Tag: bookblogger

#SixforSunday – Books I’m Too Scared To Read!

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Happy Sunday Bibliofriends!

We’re finishing off the seasonal Ooky Spooky Bookys theme this month on Six for Sunday with a post all about books we’re too scared to read! I had so much fun putting this together and browsing for some good old fashion horror stories to include!

For those who don’t already know, Six for Sunday is weekly meme hosted by Steph over at A Little But A Lot. November’s theme is ‘Ooky Spooky Bookys’. 

Books I’m Too Scared To Read!

Some of my favourite orange books that I’ve read or are sitting on my physical TBR pile! ☺️

  1. The Shining by Stephen King
  2. It by Stephen King
  3. The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
  4. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
  5. Button, Button by Richard Matheson
  6. Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay

As always, leave your links below to your own posts or drop me a comment to chat!

T xx

#SixforSunday – Favourite Spooky Books!

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Happy Sunday Bibliofriends!

We’re continuing with the seasonal Ooky Spooky Bookys this month on Six for Sunday! Today is all about our favourite spooky books. As a big SFF fan, there are plenty of spooky elements within the genre that gave me so many options for these next 6 prompts!

For those who don’t already know, Six for Sunday is weekly meme hosted by Steph over at A Little But A Lot. November’s theme is ‘Ooky Spooky Bookys’. 

Favourite Spooky Books!

Some of my favourite orange books that I’ve read or are sitting on my physical TBR pile! ☺️

  1. The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow
  2. Never Have I Ever by Isabel Yap
  3. Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
  4. The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter
  5. The Prince in the Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
  6. The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux

As always, leave your links below to your own posts or drop me a comment to chat!

T xx

#SixforSunday – Books That Scared Me!

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Happy Sunday Bibliofriends!

We’re continuing with the seasonal Ooky Spooky Bookys this month on Six for Sunday! Today is all about books that scared us. Not gonna lie, I read so much fantasy and YA/romance novels that I don’t really think I’ve ever been scared by a book – at least not to the extent of Joey from Friends…! I’ve had a go anyway, so here’s some of the spookier books I’ve read…

For those who don’t already know, Six for Sunday is weekly meme hosted by Steph over at A Little But A Lot. November’s theme is ‘Ooky Spooky Bookys’. 

Books That Scared Me

Some of my favourite orange books that I’ve read or are sitting on my physical TBR pile! ☺️

  1. The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
  2. Hag: Forgotten Folktales Retold
  3. Dracula by Bram Stoker
  4. The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
  5. The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
  6. Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel

As always, leave your links below to your own posts or drop me a comment to chat!

T xx

#SixforSunday – Orange Books!

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Happy Sunday Bibliofriends!

November is bringing in a brand new theme for Six For Sunday prompts and I’m super excited that this month is all about Ooky Spooky Bookys! I love that Halloween and the spooky season brings about some kind of gothic revival of paranormal, witchy stories – it’s the perfect time of year for them! Nights are drawing in, the trees are turning golden and it’s officially time to crack out the chunky knits!

This week’s Ooky Spooky prompt is all about orange books! Not gonna lie, I had to take a good, long look at my bookshelves to find orange books – it doesn’t seem to be a colour that my shelves are populated with?!

For those who don’t already know, Six for Sunday is weekly meme hosted by Steph over at A Little But A Lot. November’s theme is ‘Ooky Spooky Bookys’. 

Orange Books

Some of my favourite orange books that I’ve read or are sitting on my physical TBR pile! ☺️

  1. Circe by Madeline Miller
  2. The Girl of Ink and Stars by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
  3. Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
  4. Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
  5. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
  6. She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker Chan

As always, leave your links below to your own posts or drop me a comment to chat!

T xx

#SixforSunday – Favourite Books by Non-White Authors

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Happy Sunday Bibliofriends!

October is bringing us a brand new theme for Six for Sunday and this month is all about Celebrating Diverse Voices to tie in with Black History Month in the UK.

Our first prompt is to discuss our favourite books by black authors. This year I’ve been actively trying to read more diversely and I’m going to be totally honest here – the thought of upsetting or disrespecting someone’s heritage completely frightens me. I’m reluctant to refer to someone as black if they prefer to identify themselves differently and it would horrify me to misrepresent somebody; that’s never, ever an intention of mine. So with that in mind and in the hope of celebrating all diverse voices, I’m slightly shifting this prompt to discuss my favourite 2021 reads from writers who are not white.

For those who don’t already know, Six for Sunday is weekly meme hosted by Steph over at A Little But A Lot. October’s theme is ‘Celebrating Diverse Voices’. 

Favourite Books by People of Colour

Any hyperlinks below take you to some of my reviews for the above reads!

  1. The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna
  2. Black Flamingo by Dean Atta
  3. Can You Sign My Tentacle? by Brandon O’Brien
  4. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
  5. Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko
  6. Never Have I Ever by Isabel Yap [Review to come soon]

As always, leave your links below to your own posts or drop me a comment to chat!

T xx

The Seven Deadly Sins Book Tag

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Happy Thursday Bibliofriends,

The weekend is almost upon us which means it’s time for another little Book Tag! I found this Seven Deadly Sins tag over at What’s That Mark’s Reading!? and as a fan of all things fairly strange and occult, I knew I had to take a little pop at it.

GREED: What is the most expensive book you own? What is the least expensive book you own? 

Most expensive: I have no idea what my most expensive book is! As an Illumicrate and FairyLoot subscriber I’ve been getting a lot of signed first editions and special editions of books so it may be one of those. I also have a First Edition of a Harry Potter book but I don’t think it’s one of the ones that are worth thousands.

Least expensive: I have a number of paperbacks that neither eBay, Music Magpie or Ziffit wants to pay for so I guess at the moment they’re the least expensive ones!

GLUTTONY: What book(s) have you shamelessly devoured many times? 

The Harry Potter books – I can just keep rereading them and never get bored of them!

SLOTH: What book or series have you neglected out of sheer laziness? 

I don’t think I’ve ever neglected a book or series out of laziness. Actually, I lie – I have kind of neglected She Who Became the Sun as I just found the pace to be a little slow. I’m hoping to pick it up again soon though, it’s definitely a book I want to finish.  

PRIDE: What book(s) do you bring up when you want to sound like an intellectual reader? 

I think I turn to the non-fiction when I want to sound intelligent so it’ll probably be Atomic Habits by James Clear. It was full of so many practical tips about how to encourage building up positive habits to make your lifestyle more effective. I have a little review here.

LUST: What attributes do you find most attractive in your characters? 

I adore those complex, morally-grey type characters when you can’t work out whether they’re a hero or villain. That’s why Severus Snape is one of my all-time favourite literary characters, I even have a book called The Great Snape Debate which came out before the finale of the books – one side argued for the hero, the flipside argued for the villain. Those complexities and depth seem to add mysticism and depth which outright heroes just don’t quite conjure up for me.

ENVY: What books would you most like to receive as a gift? 

I literally adore any bookish gift. I think it’s really nice when friends pick out a book for you that they think you’ll really like and may not have bought for yourself. You can find completely undiscovered treasures that way. My Nan once bought me a copy of The Shadow of the Wind as a gift and I had never heard of the book or the author – Zafon immediately became one of favourite authors and I own multiple copies of his works.

WRATH: What author do you have a love-hate relationship with?

I don’t think I can really answer this one?! Perhaps maybe Murakami, his works are so ingenious and enchanting. I love all of their peculiar curiosities but I do find them pretty damn difficult to read and understand! 😂

That’s a wrap! What are your favourite Deadly Sins? Consider yourself TAGGED if you fancy like giving this one a go.

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

#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

#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