#SixforSunday – Books I Studied In School

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Happy Sunday Bibliofriends!

This week’s Six for Sunday is all about books we studied at school. As an English Literature student I studied quite a lot of different reads at both High School and University; most of them are still sitting on my bookshelves so it was nice to take a little trip down memory lane this week.

For those who don’t already know, Six for Sunday is weekly meme hosted by Steph over at A Little But A Lot. September’s theme is ‘The School Month’. 

Fictional Schools/Universities I’d Want To Go To

  1. The Miller’s Tale – The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
    Bawdy, humorous and downright Medieval-style X-rated this was definitely a memorable historical tale.
  2. Spies by Michael Frayn
    For some reason I got so drawn into this story and the cryptic secrets of the plot as the two main characters embark on their espionage.
  3. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
    One of my favourite classics, it’s such a timeless love story and champions women standing firm in their own beliefs.
  4. Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
    This was the first time I’d read anything by Hardy and I got swept away in the pastoral world and characters that he created.
  5. Once in a House on Fire by Andrea Ashworth
    I studied this as part of my coursework on comparing different memoirs. My favourite English teacher gave me her copy. I loved Ashworth’s writing style, she took her pain and trauma and turned it into beautiful, lyrical writing.
  6. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
    There ain’t no story like a Gatsby story – I love this one so much!

Which books did you study at school?
As always, leave your links below to your own posts or drop me a comment to chat!

T xx

The Pride and Prejudice Book Tag!

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Hi Bibliofriends,

I was browsing for tags the other day and came across this fun Pride and Prejudice Book Tag over on Elaine Howlin’s blog. Pride and Prejudice is one of my favourites of all the Classics – the story is just so timeless and beautiful. I knew I had to do this tag as soon as I read the character-based reading prompts.

A few little pleasantries:

  • Thank those who tagged you.
  • Link back to the creator of the tag (Emma @TurnAnotherPage)
  • Tag as many people as you want
  • Have fun!

The Bennet Sisters: A Mixed Bag
A book or series with an eclectic cast of characters

I think the Illuminae Files has got such a mix of different personalities and traits amongst its characters – there’s a little someone for everyone in that trilogy I think!

Charlotte Lucas: The Best Friend
A dependable book/series, tv show or film you can always turn to

Wow so many! It would have to be a toss-up between Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Greys Anatomy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Friends.

Mr Darcy: The Unexpected Surprise
A book or series that you didn’t originally like but grew to love.

This is such a tough one! I guess I could say Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel – it was so difficult to read and understand the narration style at first but by the end I was so blown away by Cromwell’s characterisation.

Lady Catherine de Bourg: The Intimidating Aristocrat
A book or series that intimidates you

Les Misérables by Victor Hugo – I’m determined to read it one day (along with War and Peace and Anna Karenina by Tolstoy) but the sheer size of it really overwhelms me and I keep putting it off to read a shorter book!

Mr Bingley: Honest Yet Easily Led
A character you think deserves a lot of love

Eleanor from Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. Her character lives under such sad circumstances that she deserves lots of love.

Mr Collins: Awkward and a little socially inept.
What hyped or popular book/series have you not yet read?

So many! The Poppy War series, The Daevabad series, An Ember in the Ashes series, Nevernight, Shades of Magic, These Violent Delights… the list is endless – and these books are all sat on my shelves right now! 🙈

The Gardiners: Steady Voices of Reason
A character from any book, film, or tv series that you would turn to for advice

Jacqueline Carlylefrom The Bold Type TV series – I absolutely LOVE that show (I should probably have put it in my Charlotte Lucas list)!When I was looking for a new job I used to joke with my friends that I was looking for my own Jacqueline Carlyle to work for! 😂

Mr Wickham: The Deceiver
A book that did not reach your expectations

The Serpent and Dove series – I feel like it was massively hyped but I just couldn’t really connect with any of the characters.

Georgiana Darcy: Shy and Naive but Friendly
An under-hyped or represented book that you really love

I loved The Immortal City by Amy Kuivalainen which is the first book in The Magicians of Venice series. It’s like a fantasy version of Dan Brown and I found it fascinating.

Colonel Foster’s Regiment: Sure to liven up any party!
What book or series would you always recommend?

I always find it hard to recommend books to people because my reading tastes are quite varied and can be different to many of my friends. I would champion anything written by Carlos Ruiz Zafón; Ready Player One by Ernest Cline and The Life and Death of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab – they’re all some of my all-time favourites.

If you love Pride and Prejudice and Book Tags then consider yourself tagged! 🤓

As always, drop me a comment to chat!
T xx

#SixforSunday – Books I Think Should Be Studied In School

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Happy Sunday Bibliofriends!

I hope those of you going back to school this week enjoyed your first week back! I absolutely love my new job at my new school. I even got up voluntarily on Saturday morning and finished off a little bit of work (crazy right?!). Coinciding with the school theme, today’s Six for Sunday is all about books which we think should be on the school curriculum. Most of my current reads are SFF so this list is quite narrow in genre-wide picks, however I always think that Science Fiction and Fantasy deserves a little more appreciation and attention on the school reading lists anyway! 🚀

For those who don’t already know, Six for Sunday is weekly meme hosted by Steph over at A Little But A Lot. September’s theme is ‘The School Month’. 

Fictional Schools/Universities I’d Want To Go To

  1. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
    This one is an absolute MUST. Asides from the really important messages around racism, prejudice and gun-violence – the story and characters crafted within these pages is beautifully written that the whole book is powerful in multiple ways. It’s a really important read for our young generation.
  2. The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna
    I really enjoyed how the female gang of warriors in this book supported and uplifted each other. Don’t get me wrong, they’re not all the pyjama-party-joint-bathroom-trips kind of friends but they bond together in the face of adversity. For me that’s a huge part of why I chose this book, especially in a world where women can quite often tear each other down. The African mythology vibes were spectacularly written too. You can my read my spoiler-free review here!
  3. The Rain Heron by Robbie Arnott
    I love the way Robbie Arnott created a story which contains magical creatures but also contains morals about why we should take care of nature and the devastating consequences of what could happen if we don’t. This was one of my top ten books of 2020, you can read more about The Rain Heron here.
  4. The Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
    SFF Classic. Female author. Vast empire. I’m only gutted that I didn’t study this when I was in school.
  5. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
    I know, I know, I know that I keep going on about this book (one of my all-time faves!) but I do think it’s great for the curriculum. 1) It’s about a VR video game, which most kids love. 2) There’s an entertaining quest element. 3) It has an important theme about collaboration to overcome the massive, corporation villain. 4) I see so many kids who love playing computer games, but don’t love the subject of computing enough to think that rather than being a ‘YouTuber who plays games’ – why don’t they be the ones inventing them instead?!
  6. The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta / Everybody’s Talking About Jamie by Tom MacRae (stage musical)
    This would make such a good comparison module! Both contain important themes and representations of identity, self-awareness, working-classes and prejudice as the main characters go on mirroring metaphorical journeys to going public with their drag queen alter-egos.

    In Black Flamingo, Michael’s drag character and his performance raise awareness of racism and also many prominent real-world LGBTQIA+ people who have supported and bolstered this community. The format of the book as a verse novel would make for a good literary study too.

    In the stage musical Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, not only is the music so fun and catchy – Jamie’s story about wanting to go to Prom as his drag-queen self is so endearing. The way he is viewed by his parents, teachers, classmates all add to the narrative of obstacles people in this community face just for expressing who they truly are. A playscript is a must for a literary curriculum too!

    I love this pairing (and both of these titles) so much that I could practically write the whole module for it right now – perhaps not for the 8-9 year olds I actually teach though…! 🙈

Which books do you think should be on today’s study list for schools?
As always, leave your links below to your own posts or drop me a comment to chat!

T xx

Biblioshelf Musings – Black Flamingo by Dean Atta

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Hello Bibliofriends!

This week’s Biblioshelf Musings is Black Flamingo by Dean Atta.
I heard so many amazing things about this book and when I heard that it was a novel in verse form, I knew I definitely had to read it!

Book: Black Flamingo by Dean Atta
Genre: YA
Publication Date: 8th August 2019
Publisher: Hodder Children’s Books
Pages: 368
Rating: 📚📚📚📚

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

This is not about being ready, it’s not even about being fierce, or fearless, IT’S ABOUT BEING FREE.

Michael waits in the stage wings, wearing a pink wig, pink fluffy coat and black heels.

One more step will see him illuminated by spotlight.

He has been on a journey of bravery to get here, and he is almost ready to show himself to the world in bold colours …

Can he emerge as The Black Flamingo?

My Musings

The Black Flamingo is such a fantastic book. I’m a teeny-weeny bit obsessed with flamingos so I found the title itself incredibly intriguing – I just can’t believe it took me this long to actually get around to reading it! The verse structure was one of my favourite things about this book and is (in part) one of the contributing factors to its uniqueness. It really emphasised the poetic nature of Atta’s writing and complimented the pieces of poetry, written by the character Michael, which were dotted throughout parts of the story. Those poems really helped to express Mikey’s raw feelings and added a more private perspective of his character’s inner mindset – almost like a stream of consciousness. The illustrations also made it a brilliantly immersive read.

The coming of age element and transformation of the Michael’s character as he goes through the different stages in his life was poignantly written. His journey is fraught with obstacles and questions which he asks himself – mistakes he makes, stereotypes others put on him before he can really find out who he truly is and where he belongs. This raised awareness of many themes including race, poverty, lgbtqia+ and all of the chaos that comes with surviving high school, university and entering the real world.

The drag show towards the end of the story and Mikey’s transformation into the black flamingo is a real ‘butterfly coming out the cocoon’ moment. It has a real celebratory feel and the pride of the main character just leaps off he page as Mikey owns the stage with his feathers. The Fierce poem was a particular highlight as it speaks to everyone and is so relevant to all people regardless of their gender/racial status – we all want to be that little bit fiercer just like the idols he writes about in his poem. Incorporated into Mikey’s show was a whole host of real-world people and influencers who have contributed to the lgbtqia+ movement and the attention and awareness raised here was such a touching tribute.

I really enjoyed how Black Flamingo felt autobiographical but still retained the magic of fiction and poetry combined. It reminded me of a fantastic stage musical I once saw called Everyone’s Talkin’ About Jamie – the songs were so catchy and the whole storyline was incredibly uplifting.

Overall I loved everything about this book. From the message it conveys to the way it has been and all of the high heels, stardust and feathers in between – the Black Flamingo really is one multi-faceted gem of a read!

Find out more about this book here:

Amazon | Waterstones | Bookshop.org | Goodreads |

Connect with me here:

Twitter | Goodreads | Book Sloth: @thebiblioshelf | Email: thebiblioshelf@gmail.com

#SixforSunday – Characters I’d Like to Swap Lives With

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Happy Sunday Bibliofriends!

This week’s S4S prompt, Characters I’d Like To Swap Lives With, was so much fun to think about! I tried to come up with a range of different lives which offered a bit of variety, it is the spice of life after-all!

For those who don’t already know, Six for Sunday is weekly meme hosted by Steph over at A Little But A Lot. September’s theme is ‘The School Month’. 

Characters I’d Like To Swap Lives With

  1. Art3mis – Ready Player One
    It’s no secret, Ready Player One is one of my all-time favourite reads. I’d love to swap lives with Art3mis and spend all my days exploring the endless bounds of the OASIS.
  2. Avery Grambs – The Inheritance Games
    Imagine finding out you’re the sole beneficiary of a mysterious billionaire and then having to embark on a treasure hunt to find out clues as to the reason why. I love this trilogy so much and binged my way through the first book. The Hawthorne Legacy (book 2) was released earlier this week; I was lucky enough to read an ARC of it and I’m already craving book 3! IF you want to check out my spoiler free reviews for this series you can check them out > Book 1 / Book 2
  3. Rachel Chu – Crazy Rich Asians
    Rachel Chu’s summer in Singapore is so wild that I’d love to swap places with her!
  4. Robert Langdon – Angels and Demons / The Da Vinci Code / The Lost Symbol / Inferno / Origin
    I always love a good treasure hunt / clue-style quest so Robert Langdon’s life would be right up my alley. It’s be pretty cool to have a photogenic memory too!
  5. Minerva McGonagall / Professor Sinistra – Harry Potter
    There had to be at least one HP professor here. I love Minerva’s character as Deputy Headmistress but I also love the subject of Astronomy so I couldn’t pick between these two fabulous teachers.
  6. Rozie – The Windsor Knot
    Turning detective to solve murder mysteries with HM The Queen – why wouldn’t I want to swap with Rozie’s character?! If you interested in this series click here for my spoiler free review. Book 2 is coming out a little later this year!

What characters do you wish you could swap lives with? Would you base you life swap on differing experiences, opportunities for adventure, opportunities for magic or do you prefer more homespun comforts?
As always, leave your links below to your own posts or drop me a comment to chat!

T xx

#Friday56 – The Hawthorne Legacy

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Happy FriYAY Bibliofriends!

This week’s Friday 56 comes from The Hawthorne Legacy by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (book two of The Inheritance Games trilogy). I love this series so much! It’s so bingeworthy and full of thrills, secrets, puzzles and family drama!

Hosted by Freda’s Voice, the Friday 56 is a weekly bookish prompt. It’s quite easy to do and could cover no end of different books and genres so seems great if you’re looking for a quick snippet to discover something new!

Rules:

*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader (If you have to improvise, that’s ok.)
*Find any sentence, (or few, just don’t spoil it)
*Post it.
*Add your (url) post here in Linky. Add the post url, not your blog url.
*It’s that simple.

It took ten minutes for our search to hit pay dirt: a remote control taped to the bookshelf, behind one of the leather-bound books. I peeled off the tape and got a better look at the remote, which had only one button.

The Hawthorne Legacy by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

You can check out my full, spoiler-free reviews of The Inheritance Games here and The Hawthorne Legacy here.

Drop me a comment below or connect with me here:

Twitter | Goodreads | Book Sloth: @thebiblioshelf |Email: thebiblioshelf@gmail.com

The Harry Potter Book Tag

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Happy ThursTAG Bibliofriends,

All the September ‘back-to-school-ness’ always has me thinking about Harry Potter and Hogwarts so when I saw this book tag on Lou’s Book Stuff I was just itching to have a go myself! I have no idea who created this Tag and I’m sure there’s so many versions of HP tags out there as well but thanks to the creator!

I love this series so much! I’ve lost count of how many different editions I have of each book and if I ever had a time turner I’d be using it for constant rereads!

What house are you in?

Definite Ravenclaw – every single sorting activity I have ever done (through all those Pottermore variations…) have been Ravenclaw!

What is your Patronus?

My patronus is a nebulung cat, which I find so surprising because *whispers* I don’t actually like cats…
Although reading my patronus description actually makes things make sense as in my day-to-day life I am a teacher!

A nebelung cat patronus appears for witches and wizards of amazing souls. They are very friendly and are high achievers. These witches and wizards always strive to be better than they were yesterday and challenge others to do the same. For them you can never stop learning, helping, teaching, or seeing new things. They are loyal and hard working individuals.

What is your wand?

Cypress wood with a phoenix feather core, 10 ¾” and hard flexibility

Rarest core type, one of the least popular woods and a hard flexibility… 😂 Yep, sounds about right! 🙈

What would your Boggart be?

I have no idea what my boggart would be – it would probably change each and every day from spiders, to loneliness, to Pennywise… who knows what the hell could be coming out of that wardrobe! 😂

What position would you play in Quidditch?

Can I be the referee or a commentator? I’m really not very athletic so there’s no way I’m catching that snitch, whacking a bludger or throwing a quaffle through a small hoop whilst clinging onto a broomstick for dear life!

Would you be a pure-blood, half-blood, or muggle born?

My family is so different so it’d probably be half-blood.

What job would you like to have after leaving Hogwarts?

Professor… at Hogwarts! If I ever succeed in running through that brick wall at Kings Cross and actually making it to Hogwarts don’t think for a second I’m leaving!

Which of the Deathly Hallows would you choose?

Invisibility Cloak so I could hide away all day reading somewhere without being disturbed. The wand would just be too scary as people would constantly try to take it from you and the idea of the resurrection stone completely freaks me out (another one to add to the boggart list!).

Favourite book?

The Half Blood Prince – It feels like the deep breath before the plunge and the way that last part ends felt like the biggest cliffhanger of the whole series. I really liked the character development of the Half Blood Prince himself as well! 😉

Least favourite book?

Probably Goblet of Fire – it just feels like a middle ground place where we’re on the cusp of waiting for the inevitable and it took many, many pages to get there…

Favourite Film?

Either Philosopher’s Stone (magical introduction and wonder) or Deathly Hallows Part 2 (heartstopping conclusion to everything!).

Least favourite film?

Again probably the first two for the same reasons as the books.

Favourite character?

It has to be Snape – hero / anti-hero / morally grey?
His character arc is so wide and complex that he’s definitely one of my favourite literary characters of all time.

Least favourite/most hated character?

Percy Weasley – I just find him incredibly annoying.

Favourite teacher?

I really liked Lupin’s teaching style – it’s one of the few times we actually saw them having fun whilst learning. 

Least favourite teacher at Hogwarts?

I don’t think I could cope with having Professor Trelawney as teacher.

Do you have any unpopular opinions about the series?

I loved Chamber of Secrets and many people seem to hate it so perhaps that’s my unpopular opinion…

Oh… and BRING BACK THE ORIGINAL POTTERMORE! I never made it to the end! 😭🙈

I had so much fun reliving some of my favourite (and least favourite!) Potter moments with this book tag! Consider yourself ‘tagged’ if you’re a fellow Potterhead! I’d love to read your answers!

As always, feel free to drop me a comment to chat!

T xx

Biblioshelf Musings – The Hawthorne Legacy by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

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Hello Bibliofriends!

This week’s Biblioshelf Musings is The Hawthorne Legacy by Jennifer Lynn Barnes.
The Hawthorne Legacy is the second book in the thrillingly exciting The Inheritance Games trilogy where we followed the twists and turns of Avery’s story as she embarked upon a treasure-hunt style mission to claim a billion dollar inheritance left to her by a mysterious stranger. Secret passageways, puzzles and riddles had me binging this book in just one day so when the sequel came up for grabs on NetGalley nothing would stop me from hitting that request button!

Advance warning, there may be spoilers for book one ahead! If you wanted to go back to the beginning, you can check out my spoiler-free review of The Inheritance Games (Book One) here.

Thank you to the publishers Penguin Random House Children’s UK, the author and NetGalley for providing me with a complimentary e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Book: The Hawthorne Legacy by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Series: The Inheritance Games (Book #2)
Genre: Mystery / YA
Publication Date: 9th September 2021
Publisher: Penguin Random House Children’s
Pages: 368
Rating: 📚📚📚📚

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

Intrigue, riches, and romance abound in this thrilling sequel to the New York Times bestselling The Inheritance Games perfect for fans of Karen McManus and Holly Jackson.

The Inheritance Games ended with a bombshell, and now heiress Avery Grambs has to pick up the pieces and find the man who might hold the answers to all of her questions – including why Tobias Hawthorne left his entire fortune to Avery, a virtual stranger, rather than to his own daughters or grandsons.

As the mystery grows and the plot thickens, Grayson and Jameson, the enigmatic and magnetic Hawthorne grandsons, continue to pull Avery in different directions. And there are threats lurking around every corner, as adversaries emerge who will stop at nothing to see Avery out of the picture – by any means necessary.

With nonstop action, aspirational jet-setting, family intrigue, swoonworthy romance, and billions of dollars hanging in the balance, The Hawthorne Legacy will thrill Jennifer Lynn Barnes fans and new readers alike.

My Musings

The Inheritance Games is quickly becoming my most binge-worthy reading series of all time! I was initially drawn to it through my love of treasure hunts, puzzles and riddles and devoured the first book in just one sitting. Unravelling all of the clues and passageways was a major part of the reading thrill for me and whilst there were still trap doors and hidden messages in abundance, The Hawthorne Legacy allows the family saga and character development to take center stage.

After having so many secrets spilled, you could definitely be forgiven for pondering where on earth this series could go next – well panic not as Jennifer Lynn Barnes has found the fictional supply of cornflour for this one as the plot just gets thicker and thicker!

Billion-dollar inheritance aside, Avery’s character is still on one hell of a journey – there’s the ongoing media training and confidence aspect of being thrust into the limelight, her increasingly complicated relationship with sister Libby, the resurfacing of her long-gone father, the quest to find the mysterious homeless guy she played chess with and of course, who could forget her Mum’s ‘I have a secret’? (which ends up blowing up a major plot line) – that’s without even getting started on mentioning those four particular Hawthorne grandsons…!

Enter: Max! Her character was light relief and added buckets of humour with her non-sweary mannerisms and attempts to help Avery filter through her variety of thoughts and problems. I loved her presence in this novel.

As for the romance element – I’m torn! I’m mainly here for the secrets and intrigue, so I was grateful that Avery’s romantic relationships didn’t dominate the plot. There is still enough here to keep it interesting and mystifying but it seems like the strangest of love triangles which keeps flip-flopping round and my verdict is still out on who I’m really rooting for. I genuinely can’t make up my mind whether I’m Team Jameson or Team Grayson and I’m convinced it could still all change yet again in the final book!

Now that a large proportion of Hawthorne HQ has been explored, I was curious to wonder where all of the sleuthing would come from this time round. I was so happy to see the treasure-hunting taking off in previously unseen wings and even jet-setting locations. Those elements were by far my favourite parts of the novel! Invisible ink, curious objects, numerical codes… all of the same features I adored in the first instalment were so cleverly intertwined into the plot. Some of which were brilliantly guessworthy and many more twists which kept me revising my theories left, right and center.

If you enjoyed The Inheritance Games then you’re absolutely going to need and love continuing this incredible series!
But reader, a little word of warning…
…Arm yourself with your reading tennis racket for this one because the secrets, action, drama and reveals keep pinging at you so thick and fast, you won’t dare to put this book down!

Now, when can I get hands on The Final Gambit…?

Find out more about this book here:

NetGalley | Publisher Website | Amazon | Waterstones | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | Author’s Twitter: @jenlynnbarnes | Author’s Website

Connect with me here:

Twitter | Goodreads | Book Sloth: @thebiblioshelf | Email: thebiblioshelf@gmail.com

#SixforSunday – Fictional Schools/Universities I’d Want To Go To

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Happy Sunday Bibliofriends!

I kind of neglected the Six for Sunday side of posts last month but September brings a brand new monthly theme and one that is so relevant to my current goings on – The School Month! Today’s six picks are all about fictional schools and universities which we’d want to go to. Surprisingly, despite being a teacher, it turns out I haven’t read that many books based in education settings so trying to put together this list was a little tricky. I’m loving the dark academia vibes of some upcoming and recent book releases so there may be a couple of them featured here too.

For those who don’t already know, Six for Sunday is weekly meme hosted by Steph over at A Little But A Lot. September’s theme is ‘The School Month’. 

Fictional Schools/Universities I’d Want To Go To

  1. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry – Harry Potter
    The school that heightened my love for reading, Hogwarts is definitely one of the places I wish existed in real life!
  2. OASIS School – Ready Player One
    I love the whole idea of the OASIS world so getting to attend a virtual school is a must!
  3. Sunnydale High / UC Sunnydale – Buffy The Vampire Slayer
    Buffy is one of my favourite TV shows and I’ve read loads of the series books too. Imagine attending a school on the Hellmouth with Buffy and her pals!
  4. Jordan College / Lyra’s Oxford – His Dark Materials
    I’ve been to Oxford several times and always get swept away by the dreaming spires, beautiful architecture and the different colleges dotted all over the city. Lyra’s Oxford mixes the stunning educational settings with that extra bit of magic and mysticism I love in my fiction.
  5. Scholomance – A Deadly Education
    This is one of the Dark Academia reads currently on my TBR. It doesn’t sound like a conventional magic school setting but I love the plot premise.
  6. Dalloway School – A Lesson in Vengeance
    Dark. Twisty. Witchcraft. Hauntings. This book just found itself right at the top of my “need-to-buy” list.

What fictional schools, colleges or universities do you wish you could go to?
As always, leave your links below to your own posts or drop me a comment to chat!

T xx

The Wrap – August 2021

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Howdy Bibliofriends!

“August slipped away like a moment in time…” – wow, where have those holidays gone and how is it September already?! Looking back now it feels like it disappeared in the blink of an eye although actually feel like I reached the perfect balance of relaxation and recreation to prepare for the forthcoming month!

Life Update

It was really nice to get back into reading and blogging again Summer – it’s definitely been my most active month for a while. I spent a majority of my holidays by the sea in Cornwall. We had some beautifully warm weather and sunny days. Where we are there is a main beach where all the tourists congregate but if you walk about a kilometre further up you discover a little secret beach which I literally had to myself every single day bar the rare dog-walking local ambling past. It was bliss!

Away from Cornwall I managed to catch up with some wonderful friends; we had an indulgent afternoon tea that was filled with all sorts of goodies and even a cheeseboard! I felt like such a Snorlax afterwards. I went to the races a few times with our stable yard which in turn led to seeing UB40 perform. But by far, my highlight of the entire month was our DB BBQ. DB is one of my racehorses and in amazing style he managed to win his hat-trick race (his third back-to-back win) on a day when two of the other yard’s horses also achieved the same feat so it was a treble of trebles! The whole of our syndicate got together to celebrate and it was a night filled with fabulous food, friendship and fizz. We each got mugs with our lovely horse on it and I came away with a stunning framed picture of one of his wins which now takes pride of place in my Office.

As August drew to a close I prepared myself for starting my new job at a brand new school – unloading my car I just couldn’t help but look around in awe at the school settings and the disbelief that I actually get to work there! I’m finally feeling super excited and positive about starting work again and I can’t wait to meet my new class! Wish me luck for September though, I know it’s going to be such hard work! 😂🙈

The rest of this Wrap Post follows my usual format (Past Reads, Current Reads, Upcoming Reads, Films/TV, Music/Podcasts, Pokemon Go) so feel free to skip any irrelevant parts!

What I’ve Been Reading

August felt like I got my reading mojo back (slightly!) – I read 4 books in total and although I’m still 6 books behind my reading goal schedule, August’s progress has been the best since about March. Here’s what I read in August:

Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith (Strike #5)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I love the Strike novels. The plot just feels so well crafted and by the time I think I’ve finally figured out whodunnit, there will be a red herring or twist in the tale to make me have to rethink everything! This was edge-of-my-seat, page-turning crime and I loved every minute of it!

Can You Sign My Tentacle? by Brandon O’Brien
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
If you’re looking for a weird Sci-Fi, Poetry, Comptemporary fusion then look no further than this book! I received an eARC of this Carribbean author’s work from Netgalley. It takes Lovecraft and modern hip-hop influences and turns them completely upside down. I went into it on a bit of a whim but it was incredible and seriously made me consider the power of writing and imagination to send a message and challenge ideals without resorting to cancel culture. You can read my spoiler-free review here.

Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This was a delightful Fairytale retelling of The Wild Swans. I was blown away by the magical world Lim created and can’t wait to read more of her writing. Check out my review here.

The Hawthorne Legacy by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (The Inheritance Games #2)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Puzzles, secrets, invisible ink and a whole heap of family drama… I adore this series of books and have literally devoured each read in just a day! After the ending of The Inheritance Games, I had no idea where the sequel would go but I was SO HERE FOR IT! I couldn’t believe it when I got my ARC request accepted on Netgalley and now I’m left twiddling my thumbs until the final installation of this gripping trilogy. My review is up next week so swing back to check it out!

#CurrentlyReading

I’m still going with my Kafka On The Shore audiobook by Murakami – I have about three hours left but I’m finally starting to pull together some little threads about what I think is going on! Perseverance has definitely been the key with this read!

For now I have parked She Who Became The Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan. I’ve heard great things about it so I’m determined that it will not become a DNF (I’ve only ever done that once before!), but I found it so hard to get into a reading rhythm and found myself just abandoning it and turning to TV – so for now, to keep my reading motivations on track, it’s on the bench. Anyone else ever feel that way with this book or is it just me?

I have FINALLY started my Rick Riordan reading journey with Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief! I haven’t even seen the films so I’m completely unspoiled. I only picked it up last night but I’m already halfway through. I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to discover Camp Half-Blood, I love it!

Upcoming Reads

This month I am taking part in the Magical Readathon hosted by G (Book Roast). I loved this so much in it’s previous format with the Harry Potter OWLs/NEWTs theme but this time around it’s back… refreshed, rebranded, with it’s own unique magical world created specifically for readathon purposes! It’s like the readathon of all readathons and always helps me tick off my reading goals. G has put so much work into this, it’s epic! She’s epic!!
You can read my TBR for it here.

What I’ve Been Watching

Far too much TV in August to be honest but it was the holidays, so who cares?!

I have discovered the absolute joy that is Outer Banks on Netflix. If you’ve been following me for a little while you will know that treasure hunting is practically my favourite trope in the whole wide world. Hence why this treasure-hunting, mystery teen drama set in the Outer Banks of North Carolina and the Bahamas was one of my favourite summer binges!

Greys Anatomy has long been one of my favourite TV shows until I somehow stopped watching it around Season 13 – probably as everything moved to streaming services and my broadband signal back then was so poor I couldn’t even watch a YouTube vid without it buffering! For some reason I just seemed to ‘remember’ that it was on Disney + now so I steamrollered my way through Seasons 13, 14 and 15 – I’m forcing myself to take a little break before launching back into Season 16 but I don’t think I can really wait that long before curiosity eventually kills the cat! 🙈

I caught the second season of the French programme Lupin on Netflix. Assan is a the main character who fashions his escapades on the French literary character Arsene Lupin, a gentleman burglar and master of disguise, from the novels by Maurice Leblanc. I liked that it wasn’t a terribly long series and answered the big cliffhanger of a twist from season one. I’m not sure whether there’ll be a third season but the storyline kind of feels resolved for me know so who knows whether it’ll be back.

My friend recommended Sex/Life to me so I watched that on Netflix. Isabella Summers, the Machine part of Florence + the Machine, did the music for it so that also pulled me in (FATM are my all-time favourite band!). It was an interesting series although I got a little annoyed in the end by Billie’s character and the very, very final scene was a bit of a WTF moment! Love triangles irritate me slightly as I always end up changing my mind about who should end up with who – I know that’s kind of the point but I procrastinate enough in my own life, I don’t need to be overwhelmed by it in other people’s too! 😂

It’s been a bit of a quiet month at the cinema but I did manage to catch:

  • The Suicide Squad – I’ve decided I’m definitely a Marvel girl – the DC movies just don’t keep me entertained enough.
  • The Courier – This was an interesting film that was definitely worth the watch and whilst I appreciated the storyline (based on real events) I don’t think it’s one I’ll need to watch again.
  • Don’t Breathe 2 – This was an entirely different film to its predecessor and was more violence than horror. I enjoyed the story they created with the blind man’s character as it gave the film a little more depth than the first one.
  • Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins – A fun film but a little longer than it needed to be.

What I’ve Been Listening to

Not much other than my audiobook of Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami.

Pokemon Go Update

Eevee Community Day was the best event of the month – and not just because Eevee is one of my favourite Pokemons, it definitely helped in me completing the Eevee shiny dex! My favourite wild shiny catch was Clefairy! I wasn’t really paying full attention as I was walking to the cinema but when I caught sight of those shiny green ears I could have squealed!

August’s Shiny Haul
Kabuto
Eevee x 11
Clefairy
Caterpie

My Trainer Code: If any fellow Pogo players want to add me, my trainer code is: 8327 7170 2277

And that’s a wrap! How are you all doing? What are you looking forward to this September – are you taking part in Magical Readathon or any other Readathons? How are you doing with your 2021 reading goals now that we’re in the final quarter of the year?

As always, drop me a comment to chat! ☺️

T xx