#BookTag – Characters of the Year Book Tag

January 19, 2021January 17, 2021 The Biblioshelf2 Comments

Happy Tag Tuesday Bibliofriends!

I’ve been running out of inspiration or tags to do lately but I came across this really fun Characters of the Year tag over at Zezee with books.

Characters can really make or break a book for me so this seemed the perfect way to reminisce about all of my reads from 2020 how I felt about some of their starring roles.

FAVORITE MALE CHARACTER OF THE YEAR

Crowley from Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.
I absolutely love Crowley. He’s such a unique character with the coolest car around and great taste in music. I had so much fun reading his parts of the novel.

FAVORITE FEMALE CHARACTER OF THE YEAR

James Juniper from The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow.
She has so much sass, grit and determination. I loved how she could be so wild yet so humble. Such a fun character to read.

MOST RELATABLE CHARACTER OF THE YEAR

Addie and/or Henry from The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab.
The theme of identity lies strongly within this book and I found myself relating to both of the main characters in a way which I haven’t really related to any others in a long while. It deeply resonated with me and I think that’s one of the reasons why I absolutely adored this read.

COUPLE OF THE YEAR

January and Augustus from Beach Read by Emily Henry.
I just loved their chemistry throughout this book!

VILLAIN OF THE YEAR

Nolan Sorrento from Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.
Although he isn’t scary in the mythical beast kind of way – Sorrento is my villain of the year because of the sheer power, money and resources that he has at his fingertips. He can basically do whatever he wants and can get away with it. It’s really scary that I see him as a manifestation of some of today’s world leaders and billionaires who pretty much have all the power they need to exert their will on anyone without being stopped.

MOST DISLIKED CHARACTER OF THE YEAR

Brent from The Mist Keeper’s Apprentice by E.S. Barrison.
Purely for his constant repetition of the word ‘aight’ and the way he sullenly complains that everything is his fault whenever something goes wrong. Unfortunately, Brent and I just didn’t bond which was a shame as the world-building in the novel was really original and quite well-written.

ROYAL OF THE YEAR

Anastasia Romanov (Nastya) from Romanov by Nadine Brandes.
This historical fantasy retelling absolutely captured my heart, as did its leading lady. I really liked the way Brandes wrote and portrayed her character to be sensitive yet determined and strong. A fabulous exiled Royal!

SIDEKICK/NON-MAIN CHARACTER OF THE YEAR

Dustin from Anna K by Jenny Lee.
Talk about championing the underdog! Dustin was one of those gems of a character who was thrust into this wild world of elite New York socialites and basically had to sink or swim. I was a joy to read his character arc with all of the complexities he had to face along the way.

SIBLING OF THE YEAR

Serina from Queen of Ruin (Grace and Fury #2) by Tracy Banghart.
I love the way Serina evolved through this duology and the strength of character she showed throughout this sequel. Without giving away spoilers, the relationship between the two sisters and the choices and decisions made at the end of the novel definitely put Serina as my top choice for Sibling of the Year.

That’s a wrap! Who were your favourite characters, villains, sidekicks, couples and siblings from your 2020 reads? Consider yourself tagged if you want to have a go at this tag yourself! As always, feel free to drop your links or send me a comment to chat!

T xx

#SixforSunday – Books I Wish I’d Read in 2020.

January 17, 2021January 13, 2021 The Biblioshelf8 Comments

Happy Sunday Bibliofriends,

How has your week been? Me and my Team are getting down with the Microsoft Teams Teaching – got to say, I love how organised and structured everything is! Must be the teeny little nerd inside me!

This week’s Six For Sunday, continuing with our ‘It’s All About Books’ theme is centred around ‘Books I Wish I’d Read in 2020’… I mean, this could be a complete randomly generated list of my TBR pile to be honest as I wish I’d been able to read EVERYTHING! 😂🙈 Anyhow, I was going to use a random generator to just select some random choices, but the minute I scrolled though my Goodreads list, the choices just kind of came to me naturally!
Disclaimer: I’ve tried my absolute hardest to ensure I’m not putting The Poppy War on this list (because it’s basically on every other post I write about nowadays)! 😬

For those who don’t already know, Six for Sunday is weekly meme hosted by Steph over at A Little But A Lot.

Books I Wish I’d Read in 2020!

Book 1 and Book 2:

Ok, so I had to include these two on here because *whispers* – I haven’t actually read A Court of Frost and Starlight yet and now that A Court of Silver Flames is getting closer to release, the hype for this series is just rebuilding and rebuilding across all of my social media feeds and I know I’ll end up needing to read them ASAP. With Crescent City, I have not been spoiled yet at all which is amazing as I’m dying to dive into this series and with the sheer size of the book and the amount of brainpower I know it’s going to sap from me, I kind of wish I’d read it already.

Book 3:

Since Ready Player One is one of my all-time favourite books in the universe, it makes sense that I wish I’d read Ready Player Two in 2020 at the absolute minute of its release… but I didn’t. I’m kind of waiting for the paperback as my copy of RP1 is in that format and I wanted them to match (yes, I’m one of those people!), and also – I just don’t think I’m mentally ready for the sequel yet! 🙈

Book 4:

In 2020, we lost one of my favourite authors in the world. He was an absolute auto-buy (no matter the format!) and his writing voice was like nothing else I have ever read before nor will probably read again. I wanted to set myself a challenge of reading his complete Cemetery of Forgotten Books series again from the beginning and ending with the last book he ever wrote ‘The Labyrinth of the Spirits’, but other things just got in the way. It’s a weird, strange and completely somber feeling knowing that when I read The Labyrinth of the Spirits for the first time, it’ll also be the final time I get to immerse myself in his writing without knowing where the story will end up.

Book 5:

Dune – OK, so basically the only reason I wish I’d read this last year is because I really, really wanted to read the book before the movie came out. Due to Covid, the movie has been delayed so I’ve kind of already had my reading period extension and although I doubt the cinema will be opening again in the near future I really want to bump this one up the TBR pile to get through it in time!

Book 6:

I have heard no end of good things about this series and I’m really intrigued to find out what all the fuss is about! I wish I ‘d read it when it first came out so that I don’t end up overhyping myself for it!

What are the books you wish you read in 2020? Did you end up managing to clear some off your TBR shelf anyway?
As always, leave your links below to your own posts or drop me a comment to chat!

T xx

#BookTag – The Mystery Blogger Award

January 14, 2021January 13, 2021 The Biblioshelf4 Comments

Hi Bibliofriends!

How are we all coping with Lockdown 3.0? Remote teaching is so intense that sometimes I can’t even bare to look at a screen when I come home – and I completely drafted this Tag then forgot to post it! 🙈

The fabulous Riddhi at Whispering Worlds is definitely holding my tag game up! She tagged me in this post at the same time as publishing her Evermore Book Tag so obviously I had to do that one as well! This is my first ever Mystery Blogger Award so I’m super excited to answering the questions!

Rules:

Display the award logo on your blog.
Thank the blogger who nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
Mention Okoto Enigma, the creator of the award.
Tell your readers 3 things about yourself.
Answer 5 questions from the blogger who nominated you.
Nominate 10 – 20 bloggers.
Notify your nominees by leaving a comment on their blog.
Ask your nominees 5 questions of your choice, including 1 weird or funny question.
Share the link to your best post.

Ok so three things about me…

I absolutely love racehorses and am involved in about 5 different partnerships. Nothing beats going for a walk on the gallops to blow the cobwebs away – especially when you hear those hooves thundering up the grass! 😍

2. There isn’t a day that goes by when I don’t play Pokemon Go! 😂 I’m slightly obsessed with Pokemon ever since I got my first GameBoy Colour as a child and it came with Pokemon Gold. I then had to buy all of the original games but I’m still yet to catch them all! Drop me a chat if you want my Trainer Code! 😉

3. I believe in my horoscopes, read them devoutly and am a proud Taurean and INFJ!

Riddhi’s Questions:

What is one Christmas themed book you want to read this year?

I don’t really read Christmas themed books… eek! And seeing as it’s now 2021 and we are seemingly waaaaaayyyyy past 2020 (putting that firmly behind us – although… hello Lockdown 3.0!) I’ve altered this question slightly to be a book I’m excited to read this New Year – The Poppy War series! I managed to snap-up a copy of the Illumicrate Archive Editions and I can’t wait to read them – I’ve heard all good things – and yes, I realise that I mention this in practically every post I write these days!

2. What is your fatal flaw? (Yes, you can take a quiz to find out)

There are lots! All equally fatal! 😂 I am incredibly stubborn (it comes from being a Taurean bull) and I often procrastinate or catastrophise everything which prevents me from living life properly and gives me ridiculous anxiety – well isn’t that a melodramatic statement if ever you’ve read one?!

3. What is your Hogwarts house?

Proud Ravenclaw over here! 💙

4. Who is your godly parent?

This is such a good question, it’s got me stumped – then I googled it and shame on me for not getting the Percy Jackson reference (at least I hope that’s what it is! 😂). OK, I did have to take a quiz on Epic Reads for this one and I got: Poseidon!
“As a child of one of the Big Three, you’re one of the most powerful demigods around. You must be a natural in water and probably have a sense for the weather, too. But Poseidon isn’t the most boastful father, which means you aren’t arrogant about your abilities. When the world needs saving, we want you by our side—and we’re not just saying that because you’re Percy’s sibling. Mostly.”

5. Name three authors whose books you read this year for the first time.

Ok so in 2020 I read 38 new-to-me authors so it’s super hard just to name 3 but my 3 mainstream favourites would be: V.E. Schwab, Alix E. Harrow and Isabel Ibañez. My two total gems of discovery which I found through my blog were: Rebecca Crunden and Mark Newman.

My favourite post by me:
Back last year I created a series of Original Posts about what types of occupations Lord of the Rings characters would have if they lived in today’s world. It was so much fun to write and sometimes I still can’t believe that I came up with the idea to write something like that! I’m normally just a reviews and tags kind of girl! 😂 You can read them here: Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four.

My Nominees!

Hey you…! Tag – you’re it!
I’m so so sorry but I absolutely suck at tagging people to do things and that massive anxiety/guilt comes out that I’m nominating where it’s not welcome, so if you’re reading this and want to take part then please do go ahead! ☺️

My Questions:

What was the last album you listened to on-repeat, non-stop, without skipping a single song?
What are your top three anticipated book releases for 2021?
If you could live in any fictional world for a year, where would it be and why?
Which season is your favourite?
Favourite everyday item you can’t live without?

There you go peeps! Stay safe out there! ☺️
Happy blogging,
T xx

#SixforSunday – Bookish Wins of 2020

January 10, 2021January 7, 2021 The Biblioshelf6 Comments

Happy Sunday Bibliofriends,

Well flipping done Boris!!! I mean, fancy having all your kids back to school for one day then telling them they can’t come back in for the rest of the term… AT 8PM ON A MONDAY NIGHT!! 😂🙈 #shortesttermever!!

That aside, we’re now using Microsoft Teams to do our online teaching and I must say I’m absolutely loving it!! I’ve never been so organised with all my files, folders and powerpoints everywhere! Obviously I wish I was still stood directly in front of my children actually teaching rather than death by powerpoint but oh well! With that in mind, spending all day on Teams and then coming home and trying to blog did not mix incredibly well and my scheduled posts went back down to big fat zero!

Onto Six for Sunday goodness! For January our theme is ‘It’s All About Boooooooks!” and this week the prompt is Bookish Wins of 2020. I got a little confused at first about what that actually meant: is it supposed to be my favourite books of 2020; good bookish things that happened in 2020? 🤔 Let’s face it, I think the pure existence of anything bookish was 2020’s greatest achievement alone! With that in mind, here are six totally random things that I consider to be a bookish win of 2020 – remember the word ‘random’ when you get to the bottom!

For those who don’t already know, Six for Sunday is weekly meme hosted by Steph over at A Little But A Lot.

Bookish wins of 2020!

Releases actually happened!!
On a globe where everything was shut down to the extent that the canals in Venice actually ran clear, I think any book release that managed to hit the shelves in 2020 was a major achievement (side-eyeing Bond: No Time to Die – I’m still waiting!!!). I know that books sometimes take years to get to full publication stage but kudos to those people actually ensuring that they made their way from the machine and onto my bookshelves. There were some pretty amazing releases last year and I mention several of my favourites in my previous post about my best reads of 2020.
People rediscovering reading during lockdown!
It’s been said that one of most popular hobbies people rediscovered during lockdown was the joy of reading books – especially in the garden with a glass of wine… (although that was probably just me!).
Bookshop.org!
With businesses being shut down and ending up in financial difficulties, bookshop.org was one of the lights in the darkness for all of our sacred indie bookshops. I have been one of those self-confessed shoppers who bought a whole basket of books on Amazon because they were cheaper than anywhere else – but this pandemic has really brought to light the hardships faced by our independent bookshops. It has ignited my passion to perhaps buy fewer books across the year but purchase them through more rewarding channels, especially now that I have an indie bookshop in my village (when lockdown is actually over and I can visit it…).
NetGalley release the Shelf app!
OMG Netgalley’s Shelf app totally revolutionised my ability to actually read and make it through all of those arcs! I know it still isn’t perfect, especially when you normally only read e-books on an iPhone like I do (tiny-text-alert) but in my personal opinion, it really improved the productivity and experience of being able to request books on NetGalley and not have to struggle through some sort of Aldiko or Adobe app just to read them.
Cheltenham Literature Festival went online!
The Cheltenham Literature Festival is one of my favourite events of the whole year! How many times do you get to meet Salman Rushdie, Sarah J Maas or Mary Berry and have them sign your books? Or even get to sit in a tent with Matt Haig whilst there’s a howling storm outside shaking the whole damn thing – only for him to turn around and quip, “never mind Notes on a Nervous Planet – how about Notes from a Nervous Tent!” Whilst nothing can live up to spending time meeting authors face-to-face and having them sign your books, or to spend time wandering through the stacks in the book tent with a crepe or some kind of amazing street-food fayre – just having the events online or on a catch-up player so you can watch the ones that take place in the day when you’d normally be working was amazing. I’d definitely pay extra for that kind of catch-up service again this October, although hopefully we’ll be back in the tents by then!
The Books themselves – my shelves are WINNING!
Let’s face it – the books themselves are what matters right? So many awesome titles made their way onto my brand new bookshelves last year that my 2021 reading list is looking stellar! I have The Poppy War trilogy, The Daevabad trilogy, Raybearer, A Song of Wraiths and Ruin and Crescent City still to read – I know I’m leaving it mightily late with some of those! 🙈 And that’s not to mention the ones that I actually did get around to reading – Addie LaRue, The Once and Future Witches and Woven in Moonlight are still some of the favourites on there! So yeah, my 2020 book haul was a major WINNER!

I told you it was all random right?! 😉

What are your bookish wins for 2020? Would it be something to do with your own reads, a newly discovered author, a bookish event that got you shouting from the rooftops, or some other bookish news or release that made you get that winning feeling?
As always, leave your links below or drop me a comment to chat!

T xx

#BookTag – The Evermore Book Tag

January 5, 2021January 1, 2021 The Biblioshelf5 Comments

Howdy Bibliofriends!

One of my (few) favourite things about 2020 was the fact that we got not just one, but TWO!! brand new Taylor Swift albums!! Now, before these last two albums I wouldn’t really have considered myself a diehard Swiftie but now… OMG I have fallen well and truly “right down the rabbit hole” (pun intended!). Evermore and Folklore are practically on repeat in their own little playlist (with Miley’s Plastic Hearts album thrown into it as well). These tunes have been my absolute saviour through the final part of last year.

I had so much fun doing the Folklore Book Tag back during the Summer that I just had to tag myself in the Evermore Book Tag when I happened to come across it on the wonderful Riddhi’s Whispering Stories blog!

If you’re looking for a fairly accurate way of sorting your favourite Taylor songs the Jessee Pinkman has made an amazing set on song sorters on Tumblr! Check them out here – they’re amazing!

The evermore Book Tag!

Rules:

Link back to the original creator’s post: the fantabulous Ahaana @Windows to Worlds – seriously go check out her blog!!
Tag at least 5 people
Thank the person who tagged you and link back to their post!! – Thanks so much Riddhi (blog linked above)!!

willow: a book with a character you can’t help but fall in love with
I love how catchy this song is – and yes, I have downloaded all of the different versions of this song as well! 🙈

Rhysand from A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas – all the damn time, even the I try so hard not to!

champagne problems: a book with a broken relationship
This song is probably one of my (many) favourites. I love the way the lyrics just trip out with the melody and the sad story that’s told!

Hamlet by William Shakespeare – poor, poor Ophelia – I can almost imagine Hamlet’s and Ophelia’s characters being reversed in Champagne Problems – it could so easily have been written about them!

gold rush: a book you love with all your heart
It’s fair to say that Gold Rush is my second favourite song on the whole album – it’s so catchy and I really like how the chorus is so incredibly different from the verses.

Ok, for this prompt, there are two books on this whole list that could be interchangeable here and they are: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
and
The Throne of Glass series by Sarah J Maas
I love both of them so much.

’tis the damn season: a book in which the character reconnects with their family/hometown
This song has definitely grown on me with it’s melodramatic Christmassy feel. I think of this song being narrated by Betty talking about James and how their relationship would have fared (or not…) into adulthood.

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow immediately sprang to mind for this due to the way the Eastwood sisters come together in the storyline. It could also very easily have been a book I finished reading right at the end of 2020 called Fire and Heist by Sarah Beth Durst – the plot is centred around bringing a family back together, with added were-dragons of course!

tolerate it: a book with a suffering relationship
Admittedly this song tends to just blend into the background for me when I’m busy doing other things. It has a powerful message though, reading between the lines and all that!

The Folk of the Air series by Holly Black – there’s plenty of suffering relationships to choose from here – I won’t spoil them all but when you really stop to read into them there’s some pretty bad manipulation and control going on in the land of Faerie!

no body, no crime: a book about murder
I love HAIM so much from the first time I ever heard of them when they supported Florence + the Machine on one of their tours. I was a little sad that they weren’t a bit more prominent in this song but I love the classical country crime song elements that this track brings.

Lethal White by Robert Galbraith – I’m not normally a crime fan although I absolutely love the Strike series and am patiently awaiting the release of Troubled Blood in paperback (even though I know it’s going to be a hefty brick). The Strike novels just seem to get bigger and better with each new one that’s brought out.

happiness: a book that’s an old favourite, but you just can’t relate to anymore
Sometimes this song comes on and I get right into singing along to the tune and everything whereas other times it just seems to blend into the background again – it’s a real mood song for me.

The Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyer was the ultimate choice for this one. I know if has its army of devout fans out there but dare I say… I think I’m just over Twilight?!

dorothea: a book featuring an old (or strong) friendships
I read an article by someone who was convinced this song was all about Swift’s friendship with Selena Gomez. It’s quite often a track I’ll skip to be honest.

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman was my pics for this as I love the friendship, banter and rivalry between Aziraphale and Crowley.

coney island: a book that made you cry // completely destroyed you
I just can’t listen to this song!!! It makes me so depressed! 😂 At least the prompt kinda fits though!

See the Gold Rush answer for this one – both the endings of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwa and the Throne of Glass Series by Sarah J Maas can be interchangeable here. I can’t get through either without reaching for the tissues and the bookish hangover cures!

ivy: a book that was an unexpected favourite
Ivy is a song which I’ve grown to love a little more each time I listen to it – it’s definitely not a skippable track anymore.

I’ve chosen Woven in Moonlight by Isabel Ibanez for this prompt – not because I didn’t expect that it would be any good, but just because I wasn’t expecting to absolutely adore it as much as I did! The sequel comes out this year and I am so ready for it! Bring back Ximena and the magical woven animals! 😍

cowboy like me: a book about thieves, or criminals
Ok, this one is probably my favourite on the whole album – it’s the first one I’ll play from my playlist. The chorus just gets stuck in my head and I keep singing it over and over. I think it’s fabulous!

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo was my immediate choice for this – I’m just yelling out HEIST in my head! I think as far as my own reading goes, Bardugo has set the absolute yardstick for the heist novel! I’m a big fan!

long story short: a book that made up your childhood
Again, another catchy song that I just can’t help but dance along to! 😂

I can;t pick anything other than the Harry Potter series for this one. I grew up waiting for these books to be released which would sometimes be years! It was always a tradition that my Nan would preorder them for me as she knew how much I adored the series – and yes, confession time: I did shed a few tears at the end of the Warner Brothers Studio Tour seeing that screen that says, “No story lives unless someone wants to listen. The stories we love best do live in us forever. So whether you come back by page or by the big screen, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home.”

marjorie: a book with a moving message
Marjorie has a few lyrics in it which were like a massive lightbulb going PING when I really sat and listened to it properly and those words actually helped me to claw my way out a certain hole at the end of last year! They’re probably some of the most poignant lyrics I’ve ever heard to be honest and I could really relate to them in that moment.
Never be so polite, you forget your power / Never wield such power, you forget to be polite

It wasn’t until I was scrolling through Goodreads that this read came back to me and like my lightbulb moment in marjorie, the lightbulb went off here to match Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman to this prompt. It’s such a moving story with a powerful message.

closure: a series in which you NEED to read the next book
Closure is a song that I’m not particularly that fond in fairness – there are so many others I prefer more.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline is one of my ALL-TIME favourite novels and I know that the sequel Ready Player Two has been out since November so I could literally order it and read it ASAP but I really do NEED to read it! 🙈🙃

evermore: the perfect conclusion to an extremely long (but worth it) series
The tune to this sounds so simplistically beautiful and I love both of Taylor’s duets with Bon Iver – this song was so perfect for winter too.

So when I first read Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolkien – I read each volume back to back as I have the special anniversary edition where they are all in the one book – me being me, I have to read only one book at a time so when I started the Fellowship I knew I was going to have to read all the way through to the Appendices before I could pick up another book. It was so worth it though. I’d love to reread the whole series again soon. Middle Earth is probably my favourite of all of the fictional worlds and so often I’m whinging that a book ends with a big battle and doesn’t fully explain the aftermath – that’s definitely NOT the case with LOTR! Haha!

This was such a fun tag to explore to share my love of books and my love of evermore! Thank you so much Riddhi and Ahaana for bringing this fabulous tag into my bloglife!

Are you constantly playing folklore or evermore on repeat? What are your favourite tracks? I’m not great at tagging people so consider yourself tagged if you fancy like giving the evermore book tag a go!
As always, drop me a comment below to chat! ☺️

T xx

#SixforSunday – Bookish Resolutions for 2021

January 3, 2021January 1, 2021 The Biblioshelf4 Comments

Happy Sunday Bibliofriends,

Happy New Year everyone! It’s the first Six For Sunday of 2021!! Yippee!
I really love this weekly tag that the lovely Steph (THANK YOU!🙏) created back in 2017 as it isn’t too challenging and the prompts come well in advanced so that I can keep myself organised – that feels like a luxury sometimes these day! 🙄

For this brand new month, in a brand new year our January theme is ‘It’s All About Boooooooks!” – I mean, what better theme to start 2021 off with right?

For those who don’t already know, Six for Sunday is weekly meme hosted by Steph over at A Little But A Lot.

Bookish Resolutions for 2021!

Now, kidding aside – I suck at New Year Resolutions! I love the idea of a new beginning and the start of some good habits etc… but I can never seem to stay on track. I don’t know whether it’s my Taurean nature or just the sheer amount of time/effort/energy that adulating takes up (😂😂😂) but there’s rarely an ambitious habit that I can stick to. So who knows what’ll happen this time next year and whether I’ll have actually achieved any of these goals or not!

Keep on reading!
2020 was the first year since 2017 that I actually managed to complete my Goodreads Challenge Goal so I’m hoping to keep that up this year and not fall behind again.
Stick to the TBR!
I always end up making goals and TBR lists which I never actually complete – sometimes it’s because I’m a mood reader although occasionally it’s because other things just distract me away from the pile. There are definitely some complete series I have which I now own and want to read in their entirety this year. They are: The Poppy War by R.F. Kung (my gorgeous Illumicrate Editions! 😍); The Daevabad Trilogy by S.A. Chakraborty and the Ember in the Ashes Series by Sabaa Tahir.
Expand my reading horizons!
This year I really want to make more of an effort to read more diversely. Quite often my TBR and shelves consist of incredibly mainstream books so this is the year I hope to change that.
Visit the library!
Now that I can actually walk to my local library, hopefully (once normality has been restored after bloody Covid!) I’ll be able to spend more time borrowing books rather than buying a load and then not having anywhere to put them. I’m so surprised I haven’t actually had an accident from tripping over a pile of books dotted somewhere around my house! 🙈
Blog, blog, blog!
Not gonna lie, having a little headspace during National Lockdown really did help me to revitalise my blog and get organised enough to keep up a steady stream of content and even think up a few ideas for some original post content. Hopefully now my job will be calming down again soon I can keep up the fun bloggishness!
Getting the Bookstagram back up and running!
I got into such a rut with my Bookstagram account as I just couldn’t keep up with the photo challenges or I felt that my background “theme” was the same all of the time and just got boring. As part of my bujo I’ve made a special Insta page so hopefully I’ll be more organised to start updating it more frequently this year! That’s the plan anyway! 😂

What are your bookish goals for 2021? Do you always stick to your New Year Resolutions or are you a bit of a drifter like me?
As always, leave your links below or drop me a comment to chat!

T xx

#SixforSunday – Characters I Want To Spend New Years With

December 27, 2020December 6, 2020 The Biblioshelf2 Comments

Happy Sunday Bibliofriends,

How was everyone’s Christmas? I hope you all got to spend it in the nicest way possible given all of the Covid “restrictions” etc…

This week’s Six For Sunday is gearing up for one of the biggest party times of the Year with Characters We’d Want To Spend New Years With! Now, as we are still under pandemic times, I’m forgoing the rule of six and turning it into a rule of seven as I would love to go to a massive-non-socially-distanced-rave-style-mosh-pit-party with these guys! 😆

For those who don’t already know, Six for Sunday is weekly meme hosted by Steph over at A Little But A Lot.

Characters I Want To Spend New Years With

Addie LaRue

Jesper (Six of Crows)

Gandalf – with Fireworks! (Lord of the Rings)

Peik Lin (Crazy Rich Asians)

Tyrone Lannister (Game of Thrones)

Cassian (ACOTAR)

If only fictional worlds were one big reality where I could actually play that party out in real life!!! #eclecticbunch!

Which characters would be on your invite list for a New Years Party? How do you think you’ll be spending NYE this year? Are you looking forward to finally seeing the back of 2020?!
As always, leave your links below or drop me a comment to chat!

T xx

#SixforSunday – Books I Want To Buy As Presents

December 20, 2020December 6, 2020 The BiblioshelfLeave a comment

Happy Sunday Bibliofriends,

Our Six For Sunday theme of Festive Goodness takes on the dreaded Christmas Shopping element this week! I wish more of my friends love books as much as I do as it would make things so much easier! Nevertheless, here’s the books I be buying as presents – let’s hope Secret Santas aren’t reading this! 😂

For those who don’t already know, Six for Sunday is weekly meme hosted by Steph over at A Little But A Lot.

Books I Want To Buy As Presents

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

I would buy everyone this book! I know it probably wouldn’t be to everyone’s taste but I love it so much; it’s my favourite read of the entire year and one of my favourites of all time.

Songteller: My Life in Lyrics by Dolly Parton

I’d have to buy two copies though… one for my Dolly-loving friend – and one for me! 😂

Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics

The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson

I have a friend who I think would really appreciate the world building the plot concept in this book. It was a really good read and I can see them liking it!

Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline

Again, I would have to buy two copies of this and give one to a friend so I had someone to chat about it with! I have to admit, I’m so nervous about finally being able to read the sequel. The first book is one of my all-time favourites so the sequel will have a lot to live up to!

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

We can list books we’d want to buy as presents for ourselves can’t we?! 🙈

Black Flamingo by Dean Atta

The above comment works for this one too! I actually do have a friend who I would buy this for. She loves YA and I know she hasn’t got around to purchasing this one for herself yet.

Which books would be on your own Christmas list or which books are you buying for other people this holiday season?
As always, leave your links below or drop me a comment to chat!

T xx

#SixforSunday – Books I’d Like To Spend The Holidays In

December 13, 2020December 6, 2020 The Biblioshelf3 Comments

Happy Sunday Bibliofriends,

Our Six For Sunday theme of Festive Goodness is really getting me hyped up and excited for Christmas and New Year. What better way to start thinking about which books I’d want to be spending the holidays in than with this week’s S4S prompt?!

For those who don’t already know, Six for Sunday is weekly meme hosted by Steph over at A Little But A Lot.

Books I’d Like To Spend The Holidays In

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis

There’s just something about the world of Narnia which screams Christmas to me! Perhaps it’s the wintry landscape but I could definitely imagine this being a really cosy and twinkly place to spend a white christmas.

Christmas at Hogwarts

Nothing says Christmas Banquet like a Hogwarts Christmas Feast. I would love to go to Warner Bros. Studios to see the big Christmas tree in the Great Hall and sip on some butter beer whilst listening to Flitwick and his random toad choir!

The OASIS from Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

If you don’t know already, this is one of my all time favourite books in the whole universe so it’s no surprise that I’d take any opportunity I could get to go exploring all of the different sectors and worlds within the OASIS. I bet there’s even a planet where it is actually Christmas everyday just so you could sing the Wizzard song and it would actually come true for a change!

Carcassonne (Labyrinth) from The Languedoc trilogy by Kate Mosse

I really love the world building in this series. Kate’s description of the medieval towns really wants to make me visit this beautiful region of France.

Illuminae by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman

Party on the Heimdall anyone?? Pre BeiTech involvement obviously…!

The Shire (The Hobbit) by J.R.R. Tolkien

I can just imagine Christmas in the Shire being such a great time where everyone comes together to have a big festive gathering at the Green Dragon or the Prancing Pony! I’d definitely by up for a Christmas party there, especially if Gandalf brings his fireworks!

Where would you want to spend the holiday season?
As always, leave your links below or drop me a comment to chat!

T xx

#SixforSunday – Red and White Books

December 6, 2020 The Biblioshelf2 Comments

Happy Sunday Bibliofriends,

It’s finally December!! For the past few years, I seemed to have lost my Christmas mojo and it just became another time of year with an excuse to eat and drink far too much – but this year I am getting super excited for Christmas! Maybe all of the crazy lockdown life has made me grateful for a time to celebrate with family, even if it is “restricted” more this year!

Anyway, before we actually get to Christmas we have a brand new Six For Sunday theme and this month it’s all about Festive Goodness! For those who don’t already know, Six for Sunday is weekly meme hosted by Steph over at A Little But A Lot. This month is all about the red and white coloured books – nothing says Christmas than a little red and white striped candy came right?!

Red and White Books

The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

I binge read this book in less than 24 hours. Mysterious clue-solving treasure hunt for a massive inheritance around a big grand mansion… I sure did love it! If you enjoyed the film Knives Out then you’d probably enjoy this read! You can read my review here.

Wolf Hall – Hilary Mantel

I took the opportunity during the first lockdown to actually pick this mammoth brick up and read it. After I got over the narration style it was actually thoroughly enjoyable and incredibly well-written. I’m not sure how long it’ll take me to get around to reading the next two instalments though! 😂

The Truth About Ruby Valentine by Alison Bond

This was one of those books where I read the review in a Sunday magazine and just had to have it. I would trawl the second hand bookshops just looking for a copy until I finally got one!

Everless by Sara Holland

I loved the concept of blood and time being currency in this book as well as the folklore surrounding the Sorcerer and the Alchemist. It seemed so unique and originally described. A five-star read from me but sadly I didn’t feel the sequel lived up to it as much.

Crown of Midnight by Sarah J Maas

It wouldn’t be a Biblioshelf post without a something from Throne of Glass right?! 🙄

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy by Helen Fielding

What a furore this caused when it came out!! I won’t spoil it for anyone wanting to read it but I am glad that they didn’t use this book as the screenplay for the third film – this is one of those instances where I’m afraid I love the movies more than the books!

What are your favourite red and white books covers? What kind of colours make you think of Christmas? Are you looking forward to the Festive Season?
As always, leave your links below or drop me a comment to chat!

T xx