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! ☺️
The Shining by Stephen King
It by Stephen King
The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
Button, Button by Richard Matheson
Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay
As always, leave your links below to your own posts or drop me a comment to chat!
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! ☺️
The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow
Never Have I Ever by Isabel Yap
Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter
The Prince in the Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
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!
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! ☺️
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
Hag: Forgotten Folktales Retold
Dracula by Bram Stoker
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel
As always, leave your links below to your own posts or drop me a comment to chat!
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! ☺️
Circe by Madeline Miller
The Girl of Ink and Stars by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
Iron Widowby Xiran Jay Zhao
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
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!
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!
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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
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.
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!
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.
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.
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?!
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!
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
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.
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
Rachel Chu – Crazy Rich Asians Rachel Chu’s summer in Singapore is so wild that I’d love to swap places with her!
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!
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.
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!
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
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!
OASIS School – Ready Player One I love the whole idea of the OASIS world so getting to attend a virtual school is a must!
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!
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.
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.
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!
I used to adore picking my wizarding world careers to study for OWLs and NEWTs as part of The Magical Readathon every April and August hosted by the fabulous G (Book Roast). Well now it’s back with a majorly exciting overhaul! I mean, there is a entirely new fictional world, characters, provinces… everything! It’s like it’s own unique fantasy saga and I cannot wait to get stuck in and set up my TBR!
This September, we are getting our first glimpses into the world of Aeldia because G is hosting an introductory Readathon for participants to make their way through The Novice Path to Orilium Academy before the familiar format begins with brand new magical races, affinities and careers. I am bowled over at G’s amazing attention to detail. This must have taken absolutely hours to craft and put together. There are additional character profile prompts and challenges to take part in before April 2022 as well but for now I’m just going to stick with the first part of this epic Readathon of all Readathons!
If you’re a former Magical Readathon participant or you’re wanting to take part in more readathons in the future, you should definitely check out G’s launch video here and access the G drive complete with all maps, trackers, prompts and guides here.
All images, logos and graphics are G’s content from The Magical Readathon Google Drive.
Magical Readathon: Orilium – The Novice Path TBR
To complete the first challenge you only need to complete two of the prompts which is going to be super helpful to me as I start my new job in September and I’m slightly anxious it’s going to affect my reading whilst I get my head around everything! 🙈 That being said, of course I’ve still gone and mapped out a TBR for all 7 prompts! 😂
The Novice Path Entrance Prompt: Read a book with a map Book Choice: Redemptor by Jordan Ifueko I can’t wait to read the sequel to Raybearer and discover what happens to Tarisai – the map in this book is pretty spectacular too.
Ashthorn Tree Prompt: Read a book that keeps tempting you (or is on top of your TBR) Book Choice: Dune by Frank Herbert This book has been tempting me for so, so long! I’m totally in the mood to get stuck into this space opera before the movie comes out.
The Mist of Solitude Prompt: Read a standalone Book Choice: Midnight in Everwood by M.A. Kuzniar I adore the Nutcracker so I was thrilled to get this retelling as an eARC from Netgalley.
Ruin of the Skye Prompt: Read a book featuring ghosts/haunted house, or other supernatural elements Book Choice: Never Have I Ever by Isabel Yap I heard about this haunting collection of short stories and legends from a Book Riot podcast and knew that I immediately had to purchase it.
Obsidian Falls Prompt: Read a thriller or a mystery book Book Choice: The Violent Season by Sara Walters I read an early extract of this book from a Sourcebooks Fire newsletter and thankfully got approved for an eARC. It’s had some great reviews already and I’m hoping it’ll fit the ‘thriller’ part of this prompt perfectly.
Tower of Rumination Prompt: Read a five star prediction Book Choice: Useless Magic by Florence Welch Florence Welch is one of my absolute idols! Her music tells so many stories and I love the macabre, mythological spells they weave. I’m so excited to get my hands on this and read it!
Orilium Academy Arc Prompt: Read a book with a school setting Book Choice: Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan I’ve said many a time that I really need to read this series – well here’s hoping this readathon kicks me in the butt to actually do it!
And there is my September / Magical Readathon TBR! I definitely don’t think I’ll get round to reading all of them but at least the motivation to even attempt it will be there! 😂
Are you, or do you plan to take part in the Magical Readathon this September? Feel free to leave me your TBR links below or as always, drop me a comment to chat!
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