I’ve been trying to give romance more of a try in recent years. I do struggle with it, and I think it’s mostly because of three things – I have been spoiled by the depth and realism of literary fiction, I have a hard time suspending my disbelief, and I’m naturally a pretty cynical READ MORE
Category: Features
TOP TEN TUESDAY | BOOKS ON MY SUMMER TBR
Whenever one of these prompts come up my instinct is pretty much just, “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” That’s it. I don’t ever stick to any list I’ve planned to read without any outside pressure. Not ever. Not even once. So I could literally put anything on this list and it would have neither any more or less READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | THIS TIME TOMORROW – EMMA STRAUB
I went into this with no small amount of hesitancy, but also no expectations or idea what it was about. I decided to read it because I felt like I’d been seeing it everywhere, heard a few people say they enjoyed it, and was curious. Plus it was available at my library. The hesitancy READ MORE
WEDNESDAY BLOGGING CHALLENGE | REASONS I LOVE BEING A BLOGGER/READER
Well, the easy answer to this is, what’s not to love about being a reader and a blogger? Being a reader is one of the best gifts I’ve received in my life (after my kid, of course – though sharing a love of reading has been magical so far). I think it has irrevocably READ MORE
TOP TEN TUESDAY | BOOKISH WISHES
I always have a long and ever-growing wishlist of books I’ve heard about online, been told to read, discovered through browsing bookish lists or, in the old days, have come across in a bookshop but didn’t have sufficient cash on hand to purchase. To say that I will never own all the books I READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF LENNI AND MARGOT – MARIANNE CRONIN
I have to be honest – the first thing that attracted me to this book was the cover. I loved the shades of blue, the texture, the font of the text. And the title – that was good too. I decided to give it ago because I was at a loose end, reading-wise, and READ MORE
WEDNESDAY BLOGGING CHALLENGE | OLDER BOOKS MORE PEOPLE SHOULD READ
Older books more people should read. Hmm. Well, the obvious choice for this is less popular classics, but I’m not really one for classics. I’ve loved a few, but I’ve also given up on many more. So I’m going to try to select a few books that have been around for a while, but READ MORE
TOP TEN TUESDAY | BOOKS WITH SUMMER VIBES
Any of you who have been here for a while known summer and I do not get along. I don’t do well with heat, I am allergic to pollen and air pollution (which increases during hot temperatures), and I burn super easily. So you won’t find me lounging on a beach during summer, you’ll READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | IT’S ALL ABSOLUTELY FINE – RUBY ELLIOT
The first thing to say about this book is that I adored it. I hadn’t heard of Ruby Elliot before, but now that I have, I’m a confirmed fan. This is a graphic memoir in which Ruby shares what it’s like to live with everything from social anxiety to body image issues to uncontrollable READ MORE
WEDNESDAY BLOGGING CHALLENGE | A PLACE I’D LOVE TO VISIT
So I know I’m supposed to come up with something exciting for this prompt. The picture above is Italy, and I’d definitely love to go there someday. There’s also Iceland, which fascinates me. I’m sure there are lots more. But if I could choose one place to visit (or even better, live), it would READ MORE
TOP TEN TUESDAY | THINGS THAT MAKE ME NOT WANT TO READ A BOOK
This week’s topic is following on from last week’s in reverse – last week was what makes me want to read a book, this week is what makes me not want to read a book. Like last week, it’s more about feelings and vibes than defined things, but I’m going to try to put READ MORE
LINK-UP | IT’S MONDAY! WHAT ARE YOU READING?
This is a two week post – I didn’t have time to write one last week! I haven’t been reading quite as much lately, so there’s a bit less to report. I’m super stressed – renovations are ongoing and not going well (now part of the roof has to be replaced, yay) and we READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | THE BOOKSHOP ON THE SHORE – JENNY COLGAN
As you may have guessed, this is the second book in the Scottish Bookshop series that began with The Bookshop on the Corner, which I read right before this one. I enjoyed it enough that I wanted to see where it would go next. This is technically a sequel, and does take place in READ MORE
WEDNESDAY BLOGGING CHALLENGE | FAVOURITE YOUTUBE VIDEO
I don’t really have a favourite YouTube video. I like some music videos, I have a few channels I really enjoy watching – mostly BookTube. So I had to put some thought into this one. But I think, if I had to choose one, it would be this: There’s a whole channel READ MORE
TOP TEN TUESDAY | THINGS THAT MAKE ME WANT TO READ A BOOK
I’m a big mood reader, and I don’t have a specific strategy for choosing what I read. There are so many things that can attract me to a book, that it’s hard to really prioritize a list. So here are some of the factors, in no particular order: The cover. I mean, who am READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD – HARPER LEE
I read this a few years (okay, decades) ago, and I remembered loving it and being deeply affected by it… but that’s about it. I’ve been meaning to re-read it for years now, pretty much since Go Set a Watchman came out back in 2015. I recently read a book called The Reading List, READ MORE
WEDNESDAY BLOGGING CHALLENGE | NON-BOOKISH HOBBIES
Oh, I have a bunch of these! I don’t do them all very often, but I have lots of things I either still love to do, or used to do when I was younger and wouldn’t mind trying again sometime (some with my kid). I’ll list a few of them: Gardening. This is one READ MORE
TOP TEN TUESDAY | THINGS GETTING IN THE WAY OF READING RN
As some of you know, I’ve had a bit of a rocky year so far – both in terms of events going on in my life, and my reading progress (in the sense that there hasn’t been all that much). But I do have some solid reasons why this time, and here they are: READ MORE