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Hello, and welcome. I’m so glad you’ve found your way here.
This little corner of the internet is a kind of tidepool for me — a place to gather small, glinting moments and let them catch the light. I imagine it like the windowsill in my kitchen: sun-warmed, a bit cluttered, always changing with the seasons. Sea glass. Lavender. A well-thumbed paperback left spine-up beside a cooling mug of mint tea.
I’m Blythe. I live in a salt-faded cottage just off the harbourfront in St Ives, Cornwall. I’m a ceramic artist, a sea swimmer, a quiet romantic. My days are shaped by tide tables and teacups, studio playlists and secondhand books stacked like cairns beside the bed. I believe in the beauty of things that are slightly imperfect — mugs with thumbprints, dog-eared pages, letters smudged with rain.
This blog is a way of gathering what I love — a kind of journal, really. Expect glimpses from the studio, bookish ramblings, coastal wanderings, and the sort of seasonal rituals that make ordinary days feel a little more alive. There will be reading lists and shelf musings, favourite lines underlined in pencil, and maybe even the occasional fictional character I’m quietly in love with. (Aren’t we all?) I’ll write about what I’m making, what I’m reading, what I’m noticing — the golden hour light, the first elderflowers, a phrase I can’t stop turning over in my mind.
So whether you’re here by chance or curiosity, I hope this space feels like a quiet tidepool you can dip into now and then. Like walking into a bookshop on a rainy afternoon, with no plans except to linger.
The kettle’s on. There’s a spot by the window. I’m so glad you’re here.
With warmth,
Blythe
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
— Mary Oliver
I hadn’t planned on spending my Sunday this way. But isn’t that always how the best things start?
Kit and I were chatting with someone earlier this week who casually mentioned book blogging - and before I knew it, we were talking about tracking our reads, posting reviews, and swapping WordPress tips. They recommended StoryGraph for cataloguing, and I’d never used it before. Out of curiosity, I signed up this morning… and suddenly I was knee-deep in uploading my entire book collection, trying to remember what I’ve read and when, and getting wildly distracted by all the mood and pacing tags.
I didn’t realize how satisfying it would be to see everything laid out like that - books I loved, books I forgot I owned, books I swear I meant to read in 2021. And even though I started the day just poking around, it ended up giving me a bit of clarity on why I want to start this blog.
I’ve always loved reading. But until now, I didn’t have one place to reflect on it - to gather thoughts, keep track of what I’m reading, and maybe connect with other readers. I’m not setting out to be a professional reviewer or anything. I just want to write about books the way I experience them: personally, emotionally, sometimes out of order.
So this is the start of Tales by the Tide - a little coastal-feeling book nook where I can share TBRs, thoughts, reading journals, and whatever else bubbles up. It’s early days (and I still have some serious tag-wrangling to do on StoryGraph), but I already feel like I’m carving out a space I’ll love coming back to.
Thank you for being here as I figure it out
I’ll be sharing my July TBR on Tuesday, if all goes well. For now, I’m just glad I followed the rabbit hole.
“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.”
— George R.R. Martin
– Blythe
