I don’t enjoy much historical fiction as a rule. With the exception of WWII-era fiction, particularly if it’s set in England. I think it’s because it wasn’t so far in the past that I have trouble picturing, relating to or tolerating it. It helps that my own family was there too, so there’s a READ MORE
TOP TEN TUESDAY | BEST BOOK TITLES
This topic is unbelievably cool, because there are so many books I’ve picked up because of either a cool cover or a cool title. I’ve done a few posts featuring some of my favourite covers, but I can’t remember ever highlighting titles. And now I can’t for the life of me think why not! READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | REBECCA – DAPHNE DU MAURIER
I remember a battered copy of this book, mass market paperback, yellowed and curling pages, ugly cover, somehow making its way onto my bookshelves when I was a teenager. I can’t remember if I read the first few pages and decided it wasn’t my thing, or if I was put off by the cover. READ MORE
TOP TEN TUESDAY | BOOKS FOR FOODIES
I have to admit I’m not really the best person for this week’s topic. I’m not a huge food person, and I don’t read books that center around food for this reason. So I’ve scoured my reading history for any books I can really remember food from – wherever possible in a positive light, READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | LAST NIGHT IN MONTREAL – EMILY ST. JOHN MANDEL
Last Night In Montreal is Emily St. John Mandel’s debut novel, but you’d never know it. From pretty much the first page, it had me completely under its spell. I went into this not really knowing what it was about. Just a vague idea that it would be your basic relationship story, but a READ MORE
BEYOND THE BOOKS | WORLD MENTAL HEALTH DAY 2017
Yesterday was World Mental Health Day. I hadn’t planned to write a post for it (hence being a day late), but the more I thought about it, the more I felt like it was time to share a bit more with you all. A brief disclaimer: I’m nervous and writing this in a hurry, READ MORE
TOP TEN TUESDAY | AUTUMN BOOK COVERS
After an uncomfortably hot summer that led to out-of-control forest fires inland and smoke that traveled here, making it hard to breathe (or see very far), it finally seems to be over. Much to my relief, as I much prefer cooler weather – the kind that makes scarves, fluffy socks, cosy blankets and copious READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | THE LIE OF THE LAND – AMANDA CRAIG
This is only the second Amanda Craig book I’ve read (the other being Hearts and Minds, which was one of my favourite books of 2014) but I already feel like I can count her among my all-time favourite authors. The Lie of the Land is, at its center, about the dissolution of a marriage READ MORE
MY WEEK ON WEDNESDAY | #34
It’s been… a few weeks since my last My Week On Wednesday post. Mainly because I haven’t been reading as much and hadn’t finished any books or started any new ones to tell you guys about! But I’ve finally got a couple done, so here’s what I’m into now. Just shelved: READ MORE
TOP TEN TUESDAY | BOOKS WITH CHARACTERS WHO…
I couldn’t decide on one category of characters for this post, so I kind of cheated and picked a few. On the plus side, you get a bit more variety! …Renewed my faith in humanity The Hate U Give – Angie Thomas The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society – READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | THE ELEGANCE OF THE HEDGEHOG – MURIEL BARBERY
Do you ever finish reading a book, leave it for a while, and still have no idea what you thought of it? That’s this book for me. I’ve been letting it “settle” for over a month now, and I’m no closer to a succinct, concise review than I was when I closed the cover. READ MORE
TOP TEN TUESDAY | BOOKS ON MY AUTUMN TBR
I’ve been a bit out of the loop on new releases since getting back into books (I’ve been focusing on catching up with everything I’ve missed – which is, apparently, a LOT), so this post was a lot of fun. It gave me a chance to look up some most-anticipated-books-of-2017 lists, check out some READ MORE
MAN BOOKER PRIZE | 2017 SHORTLIST & TBR UPDATE
Though I got myself out of the loop in the past few weeks, one literary happening did make it onto my radar: the announcement of the Man Booker 2017 shortlist! You might remember I wrote a post about the longlist and discussed which books I was interested in reading from it. In case you are READ MORE
TOP TEN TUESDAY | OLD BOOKS I WANT TO RE-READ
I’ve been blogging for such a long time that it’s tempting to feel as if my blog is a sort of living record of my reading history. But the truth is that I’ve only been blogging for about seven years, on and off, so there’s a lot of my life prior to blogging when READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | CITIZEN – CLAUDIA RANKINE
**NOTE: I wrote this review shortly after reading the book in 2015, but never got around to publishing it – so this is actually an older review!** I don’t normally read poetry, but I’ve heard so much about this book in my blogging community over the past year or so, that I was curious. READ MORE
MY WEEK ON WEDNESDAY | #33
It’s been a few weeks since my last My Week On Wednesday post – mainly because I hadn’t actually finished any books to tell you about! Here are the books I tried (and failed) to get into: It hasn’t been going well. Fortunately I decided to pick READ MORE
TOP TEN TUESDAY | BOOKS I STRUGGLED WITH BUT AM GLAD I READ
When I look back over my reading history, there are always some books that stand out as having been difficult – usually because of the length, but sometimes because of the content (or a combo of both) – and that I’m particularly proud to have completed. Often these books are also ones that have READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | AUTUMN – ALI SMITH
I’ve been meaning to read Ali Smith for ages. I have her previous novel, How To Be Both, but was put off by the historic section and never picked it up. I then tried reading some of her short stories, and discovered that I very much enjoyed them – which is why I decided READ MORE