Today I will be taking a look at the books that I read during the last 3 months of 2020. Between October and December I managed to read 9 books in total, finishing off my final read for the year this afternoon. Just as I had done in 2019, in January I will review My Year In Books by publishing some fun statistics from the Goodreads website that I find really useful for book recommendations. Following bookworms on Instagram (generally referred to as #bookstagrammers) has also got me interested in genres that I would not normally read. For Christmas I was gifted 16 books which, in addition to another 2 books that I got from the Little Free Library at Find The Door, means that I will have plenty of titles to choose from once January rolls in. But enough of my chatter. Let's take a look at the books I read these past 3 months.

1. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah 3/5 stars
2. Three Sisters, Three Queens by Philippa Gregory 3/5 stars
3. Innocence: Tales of Youth and Guile by Roald  Dahl 4/5 stars
4. Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian 4/5 stars
5. Eli's Promise by Ronald H. Balson 3/5 stars
6. A Brief History of British Kings and Queens by Mike Ashley 4/5 stars
7. The Good Doctor of Warsaw by Elizabeth Gifford 3/5 stars
8. The French Girl by Lexie Elliott 4/5 stars
9. Cornflakes With John Lennon: And Other Tales From a Rock 'n Roll Life by Rob Hilburn 4/5 stars

Innocence: Tales of Youth and Guile by Roald Dahl

Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian

The French Girl by Lexie Elliott

She appears, lithe and tanned, by the swimming pool one afternoon. Severine - the girl next door. It was supposed to be a final celebration for six British graduates, the perfect French getaway, until she arrived. Severine's beauty captivates each of them in turn. Under the heat of a summer sky, simmering tensions begin to boil over - years of jealousy and longing rising dangerously to the surface.

And then Severine disappears.

A decade later, Severine's body is found at the farmhouse. For Kate Channing, the discovery brings up more than just unwelcome memories. As police suspicion mounts against the friends, Kate becomes desperate to resolve her own shifting understanding of that time. But as the layers of deception reveal themselves, Kate must ask herself - does she really want to know what happened to the French girl?

I was on the point of writing about a traditional Maltese Christmas but, just as I started thinking about what a traditional Maltese Christmas is all about, it dawned on me that the traditional Christmases that I remember from my childhood are now a thing of the past and they only linger in the memories of those that lived them. In reality, what most of  us now think of as 'traditional' has been imported into Malta in the last 30 years. This includes Christmas markets (strictly forbidden this year), mulled wine and panettone. These foreign traditions have now become our traditions too, making our Christmases richer and more varied - more European, perhaps. 

So if you're curious to see what Malta looks like during this time, lets take a virtual tour around a few places.

Glimpses of a Maltese Christmas: Out & About

Valletta

The light display in St George's Square

       

A life-size nativity scene in Jean de Vallette Square

The Office of the Prime Minister in Castille Square

A display of bunting in Santa Lucia Street

Rabat

In St Paul's Street

In the quieter residential area of Republic Street

The church of St Mark (more commonly referred to as St Augustine's)

Glimpses of a Maltese  Christmas: a peak inside

 Dear friends, I am very excited to announce that, with the help of the very helpful and patient Berenica of Simply The Studio, Sincerely Loree is getting a long-overdue makeover. I have been mulling over this for at least a year now and have always been hesitant to take the final step because I was afraid I would make a mess of it. But, with Berenica's help, I think that you will soon see a more polished and modern-looking blog.

I cannot recommend Simply The Studio highly enough.  For a very affordable fee I will have a new template and Berenica has answered all my questions and will be helping me with the final installation. This may take some time. So please bear with me if links don't work or things don't show up in their proper place for now. I am really hoping that this new template will challenge me to improve my writing and photography so that you will all have more enjoyable experience when visiting the blog.

I will try to be back with one last post before Christmas if everything is up and running as it should be. I am really very busy right now preparing for the most wonderful time of the year and tying up loose ends at work. But I will prevail and am sure that, by 2021, an updated version of Sincerely Loree will be live. Fingers crossed ...

So, here we are. At the beginning of the last month of 2020 and Christmas is just a few short weeks away. If there ever was a year when Christmas should be about what's in our heart rather than what's under the tree, it's this one and my aim is not to put together an extravagant gift guide from major stores or retailers. Instead, I just want to share some small stores, mainly locally-owned by artists or artisans,  because some of these people have had a hard time surviving this year so I thought it would be nice to share a few of ma favourites.

Jewellery

JAD Jewellery

Sarah Gauci Jewelry

Store: 82 Birbal Street, Balzan, Malta

Paintings

Carmen Vella Gauci's Art

Carmen Vella Gauci and I go back a long way. We met in primary school over 40 years ago, lost touch for many years and then reconnected on Facebook. In the past few years I've attended a couple of Carmen's exhibitions. She is a very talented painter who is very passionate about her work. Carmen paints a wide variety of subjects including flowers, landscapes and pets. She also does commissioned portraits. 

Facebook: Carmen Vella Gauci'sArt

                                                        Instagram: Carmen_Vella_Gauci

Jacqueline Agius 

Jacqui Agius is another talented Maltese artist. Her paintings, which generally depict Maltese towns and villages, the countryside, and seascapes, are extremely detailed - almost like looking at a watercolour photo. 

Website: Jacqueline Agius Art (at Fine Art America)

Instagram: Jacquiagius

Home And Living

Bespoke Binny

I first came across Natalie Manima, the founder of Bespoke Binny, on Instagram and I was immediately drawn to the vibrant colours and prints that she uses for her creations. If you would like a few pops of colour for your home, Bespoke Binny is the perfect place to find it. Natalie uses African prints to create pillows, aprons, lampshades and many other household items at very affordable prices. She also offers Virtual Lampshade Making Classes that are pre-recorded so anyone that's interested can enrol at any time.

Website: Bespoke Binny

Instagram: Bespoke Binny Home and Lifestlye

Etsy: Bespoke Binny

Stephanie Borg

Stephanie Borg is a self-taught artist who has taken the patterns found on traditional Maltese tiles (a colourful selection of which you can see in the photo below) to a new level by incorporating them into contemporary products that include mugs, coasters, cushions, prints, mousepads and other items. Traditional tiles are not Stephanie Borg's only inspiration as village streets, traditional Maltese doors and intricate wrought iron patterns are also included in her beautiful and imaginative designs.

 

Website: Stephanie Borg

Instagram: StephanieBorg_Art

Studio Boutique: 33, Saint Catherine Street, Rabat, Malta

For Children

She Chases Butterflies

Welcome to the third edition of Books I Read in 2020. Today I will be sharing the books that I read during the summer months. Usually, my list of summer reads is rather short but, this year, I managed to keep up the pace and got through nine books. These are the books I read this summer:

1. The Peppermint Tea Chronicles by Alexander McCall Smith 4/5 stars

2. Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult 3/5 stars

3 About Grace by Anthony Doerr 4/5 stars

4. Venice by Jan Morris 4/5 starts

5. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald4/5 stars

6. I Will Plant You A Lilac Tree by Laura Hillman 4/5 stars

7. The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh 4/5 stars

8. History of Wolves  by Emily Fridlund 3/5 stars

9. A Dog Called Hope by  Jason Morgan with Damien  Lewis 4/5 stars

 I feel overwhelmed sometimes, wondering what people come here to read, what they expect me to say and whether anything I do say makes a difference in the grand scheme of things. There was a time when words sounded so beautiful that I used to hear them, like sweet notes in my head. There was a time when everything felt true and lovely and fresh. But the world has turned bleak and I have lost by way in this world of words. There's too much noise everywhere and it seems that the places we can run to for some refuge, some respite from the constant jabbering, are disappearing.

It wouldn't be October without some spookiness, so today I am going to jump right on the bandwagon and write about some haunted places in Malta. Everybody knows that this history of this island goes back several millennia, so it won't come as a surprise to my readers to learn that several places are purported to be haunted. So let's take a look at some of the most famous haunted places in Malta.

Verdala Palace (Buskett)

Verdala Palace was built in 1585 by Grand Master de Verdalle as a hunting lodge. It is a square structure with four turrets, more in keeping with a castle than a palace, surrounded by numerous trees, orchards and orange groves. Verdala Palace is said to be haunted by the ghost of the Blue Lady. The ghost is thought to be that of a young woman, a niece of a later Grand Master (de Rohan) who was being forced into marriage with a man who was not to her liking. Tired of being rejected by the lady, the unwanted suitor locked her in her room in the castle. One day she tried to escape through her window and fell to her death. At the time of her death, she is said to have been wearing a blue dress.

 In just a few days it will be mid-October. Right now, some days feel like summer. Other days feel like autumn. Today was one of those days: grey skies, wind and bursts of rain. We're in the final stretch of the year. At work it will be completely crazy from now until the Christmas break. I can't bear to think about Christmas this year as, like everyone else, I have no idea what it will be like. But, for the time being, not thinking about it sounds like a good idea. 

Earlier this month we took our final swim of the year. It was absolutely lovely. There were hardly any people on the beach and the water was crystal clear. I didn't really want to leave but 2020 has been a great year for beach days - one of the few things we could really enjoy.

This past weekend I finally managed to visit a shop that I first heard about in the beginning of 2020. But what with COVID and all it brought with it, followed by the start of our long, hot summer, my plan to visit had to wait. But last Sunday afternoon felt like a perfect time to drive to Birgu to visit Find The Door.

Find The Door

Find The Door is housed in what once was an old bakery and it came about after a number of artists and artisans collaborated together to set up this unique space in the heart of Birgu. Each artist is allocated an area within the store to exhibit their beautiful creations, creating the 'shop within a shop' concept that is quite common abroad. The advantage of this type of set-up is that the items for sale range from paintings to jewellery and ceramics, making gift-buying relatively easy. 

Cute creations by She Chases Butterflies

I felt happy this morning when I woke up to a golden-red glow in the sky that is usually the precursor of a storm. 'Red sky in the morning, shepherd's warning', goes the old adage. Today, it was perfectly true. I am writing this to the staccato rhythm of pouring rain and crashes and booms of thunder. The swallows have returned again, heralding the end of one season and the start of the next. Even the rain does not stop them from their incessant, happy chirping. They lift up my spirits with their twittering as nothing seems to dampen their spirits. I must learn to be more like the swallows.

By the beginning of September, even the oleanders, those hardy desert plants, are starting to look a little bit tired and frayed at the edges. Which means that you probably won't be surprised to hear I'm feeling very much the same. I've forgotten what the coolness of rain feels like and the daily blue colour of the sky; without even the hint of a cloud, has bored me to death. If I thought that doing a rain dance would change things, I'd be out in our yard leaping like a demented rabbit. When I scroll through my Instagram feed (more on that particular topic later) I feel envious of people talking about 'a chill in the air' and 'leaves turning gold and orange'. Here, the status quo has me chafing at the bit. I'll try to be patient. For a little while longer.

 If you are looking for book recommendations, I hope you will enjoy reading today's post about the books I read in the second quarter of this year. Between April and June, I  managed to read 12 books in total. That's a very good number and I think staying  in so much due to COVID-19 had a lot to do with it. I tried to fill up every moment when there was nothing else to do with books and I ended up reading these:

1. The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer 4/5 stars

2. Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy 3.5/5 stars

3. Sword and Scimitar by Simon Scarrow 3.5/5 stars

4. The Wicked Wit of Winston Churchill by Dominique Enright 4/5 stars

5. A Thousand Days in Venice by Marlena de Blasi 4/5 stars

6. A Conspiracy of Friends by Alexander McCall Smith 3.5/5 stars

7. Siena Summer by Teresa Crane 3.5/5 stars

8. After Auschwitz by Eva Schloss 4/5 stars

9. The Weight of Water by Anita Shreve 3/5 stars

10. The House by the Sea by Santa Montefiore 3.5/5 stars

11. The Italian Wife by Kate Furnivall 4/5 stars

12. Flight Patterns by Karen White 3.5/5 stars