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’. 

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Favourite Books by People of Colour

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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]
   

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

T xx

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’. 

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Fictional Schools/Universities I’d Want To Go To

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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!

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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

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’. 

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Fictional Schools/Universities I’d Want To Go To

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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…! 🙈

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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

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’. 

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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!

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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

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’. 

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Fictional Schools/Universities I’d Want To Go To

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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.

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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

Happy Sunday Bibliofriends!

August’s Six for Sunday theme is 2021 Books! I missed last week’s prompt about Favourite 2021 Reads So Far but yesterday I posted about this year’s favourite reads as ice cream flavours that kind of fits right?! You can out that post here!

This week we are listing 2021 Book releases which are on our TBRs. I could so easily do 60 of these rather than just 6 so this was a really tricky one 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. July’s theme is ‘Sounds of Summer’ which I am living for at the minute – bring it on! 

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2021 Book Releases on my TBR!

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1. She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan
   I received a gorgeous special edition of this in one of my recent book subscription boxes. I know I keep harping on about it but it’s giving me such good vibes that I can’t wait to read it!
   
2. The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri
   This is another book I’ve had from one of my subs. I have read so many good things about it and I’m really intrigued by the Indian inspired world.
   
3. Redemptor by Jordan Ifueko
   I feel like I have been waiting for this sequel for so long! I’m dying to return to the world of Aritsar after the ending of Raybearer although thankfully the wait is nearly over!
   
4. House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J Maas
   I can’t help but get swept away into the worlds of Sarah J Maas’s books – I’m so curious as to where this sequel will go (and if it’ll beat War and Peace on the page count!).
   
5. The Hawthorn Legacy by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
   I binge-read the first in this series in one day. I’m such a nerd for any kind of clues/treasure hunt style plot line. The ending of the first one wasn’t quite as I anticipated but I’m still keen to see how the story concludes.
   
6. Rainbow in the Dark by Sean McGinty
   I saw this plugged as The Wizard of Oz meets Ready Player One (one of my all-time favourites EVER!) and immediately add this onto my TBR. It’s supposed to be out on August 10th but I haven’t heard too much about it around the book socials so I’m keeping my eyes peeled to get my copy!

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What 2021 books are on your TBR? Are you anticipating the start of a new series or are you hoping for some sequels and story conclusions?
As always, leave your links below to your own posts or drop me a comment to chat!

T xx

Happy Sunday Bibliofriends!

I initially thought this was going to be quite easy to complete this week’s prompt – but actually, turns out I’ve only read 3 books with word ‘sun’ in the title so the others had to come from my ‘want-to-read’ pile! ☺️

For those who don’t already know, Six for Sunday is weekly meme hosted by Steph over at A Little But A Lot. July’s theme is ‘Sounds of Summer’ which I am living for at the minute – bring it on! 

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Characters I’d go on holiday with!

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1. She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan
   
2. Ignite the Sun by Hannah Howard
   
3. The Sunshine and Biscotti Club by Jenny Oliver
   
4. Under the Pendulum Sun by Jeanette Ng
   
5. Smoke in the Sun by Renee Ahdieh
   
6. The Sun and her Flowers by Rupi Kaur

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What books have you read that contain the word sun or have sun in the title?
As always, leave your links below to your own posts or drop me a comment to chat!

T xx

Happy Sunday Bibliofriends!

This week’s prompt really got me thinking – who on earth would I want to go on holiday with? My own holidays have been pretty varied: from relaxing on a beach in Cape Verde to visiting (what felt like) every single Church in Florence, Venice, Rome and Milan… Not forgetting my action-packed trip to Disney World too. With that in mind, I’m not entirely sure I’ve read a lot of characters who would do all of those things. I’ve settled on a whole combination with the hope that we can go on six different holidays! Hey, with international travel being put on the back-burner for the foreseeable future, I can still dream can’t I? ☺️

For those who don’t already know, Six for Sunday is weekly meme hosted by Steph over at A Little But A Lot. July’s theme is ‘Sounds of Summer’ which I am living for at the minute – bring it on! 

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Characters I’d go on holiday with!

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1. Addie from The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
   We all know Addie is pretty much my go-to girl – I think we could definitely make our own fun in any destination!
   
2. Bridget Jones from Bridget Jones’ Diary by Helen Fielding
   I know I’m probably basing this more on Renee Zellweger’s portrayal rather than the books but who wouldn’t go on holiday with Bridget!
   
3. Magnus Bane from The Infernal Devices series (amongst others) by Cassandra Clare
   He would definitely put the extra into our extravagant holiday!
   
4. Daniel from The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
   I need someone to visit all those libraries and museums with!
   
5. Wade Owen Watts from Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
   I can just imagine Wade being happy to wait in a three hour line for the Avatar Flight of Passage ride with me (whilst sipping on a Night Blossom from Pongu Pongu!)
   
6. Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
   For two reasons, if we ever got stranded somewhere Katniss could definitely help me to survive but also, she’s probably be happy with taking some chill time on a beach after everything that happened to her in THG!

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Which character are you wanting to take on your holidays with you?
As always, leave your links below to your own posts or drop me a comment to chat!

T xx