Paula Bardell-Hedley

Blogger, nature lover, theatre goer, autism advocate and avid reader of books.

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Paula Bardell-Hedley turned 8 today!

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Winding Up the Week #480 This week I delve into books newly read and reviewed, roam through some of the most compelling literary commentary on the blogosphere, mark a variety of celebrations (from Tove Jansson & Moomin Month to the birthdays of Walter Scott, Charles Bukowski, Diana Wynne Jones and others) and shine a light on intriguing pieces from across the Internet.... https://bookjotter.com/2026/08/15/winding-up-the-week-480/

Winding Up the Week #480

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High Summer, Low Tides #ToveTrove I return to the Finnish archipelago for Tove & Moomin Month with the latest addition to my Tove Trove library – a reading of 'The Summer Book', Tove Jansson’s portrait of a grandmother, a granddaughter and the small island where they spent a single summer.... https://bookjotter.com/2026/08/13/high-summer-low-tides-tovetrove/

High Summer, Low Tides #ToveTrove

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Winding Up the Week #479 Following my two week hiatus, I turn to books read and reviewed across the Internet, explore standout literary writing, note a range of anniversaries (including Tove Jansson Day, National Book Lovers Day and the birthdays of Philip Larkin and P.L. Travers), revisit earlier posts ripe for rediscovery and spotlight engaging features from around the web.... https://bookjotter.com/2026/08/08/winding-up-the-week-479/

Winding Up the Week #479

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A Little Something to Fill the Gap A short week for me means a brief message rather than my usual weekly wind up. You will, however, still see announcements for both Tove Jansson & Moomin Month and Women in Translation Month 2026, and among the birthday celebrants this weekend you will find Herman Melville, James Baldwin and Rose Tremain.... https://bookjotter.com/2026/08/01/a-little-something-to-fill-the-gap/

A Little Something to Fill the Gap

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Winding Up the Week #478 This week’s round up moves from recently read and reviewed books to notable pieces of literary writing across the blogosphere, alongside a handful of anniversaries worth marking (including the birthdays of George Bernard Shaw and Aldous Huxley). It also gathers a selection of intriguing book related features from around the Internet.... https://bookjotter.com/2026/07/25/winding-up-the-week-478/

Winding Up the Week #478

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Winding Up the Week #477 This week’s round‑up ranges from recently read and reviewed books to standout literary writing across the blogosphere, alongside anniversaries of note (among them World Listening Day and the birth of William Makepeace Thackeray). It also returns to earlier posts deserving another look and draws together a set of intriguing book‑related features from around the Internet.... https://bookjotter.com/2026/07/18/winding-up-the-week-477/

Winding Up the Week #477

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Winding Up the Week #476 This week’s round-up gathers recently read and reviewed books, standout literary writing from across the blogosphere and a selection of notable anniversaries (including Bowdler’s Day, Malala Day and Henry David Thoreau’s birthday). It also revisits past posts worth rediscovering and highlights intriguing book-related features from around the Internet.... https://bookjotter.com/2026/07/11/winding-up-the-week-476/

Winding Up the Week #476

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Winding Up the Week #475 This week I focus on books read and reviewed, discover some of the best writing about literature on the blogosphere, keep up with a variety of literary anniversaries (including Alice in Wonderland Day, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s birthday and something else on 4th of July that has slipped my mind), focus on past posts deserving to be rediscovered and call attention to fascinating features from across the Internet.... https://bookjotter.com/2026/07/04/winding-up-the-week-475/

Winding Up the Week #475

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Winding Up the Week #474 This week I focus on books read and reviewed, discover some of the best writing about literature on the blogosphere, keep up with a variety of literary anniversaries (including Helen Keller Day and Global Smurf Day), spotlight past posts deserving to be rediscovered and call attention to fascinating features from across the Internet.... https://bookjotter.com/2026/06/27/winding-up-the-week-474/

Winding Up the Week #474

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Finn Family Moomintroll by Tove Jansson #ToveTrove My latest addition to the Moomin shelf in the Tove Trove library is ‘Finn Family Moomintroll’, the third book in the original series, published in 1948.... https://bookjotter.com/2026/06/24/finn-family-moomintroll-by-tove-jansson-tovetrove/

Finn Family Moomintroll by Tove Jansson #ToveTrove

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Winding Up the Week #473 This week I look at books recently read and reviewed, discover standout literary writing across the blogosphere, keep pace with a host of anniversaries (including Audiobook Appreciation Month and Jean Paul Sartre’s and Ian McEwan’s birthdays), revisit past posts ripe for rediscovery and highlight fascinating features from around the Internet.... https://bookjotter.com/2026/06/20/winding-up-the-week-473/

Winding Up the Week #473

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Winding Up the Week #472 Following my two-week hiatus, I look at books recently read and reviewed, discover standout literary writing across the blogosphere, keep pace with a host of anniversaries (including the birthdays of William Butler Yeats, Dorothy L. Sayers and Harriet Beecher Stowe), revisit past posts ripe for rediscovery and highlight fascinating features from around the Internet.... https://bookjotter.com/2026/06/13/winding-up-the-week-472/

Winding Up the Week #472

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Winding Up the Week #471

An end of week recap “Think before you speak. Read before you think.” – Fran Lebowitz The Fran Lebowitz Reader I will shortly be taking to the high seas for a fortnight with Mrs Jotter and friends, so this will, alas, be my final wind up of the month. All being well, WUTW #72 should sail into your inboxes on 13th June. In the meantime, I thought it rather nice to celebrate the sea in this issue –…

Winding Up the Week #471

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Winding Up the Week #470

An end of week recap “Everything is broken and messed up and completely fine. That is what life is. It’s only the ratios that change. Usually on their own. As soon as you think that’s it, it’s going to be like this forever, they change again.” – Meg Mason Sorrow and Bliss Today is National Biographers Day – when we remember the 16th May 1763 meeting of Samuel Johnson and James Boswell in London –…

Winding Up the Week #470

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Winding Up the Week #469

An end of week recap “Darwin may have been quite correct in his theory that man descended from the apes of the forest, but surely woman rose from the frothy sea, as resplendent as Aphrodite on her scalloped chariot.” – Margot Datz A Survival Guide for Landlocked Mermaids Thank you so much to everyone who wished my wife’s mum well. Sadly, she passed away last Sunday. It is Europe Day today, an…

Winding Up the Week #469

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- Three Things + #11: A Long March into April

A springboard into the next labyrinthine burrow… This is a place for me to hold forth on matters both serious and silly. You are invited to participate. Daylight saving allowed an extra hour of reading in the evening, should I have needed it (which I did), for in recent weeks there has been much harvesting of quotations, scribbling of notes and affixing of sticky tabs to anything that looks…

- Three Things + #11: A Long March into April