Top Ten Tuesday – Places of Worship Around the World I Visited

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic from That Artsy Reader Girl is a Non-book Freebie! My list was inspired by the recent classical concert at Melbourne’s St Paul’s Cathedral, and is dedicated to the memorable cathedrals, churches, temples and mosques I visited on my travels. I decided to limit to one place per country, otherwise nearly half of my list would just be Italy.

Though I’m not a believer myself, I’ve always enjoyed religious buildings, for their historical and artistic value as well as their atmosphere of peace and reaching out to something greater beyond. I have fond memories of my grandmother taking me to a Russian Orthodox church when I was little, where I listened to the choir and looked at the beautiful frescoes of angels and saints.

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The Northman – Film Review

Sometimes I kick myself for not seeing a movie on a big screen during its cinematic run, and that’s how I felt after finally watching this ambitious, beautiful and brutal Viking revenge story soaked in blood and Norse mysticism.

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Top Ten Tuesday – Book Covers with Animals

I haven’t done the bookish lists from That Artsy Reader Girl in a while, so I thought I’d jump back in with this week’s fun topic, Covers with Animals On Them. I deliberately decided to exclude domestic cats, since it would be all too easy for me to get carried away and make an all-feline list.

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Partners in Crime by Agatha Christie – Book Review

My Christie re-readathon keeps coming up with pleasant surprises. I’ve never read these loosely linked short stories before, but the last Tommy and Tuppence book on my list turned out to be the most enjoyable one in the series.

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Little Shop of Horrors – Film Review

This movie was a blind streaming pick on a Sunday night; I had no idea what to expect, but a horror sci-fi comedy musical about a sentient bloodthirsty plant from outer space probably wouldn’t have been my first guess. It turned out to be a wacky, campy, satirical and at times even touching delight.

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Fleishman Is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner – Book Review

This razor-sharp, shrewdly observed novel about marriage, divorce and middle-age malaise provoked a whole range of reactions in me. I was engrossed at first, then a tad frustrated, and finally appreciative when I realised what a clever Trojan horse of a story it really was.

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