Why a reading challenge? Well, its easy to get stuck in a reading rut. So this is less a challenge than a framework – to read wider, and use reading to learn about wherever you are living.
expats
Our Favourite Children’s Books – Book Recommendations from Expat Kids

Is there a greater gift than the gift of a book? I honestly don’t think there is. Books can transport us, they can offer comfort. They can teach us about the world and about ourselves. They can be an adventure, a refuge, and inspiration, a solace. And it’s a pure pleasure to give a child […]
Expat Traditions – Our Cultural Pick & Mix

What are expat traditions? Well, one of the best things about living overseas for me is picking up new traditions and joining in different celebrations. I love this cultural mash up – or rather, a pick and mix of traditions I have written before about the fact that our family is monocultural – my husband […]
A Book Lover’s Gift List

I think, at heart, I am Icelandic. Because in Iceland, on Christmas Eve, books are exchanged and everyone snuggles up to read and eat chocolates. Sounds like bliss, right? There is no gift that makes me happier than a book. To give books, to receive books. And shopping for books is pure pleasure; a book […]
Expat Long Distance Relationship: Tips on Going the Distance

I’m in an expat long distance relationship. With my husband. He is in Paris during the week and home in Germany with me, the kids and the dog at the weekend. So part-time long-distance. Of course, this was never in our plan – but as we all know, our expat plans rarely ever go to […]
Surviving the School Holidays…

When I was at school the summer holiday stretched out for six long weeks. Now that my kids are at school, I feel a bit duped. Their summer holidays stretch (drag?) on for eight whole weeks. Eight weeks, which is the equivalent to 56 days (or 1344 hours, but who’s counting?!). That’s a long time […]
When Your Expat Plan Doesn’t Go To Plan…

Just when everything starts to feel right, everything changes again. Sound familiar? Yep, another move is on the cards. This was not in the plan. The *plan* was to do 3-4 years in Bangkok and then move back to England. Well, that plan didn’t happen. I worried about a lot of things before we moved […]
Summer Reading…

Following on from my blog post about book clubs, I thought I’d share some book recommendations for your summer reading. Because we all now that now that school’s out and summer’s here we all have acres more time to read, right?! What makes for great summer reading? Well, that’s about as good a question as […]
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Last Night a Book Club Saved My Life…

Book clubs. So much has been written about book clubs – the rise of bookclubs, the fall of bookclubs. There are books about book clubs and even a film about them. A million memes about book clubs…which are largely related to the amount of wine consumed at book clubs. So, I know, another article about […]
Crazy Days of Summer

Ah, the triumph of hope over experience. Every year I think it will be different, every year it’s the same. It’s the last few weeks of the school year. When time goes on warp speed and EVERYTHING gets crammed into these last precious days. Right now I can’t keep track of what’s going on, who […]