit woeful so I’m almost at starting point for that. Happy New Year, looking forward to more wonderfully relaxing and calming bookish videos from you this year xx
I'm looking to do a sort of 'Modern Classics' readathon in March, would you be interested in participating in some way? 😁I'm started with Persephone Books and am trying to branch out to marginalized voices from 1901-1945... Mollie Panter-Downs is on my list!
As a manager of 3 public libraries and part of our service’s reading strategy team, I can totally relate with the pressure of feeling I have to read certain books. Like you I turned to a lot of modern classics last year, I got work to buy some more of that stock too. We’re having a big drive this year on encouraging reading for the enjoyment sake only, it might sound so obvious but is actually a message easily lost or forgotten so this is lovely to hear Miranda, I hope you have a year full of reading fun and pleasure x
I'm all for encouraging reading for pleasure - that sounds like a great drive! It can be tricky when reading is part of your job though! Thank you very much, and I hope you have a lot of fantastic reading ahead of your this year too. xxx
Miranda, you and your mother have inspired me to start reading again, thank you so much 😀
That’s so wonderful to hear! 😄📚❤️
Happy New Year Miranda!!! this video came just in time🥰🥰...I was glued to the news in horror over here in the US until I had to take a break from the madness which was nighttime and saw you had a new video. I was so HAPPY🥰🥰😭.. I almost cried and I’m not kidding...thank you💕💕 oh I read SO MANY books in 2020 thanks to You..(more than I have in my whole life) and I bought a lot too..(it was so much fun to spend my money on books, books, and more books)😊
I was appalled reading the news this morning, Kiki. Such nightmarish madness, as you say. Hope you're doing ok. And I hope my videos keep providing a bit of welcome escapism in 2021! I'm really thrilled you've enjoyed reading so many books this year. I also seem to blow most of my budget on books 😂 Wishing you all the very best and lots more fabulous reads in the year ahead xxx
I haven’t read a book for two days having been engrossed by this horror on our country. Must pick up a book tomorrow!
Laura C., I know what you mean it’s so distracting 🤦🏾♀️
Happy New Year to you and your mum! I bought Wintering and am really looking forward to starting it, I think it will be a perfect read for the current situation we’re in. A new to me author last year was Patricia Wentworth so I want to read more of the Miss Silver books. As a child one of my favourite series was Ruby Ferguson’s Jill books as I was pony mad! I have been tracking down the books on eBay as I always regretted giving my childhood books away! One goal for this year is to use my local library more, I’ve discovered that we have a mobile library van that stops in our village which will be perfect. Looking forward to the resumption of Tea Reads 😀
I love the Miss Silver books and the Jill series too! Both such lovely reads. I hope you enjoy Wintering; I found it such a comforting read, even before the coronavirus was a part of our lives. Hope you have lots of bookish joy in the year ahead xxx
Having to read to review is exhausting. In 2018, after 12 years, I closed my blog and since then I have been reading just for fun and it’s amazing! Whatever you read, I’m sure you’ll have fantastic reads to share with us! Happy new year to you and your lovely mother! 🎊📚
Thank you so much, Julie! Wishing you all the very best too!! xxx
Hi Miranda. I am very happy to visit with you again. I love you stack of your favorite 2020 books. I have never set reading goals. I just read whatever strikes my fancy. I love the Miss Read series, both of them. I had them all, however, my daughter wanted them and I gave them to her. I think I will try and gradually collect them all again this year. I will definitely be looking for the Little Women edition that you mentioned would be released. I love all things Little Women. In fact, I have a Little Women Christmas Sampler that I really want to stitch in 2021, that is if I can get my wrist pain to diminish enough to allow me to. I am so looking forward to Tea Reads this Friday and visiting with your dear mom, Donna, again. Until then, take care and happy reading....... Crystal.
Thank you so much, Crystal! I hope you're able to track down the Miss Read books again, and that your wrist pain diminishes. That sampler sounds very pretty! I'm excited for whenever the new Little Women edition is released! xxx
Hello! So good to hear from you again! I don't know why I always feel the pressure to read certain books, either ones that have won awards or are currently popular, especially because that pressure is only coming from myself. But last year I became so discouraged when I was reading a book which I wasn't interested in, but everyone else was reading, and I didn't like it. I do have to remind myself a lot that's it's okay to read for my own enjoyment. And I think that's a great goal for this year and those ahead, to read what will bring you pleasure. And I think your books are part of what makes you you, and why we're here. So, best wishes for a new year!
Thank you very much! Yes, it's so important to read what you enjoy 📚 💖
I found this chanel because I wanted to improve my english. Thanks.
I, also, read Angela Thirkell’s Barsetshire books out of order and have finally collected them all (and a few non-series ones). I have slowly started reading them in order, although it’s been a bit, and I might have to begin again. BTW If you haven’t read it, I recommend her memoir Three Houses about her childhood. Another of hers that is due for a reread.
I'm looking forward to finally reading them chronologically! Yes, I have read Three Houses and thought it excellent xxx
Yesssss, read FOR YOURSELF, Miranda! I am along for the ride and I love an authentic "ride". I prefer you in your "natural state", no pressure!
Thank you!
You must read for your own enjoyment. This will become natural and organic, so your enthusiasm and joy will come across to the viewer. You are such a pleasure to watch and listen to. I receive lots of tips and recommendations. The videos have a calm quality and are a feast for the eyes, they are beautifully edited. You and your lovely mother have been a wonderful discovery during 2020. And welcome to Yorkshire, it will be lovely seeing you and your mother discover this amazing, large and varied county through the coming year and changing seasons xx
Thank you so much for your kind words! We are very much enjoying life in Yorkshire 😊 xxx
Great video! Shirley Jackson is a new favorite of mine too! I read "The Haunting of Hill House" this year and loved it! I just posted a video on my channel talking through the 100 books I read in 2020. It was definitely the year for lots of reading!
Thank you for the wonderful video, Miranda! I'm afraid I'll have to splurge on this special edition of Pride and Prejudice. Oh-oh. I discovered your channel only recently and am very glad I did. Our taste in books is so similar, I love everything cozy, too, I adore Georgette Heyer and own even the same wonderful Arrow-books-editions of most of her books that you do. Thank God that she was so prolific! To read a series in a row is not always easy, especially when you are reading many - I love mysteries and those are notoriously almost always in a series - but now I have found a way to keep up with them by adding the next book of each series to the end of my tbr-pile when I have finished the one before that. I hope I'm making myself clear :-) Looking forward to your next video, especially the ones with your mom Donna. You two together are a joy to watch. I'm being reminded of my own mom and it makes me happy each time. Have a wonderful new year, both of you, and take care. :-)
Thank you very much! I’m very glad GH was so prolific too. I still love to reread her books when I’m in need of something light and soothing. So glad you’re enjoying my channel 😊📚❤️
The P&P book reminds me of one of my favorite children's books about a postman who delivers mail to fairy-tale characters, and reproducing each of the letters in an envelope! So fun.
What is its title?
@@janefaceinthewind6260 The Jolly Postman! :)
My wallpaper envy continues into 2021.
😂
Yes, I love your frescoesque mural too! Thank you for sharing your reviews, I'm finding so many worthwhile reads
@@MirandaMills I adore Chinoiserie! Was this wallpaper already there or did you put it up yourself?
Happy New Year! I loved hearing about your top books. My favorite book of 2020 was A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. Such a fitting read for a lockdown. I have a love/hate relationship with goals. Sometimes they work for me, sometimes they don't, so I try to hold all my reading goals loosely. Your "goals" sounds wonderful. I hope the freedom is restorative. I love Angela Thirkell so much. I just finished The Duke's Daughter at the end of December.
Thank you so much, Elizabeth! So interesting to read your thoughts. I've heard a lot of good things about A Gentleman in Moscow. I'm definitely looking forward to reading more for myself this year. The Duke's Daughter is lovely! xxx
Happy new year dear Miranda, for you and your mum🌟 I agree with you: reading for pleasure is so important! I don’t have a lot of time to read so I only read what I really enjoy, and without pressure of goals or trends😉 In 2020 I re read Nancy Mitford, Elizabeth Jane Howard, Rosamunde Pilcher and some Portuguese classics. And I also discover some new authors , I really like to mix the classics with the recent writers. Thank you very much for your recommandations and lovely videos, I am very grateful for this moments ! Happy reads and stay safe! 😘
Thanks so much Teresa! It sounds like you had a great reading year, and I hope 2021 brings lots more bookish discoveries your way xxx
Loved this Miranda. I’m so glad I’ve tried to read at least 5 of your top 20 books for 2020.
Some of the books you mentioned are on my wish list I’ve tried to source them but because of post delays we haven’t had them in Australia yet.
My favourite last year was definitely we have miss bensons beetle. Also unwrapping the pride and prejudice book by Barbara Heller was my favourite thing on Christmas Day (gift to myself).
I read for pleasure and my unspoken goal is always to have time for myself to read. Your new year reading goal sounds very insipiring and I hope you are able to enjoy the journey of reading what you like lore this year. Looking forward to watching tea reads next 😊
Thanks so much for the lovely comment, Yumi! I’m so glad you got that P&P for Christmas. Wishing you all the best and lots of lovely reading ahead in 2021 xxx
Happy New Year Miranda . Live your video as always. I actually just read The Go Between again recently and loved it. The opening line always gets me! I think book lovers all have some sort of reading goals. Mine are fairly vague but I would like to read a Persephone book every month as well as an Agatha Christie. Let’s see how I go
Thank you very much! So glad you enjoyed The Go-Between too! Your goals sound a lot of fun 📚💫
Hi Miranda Happy New year to you and your mum, everything you said made perfect sense over reading goals, as a child and as a young women I used to read complete series and immersed
myself in the characters and story’s and find such joy, then as I got older I started reading books I thought I should read and didn’t give as much time to classics or books I thought maybe were not the kind of books people now read perhaps I thought out of vogue. Now i think books should be for pleasure and enjoyment and if you enjoy a good cosy mystery or adventure story or whatever genre is your thing then don’t force yourself to read things you think you should. Life at the moment is difficult for all of us so find enjoyment and escapism in whatever book or books you enjoy personally. The Ruth Galloway books i stared reading a couple of years ago i thoroughly enjoy them at the moment I am reading Miss Read and Agatha Christie plus listening to p g Wodehouse pure joy. Thank you for the videos you post more enjoyment to keep us all going looking forward to seeing you again soon Janet x
Thanks so much Janet! That's all so true. I'm looking forward to making more time to immerse myself in more classics and book series this year! xxx
Happy new year to you and your mum!!!✨🌸
Please keep safe and take care of you.
Thank you so much for your recommendations.☺️🙏🏻✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨
Thank you Carolina! Take care and happy New Year to you too xxx
Hello, lovely to see you back again. It’s interesting the comment you made about reading goals. I write in the back of my diary when I complete a book, so I know what I’ve read when. At the end of last year I was disappointed to have only read 65 books, I thought with lockdown I would have read more. Then I realised I do have to read a lot for work, I will read several chapters of different texts when lesson planning and I do feel obligated and sometimes I do begrudge them.
I also have to confess to looking at/listening to too many book blogs and feel I have to buy the recommendation but don’t read it for ages. Thank you for challenging my practice, see you Friday and thank you.
It is hard when you have to read a lot for work. I personally find I read a lot more when I'm reading whatever I want to for pure pleasure, but this isn't always possible! However, I'm glad to be cutting down a bit on review books etc. Hope you have lots of wonderful reads ahead of you this year! Take care xxx
So glad you are back 💕
Yay! Thank you xxx
Happy New Year! Wonderful video with lots of ideas. Just ordered City of Bells by Elizabeth Goudge after your comments on it in a previous video. Definitely important to read what you like - you could review the Oxford dictionary and I would still watch lol.
Haha, that's so kind of you to say, Corinne - thank you very much! I hope you enjoy A City of Bells; I think it's a good place to start with Goudge for adults. xxx
Enjoyed this video as always. I plan to read the rest of the Daisy Dalrymple series which I started last year and loved and also Miss Read's Fairacre series. There is something so indulgent about allowing yourself to read through a whole series of books. I excited just thinking about it!
Thanks Angie! Yes, it's always so fun to read your way through a series xxx
Happy New Year to you too 😁
There were a number of your books that stood out for me but two in particular have stayed with me, namely Dear Reader, I read this in one sitting and like you it sent me off researching, and purchasing other books. The second was On Chapel Sands, I listened to your interview on Tea & Tattle last year and was very moved by it, I still find myself reflecting on it, what an incredible story and author.
Another great read was October October, I felt quite bereft when I finished it!
Personally, I like the sound of your reading goals, I find it very hard to read books out of sequence 😂. I also have a lot of the series of books you mentioned, one of my all time favourites for a comforting read is most definitely Miss Read.
What a great way to really get to know an author, and their characters. It would be great to hear your thoughts and views, to hopefully share some of them and, more excitingly, to perhaps discover new authors and their collections. Looking forward to it already 🤣
Tea reads is back, woohoo 🥳 I’ve missed you gals 🥰
Thanks so much for your comment, Karen! I'm so glad those were two of your favourite books from 2020 too. They both stuck in my mind too! I'll definitely be sharing my thoughts on the series I choose to read over the year. Look forward to 'seeing' you again on Friday! Take care xxx
Have just begun the audio book of Dear Reader - so good - thanks for the recommendation!
Oh wonderful! xxx
My top two favorite fiction reads this year--all thanks to you!--were The Fortnight, The Camomile Lawn and One Fine Day. Nonfiction fave: Dear Reader. I'm rather sad to be moving away from the holiday season of cozy mysteries, although I have a few tucked away for snowy, stormy days. I'm excited to begin Wintering. I bought it earlier in the year and have made myself wait for its appropriate season. It's next on my list. Looking forward to your first Tea Reads of 2021!
Oh I’m so happy to hear that, Pamela! I love all those books 😊 I’m still on a Georgette Heyer mystery roll on audible 😄 I’m looking forward to the first Tea Reads of 2021 too - hope you enjoy it! Xxx
Thank you for another great video. The reason I love watching is because you're not all about new books, and the latest releases. Of course there is always room for new books, but there are so many great classics out there. Neither do you set yourself crazy reading goals - like you say reading should be a pleasure, not to meet a target. I hope you and Donna have enjoyed the festive season - so looking forward to the return of Tea Reads!🙂
Thank you so much! Hope you have a happy reading year ahead in 2021 xxx
Hi Miranda! Happy 2021! Lovely to see you back again!! I definitely agree with you that tou have to read for pleasure and enjoy what you are reading without any rush...I Aldo enjoy reading modern clàssics and backlisted books! I m planning to read t'he girl with t'he louding voice which sounds fantastic and you seem so enthusiastic about It!!! Thank you for t'he lovely vídeo! Take care and stay safe!
Thank you very much! Hope you have a wonderful year ahead of you. The Girl with the Louding Voice is such a memorable book - hope you love it too! Xxx
The edition of Pride and Prejudice is just beautiful. I would love to add it to my collection also. I also read Passing several years ago, and I’m sure it will be a reread again within just a few years. I also want to read other works by her also. Mysteries are very much loved and I’ll have to look into Elly Griffiths. I had a hard time narrowing down my favorite read of 2020 but if I had to name one I think it would be When We Were Vikings. I reread some of my favorite classics but I won’t count them as I could never choose one over the others. All of the books you spotlighted sound wonderful and I’ve added many to my tbr list. I always enjoy your videos and smile when I see a new one in my feed. Thank you Miranda and I hope you have a very happy new year.
Thank you so much, Sandy! I definitely recommend giving Elly Griffiths a go - her books were a great discovery for me this year! Hope you have lots of wonderful reads ahead in 2021 xxx
Yippee! Miranda is back! Happy New Year to you and Donna xx
Thank you so much 💕
I love the way you speak so clearly. I come from Liverpool but wish I spoke like you. Love your videos. Love and blessings to you and your wonderful mother ❤️xxx
I'm reading Dear Reader now. All kinds of awesome. :) A Bite of the Apple and Wintering sound like great reads!
Oh brilliant! I so enjoyed it too ❤️
Happy New Year Miranda and Donna! Yes, this completely resonates with me! I read whatever I'm in the mood for, and I love the wild zig-zag journey that takes me on, often veering dramatically between Brambly Hedge and Burial Rites! And I usually have 5 books on the go at any one time for just this reason. I too think a project can be a good thing though sometimes, exerting a little discipline when it's something special you are trying to achieve. For example I'm going to try listening to the whole of Proust this year while I'm walking the dog! Then I can curl up with something lighter when I'm tired in the evenings. Looking forward to 2021 in your reading company! 😘
I absolutely love your wallpaper, just gorgeous! My favorite book of 2020 was A Thirst For Love by Yukio Mishima, such a beautiful classic. So far this year I've enjoyed The Girl Who Drank The Moon by Kelly Barnhill. One of my reading goals for this year is to read any unread books on my shelves and also to read more classics. Wishing you a happy reading year. 📚
Oh thank you! Your reading goals sound great. I hope you have a happy reading year ahead of you too 😊 xxx
So happy to see you again, Miranda!! Yay! I love your reading goals for this year - I'm actually very goal oriented and I love reading books by season (or by author). Your idea of reading all of the Angela Thirkell or Miss Read books in order sounds wonderful! I got stuck on 'August Folly' by AT, but I've wanted to give it another go. I'm hoping to finish the Betsy-Tacy series this year, read more Rosamund Pilcher, O. Douglas, Furrowed Middlebrow books and Jane Austen (I've only read 'Pride and Prejudice'). My favorite books (it was so hard to narrow it down to only one!) were 'October October' (thank you so much for recommending it!), 'Linnets & Valerians' (plus, so many other Elizabeth Goudge books), 'Daddy Long Legs' and 'The Christmas Hirelings', though I could go on and on with others. Happy New Year and super excited to watch more of your videos. Hugs to you and your mom! xoxo :D
Thanks so much, Gina! All your reading plans sound fabulous. Wishing you all the best for 2021 xxx
Happy New Year, Miranda, good to have you back! Great end-of-year list and only two male writers, so go, sisters! My book of last year was In the dream house by Carmen Maria Machado, I adored it. Your reading goals sound great, I like your videos because you highlight lots of older books so of course you should read whatever you enjoy, keep doing what you're doing best, it works! Similarly I intend to read more from my shelves, more classics (George Eliot, Gaskell, Bronte and Wharton) and more non-fiction this year. By the way, I read RC Sherriff over Christmas, The Fortnight in September and Greengates and I loved them, so thanks to you and Donna!!!!
Oh I’ll have to look up Carmen! Thanks for the recommendation Georgia. Your reading goals sound great too. So glad you enjoyed the R C Sherriff books! Xxx
I completely understand what you mean by wanting to read more for yourself, including total immersion and indulgence in one author or series. I read The Light Years in the middle of last year on your recommendation and loved it (thank you x). I've just ordered Marking Time, but am slightly frustrated that it took me so long to let myself read the next one. No more! This year, especially during lockdown, if I want to sink into the same fictional world book after book then I will. It's how I read as a child and I miss that almost obsessive feeling. I'm also planning a foray into the books of Dorothy Dunnett and have ordered the first book of the Lymond Chronicals as well as revisiting my beloved Chalet School books which I haven't re-read as an adult, so that should be fun. I hope you enjoy your passion-centred reading.
Thank you! Yes, that's exactly what I meant. I miss the indulgence I used to allow myself in childhood and early adulthood of truly immersing myself in a series and reading book after book by the same writer. How fun to reread the Chalet School books this year! I hope 2021 brings you much fantastic reading xxx
Thank you Amanda for a very thorough and entertaining resume of your favourite reads this year. I am so glad that you have decided to do more reading for yourself this year, I’m sure you will enjoy it. X
Thanks Penny! Miranda xxx
Happy new year to you and your mum. I adore Shirley Jackson and one of my favourite reads of 2020 was Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life by Ruth Franklin. I was given a copy of Dear Reader for Christmas so I am looking forward to enjoying that.
Oh I’d like to read that biography! Hope you enjoy Dear Reader as much as I did 😊❤️📚
Hi Miranda, I have slowly been reading through the Angela Thirkel, books for several years. It took a good while to collect them, and I pull the last book I read out from the bookcase so I know where I am. I also read all the Miss Read in order within the two series. I loved her characters and the beautiful nature writing aspect of the books. It did bug me that in the first series you never found out the main characters first name! You gave me lots of interesting books to look for. Thank you.
Your goals make perfect sense - lead the way!!!
Thanks so much Kathy! xxx
Wish you and your family a very happy, healthy and safe new year 🤗
Thank you so much 😘
Hope you and your mother had a great Christmas and new year. Thank you for another lovely video. Great selection of best books and love the goals for 2021.
Thank you very much! All best wishes for 2021 💫
Happy New Year for you and your adorable mother! Thank you for all precious recommendations and for all videos during 2020, they have helped me a lot in many ways.You should really follow your reading in freedom goal, reading happilly is your right!😘😘😘
Thank you very much! Wishing you all good things for 2021 😊💕📚
I want to thank you for recommending Square Haunting, I really enjoyed it so much. not only learning more about Virginia Woolf and Dorothy Sayers but all the women that were covered by the book and the history of the square and what happened afterwards. Great book!
Hello Miranda, another enjoyable review with some thought provoking observations at the end too. I find it hard to pick a favourite book but I can say that there were some standout books I enjoyed immensely and sometimes that is dependent on the moment in which I read them. One was Nicola Upson's The Dead of Winter and another was Francesca Wade's Square Haunting and also Rachel Joyce's Miss Benson's Beetle. A few years ago I opened a Goodreads account to record books I have read and research reviews (which I look at after I have read a book) and I discovered that I enjoy setting a target of number of books to read as I have found that having a lot of hobbies means I want to do everything! I have enjoyed curating books for seasonal reading which you have inspired and have thoroughly enjoyed that. I also enjoyed the read along because it is fun to read someone else's suggestions which I feel enriches my reading experience too. I'm looking forward to travelling along the reading path in 2021 with you, and Donna, and it will be fun and exciting whichever way you take us!! Teresa 💖📚💖
Thank you so much as always for your interesting comments, Teresa! I love your choice of books! It is fun to curate seasonal books; I do love to read in tune with the seasons as much as possible, and I'm so pleased to have inspired you to create some of your own seasonal reading lists! I hope 2021 brings you a lot of bookish joy xxx
So glad you’re back! Happy new year!
Thank you so much! Happy New Year to you too xxx
You always give the best recommendations! Happy New Year and I'm looking forward to your videos this year. 😊❤📚
Thank you very much! That’s so kind of you xxx
What a lovely video, Miranda! One of my favourite reads of last year was The Long View by Elizabeth Jane Howard (and I think you would enjoy it, as well). I’m also working my way through Angela Thirkell’s books (in publication order) right now, too.
Thanks so much! I have The Long View lined up to read 😊 xxx
Happy New year!!! And happy readings!
Thanks very much! Same to you!
Happy New Year to you and Donna! Lovely to have your content back in my subscription feed and to hear about some of your favourites in 2020 - as well as your excellent 2021 "reading plan". 😊
Happy New Year!! Thank you so much! xxx
Thank you SO much Miranda! I am so grateful for you.
Aw, thanks so much! Wishing you all the very best in 2021 xxx
Happy new Year Miranda! Thank you for these amazing recommendations. I am writing my list of next books to read as I watch your video!
Oh yay! Thank you very much 😊📚💕
I've just finished Dear Reader, which my son gave me for Christmas (prompted by my daughter who follows your videos). It was my first read of the year & I thoroughly enjoyed it but it has to be read with pen & paper close at hand for the multitude of book recommendations. I totally understand your reading goals for 2021. We need to make life in lockdown as bearable as possible & not be dictated to. I record all the books I read on Good Reads (I have a terrible memory) & don't plan to set a reading challenge this year, although the pressure to beat the previous year's target only came from myself! Angela Thirkell is new to me & I'm tempted to give her a try. What would you suggest would be a good one to start with? Happy New Year & I'm looking forward to spending time with you throughout 2021.
So glad you enjoyed Dear Reader so much too! The first in the Angela Thirkell Barsetshire series is High Rising, so I'd recommend starting with that one. Hope you've got lots of lovely reading ahead in 2021! xxx
I LOVE your goal. Read what you want!
Thanks so much! xxx
Happy New Year Miranda and thanks again for the book recommendations. I enjoyed reading Falling last year too. I found it gripping and very fast-paced. I will check out some of the books in this video. I just finished a 5 Star read called "The Signature of All Things, by Elizabeth Gilbert, actually, it was an auditable read by Juliet Stevenson. I think you might like that as well. Hugs Maggs
Oh yes, I have that Elizabeth Gilbert and agree it's very good! So glad you enjoyed 'Falling' as well. Hope you have lots of lovely reads ahead of you in 2021 xxx
Regarding goals, it’s very interesting to hear your thoughts and plans. For the most part, I read backlists and reread classics as well. One of my goals last year, and I’m continuing this year is to read a current release once per quarter. I would sometimes find myself feeling left out when everyone would be talking about the latest book out and that was what prompted me to set that as a goal. I do have a total goal on Goodreads but I don’t really stress over the numbers, so it’s fun for me. I also want to read a minimum of five new to me authors over the course of the year and read or reread at least five classics over the year. Some I haven’t read since high school, a long long time ago, and I’m wondering how I would find them now. Some I have no desire to read again, but for instance, I would like to re read Catcher in the Rye and Of Mice and Men again. And some that I should have read and haven’t that I want to rectify, Anna Karenina being one. I seldom set a monthly tbr because I am mostly a mood reader and love choosing my next book on a whim usually.
Your reading goals and plan for reading sound great! I like the idea of setting a minimum number of new to you authors xxx
I really like your reading goal of reading whatever you want. I think that sometimes there is unspoken pressure to read the books that are popular on Good Reads or Booksagram. I have put many of your years favourites on my tbr. 😊
Thanks so much! Very glad you liked the sound of many of these xxx
I picked up Square Haunting on your recommendation and it’s also one of my favorite books of the year!
Yay! So happy to hear that 😊📚💫
Loved your video and reading goals starting a series . I would love to start a series I don’t know what I could start. 🙂❤️❄️
Thanks very much! I'd suggest starting with whatever takes your fancy! I hope to reread the Miss Read Fairacre series and start my chronological read of Angela Thirkell this year! xxx
@@MirandaMills am in a Anthony Trollope read along on the barchester books though out the year on instrgram but going read other books to .that’s ok no worries 🙂☺️
I definitely have also changed to just reading what I want and for no other reason! Except maybe to eliminate books from myself… Which I’ve been doing as they are overflowing.
Happy 2021, Miranda! xx I added My Garden World to my wishlist, it sounds lush. I completely relate to what you said in the last part of your video about not allowing yourself to really read what you want to read. Take last year for example, I read Cotillion for the first time and immediately thought 'so I obviously need to read everything Heyer's written now, this was too good' but I had all those things getting in the way - I needed to buy favourite books to feature in a video so didn't have the money for the Heyers, could I justify reading all those books when advanced copies were just sitting in my NetGalley account unread, everyone was talking about this other shiny book and maybe I should be reading that instead. I love that the Internet has provided me with so many recommendations for books I'd never have found alone but it's added pressure too when most days all I really want to do is reread favourites over and over and I sometimes think I should completely delete my 400+ book wishlist. I spent 2012 and 2013 reading almost nothing but Agatha Christie, I can't believe the freedom I used to have haha!
Thank you very much! I’m glad you relate to what I said, and I definitely think it’s important to make time for reading what you want to read - even if it’s binging a whole series! I hope you read more Georgette Heyer as I adore her regency romances - they were what I read every exam period in my youth when I needed a break 😂📚❤️
@@MirandaMills That's so lovely, what a wonderful memory! I loved Cotillion and my best friend has recommended Arabella, Frederica, Sylvester and The Grand Sophy and I can't wait to read those. I might join you in the Thirkell read too, I've been meaning to read her for ages. xx
@@magicalemmarose those are all really good ones! I also love Venetia xxx
@@MirandaMills I'll add that to my list! The Arrow covers are so gorgeous too. xx
Dear Reader is today's read. Thank you for the recommendation 😊
These look good. I’ve read wintering and pride & prejudice as well. My favorite books of 2020 were Where the forest meets the stars and The scent keeper. My fav non fiction was Ichigo Ichie. I agree with your goal. The past couple of years I’ve felt like I should read the popular books for conversational purposes but this year I want to read what I want as well.
It sounds like you managed some great reading in 2020 too! Hope you have a lots of wonderful books ahead of you this year too xxx
Really enjoyed this video. I've just finished 'We have always lived in the Castle' on your recommendation - what a brilliant read, thank you! Reading what you want sounds good to me :-)
So glad you enjoyed it! Shirley Jackson is amazing. Thanks very much!
this year thanks to you I have discover new authors that i know I could not met in any otherway so thanks and i hope to see you cooking with your mom soon .
So happy to hear that! Thank you!
And YES! to Square Haunting--been seeing it all over in the past week somehow 😍
Thank you for great suggestions!!
I just finished Miss Benson’s Beetle and absolutely loved it and I to keep thinking about the characters. ❤️
Oh wonderful! The characters were so memorable ❤️
Most inspiring collection of recommendations, thank you
Happy New Year 💖! I read The Go-between many years ago for my A level in English. I must confess to not loving it at the time, but I'm going to give it another go this year!
I have found that being very active on Bookstagram has made me feel the need to read more and read quickly. I've decided this year I'm going to slow down and really take my time instead of rushing through books. I think your book goals make perfect sense. Xx
Slowing down and reading for you sounds a great idea! I think it’s a shame how many books are ruined by studying them in school!! I definitely recommend giving The Go Between another go 😄
Yes, say 'Tosh!' to following the latest trends. We 💜the backlist and modern classics!
I really enjoyed reading Passing last month--that preface sounds like it would be helpful! But at least the volume I have also has Quicksand, another Larsen novella, and that might help me see more of her particular themes and cares.
Have you read Elly Griffith's Magic Men/Brighton mysteries? They are set in 1950s Britain and have a slightly Golden Age feel. I love all her series, though.
Miss Benson's Beetle was so good on audiobook. The narrator was stellar.
That’s good to know!
I dont know why when you spoke about the corona and lock down i get surprised that you live in the same year as me haha . I always pictured you living in the 1800 something lol
I’ve got reading envy- I want to have read those books as well! 😄 my favourite book of 2020 was The Other Bennet Sister by Janice Hadlow. I’m planning to work my way through some Victorian and Russian classics this year- I’ve read quite a few Victorian classics, but want to dive into some lesser known ones. And my Russian classics reading has been a bit woeful so I’m almost at starting point for that. Happy New Year, looking forward to more wonderfully relaxing and calming bookish videos from you this year xx
I love The Other Bennet Sister too! It was my favourite read of 2019 as I’d got an early proof. Your reading goals sound great! Xxx
I love the Ruth books.
I'm looking to do a sort of 'Modern Classics' readathon in March, would you be interested in participating in some way? 😁I'm started with Persephone Books and am trying to branch out to marginalized voices from 1901-1945... Mollie Panter-Downs is on my list!
I'm afraid I don't have time to join in readalongs, but thanks anyway!
Yes--a new book friend (@Blurb Your Enthusiasm) is WILD about Wintering as such a great book for this troubled time in the world. 💙
I don’t do tbr’s either
Thank you so much for bringing attention to female authors from the past: Mary Wesley and Elizabeth Jane Howard.