#andrew cotter

[iconuk01]

Andrew Cotter is a sports commentator who, during the first lockdown of 2020, made a series of delightful videos as he walked his dogs, Olive and Mabel and applied his particular skillset to the situation.

[musictherapy611]

Olive and Mabel, “End of Spring”

[fragilebrit]

There are two Andrew Cs on BBC's commentary team, one is a charming Scot who's both witty and knowledgeable, regardless of what sport he's covering, and then there's Andrew Castle.

[hgeeky]

Books I read in 2024 - non-fiction

My final post on my reading highlights from last year, following this post on the series I read and this one on stand-alone fiction.

I've split this one up by topic.

LGBTQ books

My favourite non-fiction LGBTQ book this year was "Tomorrow will be different" by Sarah McBride, now a member of the US's House of Representatives, the first openly trans person to be elected to Congress.

But this book isn't about that, at least not directly. This is about Sarah coming out during her university days and the first few years after that. If you're a fan of The West Wing and interested in trans issues, I highly recommend this book. It's a really interesting perspective on the campaigning involved in passing legislation, plus a moving account of Sarah's life through some major ups and downs.

Honourable mention to "Out of the Shadows" by Walt Odets - it was quite challenging, but at times very moving. I read it for my work's LGBTQ book group.

Dog books

We got a puppy this year, and in preparation I read a lot of books about dogs. My top recommendations are:

The Culture Clash by Jean Donaldson - a fascinating look at what we know about dog behaviour and some great training advice (also it made me laugh a few times).

Perfectly Imperfect Puppy by Graeme Hall - even if you don't particularly plan to get or train a dog, you may still enjoy this one as it's got some lovely stories about Graeme's own dogs, plus those he's met during his work as a dog behaviourist.

Honourable mention to "Olive, Mabel and Me" by Andrew Cotter. If you've enjoyed any of Cotter's videos from during the pandemic lockdowns, this is a lovely way to get to know him and the dogs better. Bonus if you are interested in mountains, as there's a lot about his love of them too.

Food

I dip into my cookbook collection a lot, and I get a lot from blogs, etc, but there are two main new books I read this year

Cook as you are by Ruby Tandoh - I haven't managed to try any of the recipes yet, but I loved reading this. Ruby has a wonderful approach to food. I love her sensitivity to the role of food in wellbeing and culture, and her understanding of different food for different moods.

German Baking by Jürgen Krauss - my favourite ever Bake Off contestant brought out a book and it's so very him, it's wonderful. I've attempted one recipe (the sunken apple cake) and it was lovely. I think it'll be more of a project cookbook, because the recipes look quite involved, but I think it'll be fun to try more of them.

Mental wellbeing

How to relax by Thich Nhat Hanh - a rather poetic approach to mindful relaxation

The Cure for Burnout by Emily Ballesteros - very US-centric, and not as much on how to immediately ease the impact of burnout, but lots of very sensible advice, and something I'll come back to.

Greek and Roman Myth

"Pandora's Jar" and "Divine Might" by Natalie Haynes - these two work well together. I love how Haynes blends references to artifacts and literature with her own subjective take on the stories and characters.

[girlonfilms]

Andy Murray heads to the stage

Andy Murray will tour the UK in an interactive stage show next summer. Continue reading Andy Murray heads to the stage

[magicalyaku]

Hello and welcome to my 2023 reading wrap up! A big Thank You to everyone who followed my ramblings throughout the year! <3 I will continue through 2024. Maybe I'll learn how to write proper reviews, at least I'll try to remember better what I actually want to say about the stories. In 2022, I read 93 books plus my own. Guess how many it were in 2023? 93 plus my own!! xD That was huge coincidence and I love it. Of these 94 books, 4 are rereads (which won't be included in the "Favourite" sections), 2 are non-fiction, 11 are non-queer. I only DNFed 1 book (which is not pictured) and other than that I only disliked 6 books! (And it's a pretty soft dislike in comparison. I don't hate them nearly enough to want to shit on them again. :'D).

So on the the awards!

Most Read Author: KJ Charles (8 books)

Least Favourite Book: Daresh (Katja Brandis) (the one I could not finish for dear life)

Favourite Character: Brand (The Tarot Sequence) and Will (The Will Darling Adventures) (yes, there's a trend)

Favourite Covers (of books I read, not releases):

(There were too many. D:)

Highest Emotional Investment (aka The Agony, the suffering, the why you do this to me Award): Dark Heir - The Scottish Boy - In Memoriam

Wildest Story: The Adventures of Pinocchio

Favourite Books:

The Devil's Luck (L.S. Baird)

The Scottish Boy (Alex de Campi)

In Memoriam (Alice Winn)

Just Lizzie (Karen Wilfried)

Dark Heir (C.S. Pacat)

The Will Darling Adventures (KJ Charles)

Gwen & Art are not in Love (Lex Croucher)

The Buried and the Bound (Rochelle Hassan)

More Books I enjoyed greatly:

Oracle of Senders series (Mere Joyce)

Of Feathers and Thorns (Kit Vincent)

Wren Martin Ruins it all (Amanda deWitt)

Simon Snow series (Rainbow Rowell)

The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley (Shaun David Hutchinson)

The Tarot Sequence (K.D. Edwards)

The First and Last Adventure of Kit Sawyer (S.E. Harmon)

Sixteen Souls (Rosie Talbot)

By any Other Name (Erin Cotter)

The High King's Golden Tongue (Megan Derr) and more!!

Most Used Name: I counted names last year and didn't want to do it again this year because I read so much fantasy, so the names were all over. Still, there was one who stood out amongst them all with at least 4 instances, if not more. Probably more.

Will

Congratulations. I have to admit, I've always liked that name. My favourite character of all times and part of my one and only OTP is named Will as well and I kinda hope the last book of their second trilogy never comes because it will probably make me scream and ... ...

Bonus! This year, I counted pages! Because I felt that most books were much shorter than what I read before. So I wanted to know. Turns out, my feeling was wrong. My 93 books had a whole of 33011 pages which results in approximately 350 pages per book. That's pretty normal I dare say.

That's it for 2023! I had a very good year in books. I wanted to read less actually, and failed spectacularly because I had too much fun. And if anyone's wondering how I read so much, I read fast and I just didn't do anything else in my free time. Escapism to the max. I hope, the new year treats you well! I hope, you have fun with the books you read! Let's meet again soon! <3

[mikewdriver]

Afternoon! Here's a bunch of images I worked on last year for Mckellar Magazine for an article about how Andrew Cotter is merging dog walking with the sport of Golf!

https://michaeldriver.co.uk

[bluespring864]

Some highlights from this GQ article about Andy's upcoming stage show under the cut (more details about the show in the article)

Andy Murray does not enjoy the limelight. For the entirety of his multiple-Grand-Slam-winning tennis career, the so-called ‘dour Scot’ always maintained a respectful but distant relationship with the media and avoided prying cameras or additional scrutiny into his personal life. He’d absolutely thrive on being on centre court, but centre of attention? No thanks.

So four months after retiring from a profession that made him a global sporting name, it will come as a surprise to hear Murray has decided to embark on a live stage show tour of the UK next summer – reluctantly of course. “My team has really pushed me to do this,” he tells me from his living room, an hour or so after having done the school run.

While he was still playing, Murray was asked to speak at various events but he never did them. But with retirement comes “quite a lot of free time on my hands, and I’m keen to try things that make me feel a bit uncomfortable”.

The idea of a tour was brought to him a few months ago. “I was reluctant at first. But I've done a couple of speaking engagements recently that went quite well. I was nervous before them, but then felt much better having finished and was glad I'd done it.”

With shows in Glasgow, Edinburgh and London in the weeks leading up to Wimbledon next summer, all hosted by BBC sports broadcaster and fellow Scot Andrew Cotter, Murray is certainly not treating it as the beginning of a stand-up career. “My biggest fear is agreeing to do something like this and then no one wants to come along and watch it,” he says. [...]

It wouldn't be a GQ interview if we didn't talk about style…

Style, did you say? I'm devoid of style. I don't have any of that, unfortunately.

Have you thought about what you're going to be wearing up on stage?

When they did the photos for the show, they brought a bunch of stuff for me and I was like, Look, I wouldn't wear any of that, but just chuck it on me. You tell me what to wear and I will give it a go. So I'll wear whatever because I don't confess to know anything about that stuff.

Perhaps this is the moment where you start dressing more flamboyantly…

[Laughs] Well, maybe I will surprise everyone. Who knows?

source: gq-magazine.co.uk

[youreamonocoque]

"and that was the last we ever saw of Leon Marchand" god I love Andrew Cotter he's so good lmao

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

🌈 Good morning and happy Wednesday, my bookish bats! You didn't think that tiny "queer books coming out this fall" guide was ALL there was, did you? Here are a FEW of the stunning, diverse queer books you can add to your TBR this month. Happy reading!

❤️ A Vision of Air by Nicole Silver 🧡 Eli Over Easy by Phil Stamper 💛 How to Get Over the End of the World by Hal Schrieve 💚 Kween by Vichet Chum 💙 The Forest Demands its Due by Kosoko Jackson 💜 The B-Side of Daniel Garneau by David Kingston Yeh ❤️ Midnight Companion by Kit Barrie 🧡 Let the Waters Roars by Geonn Cannon 💛 Into the Glittering Dark by Kelley York 💙 When the Rain Begins to Burn by A.L. Davidson 💜 Been Outside by Amber Wendler & Shaz Zamore 🌈 The Forest Demands Its Due by Kosoko Jackson

❤️ A Necessary Chaos by Brent Lambert 🧡 The Spells We Cast by Jason June 💛 Pluralities by Avi Silver 💚 Salt the Water by Candice Iloh 💙 Beholder by Ryan La Sala 💜 This Pact is Not Ours by Zachary Sergi ❤️ Dragging Mason County by Curtis Campbell 🧡 Menewood by Nicola Griffith 💛 Mary and the Birth of Frankenstein by Anne Eekhout 💚 The Dead Take the A Train by Cassandra Khaw & Richard Kadrey 💙 Bloom by Delilah S. Dawson 💜 Let Me Out by Emmett Nahil and George Williams

🌈 In the Form of a Question: the Joys and Rewards of a Curious Life by Amy Schneider ❤️ Songs of Irie by Asha Ashanti Bromfield 🧡 A Haunting on the Hill by Elizabeth Hand 💛 Being Ace by Madeline Dyer 💚 Charming Young Man by Eliot Schrefer 💙 The Glass Scientists by S.H. Cotugno 💜 The Fall of Whit Rivera by Crystal Maldonado ❤️ By Any Other Name by Erin Cotter 🧡 Brooms by Jasmine Walls and Teo DuVall 💛 Stars in Your Eyes by Kacen Callender 💚 Shoot the Moon by Isa Arsen 💙 The Bell in the Fog by Lev A.C. Rosen

🌈 Brainwyrms by Alison Rumfitt ❤️ Family Meal by Bryan Washington 🧡 A Murder of Crows by Dharma Kelleher 💛 A Light Most Hateful by Hailey Piper 💚 Love at 350° by Lisa Peers 💙 Greasepaint by Hannah Levene 💜 The Christmas Swap by Talia Samuels ❤️ Mate of Her Own by Elena Abbott 🧡 Mistletoe and Mishigas by M.A. Wardell 💛 Elle Campbell Wins Their Weekend by Ben Kahn 💚 All That Consumes Us by Erica Waters 💙 If You’ll Have Me by Eunnie

❤️ Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Lillah Lawson and Lauren Emily Whalen 🧡 10 Things That Never Happened by Alexis Hall 💛 It’s a Fabulous Life by Kelly Farmer 💚 Let the Dead Bury the Dead by Allison Epstein 💙 These Burning Stars by Bethany Jacobs 💜 The Goth House Experiment by SJ Sindu ❤️ Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant by Curtis Chin 🧡 Mudflowers by Aley Waterman 💛 Here Lies Olive by Kate Anderson 💚 Fire From the Sky by Moa Backe Åstot, trans. by Eva Apelqvist 💙 Iris Kelly Doesn’t Date by Ashley Herring Blake 💜 On the Same Page by Haley Cass

❤️ A Dish Best Served Hot by Natalie Caña 🧡 Art of the Chase by Jennifer Giacalone 💛 The Haunting of Adrian Yates by Markus Harwood-Jones 💚 The Sword: Xcian by Elle Arroyo 💙 The Complete Carlisle Series by Roslyn Sinclair 💜 300,000 Kisses by Sean Hewitt and Luke Edward Hall ❤️ Just a Pinch of Magic by Alechia Dow 🧡 Blackouts by Justin Torres 💛 Wrath Becomes Her by Aden Polydoros 💚 Let the Woods Keep Our Bodies by E.M. Roy 💙 Everything Under the Moon: Fairy Tales in a Queerer Light edited by Michael Earp ❤️ Frost Bite by Angela Sylvaine

🧡 We Met in a Bar by Claire Forsythe 💛 Sweat Equity Aurora Rey 💚 Pumpkin Spice by Tagan Shepard 💙 The Misfit Mage & His Dashing Devil by M.N. Bennet 💜 Love and Other Risky Business by Sarah Brenton ❤️ Enough by Kimia Eslah 🧡 A Fire Born of Exile by Aliette de Bodard 💛 Twelve Bones by Rosie Talbot 💚 Wild Wishes and Windswept Kisses by Maya Prasad 💙 Dragged to the Wedding by Andrew Grey 💜 Fox Snare by Yoon Ha Lee ❤️ Murder and Manon by Mia P. Manansala

[7yearsofdele]

‘Well, this what everyone really comes for. The speeches.’

Shut up Andrew Cotter 💀

[bookaddict24-7]

New Young Adult Releases! (October 10th, 2023)

___

Have I missed any new Young Adult releases? Have you added any of these books to your TBR? Let me know!

___

New Standalones/First in a Series:

Everything Under the Moon by Various

The Night Hunt by Alexandra Christo

I Loved You in Another Life by David Arnold

The Night Fox by Ashley Wilda

Being Ace by Various

Wrath Becomes Her by Aden Polydoros

By Any Other Name by Erin Cotter

Charming Young Man by Eliot Schrefer

The Blood Years by Elana K. Arnold

The Fall of Whit Rivera by Crystal Maldonado

Songs of Irie by Asha Ashanti Bromfield

Bittersweet in the Hollow by Kate Pearsall

Hatchet Girls by Diana Rodriguez Wallach

Too Scared to Sleep by Andrew Duplessie

Ghost Roast by Shawnee Gibbs, Shawnelle Gibbs, & Emily Cannon

___

Happy reading!

[aurorawest]

Summer Reading Update (part 2)

Fall for You by AJ Truman - 3.75/5 stars

Should have read this in the fall since it's fall themed.

By Any Other Name by Erin Cotter - 2.5/5 stars

In His Sights by KC Wells - 4/5 stars

The Bell in the Fog by Lev AC Rosen - 5/5 stars

LOVED this one. I enjoyed the first in the series as well but this one was much better IMO—just a tighter mystery. I actually gasped at one of the reveals.

Lightning Strike Blues by Gayleen Froese - 5/5 stars

I was really pleasantly surprised by how good this book was. It looks like a superhero book but the vibe was more Fringe to me. Fringe meets Letterkenny. And it was really well written! Another book with a good twist. I highly recommend this one.

A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid - DNF at pg 108

The Misfit Mage and His Dashing Devil - DNF at pg 8

In Plain Sight by KC Wells - 3.75/5 stars

Planetfall by Emma Newman - 4/5 stars

Before All the World by Moriel Rothman-Zecher

I didn't know how to rate this one, so I didn't. It was pretty experimental, and I just didn't think I could rate it fairly. Its Storygraph average is 4.2/5 and it's definitely an interesting read.

Somewhere in the Gray Area - DNF at pg 32

Kit & Basie by Tess Carletta - 4/5 stars

Fence Vol 6: Redemption by CS Pacat and Johanna the Mad - 5/5 stars

The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White - 4.75/5 stars

I haven't had good luck with Rainbow Crate books, to the point that after I canceled my subscription, I went through all the ones still in my TBR, read the first page, and got rid of most of them. I kept this one because it's highly praised, and I ended up loving it. It probably would have been a 5 star read, except I thought the epilogue really undercut the effectiveness of the rest of the book.

Time to Shine by Rachel Reid - 5/5 stars

I think Rachel Reid was the first m/m hockey romance author I read, and I still think she writes some of the best.

Paladin's Hope by T Kingfisher - 4/5 stars

One Wicked Night by Colette Rivera - DNF at pg 136

10 Things That Never Happened by Alexis Hall - 5/5 stars

I was really apprehensive about this book. A few years ago I LOVED Alexis Hall, but I haven't enjoyed several of his new releases. I'm so glad I gave this one a chance because it's probably my favorite of all his books now. It's hilarious and cringey (good cringey) and romantic.

After the Forest by Kell Woods - DNF at pg 63

Lord Garrington's Vessel by S Rodman - DNF at pg 5

Alike as Two Bees by Elin Gregory - 4.25/5 stars

Dragged to the Wedding by Andrew Grey - 3.75/5 stars

His Lordship's Master by Samantha SoRelle - 4.5/5 stars

Fire from the Sky by Moa Backe Åstot (translated by Eva Apelqvist) - 5/5 stars

Gorgeous YA book about a Sami teenage boy who's struggling to reconcile the fact that he's gay and in love with his best friend with the fact that he doesn't want to leave his town and reindeer herding, even though he'd find more acceptance in a city. Also the translator lives in Minnesota.

[fragilebrit]

Just remembered that before the Novandy coaching news wiped everything else from my brain I was actually dreaming up a Andy/Andrew Cotter fic for next summer. No men are safe from my fucked up mind.

(Andy was going to have stage fright, Andrew was going to comfort him, and it would escalate over the four shows. The ideas were vague, the smut was already out of control.)

[scotianostra]

October 16th 1774 saw the death of Robert Fergusson, poet, in the Edinburgh Bedlam.

The Scottish poet who was one of the leading figures of the 18th-century revival of Scots vernacular writing and the chief forerunner of Robert Burns.

Fergusson was educated at the University of St. Andrews and became a copying clerk in a lawyer’s office in Edinburgh. In 1771 he began to contribute poems to Ruddiman’s Weekly Magazine. Although he was noted for the vivacity of temperament reflected in his verse, from 1773 his good spirits were encroached upon by fits of depression and religious guilt, and after suffering a severe head injury in a fall he became insane. He died in the Edinburgh asylum at the age of 24.

Fergusson’s poems were popular from their first appearance, and a collected volume came out in 1773. He wrote in both Scots and English, but the English verse has little value. His Scots poems—racy, realistic, wittily descriptive and humorous—had a stimulating effect on Burns, whose “Holy Fair” and “The Cotter’s Saturday Night” stem from Fergusson’s “Leith Races” and “The Farmer’s Ingle.” But vigorous poems like “The Daft Days,” “Address to the Tron Kirk Bell,” and the famous “Auld Reekie” prove how well Fergusson can stand as a poet in his own right. Burns was a great admirer of Fergussons work and was appalled when visiting Edinburgh on finding no gravestone where the young poet was buried in Canongate kirkyard, he set about putting this to rights.

He paid for a simple headstone, although church records say they had to "remind" him to cough up with the money, he had it inscribed with…..

No sculptured marble here, nor pompous lay, No storied urn, nor animated bust ; This simple stone directs pale Scotia’s way, To pour her sorrows o’er her poet’s dust.

Fergusson’s ‘Auld Reikie’ is a 300-line poem praising Edinburgh through observations of the daily life of ordinary people. Never patronising, Fergusson’s poem documents a day in the life of the city, embracing shopkeepers, porters, children, whores, dandies, debtors, servants, lawyers and schoolboys. For Burns Fergusson’s poetry served as a model of how the Scots dialect was ideally suited to the energy of the lives of ordinary people.

I think a 300 line poem is a bit much to inflict on you all so here is a wee excerpt

… Now morn, with bonny purpie-smiles, Kisses the air-cock o’ St Giles; Rakin their een, the servant lasses Early begin their lies and clashes; Ilk tells her friend o’ saddest distress, That still she brooks frae scouling mistress; And wi her joe in turnpike stair She’d rather snuff the stinking air, As be subjected to her tongue, When justly censur’d in the wrong. On stair wi tub, or pat in hand, The barefoot housemaids loo to stand, That antrin fock may ken how snell Auld Reikie will at morning smell: Then, with an inundation big as The burn that ‘neath the Nore Loch Brig is, They kindly shower Edina’s roses, To quicken and regale our noses. Now some for this, wi satire’s leesh, Hae gien auld Edinburgh a creesh: But without souring nocht is sweet; The morning smells that hail our street Prepare, and gently lead the way To simmer canty, braw and gay; Edina’s sons mair eithly share Her spices and her dainties rare, Than he that’s never yet been call’d Aff frae his plaidie or his fauld. Now stairhead critics, senseless fools, Censure their aim, and pride their rules, In Luckenbooths, wi glowring eye, Their neighbour’s sma’est faults descry: If ony loun should dander there, Of aukward gate and foreign air, They trace his steps, till they can tell His pedigree as weel’s himsel …

[russellmoreton]

Working Visuals #3 by Russell Moreton Via Flickr: rhythmanalysis : Space, Time and Everyday Life. Lefebvre monoskop.org/images/d/d2/Lefebvre_Henri_Rhythmanalysis_Sp... Jannis Kounellis Carlo Scarpa "Translates the painterly relationship of figure and ground into the space of real situations" The Visual Poetics of Jannis Kounellis, Suzanne Cotter and Andrew Nairne. Modern Art Oxford, 2004-2005.