Oh Lyra Belacqua, Lyra Silvertongue. I devoured the original trilogy of your journeys to the North. Bolvangar, Svalbad, Iorek Byrnison, The World of the Dead. I adored the Miltonic and Blakean echoes. Fell in love with the mercurial, quick witted, innocent girl. Loved the world created by Pullman, the familiarity of it, the uncanniness, the… Continue reading The Secret Commonwealth, Philip Pullman
Author: The Book Lover's Sanctuary
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Frankissstein, Jeanette Winterson
What is your substance, whereof are you made, That millions of strange shadows on you tend?
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Allegedly Easy Chocolate Fudge Cake
Taking a step away from reading to my other go-to pastime: baking. It is the half term and Hallowe'en and we have birthdays coming up. The weather is fairly rubbish so I've ended up doing a lot of baking. In addition to this birthday cake, I am also intending to do two - possibly three… Continue reading Allegedly Easy Chocolate Fudge Cake
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Teaser Tuesday, The Body, A Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson
Beware, the squeamish! This teaser contains (written) images of the inside of, well, us! One of my brief forays into non-fiction and popular science. But, as an erstwhile barrister who has on occasion been instructed to witness a post mortem, this particular extract seems very accurately described. “Feel this,” Dr. Ben Ollivere is saying to… Continue reading Teaser Tuesday, The Body, A Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson
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Top Ten Tuesday, Hallowe’en Freebie
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. A freebie, as I understand it, is any list that broadly fits… Continue reading Top Ten Tuesday, Hallowe’en Freebie
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10 Minutes and 38 Seconds in This Strange World, Elif Shafak
I have sat on this book for a while since finishing reading it - partially as a result of workload; mainly because it, like The Heart's Invisible Furies and many others, is a book that deserved some time to settle and be absorbed before launching into a review. The novel revolves around a single character,… Continue reading 10 Minutes and 38 Seconds in This Strange World, Elif Shafak
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Top Five Saturday: Books That Cast a Spell on You
Top Five Saturday is a meme hosted by Devouring Books to discover and share books that all have a common theme. Previously, the focus has included witches, werewolves, thrillers, faeries, fairy tale re-tellings, high fantasy and many more. Now, I have a confession: it is Sunday. A day and a half late. But yesterday was filled to… Continue reading Top Five Saturday: Books That Cast a Spell on You
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Top Ten Tuesday: Character Traits I Love
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. So this week we are looking at character traits we love. Things… Continue reading Top Ten Tuesday: Character Traits I Love
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Teaser Tuesday: Frankissstein, Jeanette Winterson
I have come back to this now and it is still wonderful - although the move from the opening chapter on the shores of Lake Geneva witnessing the inception of Frankenstein to the the global Tec-X-Po on Robotics in Memphis was a little jarring. Both equally wonderful but for very different reasons. Currently, the practicalities… Continue reading Teaser Tuesday: Frankissstein, Jeanette Winterson
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Top Ten Tuesday: Book Titles Containing Numbers
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Reservoir 13, John McGregor On the surface, a crime novel… Continue reading Top Ten Tuesday: Book Titles Containing Numbers
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Top Five Saturday: Books with Maps
Top Five Saturday is a meme hosted by Devouring Books to discover and share books that all have a common theme. Previously, the focus has included witches, werewolves, thrillers, faeries, fairy tale re-tellings, high fantasy and many more. This week's theme is books with maps in them and there is one obvious and iconic mapped… Continue reading Top Five Saturday: Books with Maps
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The Mitford Scandal, Jessica Fellowes
I love the covers of this series of novels by Jessica Fellowes! The blue here is gorgeous! All art deco, beautiful, vibrant. Not unlike the eponymous Mitford sisters around whom the novels revolve. This is the third outing for Louisa Cannon, previously nursery nurse to the younger Mitford sisters and friend to Nancy Mitford in… Continue reading The Mitford Scandal, Jessica Fellowes
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Teaser Tuesday: 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World, Elif Shafak
The Teaser Nostalgia Nalan believed there were two kinds of families in this world: relatives formed the blood family; and friends, the water family. If your blood family happened to be nice and caring, you could count your lucky stars and make the most of it; and if not, there was still hope; things could… Continue reading Teaser Tuesday: 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World, Elif Shafak
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Top Ten Tuesday: Books on my Autumn TBR List
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. I know, I know! I am a Brit and along… Continue reading Top Ten Tuesday: Books on my Autumn TBR List
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Top Five Saturday: Books Over 500 Pages
Top Five Saturday is a meme hosted by Devouring Books to discover and share books that all have a common theme. Previously, the focus has included witches, werewolves, thrillers, faeries, fairy tale re-tellings, high fantasy and many more. This week, we are looking at book in excess of 500 pages. So many to choose from...… Continue reading Top Five Saturday: Books Over 500 Pages
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The Anarchists’ Club, Alex Reeve
In the spirit of anarchy, I chose to read this book - the second of the Leo Stanhope series - without having read the first. I know! ANARCHY starts from this! Being honest, I don't think it mattered a jot: Reeve introduces his transgender Victorian protagonist essentially from scratch with enough - possibly too much… Continue reading The Anarchists’ Club, Alex Reeve
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Top Ten Tuesday: Favourite Things to Eat and Drink Whilst Reading
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. This is a tricky one... What do you eat whilst… Continue reading Top Ten Tuesday: Favourite Things to Eat and Drink Whilst Reading
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Teaser Tuesday: The Testaments, Margaret Atwood.
Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by The Purple Booker. If you want to join in grab your current read, flick to a random page, select two sentences (without spoilers) and share them in a blog post or in the comments of The Purple Booker. The Testaments by Margaret Atwood Publisher: Nan A. Talese It is… Continue reading Teaser Tuesday: The Testaments, Margaret Atwood.
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Top Five Saturday: Set in Space
Top Five Saturday is a meme hosted by Devouring Books to discover and share books that all have a common theme. Previously, the focus has included witches, werewolves, thrillers, faeries, fairy tale re-tellings, high fantasy and many more. This week, the Top Five is "Set in Space". This is the problem and the pleasure of… Continue reading Top Five Saturday: Set in Space
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Teaser Tuesday: The Fountains of Silence, Ruta Sepetys
Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by The Purple Booker. If you want to join in grab your current read, flick to a random page, select two sentences (without spoilers) and share them in a blog post or in the comments of The Purple Booker. I am shamelessly stealing this from Ali's blog iwuvbooks because -… Continue reading Teaser Tuesday: The Fountains of Silence, Ruta Sepetys
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Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Am Avoiding Reading
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. This is my first Top Ten Tuesday, but here I… Continue reading Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Am Avoiding Reading
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The Lying Room, Nicci French
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this novel from the publisher, Simon and Schuster, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I am new to this NetGalley and ARC business. A newbie, a greenback, a novice. I've received perhaps half a dozen ARCs in total, which is not many. Principally this is because I've… Continue reading The Lying Room, Nicci French
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Deeplight, Frances Hardinge
Some authors deserve a fanfare when they are about to publish and Frances Hardinge is one of those! A new novel from Hardinge is a thing of joy! She is one of those authors who seem to have never put a foot wrong in their writing: plots, impeccable; characters, vivid and real; language, beautiful and… Continue reading Deeplight, Frances Hardinge
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The Trespasser, Tana French
I'd been saving this one up for the summer holidays when I have time to indulge it, not sneaking a half-hour read in late at night when I should be sleeping. I also wanted to head back to the beginning of the series, having started with The Secret Place, and catch up chronologically. And I… Continue reading The Trespasser, Tana French
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The Man Who Saw Everything, Deborah Levy
Disclaimer: Received from NetGalley and the publisher, Penguin, in exchange for an honest review. There are some novels which flow fluidly like a river. Others are curved and twisted. Others are very linear taking a route from inciting incident to resolution without a deviation. Others are shaped like a tree, branching and dividing but never… Continue reading The Man Who Saw Everything, Deborah Levy
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