Tag: recommendations

Read, Watch and Listen – June

It is summer now and time to lay back on those sun loungers and start reading some books. If you need a break from the heat, pop inside and watch an episode of one of the many brilliant TV shows on telly. While travelling to work, turn up a great soundtrack that will chill you out. Here are my recommendations for things to read, watch and listen to this summer.

Read The Strawberry Thief

If you haven’t read one of Joanne Harris’ books yet, check out my review of Blackberry Wine which I read recently. Also – Where have you been?? Now I am half way through the fourth book in her ‘Chocolat’ series which is really satisfying.

‘Chocolat’ came out in 1999 and was the first book I read of hers. This fourth instalment carries on the beautiful adventures of a chocolate shop owner and her family as they negotiate life in a small French town.

When Viane Rocher’s daughter is left a small piece of woodland in the Will of a local gentleman, everything is turned on its head. His bitter daughter is determined to take back the land and make money on property sales.

Without giving anything away, this story sometimes feels magical. The description of food and, in particular, chocolate is used to immerse you in the narrative. Joanne writes brilliant, short chapters which carefully and cleverly absorb you into the situation.

Watch ‘A Small Light’ on Disney Plus

Last year when I visited Amsterdam, I took the chance to go to the Anne Frank Museum which is set in the actual offices where the secret annex was. Anne and her family were Jewish and hid in those small rooms during the German occupation of the Netherlands.

Now, Disney and National Geographic bring us a well made drama about the young woman who hid the family and provided them with food. Mieps (played by Bel Powley) was not Jewish and worked as a secretary for Anne Frank’s dad. When they went into hiding she remained a connection between them and the rest of the world.

I feel as though there has been little publicity for this project but it is incredibly well written and acted. I am enjoying the bitter-sweet nature of this eight episode series. It deserves 5 stars from me.

Listen to The Little Mermaid soundtrack

Right now I am listening to ‘Part of Your World’ a lot! Having reviewed The Little Mermaid 2023 last week, you will see how enthusiastic I am about this movie and its soundtrack. Having never seen the original cartoon, Part of Your World has become an ear worm which is played regularly in my household.

There is something about the purity of the voice and the meaningfulness of the lyrics. It celebrates equality by yearning for being a part of the mainstream world. I love it and the talent of Halle Bailey shines through. The orchestra provides a serene backdrop to some beautiful lines.

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Please let me know what you think of my suggestions in the comments. I can truly recommend all of these and look forward to sharing more reading reviews in July. Thank you so much for taking the time to read my article about what to read, watch and listen to in June. Please consider following my blog for future similar content.

Meet My Sponsors – June

Well the summer is finally here and the jubilee celebrations are well under way. I just celebrated a year of blogging and everything feels a little more optimistic than this time last year.

This month I am welcoming one of my favourite blogs as a sponsor and I couldn’t be happier. When I first started reading blogs, The Grumpy Olive popped up in a google search of lifestyle bloggers and I soon discovered their eclectic content for the first time.

The Grumpy Olive

These fabulous sisters – Simona, Fred and Christina – have been producing a range of quality articles for quite some time. From recipes to book recommendations, gift guides to competitions, their posts are interesting, relevant and popular.

I cannot recommend them strongly enough. One way of getting to know them is to jump straight into one of their brilliant posts. Here are a selection to sample:

June 2022 Book Releases You Should Read
Mini Strawberry Cake Pots, Quick & Easy
Sustainable Kitchenware You Should Use

If you are looking for a lifestyle/ entertainment blog to try out then this one is amazing. I also love the fact that the sisters mention their Italian heritage and include references to Italian culture and food. I am obsessed with Italy so that is an added bonus.

Thank you so much for checking out my June Sponsor. Please follow The Grumpy Olive and let me know what you think in the comments below.

TV Shows Worth Looking At

Every now and then I like to share some great TV programmes that I am currently glued to. Having got hooked on a few more recently, I thought I’d tell you what I think in case you wanted something fresh to tune into.

Motherland

These characters will have you howling and hooting with belly laughter.

I am probably late to the party with this one but when a few people at work mentioned how hilarious it was I decided to check it out using Netflix. It is already on season two and was apparently shown initially on BBC iPlayer.

The star, Anna Maxwell Martin, plays a mum whose husband always appears to be out with his mates, partying. She juggles a well paid job with parenting duties and her mother has recently started avoiding babysitting, preferring to boost her own social life. Often she bumps into the nan whilst out and about and nan tries to hide, which is comical in itself.

Soon making a couple of good but whacky parent group friends from the same school, Julia (Anna’s character) goes through one ordeal after another. I laughed out loud a few minutes into episode one and didn’t stop chuckling through the whole of series one. I am just about to watch more and totally big up these half hour joke-filled calamities.

Young Royals

This one caught me by surprise. I was just browsing through Netflix and it came up as a suggestion because I had previously watched a TV show which was Swedish. All about a version of the Swedish royal family, the series focuses on the younger of two princes who follows in his brother’s footsteps by attending a private school.

He is introduced to the society rituals there and finds that he is popular with different groups of students, the wealthy and the studious. During his self-discovery he falls for a guy who teaches him how to relax and be himself. Trying to keep this a secret, he gets into all sorts of bother.

I usually watch foreign language shows with subtitles but I tried using the English dubbing for this one. I soon reverted to having them speak Swedish and reading the subtitles as it seemed more natural. If you like 50 minute episodes of YA dramas which cover many contemporary topics, then give it a watch. I love it!

Nine Perfect Strangers

I kind of cheated by mentioning this one because it hasn’t actually started yet. But get ready for some incredible drama with a star-studded cast and a storyline based on a Liane Moriarty novel.

Nicole Kidman produced this series after buying the rights to several of Liane’s bestsellers, including Big Little Lies. Luke Evans, Melissa McCarthy and Asher Keddie join her and many others for what will no doubt be a gritty and surprising miniseries.

My review of Nine Perfect Strangers – the book – is here. I’d definitely check out the book before you get sucked into the TV show. If not, get straight into episode one on Amazon Prime Video on Wednesday 18th August.

I hope that you check out one of these programmes as you may find they are really entertaining. If you enjoy my blog articles then perhaps consider following my blog.