Happy Friday bookish people! I hope you are all doing well. What a month April was, I realised during the month that I needed to take some time off from working to relax and try to not be so stressed. I think that worked a bit but not as much as I had hoped, generally I feel very tired at the moment but anyway, life goes on. As far as reading goes, April wasn’t a bad month. I was happy with me reading not only because I got quite a bit in but the books I was reading I really enjoyed.
So, let us see what books I did read!
From my April TBR:
The Whispering Dark by Kelly Andrews: I did not read, I was looking forward to this one but I decided to prioritize series for the moment so I didn’t have time to read this one.
Way of the Argosi by Sebastien de Castell: I did not read this one either which is a shame because I really wanted to, I love Sebastien’s writing and I can’t wait to get back into this series.
The Stolen Heir by Holly Black: I did not read this one
Shatter Me by Taherah Mafi: I DID read this one, finally, after so many years of it being on my TBR and wondering if I’d like it or if I should unhaul it. Spoilers for the book review: I loved this book.
Kingdom of the Feared by Kerri Maniscalco: As of a few days before the end of the month I am currently reading this and I plan on finishing it before May – again, loving this book and I can’t wait to see how this series ends.
From outside of my TBR I finished From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L Armentrout which I started from my March TBR but I didn’t quite finish before the end of March. Another book I loved so, all together I read three books this month and loved all of them.
What did you read in April? Any books that you loved?
Happy Friday bookish people! Today, I thought it would be fun to share what books I have acquired throughout the past two months. There may have been a few purchases, one thing about me is that when I am struggling medically I buy myself books because it makes me feel better. Yes, I know how bad that is. I shouldn’t do it but I do and I can’t see myself breaking this anytime soon.
So! Here are the books I have gotten recently:
Fate Breaker by Victoria Aveyard Your Blood, My Bones by Kelly Andrew The Tw*t Files by Dawn French The Pheonix Keeper by Alistair Maclean The Vanished Throne by Holly Black The Fragile Threads of Fate by V E Schwab Empire of the Damned by Jay Kristoff A Death in Diamonds by S J Bennett Maude Horton’s Glorious Revenge by Lizzie Pook Voices of the Dead by Ambrose Parry Helle and Death by Oskar Jensen Knife Skills for Beginners by Orlando Murrin Dead and Scone by Suk Fanhu The Cat Who Solved Three Murders by L T Shearer Murder by Candlelight by Faith Martin The Trial by Rob Rinder Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross You’d Look Better as A Ghost by Joanna Wallace Death on the Lusitania by R L Graham The Troublemakers by Tamzyn Merchant Foxglove by Adalyn Grace The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adriene Young The Dog Sitter Detective by Anthony Johnston
That’s it. I know, I told you it was a lot. I have no regrets.
What books have you bought recently that you are excited to get to?
Happy Friday bookish people! I hope you are all having a good day today.
As you may know if you have been following my blogs for a while I am registered as severely sight impaired which means I have a disability and I was thinking the other day that there aren’t many books that I know of with visually impaired characters (if you know of any, please let me know!) so, I thought I would share a few of the books that I have read and enjoyed which have disability representation.
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
Kaz brekker, one of the main characters in the Six of Crows duology has a leg injury and uses a cane to walk.
Get A Life Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert
A Line to Kill by Anthony Horowitz
This book *technically* has representation in it of visually impaired people, I won’t tell you anything more here because, well spoilers, but it’s not definitely disability rep.
Okay, so when I started this I thought there would be at least five books on this list but – there’s not. Out of the books I have read that have disability rep, this is it. Well, I think that makes my point about not having enough rep in books. Again, let me know if you know of any because I would love to read more!
Happy Monday bookish people! I hope you’re all doing well and today I am back with a new book review. Today’s book review is for Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. As a huge fan of anything Tudor period this book had been calling to me for a long time so I’m happy that I finally read it.
Before we get into the actual review, I wanted to say there will almost definitely be some spoilers in this review so if you haven’t read the book yet and you don’t want to be spoiled I would suggest reading my review after you’ve read the book.
Okay, onto the review!
England in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster. If the king dies without a male heir, the country could be destroyed by civil war. Henry VIII wants to annul his marriage of twenty years and marry Anne Boleyn. The pope and most of Europe opposes him. Into this impasse steps Thomas Cromwell: a wholly original man, a charmer and a bully, both idealist and opportunist, astute in reading people, and implacable in his ambition. But Henry is volatile: one day tender, one day murderous. Cromwell helps him break the opposition, but what will be the price of his triumph?
My Review:
Wolf Hall is the first book in a trilogy of novels set in the Tudor court at the time of Henry VIII, they are told from Thomas Cromwell’s point of view. This was one of the things that drew me to this book, most of the Tudor historical fiction I have read previously has been told from the point of view of women so I was interested to see a different perspective.
It surprised me because in the books I have read before and all the adaptations of TV, Cromwell is an interesting figure, not many of them paint him in the best light – he is cunning and ambitious etc but this book is very sympathetic to wards him and I learned a lot about the things he did for the kingdom and for his family, which may have been exaggerated for the book but I think were still things he did. It changed my perception of him.
I found this book hard to get into to begin with, it is a huge book for one thing so quite intimidating, the writing felt a bit like an essay rather than the historical fiction I usually read however once we get into the story properly I loved it. This book follows Thomas Cromwell during his childhood, with his Father who didn’t treat him very well, all the way into his service of Henry VIII, how he worked alongside Wolsey and then gained Henry’s trust and this book ends as Henry marries Anne Boleyn and they have had baby Elizabeth. I am definitely looking forward to getting stuck into the second book soon!
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Have you read Wolf Hall? What did you think of it?
Happy Friday bookish People! So, it is April already and with that it comes time to share my TBR for the month with you.
Recently, I have been focusing on reading mysteries and crime fiction and they’re all blending into one now so I read some historical fiction and some non-fiction in March and then I went to Gollanczfest and now I am completely in the fantasy mood. To read it and to write it. So, as you can probably tell my April TBR is full of fantasy!
Happy Monday bookish people! March went by fast didn’t it! A lot happened this month and I didn’t get much chance to read, just in general I was feeling very mentally tired for a bunch of different reasons and that didn’t help motivate me to read.
So, on with the wrap up!
My March TBR:
Helle and Death by Oskar Jensen – I did not read this book, now the thing about this book is that I have seen a lot of people talking about it and it does sound good but I am putting off reading it because it feels like an obligation, it will be useful for my PhD as it has some of the same aspects I am writing but I’m not drawn to it at the moment. Hopefully I will get to it soon.
You’d Look Better As A Ghost by Joanna Wallace – I did not read this book but I am very excited to get around to reading this book.
Knife Skills For Beginners by Orlando Murrin – I did not read this either.
From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L Armentrout – I am currently reading this and seeing as it’s only the 21st of the month when I am writing this I should definitely be able to finish this book by the end of the month.
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel – I also read this book, it took most of the month because this book is huge but I enjoyed it and a review will be coming soon.
That’s it for my TBR but outside of it I also read Dawn French’s new memoir ‘The Tw*t Files’.
So this month I read three books, not many but pretty good considering the month I have had. What did you all read in March?
Happy Monday bookish people! I hope you’ll all enjoy my review of the Tw*t Files by Dawn French.
Blurb/Synopsis: IF YOU LOVE DAWN, YOU’LL LOVE HEARING ABOUT ALL THE TIMES SHE’S BEEN A COMPLETE TWAT . . .
When I was younger I wanted to be an interesting, sophisticated, semi-heroic, multi-layered person.
BUT.
That kind of perfect is impossible. Being an actual twat is much more the real me. Sorry to boast, but I am a champion twat.
In The Twat Files I will tell you about all the times I’ve been a total and utter twat. The moments where I’ve misunderstood stuff and messed up. In my life these have been key because:
Mistakes tell us about ourselves. Mistakes tell us about others. Mistakes are hilarious. Mistakes expose our flaws. Mistakes show us ourselves honestly. Mistakes are gloriously human.
My hope is that these stories might fire up yer engines to remind you of just what a massive twat you also are.
Let’s celebrate and revel in this most delightful of traits together.
That would be perfectly twatty.
Review:
The Tw*t Files is a fun collection of stories of all the times that Dawn French has embarrassed herself in social situations. It was particularly fun because Dawn French comes from the same area as me so a lot of the places she mentioned from when she was younger I also recognise (and a few of the scenarios she mentioned I either also have done or could definitely see myself doing).
I particularly enjoyed her story of how she was asked to take up a position at Falmouth University in Cornwall and the thing that sold it to her was she asked for a crown – and they gave her one! That is absolutely me in a nutshell.
I enjoyed my reading of this book overall, although honestly I felt that it was a few stories too long for me and I was getting a bit bored with it but the book was still good and I would still recommend it to people who enjoy non-fiction.
Happy Friday bookish people! It’s a different kind of post today, I hope you’ll all enjoy my review of GollanczFest 2024.
On Friday 15th March my Mum and I travelled to London for this event, the train journey was an absolute nightmare but we eventually made it to our hotel. The great thing was that the hotel we were staying in was only a ten minute walk from the Leonardo Royal hotel that Gollanczfest was being held in.
I think the best thing for me to do here is to be completely honest, I paid for a VIP ticket to this event and I do think the description of the things we were meant to get was not at all like what we got. For example the VIP tickets gave you a goody bag worth £60, well there’s no way that goody bag was worth anywhere close to £60. There was a proof of un upcoming book, a pen, a pin badge, a schedule for the day, a piece of card to get authors signatures on and some bookmarks etc. It also said that we would get £40 to spend in the Gollancz shop and this was not true either – we got a ‘£40 off when you spend £80’ voucher. So, before I get into anything else about the day I will say I don’t think the VIP ticket was worth the price of it.
Okay, so moving on to the panels of the day, I went to three of the panels. I went to the Romantasy panel, ‘I would do anything for love but I won’t stay at an inn with two beds’ with Dhonielle Clayton, Lauren Dedroog, Sarah Hawley and Jennifer Delaney. Which was a very entertaining start to the day. Four very string women talking about the struggles they face working in the fantasy genre.
The second panel I went to was ‘we built this city on airtight magic systems’ with Joanne Harris, Garth Nix, Ben Aaronovitch and Oraine Johnson. This was my favourite panel of the day. I loved hearing these authors talk about how and where they can write and how the process goes from idea to novel.
The final panel event was the headliner event which was Victoria Aveyard, author of the Red Queen series and the Realm Breaker series. This was a nice gentle event to close the day with.
I didn’t go to any of the signings in between the panels because they got very busy and I struggle to manage crowds like that so I stayed away but because I had the VIP ticket I got to meet two authors of my choice at two separate times during the day. I met Garth Nix first, he was so lovely and he signed my copy of Newt’s Emerald. I got to spend 15 minutes with him and then take a polaroid with him which is now on my bookshelf. Then in the afternoon I got to meet and chat with Ben Aaronovitch for 15 minutes and I showed him my braille copy of Rivers of London which he got very excited about.
Throughout the day there were also interactive events like have a go at audiobook narration and panels about the blogging industry and getting a novel published. They also had a waterstones shop and a raffle and a few other games. Overall I feel the experience was a good one, although it was a long and tiring day.
Have you ever been to Gollanczfest? How did you find it?
Happy Monday bookish people! I hope you’re all having a good day today.
March is a good month, and I’m not just being biased because it is my birthday month, it is the month when spring starts and all the flowers come out.
These are the books I want to try and read in March:
Helle and Death by Oskar Jensen – I have seen a lot of people excited about this book and it features a lot of the elements I am discussing in my PhD so I am looking forward to reading it.
You’d Look Better As A Ghost by Joanna Wallace – I love the sound of this one just by the title
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel – I love a Tudor historical fiction and I started reading this a while back but never finished it because of everything going on back then but now I am in a better place and I am excited to read it.
From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L Armentrout – a good fantasy to clear the palate from all the crime fiction I have been reading.
Knife Skills for Beginners by Orlando Murrin – a new cosy style crime fiction book
That’s what I want to read in March, what are you all planning on reading next month?
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