Blog

Zen is a perfect bed-time read. It’ll calm you down and give you some perspective on your worries, stress, sadness, but also all the positive aspects of your life. It’s written by Shunmyō Masuno, a Japanese Zen Buddhist who very gently, but also practically, leads us into the Zen philosophy,...

Learning a language is a journey. We love exploring different languages: how they work, look, and sound, and today we’re going to try Chinese. We’ll learn Chinese characters using Chineasy, a learning recourse created by Shaolan (Taiwanese now living in London). The idea behind Chineasy was born when Shaolan tried...

We read on the back cover: “celebrating the art of the French language”. Beautiful, huh?   Le mot juste is a collection of French words, phrases and quotations with their actual meaning, pronunciation and sometimes also literal translation. I think it’s a good way to refresh one’s French if it’s...

Walking is man’s best medicine. Hippocrates Paradise is where I am. Voltaire This book is genius. That should be my whole review, but I’ll try to explain why. Erling Kagge is a Norwegian explorer and the author of Silence (my book review you can read here) which is a fascinating...

Love it or hate it, it’s definitely an interesting read (especially since it was written in the 90s – that’s almost pre-Internet era!). Neither here nor there by Bill Bryson, an American-British writer and traveller, takes us on a tour around well-known European cities. The book is written with a...

Speaking another language is quite simply the minimum and primary condition for being alive. Julia Kristeva It’s a thought-provoking and fascinating read. Bilingual Games, edited by Doris Sommer, presents the idea of bilingualism from many different perspectives. The book is divided into 5 parts and each of them contains essays...

Translated into 35 languages & with many positive reviews, I couldn’t resist the temptation of reading it. What’s more I rarely read fiction, so it was a treat. I had mixed, bitter-sweet feelings when I was reading the book: On one hand I was laughing out loud and on the...

Each moment is worth basking in because it won’t be with us forever. Julie Pointer Adams I have been reading this book every evening this autumn. Yes, it was a real treat for me: I was waiting for this moment every day, to read another few pages and to experience...

I first came across Small Pleasures in the little paper boutique, Papersmiths, in Clifton Village, Bristol, UK. But, when I returned there, all copies were sold out so, thanks to modern technology, I ordered my copy online. I guess that means that the book seems to be interesting not only...

Learning is the product of ‘motivation x opportunity’ – Edith Harding and Philip Riley With over half of the world’s population being bilingual, as Edith Harding and Philip Riley remind us, I find the topic of bilingualism important to discuss and learn more about. The Bilingual Family by Edith Harding...