The Book Lovers’ Sanctuary

This is an interesting topic: I read so widely and eclectically (I think) that sometimes its hard to discern a pattern in my reading habits. And sometimes when I feel that there is a pattern, I consciously choose to read outside the pattern… But there are certainly some authors who draw me. So lets start there. … Continue reading Top Ten Tuesday: Things That Make Me Instantly Want to Read a Book →

According to Jana, this week’s theme has been lovingly stolen from A Cocoon of Books during freebie week and invites us all to share those things that get in the way of our reading. I mean we would all love to read a little more, wouldn’t we, but that thing called life does just have the habit of getting in the way!… Continue reading Top Ten Tuesday: Things Getting in the Way of Reading →

Whilst this is a shoe-in for all the literary prizes of the year – there is no doubting its profundity and energy, its anger and its literary mastery – I found it an incredibly challenging read, piling unrelenting misery upon misery on young Demon’s shoulders, robbing him of every joy or success or moment of peace, with only the incredible power of the narrative voice to stave off the bleakness.… Continue reading Book Review: Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver →

I’m not the sort of person to recommend books to other people. Of course not. *Ahem! Ok, of course I do. It is part of my DNA! I have been known, when browsing Waterstones and overhearing shop assistants offering up a book recommendation, to feel obliged to butt in and offer a different one. My blog is broadly speaking just a list of book recommendations. I have had long conversations with colleagues that never go far beyond “Have you read…? And you haven’t read…? You should read…” It is, to be fair, pretty much part and parcel of my job as an English teacher, though – and that’s my excuse!… Continue reading Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Recommend to Others the Most →

I am going to rely on the computer to select the ten books for this list, taking out all the physical and human limitations on randomness – the fact that I would be least likely to pick books from low shelves because my knees ache…. I did show my class the other week my Calibre library of ebooks and they estimated how many I had. “Twenty, sir?” “Thirty-five sir?” They seemed flabbergasted – as if they could not believe so many books could exist – when I scrolled to the bottom to show the 3,006th book! Not all read, obviously. A lot of classics. A vast and overwhelming TBR in digital form! Let’s see what I thought of this random selection, and whether I remember why I bought it… And why is this strangely nerve wracking?… Continue reading Top Ten Tuesday: The First 10 Books I Randomly Grabbed from My Shelf →

A genuinely fun set of science fiction reads, featuring convincing world building and very capable plotting is elevated by a unique and compelling narrative voice in our favourite SecUnit: dangerous, compassionate, distant, a little obsessive and more than a touch neurodivergent.… Continue reading Book Review: The Murderbot Diaries, Martha Wells →

I do love a good audiobook! Half an hour commuting to work each way five days a week; half an hour running three times a week; one or two longer runs at the weekend; whilst cooking, along in the kitchen… I will often be found listening to an audiobook. Quite often, more of my reading is audiobook than traditional print or e-book… Anyway, let’s turn to my favourite narrators. There are some who inhabit the characters and narratives so well that, even when I return to the print version, I am still hearing it in their voice inside my head!… Continue reading Top Ten Tuesday: Favourite Audiobook Narrators →

This week’s topic delves out of the bookish realm and is described by Jana as a chance to Take this time to let your readers get to know you a little! But the thing is, when you know what a person reads and enjoys, the sort of worlds and characters that inhabit their imagination and give them solace, when you know when a person seeks comfort in their reading and when they seek to be challenged, you already know so much about that other person! Yes, I am the sort of person who, when invited into someone’s house, is instantly glancing around for bookshelves; I am the sort of person who on a crowded train chooses who I sit next by their reading matter…!… Continue reading Top Ten Tuesday: Non-book Freebie →

This is an extraordinary and very strange and elegiacal novel, a nightmarish phantasm of a read: it celebrates classic cinema and its creativity and originality; it lambasts the homogenised sanitised experience of modern cinema; it is cruelly loving of its characters and almost lyrical in its palpable sense of decay. This was unlike anything that I have read in a while…… Continue reading Book Review: Children of Paradise, Camilla Grudova →

This week’s theme comes courtesy of Rachel @ Sunny Side who is obviously a girl after my daughter’s heart who loves animals! In fact, my daughter has an avowed ambition to live in the wild in order to look after the wild animals – taking inspiration from Katya Balen’s wonderful October October, perhaps. But only if there is wifi. In the wild.… Continue reading Top Ten Tuesday:Titles with Animals In Them and/or Covers with Animals On Them →

A startling time loop novel: beneath the horror of Spence reliving the same day over and over, a day clouded in layers of pain and tragedy, is a surprisingly powerful message about toxic masculinity and banter. A fantastic inclusion for the YOTO Carnegie Medal.… Continue reading Book Review: The Eternal Return of Clara Hart, Louise Finch →

A thoroughly entertaining and engaging tale of friendship which, whilst I enjoyed the reading experience, does not quite justify the social media hype that it has received.… Continue reading Book Review: Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin →

Another wonderful gripping novel from Eleanor Catton. Populated with intriguing characters, powerful ideas and incredibly long sentences, this novel is a little like a tapestry: it draws threads from Shakespeare, thrillers, climate change, politics and weaves them together to make something new and unsettling.… Continue reading Book Review: Birnam Wood, Eleanor Catton →

This week’s themes comes courtesy of submitted by Nicole @ BookWyrm Knits and is a celebration of those pioneers of literature, the self-published and independently published authors. In the world we live in, the access to blogs and to self-publishing opportunities and small independent houses means that the range of books and publishing has blossomed without the influence of the Big Five publishers. Without self-publishing, we might have never had the whimsy of Beatrix Potter or of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.… Continue reading Top Ten Tuesday:  Indie/Self-Published Books →

This week’s theme poses its own challenge. I love the idea of recommending books similar to a favourite author, but which author to focus on? Do I pick an author I find comforting and warm, or an author I find challenging? Do I find an adult author or young adult? Do I focus on classics or on modern writers? I want to pick my favourite author and rave about them… but again I have so many favourites…… Continue reading Top Ten Tuesday: Books for People Who Liked Tana French →