After months of waiting, countless hours spent reading the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2019 longlist and shortlist, and very nearly making it through the six books in contention for this year’s prize, I’m thrilled that today the winner has been announced! (If you missed it and are still curious, you can check out my roundup READ MORE
TOP TEN TUESDAY | FAVOURITE MEMOIRS
Technically the topic this week is “Books From My Favourite Genre” but since that would probably be literary fiction, it felt a bit broad and somewhat of a cop-out. So instead I’ve chosen memoirs, as it’s a genre I have been reading more of lately, and have definitely found some of my favourite books READ MORE
WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION | 2019 WINNER PREDICTIONS
We are now just a few days away from the announcement of this year’s Women’s Prize for Fiction winner. It’ll be announced on June 5th. This is the first year I’ve even come close to finishing the entire shortlist – and I’ve come very close. I’ve read five of the six books, and am halfway READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | THE SILENCE OF THE GIRLS – PAT BARKER
I didn’t want to read this book. Not because I didn’t think it would be good – I’ve heard mainly positive things – but because I don’t love mythology, I’m not big on re-tellings, and I just finished reading Circe, which is both. But I’m so close to finishing the entire shortlist for this READ MORE
TOP TEN TUESDAY | FAVE BOOKS OF THE LAST DECADE
This week’s topic is favourite books of the past decade. I’m going through and choosing at least a couple for each year – not ones I necessarily read in that year, but my favourite of the books I’ve read that were released in that year. 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | DEAR FAHRENHEIT 451 – ANNIE SPENCE
I adore the concept of this book. Before I even opened it I was half in love, and ready to fall all the way. It’s a book of letters from an avid reader and librarian to the various books she has loved or hated most, books that are being removed from circulation, and books READ MORE
TOP TEN TUESDAY | SPECIAL BOOKS
I am not just a reader, I am a book collector. As you can quickly tell by walking into my house, which has bookcases and stacks of books everywhere. I don’t generally lend out my books because I have had some bad experiences of either not getting them back, or getting them back damaged READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | NAKED AT THE ALBERT HALL – TRACEY THORN
If you read my review of Tracey Thorn’s first book, Bedsit Disco Queen, you’ll know that I’m an all-around fan of hers. I read this directly after finishing Bedsit, and mostly because I just couldn’t bear for it to be over. This isn’t a memoir, so it’s not a continuation of her first book. READ MORE
TOP TEN TUESDAY | PAGE TO SCREEN
It’s the endless debate, isn’t it? Book or movie? Well, here are some to which I will eagerly say “Both!” (And a few extras that fall into different categories.) The Martian by Andy Weir I’m not normally into science fiction, but I was completely sucked into this book, and the movie almost lived READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | THE KISS QUOTIENT – HELEN HOANG
Who knows why, after the failure of One Day In December I chose to read another romance story, but I guess I don’t have to make sense. In my defense, I didn’t really realize this one was straight up romance when I got myself into it. I thought it was more like The Rosie Project – READ MORE
TOP TEN TUESDAY | CHARACTERS THAT REMIND ME OF MYSELF
This week’s topic is hard because most of the characters I identify with are probably more because I see things in them I aspire to more than things I actually am. Or I see something in how they deal with things or see the world. I haven’t met many characters that really remind me READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | THE WIFE BETWEEN US – GREER HENDRICKS & SARAH PEKKANEN
I went into this with very high expectations. I’d seen it discussed by everyone who reads thrillers, it was one of the nominees for Goodreads’ best thriller of the year, and Lala from Books and Lala, who read all the Goodreads’ nominees, chose this as her favourite and talked about how surprising the twist READ MORE
TOP TEN TUESDAY | FAVOURITE QUOTES ABOUT BOOKS
This week’s prompt is inspiring or thought-provoking quotes. Which is a great topic, but I don’t write down quotes. I don’t even mark them in books. So while there have been many that have made me pause recently, I don’t have any way of finding them – other than re-reading all the books, which READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | CIRCE – MADELINE MILLER
Greek mythology is not my thing. I’ve never read any of the original myths, nor have I had much exposure to movies or re-tellings based on them. I’m not quite sure why – I know some of them are rippingly good yarns – but they just don’t appeal to me. Perhaps a little too READ MORE
WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION | SHORTLIST PREDICTIONS 2019
The Women’s Prize for Fiction is one of my favourite literary prizes. Regardless of the judges and books in a given year, the prize always raises the profile of books written by women, and that’s something I can definitely get behind. This year’s list isn’t my favourite, but there are some titles I was READ MORE
TOP TEN TUESDAY | MY FIRST TEN REVIEWS
Oh man, this week’s prompt takes me back. The first reviews I wrote weren’t for this blog, and the site I wrote them on no longer exists, so I can’t go back to the very beginning. So instead, I’ve gone back and found the first ten reviews I wrote on my original book blog, READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | ONE DAY IN DECEMBER – JOSIE SILVER
I don’t normally read romance, but this winter I just felt at a possibly all-time low, and I wanted something light, something hopeful, something happy, something easy. This book was making the rounds, had been picked for Reese Witherspoon’s book club (not that I follow that, but a few of her other picks appealed to READ MORE
TOP TEN TUESDAY | RAINY DAY READS
Seasonal reads are different for everyone. Some people love to read books set in warm temperatures when it’s winter because it transports them. Others save up snowy backdrops to match their real-life weather conditions. Some people like to read scary books or thrillers when they’re stuck inside so they’re completely absorbed in what they’re READ MORE