Being a book lover isn’t usually as simple as picking up a book from time to time. I’ve noticed a tendency amongst the most dedicated bookish folk to take it several steps farther. We collect book-related stuff. There are bookmarks (often from The Book Depository) scattered throughout our houses and tucked seemingly at random READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | CONCRETE ROSE – ANGIE THOMAS
I’m a huge fan of Angie Thomas’ writing. I read The Hate U Give and it became one of my all-time favourite YA books. I read On the Come Up and I found it challenging, unflinching and real. I was just a little bit excited to read her newest book and prequel to The READ MORE
WEDNESDAY BLOGGING CHALLENGE | AN ODD OR USELESS TALENT
This is an odd prompt, as it’s not something I’ve ever had to consider before. I’m not even sure I have one. What qualifies as a talent, anyway? The only thing I can think of is that I have a gap between my front teeth, and if I want to I can shoot water READ MORE
TOP TEN TUESDAY | FAVOURITE BOOK SETTINGS
I’m getting old. I mention this, because my memory is not what it used to be. I can’t remember the names of songs I just listened to, I find myself forgetting not only what films were about, but whether or not I’ve even watched them until I’m halfway through. I’ve had a feeling a READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | CALL THE MIDWIFE SERIES – JENNIFER WORTH
I’m a huge fan of the TV series Call the Midwife based on this trilogy of books. For those who don’t know, these books are the experiences of a young midwife working in Poplar, a poor neighbourhood in East London following WWII. She is one of a team of midwives who READ MORE
WEDNESDAY BLOGGING CHALLENGE | REQUIRED READING IN SCHOOLS
This is a good prompt. I also like that it’s not a specific question. It could be interpreted in several ways. Should there be required reading in schools? What did I read for required reading when I was in school? Which books do I think should be required reading in schools? First question, I READ MORE
TOP TEN TUESDAY | BOOKISH PET PEEVES
Oh man. I imagine this week is opening CANS of worms! I plan to open up a few of my own. Here goes cracks knuckles! Let’s get started with a contentious issue in the book world: I find it upsetting when people say that audiobooks don’t count as reading. There are a bunch READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | BORN A CRIME – TREVOR NOAH
I’ve been meaning to read this book for years. I’ve tried it a few times, and liked it, but not gotten absorbed into it. I finally decided that audiobook was the way to go. Which was the perfect choice since it’s narrated by Trevor Noah, and everything’s better when it’s read by Trevor Noah. READ MORE
WEDNESDAY BLOGGING CHALLENGE | I WISH SOMEONE WOULD INVENT…
I’m not really one for dreaming about inventing stuff. I probably should be – my Dad is a very talented Industrial Designer who has designed pretty much everything at some point – but I don’t seem to have inherited much of those genes. There are lots of useful things that would be great. A READ MORE
TOP TEN TUESDAY | BOOKS I DIDN’T THINK I’D LIKE
This week’s topic is a freebie, so I decided to come up with my own. I’m thinking back over books that, for one reason or another, I didn’t expect to like going in, but that I really, really did. Either they’re a genre I don’t usually enjoy, an author I didn’t get along with READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | WHEN BREATH BECOMES AIR – PAUL KALANITHI
This is probably one of the best-known memoirs to come out in the past decade. It’s written by a neural surgeon who was diagnosed with terminal cancer just as he was preparing to finish his training. So going into it, you know it’s going to be an intense read, and that you should probably READ MORE
WEDNESDAY BLOGGING CHALLENGE | WHAT MAKES ME LOL
Hmm. I enjoy laughter, but it take a fair amount to make me laugh out loud. Usually my type of humour is on the darker, more irreverent, usually sweary end of the spectrum. British and all that. I’m not sure if I’m supposed to give examples of shows I found funny or share some READ MORE
TOP TEN TUESDAY | BOOKS ON MY FALL TBR
I feel the need to say, yet again, though all of you who come here often already know, that I am not good at being told what to do. This applies to people in authority who I do not trust, but also to myself. I can choose a list of books I’m super excited READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | THIS BOOK IS ANTIRACIST – TIFFANY JEWELL
This Book is Anti-Racist is a graphic non-fiction book for young readers that covers the basics of racism – history, terminology, identities, and how to deal with and address it. I picked it up mostly because I liked the graphic style and have been looking for books on the topic for any age, as I READ MORE
WEDNESDAY BLOGGING CHALLENGE | BOOKS TO PUT IN A TIME CAPSULE
This week’s challenge prompt is books to include in a time capsule and why. I’m having a bit of trouble with this one. I think because the idea behind a time capsule is to capture a particular point in time and save it for posterity. But we’re in the middle of a global pandemic. READ MORE
TOP TEN TUESDAY | BOOKS WITH NUMBERS IN THE TITLE
I was expecting this to be so, so hard. I was picturing scouring my shelves with growing stacks of fruitless picks all around me, my hair disheveled and muttering incomprehensibly to myself as we approached Monday night. Surprisingly, it was incredibly easy! I just searched my cover images by one number after the other READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | ALONE TOGETHER – JENNIFER HAUPT, ED.
The past year and a half has been rough. For everyone. In the entire world. Most of us have suddenly had to narrow our lives down to only a few people, some of us haven’t even had that. We’ve been coping with fear, loss, uncertainty. Some of us have been coping with death or READ MORE
WEDNESDAY BLOGGING CHALLENGE | WHAT I DO TO RECHARGE
This week’s topic is what I do to recharge. And if I’m honest, after more than a year and a half of COVID-19, I don’t really know anymore. I feel like I’ve been functioning on like 25% of a charge for at least a year and 5 months of that. I vaguely remember something READ MORE