Have you ever seen those articles that are like ‘100 novels you ABSOLUTELY MUST read before you die’?? And there’s always ‘The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy’, or worse ‘Middlemarch‘. That’s what I’m trying to avoid here. If you’re someone that has tried reading those big novels in the English canon but you actuallyContinue reading “Classic Novels For People Who Don’t Like Classic Novels”
Monthly Archives: May 2020
Girl, Woman, Other – Bernardine Evaristo
No-one sums up Bernardine Evaristo’s novel quite like the author herself: ‘this is about being together’ It’s my first five-star review! I would like to begin by requesting that if you have not yet read this book, please go and put it on your list right now. Please. Bernadine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other is theContinue reading “Girl, Woman, Other – Bernardine Evaristo”
Book Club Round 1 – Brave New World
The people have spoken! Our first book club title is Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, a dystopian thriller that has been on my reading list for ages. I’m so excited! So my plan is to schedule a discussion for around 6 weeks time (26-28th June) although this is totally flexible – just message me ifContinue reading “Book Club Round 1 – Brave New World”
Join the Book Club
So, my aim for the book club is just to create a little community where we can discuss a book together every month / 6 weeks (depending on what works best). As we’re in quarantine and bored shitless, I’m sure we’re all in need of a bit of motivation to do something productive with theContinue reading “Join the Book Club”
Book Club Round 1
I mean, we can’t start a book club in the middle of a global pandemic and just ignore the obvious dystopian connotations of this, can we? *EDIT* Click here to find out which book we’re reading! Our first book club theme is ‘Dystopia’: ‘an imagined state or society in which there is great suffering orContinue reading “Book Club Round 1”
A Few Non-Fiction Recommendations
When I was younger, whenever I heard the word ‘non-fiction’ my brain would immediately equate it to ‘boring’. However, younger-me was uninformed and completely wrong, so ignore her. This short list of brilliant non-fiction books spans all genres from anthropology, to art and true crime. In Cold Blood – Truman Capote Upon hearing about theContinue reading “A Few Non-Fiction Recommendations”
Team Edward: Rereading Twilight after 10 years
When Stephanie Meyer announced that a new Twilight novel, Midnight Sun, would be coming out in August, she unearthed a part of me that had been buried for a decade: my Twilight phase. Although my original copy of Twilight is long gone, I ordered another so that I could get to the bottom of whyContinue reading “Team Edward: Rereading Twilight after 10 years”
Cho Nam-Joo – Kim Ji-Young, Born 1982
Reaching the end of Kim Ji-Young, Born 1982, I wanted to lob Cho Nam-Joo’s 2016 novel across my room. That’s not because I didn’t love it, but because I found it frustrating. Cho’s story of the life of an ordinary Korean woman, from birth to grave, will resonate with women of all ages, of everyContinue reading “Cho Nam-Joo – Kim Ji-Young, Born 1982”
Sally Rooney – Normal People
First of all, sorry to the Sally Rooney fans, but the TV series is better than the book. This is probably literary sacrilege but it’s true. Ahh I really don’t know what it is about this book, but I just don’t love it. I read Sally Rooney’s bestseller last summer and while I thought itContinue reading “Sally Rooney – Normal People”
Quarantine Recommendations
I don’t know about you, but a world-wide lockdown seems like the perfect opportunity to read books you’ve always been meaning to read but never could be bothered / had the time to. Now we’re bored in the house and we’re in the house bored, this is a short list of 20th century / contemporaryContinue reading “Quarantine Recommendations”