iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ali Hope 📚📚 @heavenalibooks.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that there are some books which can't be read too often. So, I am beginning my fifth reading of Pride and Prejudice, later this evening. 💙📚

Book cover, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Pretty penguin classics cover, lemon coloured background patterned with leaves and swans.

3371

Ali Hope 📚📚 @heavenalibooks.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

I'm finally reading Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, thanks to my book group. I read Transcendent Kingdom a few years ago and loved it. This is very different in scope but absolutely brilliant. Ambitious and heart-rendering. 💙📚

Book cover Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi.
Bright orange and gold background - a tesselated pattern of diamond shapes. A silhouette of a tall Black woman in the centre.

091

Ali Hope 📚📚 @heavenalibooks.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

My reading rate has decreased a lot over the last few years. However, since I moved to my lovely retirement village it's gone down even more. I'm so much busier, socialising more and it's wonderful. I'm the youngest resident at 58, the eldest is 93. Yet we all have fun together. Still, I'm happy.

4281

Ali Hope 📚📚 @heavenalibooks.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Currently reading and almost at the end of The Vanishing Of Margaret Small by Neil Alexander. I've been enjoying it very much. A busy day today so won't be able to finish it until this evening. 💙📚

Book cover: The Vanishing Of Margaret Small. Yellow cover, image a suitcase that has been designed to look like a house.

090

Ali Hope 📚📚 @heavenalibooks.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I have been remembering with fondness, the classic novels I read in my teens and early twenties. A few I re-read but not many, and not for years. I'm thinking it would be lovely to re-read some Dickens, Austen, Trollope, Gaskell etc. Added bonus, they are available free on Kindle. #futurereading

180

Reposted by Ali Hope 📚📚

JacquiWine @jacquiwine.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

'She shut her window except for an inch at the top. This made things worse. What sounded like heavy, laboured, stertorous, even painful breathing was coming, she quickly realized, from the back of the car.' #BookSky 💙📚 jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2026/04/21/m...

jacquiwine.wordpress.com

Mr Wrong by Elizabeth Jane Howard

While Elizabeth Jane Howard is best known for her multigenerational family epic, The Cazalet Chronicles, in 1975, she published a collection of short stories, Mr Wrong, which demonstrates a darker,…

061

Ali Hope 📚📚 @heavenalibooks.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

A frustrating reading month. Started the month with a book for my book group I really disliked, so avoided reading it and ended up taking much longer to finish it. So didn't get many books finished over the month, but a couple of the books were so good! 💙📚

161

Ali Hope 📚📚 @heavenalibooks.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Reading Staying Put by Dorothy Lambert @deanstpress.bsky.social set during the beginning of WW2.

Book cover: Staying Put by Dorothy Lambert. Cover image, painting of a woman in a fur coat, wearing a hat in front of windows.

181

Ali Hope 📚📚 @heavenalibooks.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Currently reading Miss Hortense and the Last Rites. The second book in Mal Pennant's mystery series. 📚💙

Book cover. Miss Hortense and the Last Rites by Mal Pennant. A brightly coloured cover in orange and gold. Image of an elderly black woman in blue coat and white scarf.

0110

Ali Hope 📚📚 @heavenalibooks.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

It's a fab group! I love how international we have become.

040

Reposted by Ali Hope 📚📚

JacquiWine @jacquiwine.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

'How was he going to manage? she wondered dispassionately. He probably wasn’t going to miss her at all, except in small domestic matters, would be relieved when she had gone. All these years wasted, making a home for somebody who hardly even noticed...' 💙📚 jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2026/09/13/a...

jacquiwine.wordpress.com

A Few Green Leaves by Barbara Pym

I love Barbara Pym, an underappreciated writer whose gentle comedies of manners and unrequited love among the genteel middle classes are charming and quietly poignant. She creates an idiosyncratic …

064

Ali Hope 📚📚 @heavenalibooks.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Now reading one of my sister's many recommendations. The Museum of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffman. Many years since I read anything by Hoffman. 💙📚

Book cover. Image of vintage fairground rides beneath a dark blue starry sky. The Museum of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffman.

1130

Ali Hope 📚📚 @heavenalibooks.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Currently reading: Guilty by Definition by Susie Dent. Loving it already. A must for lovers of language. 💙📚

Book cover. Bluey/green background. In the foreground beneath the lettering, a crow sits on top of an open book.

150

Ali Hope 📚📚 @heavenalibooks.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Finished! How I hate forcing myself to read something I'm not enjoying. I can't wait to start something I actually want to read. This felt very tedious!

030

Ali Hope 📚📚 @heavenalibooks.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Over the last few months I've found myself spending more and more nights sleeping in my chair (raiser recliner very comf). Getting into/out of bed and being comfortable has become a battle. Also I get a lot more shoulder and neck pain in bed. Any other chair sleepers out there?

350

Reposted by Ali Hope 📚📚

Rose Ruane @regretteruane.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

A perfect archive documentary to accompany these fabulous fiction recommendations #SpinsterSeptember youtu.be/sZbvymivTCw?...

youtu.be

1968: A Spinster's Life | Man Alive | BBC Archive

YouTube video by BBC Archive

5367

Ali Hope 📚📚 @heavenalibooks.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

I'm now reading Hot Stew by Fiona Mozley. It's for my book group. Wouldn't have picked it up otherwise, as I was impressed by but didn't enjoy Elmet. Trying to decide if I'm enjoying it, which might mean I'm not. 💙📚

Book cover Hot Stew by Fiona Mozley.
Black background pink lettering, bisecting a map of grey images. Two hands with painted nails .

060

Ali Hope 📚📚 @heavenalibooks.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

August reading. The Prisoner by Sally Carson was a definite highlight. What did you read in August? 💙📚

Book covers collage.

The Prisoner by Sally Carson
All I Desire by Dorothy Lambert
Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout
Mourning Ruby by Helen Dunmore
The Art School Murders by Moray Dalton
After the Funeral by Agatha Christie
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata.

3141

Ali Hope 📚📚 @heavenalibooks.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

I have an utterly vile cold. (You forget how miserable they can be). So I am reading an Agatha Christie. The two things are not entirely unrelated somehow, as Agatha Christie is so comforting and familiar. Delightfully, I have no memory of After the Funeral. 💙📚

Book cover, After the Funeral by Agatha Christie. The side of a house shown in near darkness, two windows lit up.

9271

Reposted by Ali Hope 📚📚

JacquiWine @jacquiwine.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Don’t let the terrible cover shown in my post put you off. There’s a new edition from Virago with a much better image…and the novel itself is so well observed! #BookSky 💙📚

5316

Ali Hope 📚📚 @heavenalibooks.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

I'm currently about 70% through The Prisoner by Sally Carson, the sequel to Crooked Cross, that I read in July. It's also very good, and very thought provoking. 💙📚

Book cover. Plain dove grey Persephone books cover bearing the title and author in a cream central panel.

270

Reposted by Ali Hope 📚📚

JacquiWine @jacquiwine.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

New on the blog today, I've written about GAINING GROUND (ABRA) by Joan Barfoot. A radical, beautifully written novel about liberation, self-discovery and the rejection of traditional societal expectations of marriage & motherhood. Highly recommended! 💙📚 jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2026/08/18/g...

jacquiwine.wordpress.com

Gaining Ground (Abra) by Joan Barfoot

Back in 2023, I read and loved Claire Kilroy’s Soldier Sailor, a superb novel in which ‘Soldier’, a married woman in the early months of motherhood, experiences a loss of identity, an erasure of he…

83812

Ali Hope 📚📚 @heavenalibooks.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Sitting down now to finish Mourning Ruby by Helen Dunmore. A long time since I read anything by her. This won't be a favourite but it's a good multi layered novel about loss.💙📚

Book cover Mourning Ruby by Helen Dunmore. A little girl in a white dress stands against a light coloured wall holding a red flower in a vase.

030

Ali Hope 📚📚 @heavenalibooks.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Oops, I seem to have forgotten I have a Bluesky account and haven't posted anything for days.

170

Ali Hope 📚📚 @heavenalibooks.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

*heavy sarcasm* Oh joy! Dreaming of torrential rain now!

150

Reposted by Ali Hope 📚📚

Emma Vardy @emmavardy2.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

From hearing of the amazing Victorian explorer Isabella Bird to finding a 1910 copy of her book at Oxfam 'a ladys life in the rocky mountains'. Makes mention of the intriguing sounding character 'mountain Jim'. Can't wait to dive in!

031

Ali Hope 📚📚 @heavenalibooks.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

I'm now reading Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout. The 4th 'Lucy Barton' book. Set during the pandemic. I'm reminded of what a weird time it was.💙📚

Book cover. Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout.
Cream background, pale blue lettering. Image a line drawing of a house on a cliff overlooking the sea.

170

Ali Hope 📚📚 @heavenalibooks.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Finished reading All I Desire by Dorothy Lambert over the weekend. A comfort read, a Furrowed Miiddlebrow title from @deanstpress.bsky.social 💙📚

Book cover All I Desire by Dorothy Lambert.
Picture is a painted image of an attractive woman.

171

Ali Hope 📚📚 @heavenalibooks.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Happy Ted Lasso day, to all who celebrate. 🎉

041

Reposted by Ali Hope 📚📚

Dean Street Press @deanstpress.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Thank you so much for sharing, Ali! We’re aiming to reissue the last five Hugh Collier mysteries by Moray Dalton in March ‘27. 😉

031

Ali Hope 📚📚 @heavenalibooks.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Currently reading The Art School Murders by Moray Dalton. It never ceases to amaze me how many Golden Age mysteries @deanstpress.bsky.social have reissued - so many to choose from.

Book cover - The Art School Murders by Moray Dalton. Image of a young woman in vintage underclothes sat at a table.

251

Ali Hope 📚📚 @heavenalibooks.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

A good month of reading in July. Highlights of the month was Crooked Cross by Sally Carson and The SafeKeep by Yael van der Wouden. What did you read in July?

Collage of six book covers:

The Sentence by Louise Erdrich
A Case of Mice and Murder by Sally Smith
Crooked Cross by Sally Carson
When the Cranes Fly South by Lisa Ridzen
The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden
The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht.

3171

Ali Hope 📚📚 @heavenalibooks.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Loved The SafeKeep, a good choice I think for our book group. Now reading another women's prize winning novel. The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht. 💙📚

Black book cover. Image of a tiger at the top. The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht.

040

Ali Hope 📚📚 @heavenalibooks.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Finally! I'm sure almost everyone has read this much talked about novel. My book group has chosen it for our August book, and I'm enjoying it a lot so far. 💙📚

Book cover, The Safekeep by Yael Van der Wouden. Image shows a wooden floored corridor leading through a house.

3130

Ali Hope 📚📚 @heavenalibooks.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Oops, realised I haven't posted what I've been reading the last few days. When the Cranes Fly South by Lisa Ridzen. Almost unbearably poignant at times. Such a good depiction of aging, memory and loss of control. 💙📚

Book cover. Cream cover, orange outline of a large dog, with a hand patting its head.
When the Cranes Fly South by Lisa Ridzen.

170

Ali Hope 📚📚 @heavenalibooks.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

This book is phenomenally good, first published in 1934 it resonates strongly still. Very thought provoking, it shows clearly how extremism takes hold with frightening speed. A serious book, but also a real page turner. 💙📚

192

Ali Hope 📚📚 @heavenalibooks.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

I was brave this afternoon and attended a new wheelchair seated exercise group. I met some lovely new people and after the exercise session there was tea and a Portuguese tart. I call that a good afternoon. 👩‍🦼💪🏻

3210

Ali Hope 📚📚 @heavenalibooks.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

We have a Spanish night here in the bistro tonight. So,I just had to go and get changed. The upside of course I have no cooking or food prep tonight (hurrah). Suddenly, I feel pleasantly hungry, for the first time in a few days. This weather ruins my appetite. Olé!🇪🇸

060

Reposted by Ali Hope 📚📚

JacquiWine @jacquiwine.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

New on the blog today, I've written about THE SPRING HOUSE by Cynthia Asquith. Part war-torn love story, part character study, part portrayal of a woman’s life on the home front, there's a wonderful sense of character development in this absorbing novel. 💙📚 jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2026/07/14/t...

jacquiwine.wordpress.com

The Spring House by Cynthia Asquith

Part war-torn love story, part character study, part portrayal of a young woman’s life on the home front, The Spring House is another brilliant entry in the British Library Women Writers seri…

32914

Ali Hope 📚📚 @heavenalibooks.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

I keep having to buy ebook copies of books I already have due to my stupid hands It's getting expensive! Just started Crooked Cross by Sally Carson. I was given a beautiful Persephone edition for Christmas, but I have had to buy the ebook now so I can read it. 💙📚

Image of dove grey Persephone edition. Crooked Cross by Sally Carson.

150