Summer Reading Recommendations – 2018

As a follow on from my list of books I'd like to read this summer, I thought I would also recommend some of my favourite summer reads from the last few years. These would all make perfect holiday books (even if you're just putting your feet up in the garden) with stories to stay with …

Summer Reading List – 2018

The temperature in Yorkshire has been slowly creeping up all through June, culminating in a scorching (for England) 29 degrees yesterday, meaning I've well and truly settled into a summer mindset. Despite usually being strictly a winter person (my Scottish complexion and a wardrobe full of jumpers and wool trousers takes care of this), I've …

Giving up on a classic

In recent months I've become much more cutthroat with putting down books that I'm not completely invested in. Mostly it's books that I don't feel bad about leaving unfinished - Carry On and Prep being recent examples of this - and due to what I can only describe as genre snobbery I gave myself a free pass for …

Books I read for school: the ones I hated

While scrolling through my 'read' shelf on Goodreads it struck me that some of the books I have given the highest and lowest ratings are books that were required readings for school. I feel that having to constantly pick apart the piece and revisit it week after week for discussion amplifies any strong feelings that …

The Music Shop – Review

1988. Frank owns a music shop. It is jam-packed with records of every speed, size and genre. Classical, jazz, punk – as long as it’s vinyl he sells it. Day after day Frank finds his customers the music they need.  Then into his life walks Ilse Brauchmann. Ilse asks Frank to teach her about music. …

My Cousin Rachel – Review

    Orphaned at an early age, Philip Ashley is raised by his benevolent older cousin, Ambrose. Resolutely single, Ambrose delights in Philip as his heir, a man who will love his grand home as much as he does himself. But the cosy world the two construct is shattered when Ambrose sets off on a …

The Gender Games – Review

The Gender Games Juno Dawson Two Roads, 2017   Synopsis: It's a boy!' or 'It's a girl!' are the first words almost all of us hear when we enter the world. Before our names, before we have likes and dislikes - before we, or anyone else, has any idea who we are. And two years …

Ready Player One Review, or: Garbage Fire the Movie

WARNING: MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS AND MILD RAGE Despite all of its flaws, I do love Ernest Cline's Ready Player One. I loved the 80s nostalgia, the tricky riddles and the wonderfully geeky protagonists. When the film adaptation was announced, I was thrilled - who wouldn't want Speilberg to direct a film that includes robot dinosaurs and a …

Book Recommendations based on your favourite TV Shows

After spending the bank holiday marathoning the second season of A Series of Unfortunate Events (and it making me immediately want to re-read the series), I started thinking about books that give me the same feelings and have the same transportive power as great TV shows. I've put together some recommendations in a liked-that-try-this format based on …

Queens of Geek – Review

  Queens of Geek Jen Wilde Swoon Reads, 2017   Synopsis: Charlie likes to stand out. She’s a vlogger and actress promoting her first movie at SupaCon, and this is her chance to show fans she’s over her public breakup with co-star Reese Ryan. When internet-famous cool-girl actress Alyssa Huntington arrives as a surprise guest, …