Not Just Cheese And Chocolate

While dogs are often characters in books, they are not always written in a realistic way. In this episode I recommend some books with dogs in them that I read recently and where I was happy with the way dogs were depicted.

Diane's husband Paul came to the rescue with her part of the episode. Prepare yourself for some charming pet stories.

This is the follow up episode to the last one, where I promised some more book recommendations of adventure stories with romance.

Our regular guest Diane had a hard time coming up with her two cents, as science fiction and fantasy are not her cup of tea. But she persevered and the result makes for a nice forshadowing of the next episode which is already in the pipeline.

Inspired by watching the romantic adventure movie The Lost City, I decided to dedicate the next podcast episode - which was long overdue - to the subject of adventure and romance. I then realized that while I had some ideas on what I'd consider a romantic adventure movie, this was less clear cut for books. Which led to some very interesting exchanges with friends and family.

At the end of the episode our regular guest Diane does not only provide us with her own two cents on the subject of adventure, but with the additonal pleasure of a surprise guest.

In our eleventh episode I talk about going to Sunday school as a kid, on how I imprinted early on male friendships with romantic undertones, and what books made me fall in love with male-male romance.

In her contribution to the episode, our regular guest Diane explains her personal views on spirituality and shares some amusing insights into the contrasting perceptions of age in oneself and others.

In our tenth episode I talk about some silly and fun romantic Christmas movies that I watched this seasen, before diving into the main subject: The Wheel of Time, both as a book series and a tv adaptation. Which made me think of another book series and tv adaptation of similar importance to me.

Our beloved guest Diane explains how reading the right book can make us happy, and that life is too short and precious to be wasted on finishing a book that does not work for you.

In the ninth episode I start with a short call back to the last episode on Jane Austen, and then continue to talk about the fascinating subject of time travel in movies and books.

Our regular guest Diane did her part of the episode on the day before going to the hospital. She philosophizes on the nature of time and ends with some inspiring thoughts.

Inspired by a discussion with Heidi (my favorite former boss) and helped along by prompts and references from Annemarie (long time friend and founding member of the English Book Club), this eighth episode is all about the novel Pride and Prejudice (first published in 1813) by English writer Jane Austen (1775-1817), or rather adaptations and retellings thereof.

Our regular guest Diane adds some thoughts at the end of the episode, even though she has no strong connection to Jane Austen and her novels. But as she so succinctly put it: "Just because I don't know anything about it, doesn't mean I can't talk about it!"

In the seventh episode I talk about podcasts and recommend some of my favorites.

This was a difficult episode for our regular guest Diane to partisipate in, as she does not listen to podcasts (yet?). She chose one of the podcasts I recommend and made her opinion piece from that. You'll find her take at the end of the episode - and it is not favorable to podcasts. I hope she'll give them another chance, maybe on a different subject.

This sixth episode has no book recommendations. Inspired by our last meeting of the English Book Club we instead talk about when not to finish a book, how to chose a book, and about different reading patterns in siblings.

For once we start with our special guest Diane, as this episode was her idea and all I did was add my own opinions and experiences to the mix.

At the end of the episode I finally found a way to add a piece of music that my husband composed specially for this podcast. Please listen to "Not Just Cheese And Chocolate", with Rolf on the guitar and the harp.

The fifth episode is dedicated to mystery novels that I actually like. I am wary of crime fiction, as it can be too close to reality for my taste. But there are mysteries that work for me, and here are some of them.

Diane on the other hand is very much into "krimis" as she calls them. Krimi is the genre title of crime fiction in German. It is important that you stay till the end and listen to her list of recommendations, too!