When the news broke that Daisy Jones and the Six was going to be made into a miniseries, I couldn’t wait. While the book was not my favourite, I was excited at the prospect of the adaptation. As the novel is written as an interview with the members after the band’s breakup, documenting their journey from the beginning, to their success, and their downfall, I envisioned that the whole story would be brought to life on screen in the way that a book cannot do. Being able to physically hear the dialogue of these characters if they were being interviewed would make it feel so real that it would be impossible to remember that they’re fictional.
I was expecting to be blown away, and yet, I got two episodes into the series and I found myself not liking it at all.
Often people say that reading a book before watching the film/series can be somewhat of a curse. Readers tend to build up an image of what things look like in their head, and many times what they picture – in terms of characters and settings – never make it onto the big screen. Which, I found was the case with Daisy Jones.
Firstly, I think the casting directors did an excellent job choosing Riley Keough for the role, because she perfectly captures the chaotic mess that is Daisy , and I don’t think I could have selected anybody better for the part. Riley was exactly how I pictured Daisy to look, with her flaming red hair, and exquisite features, even before the adaptation was announced. However, when it comes to other characters – Billy Dunn, Camila, etc. there was just something that didn’t quite hit the mark for me. Of course, I have nothing against the actors chosen for these roles – and I think Sam Claflin is a brilliant actor in his own right, but I imagined Billy with a Kurt Cobain look/vibe and he didn’t scream Billy to me. And while I wasn’t disappointed with Suki Waterhouse, she just wasn’t the Karen I had imagined in my head.
But, truthfully, I don’t think the casting was the problem for me, as even if the characters don’t look exactly as I imagine, I can usually get on board with their performances, especially if they’re good ones.
In fact, I think the whole thing was just way too slow. I know from reading the book that it isn’t the most fast-paced narrative, but literally nothing happens in the first two episodes of the series. I kept watching, and waiting, and yet, I got to the end of each and found myself disappointed. In the book, Daisy and the band meet relatively quickly into the story, and yet, at the end of the second installment their paths still hadn’t crossed. While I think background is important with stories set in previous eras as historical context is important, there was just way too much in these episodes and not enough plot pushing the story forward. I wanted more and wanted something to keep me interested, but my intrigue faded rather fast, hence why I finished the second episode and made it no further.
But, I have to admit that the soundtrack is FIRE. “…Regret Me” and “Look At Us Now (Honeycomb)” are two of my absolute favorites, and I adore the fact that they released an album alongside the adaptation, as it really immerses you in the story. I was surprised by how good Sam Claflin is as a singer, and Riley Keough too, though I wasn’t too surprised considering her grandfather was Elvis Presley… music is basically in her genes. Even if you haven’t seen the series or read the book, I highly recommend listening to ‘Aurora’ on Spotify. If you like 70s alternative indie/rock/folk then you’ll love the songs included on the album!
Perhaps it’s a crazy idea, but I feel like this would have made an excellent adaptation in the form of a radio drama or podcast. The mixture of the band interviews and the music would have been brilliant to listen to, without the constraints or needing to include all of the other information like in an audio book, straight from the page.
I have had many people tell me to stick with it because apparently it gets better, but I feel like unless the story is a thriller with massive twists and turns and an excellent payoff, then each episode up until the ‘good bit’ or the part of Daisy Jones that I’m waiting for, feels wasted until that moment. Maybe I’ll try and revisit this again in the future once I get through my lengthy list of other adaptations waiting for me, but for now, the overall series is only getting 2 and a half stars from me.
If you’ve scrolled through my Instagram then I don’t need to be the first to tell you that I’ve read a fair few books – from romances and thrillers, to murder mysteries, fantasy, and children’s fiction. I’m a book lover, and I will never turn down a recommendation. But there is no other book I have read that has affected me like this one.
Before this, I had never read a Stephen King novel. I’m not a fan of horror, so most of his works don’t really appeal to me very much. So, when I said to my best friend, Isaac, that I wanted to start reading his work, he suggested that I begin with 11/22/63. And holy moly cannoli with a side of pepperoni, what a book to start with!
I have a confession: this is not a recent read. I actually read this five years ago, in 2019, but I think about it constantly. When someone asks me what my favourite book is, this is the one with which I reply. I am not a fan of historical fiction, but this is the exception. It combines history with fantasy and thriller, and is an exquisite piece of writing that I urge everybody to read.
I never ever thought I would be crying at a Stephen King novel. The words “crying” and “Stephen King” don’t usually fit in the same sentence unless they’re tears of fear and horror. But the ending of this book had me sobbing for forty-five minutes. I cried, re-read the ending, and then cried for another forty-five. The ending was so profoundly moving that it was overwhelming for me, and I never wanted it to end. It was beautiful and bittersweet – both heartbreaking and comforting, and I couldn’t have imagined anything better.
This novel is over 800 pages long – something which is probably intimidating to a lot of readers, especially if they have the “big book fear.” Tackling something so dense in length can feel overwhelming, like climbing a mountain and wondering if you’re ever going to reach the top, while also asking whether the payoff is going to be worth it. I myself will admit that I had the same thoughts and was apprehensive at the beginning. It was the first book over five hundred pages that I had ever tried to read, and my fear was that I was going to lose interest or I wouldn’t be able to make it to the end.
I’m not going to lie: the story is quite slow to begin with, and doesn’t really get started until around 200 pages in. There is so much detail, description, and backstory that it can be a lot to process. But once the story really starts, it’s an utter page turner. It took me two days to read the entire thing because I couldn’t put it down, and once I finished it, I wanted to re-read it all over again.
Of course, you’re probably asking whether all of the 800+ pages are necessary? The answer: yes. One hundred percent, yes. It is in my honest opinion that I don’t think the book would have been the same without them. Does it get a little bit repetitive at some points? Sometimes. After all, you’re reading about a time travelling English teacher journeying back to the same day in history over and over again, with a detail/action changed each time (both big, and small). But, it is this repetition that upholds the ending. It is this repetition – the feeling of having lived Jake and Sadie’s story over and over again with them, that allows for the emotional final pages. (And yes, I believe that this is Jake and Sadie’s story more than anything.)
Honestly, I can’t really say any more about this book without giving things away, and I really don’t want to spoil anything, as this is a book you have to read without knowing much about the plot or the characters. I wish I could forget everything I know about this book and read it again for the first time because it was a rollercoaster and a half.
And to those who are still hesitant about picking this up: don’t be. I promise it’s worth every moment.
This is a book that has irrevocably changed me, and it is a story that I will carry with me forever.
Favourite Quotes:
✨ ‘When all else fails, give up and go to the library.’
✨ ‘We never know which lives we influence, or when, and why.’
✨ ‘.. stupidity is one of the two things we see most clearly in retrospect. The other is missed chances.’
✨ ‘A person who doesn’t learn from the past is an idiot, in my estimation.’
✨ ‘But I believe in love, you know; love is a uniquely portable magic. I don’t think it’s in the stars, but I do believe that blood calls to blood and mind calls to mind and heart to heart.’
✨ ‘Life always turns on a dime. Sometimes towards us, but more often it spins away, flirting and flashing as it goes: so long, honey, it was good while it lasted, wasn’t it?’
✨ ‘Sometimes the things presented to us as choices aren’t choices at all.’
✨ ‘If you’ve ever been homesick, or felt exiled from all the things and people that once defined you, you’ll know how important welcoming words and friendly smiles can be.’
✨ ‘Even people capable of living in the past don’t really know what the future holds.’
✨ On the subject of love at first sight, I’m with the Beatles: I believe that it happens all the time.’
✨ ‘I saw something even more beautiful than a sense of humour: an appreciation for life’s essential absurdity.’
✨ ‘Things do happen for a reason, but do we like the reason? Rarely.’
✨ ‘Home is watching the moon rise over the open, sleeping land, and having someone you can call to the window, so you can look together.’
✨ ‘Resistance to change is proportional to how much the future might be altered by any given act.’
✨ ‘For most of us, I think it’s easier to admit doing wrong than being stupid.’
✨ ‘Sometimes life coughs up coincidences no writer of fiction would dare copy.’
✨ ‘Life’s simplest answers are often the easiest to overlook.’
✨ ‘Life’s too sweet to give up without a fight, don’t you think?’
✨ ‘History doesn’t repeat itself, but it harmonizes, and what it usually makes is the devil’s music.’
✨ ‘A person could see a lot without ever leaving his own living room. Especially if he had the right tools.’
✨ ‘You know how it’s going to end, but instead of spoiling things, that somehow increases your fascination. It’s like watching a kid run his electric train faster and faster and waiting for it to derail on one of the curves.’
✨ ‘Sarcastic people tend to be marshmallows underneath the armour.’
✨ ‘Like all sweet dreams, it will be brief… but brevity makes sweetness, doesn’t it? Yes, I think so. Because when the time is gone, you can never get it back.’
✨ ‘The multiple choices and possibilities of daily life are the music we dance to. They are like strings on a guitar. Strum them and you create a pleasing sound. A harmonic.’
✨ ‘Because the past isn’t just obdurate; it’s in harmony with both itself and the future.’
When author Finlay Donovan is discussing the plot of her new suspense novel with her agent over lunch, she’s mistaken for a contract killer, and inadvertently accepts an offer to dispose of a problem husband in order to make ends meet… but, Finlay soon discovers that crime in real life is a lot more difficult that it’s fictional counterpart, as she becomes entangled in a real-life murder investigation.
First things first, I absolutely adored the plot of this novel! It was a genius piece of writing in terms of how Finlay ends up in her less-than-ideal situation. It really is a prime example of how context in a conversation is everything, and how easy it is to misconstrue one thing for something else.
Don’t get me wrong… this book is in no way realistic. It’s over-the-top, and the things that Finlay and Vero get away with would never happen. But then, we’re here for the entertainment, not for the realism, and the absurd dramatics that are incorporated within this book are really what makes it fun to read!
I’m really not going to dive into any plot details because this is a book where you need to discover all of the twists and turns for yourself, but this book is super twisty and I never saw half of them coming! I haven’t gasped so much in a long time; and just when you think you know what’s coming, more information is thrown into the mix which entirely changed your perspective and theories!
The relationship between Finlay and her nanny, Vero, is one we all need. They make a wonderful pair, and are the perfect partners-in-crime… literally. I could feel their bond through the pages, and I just liked them both as characters (which is another one of the reasons why I think this book works so well.)
However, two not so likeable characters were Stephen and Teresa… but especially Stephen. I was so hoping that the two of them would get their comeuppance (do they – well, read and find out!). Stephen is literally the most toxic man in existence (and he’s not even real!), and I haven’t found myself so infuriated with a character in a long time. He had no respect or faith in Finlay and every time he made an appearance I wanted to punch his lights out (or at least hoped Finlay would!)
But, one of my favourite moments has to be towards the end of the book when Finlay and Vero go back for ***. This whole scene was such a page turner and I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. In fact, night turned into early morning because I was up until 2am reading as I had to know what happened.
And as for the ending… WHAT? This book ends on an epic cliffhanger, and I made me eager to read the next in the series!
I really think this book would make the most perfect TV adaptation, eand I really hope it happens because I can’t even tell you how excited I would be to see this series on screen. It gives both Pretty Little Liars mixed with Criminal Minds vibes and you know what… I’m totally here for it.
If you’re looking for a light mystery with comedic thrill, then add this one to your list friends, because I can guarantee that it won’t disappoint!
Favourite Quotes:
✨ ‘It’s a widely known fact that most moms are ready to kill someone by eight thirty A.M. on any given morning. On the particular morning of Tuesday, October eighth, I was ready by seven forty-five. If you’ve never had to wrestle a two-year-old slathered in maple syrup into a diaper while your four-year-old decides to give herself a haircut in time for preschool, all while trying to track down the whereabouts of your missing nanny as you sop up coffee grounds from an overflowing pot because in your sleep-deprived fog you forgot to put in the filter, let me spell it out for you.’
✨ ‘My Google search history alone was probably enough to put me on a government watch list. I wrote suspense novels about murders like this. I’d searched every possible way to kill someone. With every conceivable kind of weapon.’
✨ ‘Iris Smiled, endorphins loosening the stern lines of her face. She actually looked like she was enjoying this. The woman was a masochist.’
✨ ‘Easy for her to say. She was twenty-two and had never had children. She could probably hold it until menopause.’
✨ ‘Let us not attribute to malice and cruelty what may be referred to less criminal motives.’ I make it a point never to assume the worst about people.’
✨ ‘Unfortunately, the man’s made of Teflon. Nothing sticks. He should’ve been locked up a dozen times, but there isn’t a judge in the state with the balls to convict him. Even if we could, he has friends that can make almost anyone disappear . . . new name, new passport, and wipe them off the map as if they’d never existed.’
Sadie hasn’t had an easy life. Growing up on her own, she has been raising her sister Mattie in a small, isolated own, and trying her best to provide them both with a normal life and keep their heads above water. But when Mattie is found dead, Sadie’s entire world comes crumbling down. Sadie is determined to bring her sister’s killer to justice and hits the road following a few meagre clues to find them.
When West McCray – a radio personality working a segment about small, forgotten towns in America, overhearts Sadie’s story at a local gas station, he becomes obsessed with finding the missing girl. He starts his own podcast as he tracks Sadie’s journey, trying to figure out what happened, and hoping to find her before it’s too late.
—
My oh my. It’s hard to know where to begin with this book but I guess I should start by saying that this is unlike any young adult mystery/drama/thriller I have ever read before. The premise of this books was so intriguing, and I absolutely loved the way it was executed. This is a raw, emotional, incredibly dark book, but brilliantly written. The opening line of this book is exquisite, and nothing had never captured my attention and drew me in quite like it. In fact, I think it is one of the best opening lines I have ever read.
I have to admit that I partially listened to to the audiobook version while reading this, mostly for the podcast sections, and I have to say: woah. I didn’t expect it to change the atmosphere so much, but the audiobook is so well done that it’s like it tricked my brain into thinking that I was listening to a real true crime podcast, instead of simply listening to a work of fiction. It completely elevates the experience and I struggled to remember that these characters whose stories were being told weren’t actually real people.
This book presents itself like a puzzle, with Sadie leaving clues as to her whereabouts and what really happened to Mattie, and it is down to the audience, and the podcast presenters, to try and piece it all together to uncover the answers. If you’re a reader who likes a lot of twists and turns, and are a fan of the whodunits, then this might be a good book for you as it will certainly keep you guessing throughout.
As for the ending – I both loved it and I hated it. It’s very ambiguous depending on how you read it, but I can say with certainty that it left me wanting more. I would love for there to be a sequel to this book, bu then again, the ending also left me really satisfied that I feel prolonging or extending the story with another would ruin the suspense, thrill, and mystery of this one.
However, I must say that as much as I rave about this novel, it is not to be taken lightly. In fact, if you are thinking of reading this I would suggest using something like Storygraph or google to research all of the possible trigger and content warnings beforehand, because there are a lot of deep and sensitive things that are explored within this book. It covers themes such as pedophilia, sexual abuse, drug abuse, and murder, not to mention depression, possible suicide, and other mental health conditions. It is a heavy book and not for the feint-hearted. I urge you to open it with caution, in the right headspace, and be prepared that what you’ll read may be difficult at times. But, for those worried – they are not sensationalised. They are real, and brutal, and dark.
I think it would be crass and insensitive of me to say that this was a book that I enjoyed reading because of the content matter inside it. As I have said, a lot of the content inside is not pleasurable or comfortable to read at times, but they are all wrapped up within the mystery – which is written so well.
Ultimately this is a raw, dark, emotional, and brilliant book with a gripping story, and if you think you can read it and have the opportunity to do so, then I would highly recommend (with the audiobook for extra atmosphere!).
Usually this section would be reserved for my favourite quotes, but that too feels inappropriate, so I shall simply leave a few links to some of my favourite true crime podcasts on Spotify which I find utterly interesting.
Enemies to lovers novels are like marmite – either you love them or you hate them. A lot of people find them super cheesy and unrealistic, but for me, I am an absolute sucker for them. And this, my friends, is perhaps my favourite enemies to lovers story that I have ever read. A bold statement, but true.
I posted about this book on my Instagram back in 2021 as it was my number one book that I read in 2020, and four years later it still sits firmly in my top 10 books of all time. There are very few books which I devour so quickly, or capture my attention so much that I can’t put them down, but this folks and friends, was one of them. I loved everything about it. It was beautifully witty, hilarious, and I found myself physically laughing from cover to cover.
One of the things that I liked most about this book is that it’s written in the first person, from the point of view of the main protagonist, Lucy, which really connects the reader with the character. The way she describes her love/hate relationship with Joshua is so real and expertly crafted that you become so immersed in their love story that it becomes entirely possible to forget that these two human beings only exist on paper. From the very minute you begin reading you are begging, pleading, and yearning for these two characters to realise their love for one another.
Though, I will admit that this novel is a slow burn. Like… a really slow burn to the point where you’re physically itching with anticipation. But the payoff is so good and makes it all worth it. The love/hate relationship/game between Lucy and Josh is one of those romantic archetypes which we love to see but don’t dare admit, and something which can be incredibly difficult for writers to achieve successfully – but Sally Thorne executes it perfectly.
But, perhaps my favourite thing about this book is that it never actually states where the story is taking place. When I started reading I assumed that it was New York City because it had that particular feel, but in actual fact the location is never stated. I think that is what makes this story so wonderful because ultimately it could be set in any city, in any corner of the world; and it is down to the reader to use their imagination about where that might be – perhaps someone near them!
I think it is very rare to have nothing bad to say about a book – not even a small criticism – but personally, with my preferences, I am struggling to find things that I didn’t like. I don’t think I will ever be able to find the right amount of words to be able to describe how much I loved this book, but I think about it often.
Note: Yes, I have also seen the movie; yes, I loved it; but no, I have yet to write a post about it. I’m thinking about writing a book vs film comparison when I get the time, but I think I need to rewatch the film again before I do so!
Favourite Quotes:
✨ ‘Books were, and always would be, something a little magic, and something to respect.’
✨ ‘Watching you pretend to hate the nickname is the best part of my day.’
✨ ‘I have a theory. Hating someone feels disturbingly similar to being in love with them. I’ve had a lot of time to compare love and hate, and these are my observations. Love and hate are visceral. Your stomach twists at the thought of that person. The heart in your chest beats heavy and bright, nearly visible through your flesh and clothes. Your appetite and sleep are shredded. Every interaction spikes your blood with adrenaline and you’re in the brink of fight or flight. Your body is barely under your control. You’re consumed and it scares you. Both love and hate are mirror versions of the same game – and you have to win. Why? Your heart and your ego. Trust me, I should know.’
✨ ‘I want to know what’s going on in your brain. I want to juice your head like a lemon.’
✨ ‘All I want to do is kiss you until I fall asleep. I want to slide in between your sheets, and find out what goes on inside your head and underneath your clothes. I want to make a fool of myself over you.’
✨ ‘I love strawberries. I’m so lovesick, I eat them constantly. Can I nickname you Shortcake? It’ll be a dead giveaway that I love you’
✨ ‘Maybe the only way to truly unite people is through battle and pain. Confrontation and competition. Maybe surviving something is the point.’
✨ ‘Maybe the only way to truly unite people is through battle and pain. Confrontation and competition. Maybe surviving something is the point.’
✨ ‘Maybe the only way to truly unite people is through battle and pain. Confrontation and competition. Maybe surviving something is the point.’
✨ ‘Maybe the only way to truly unite people is through battle and pain. Confrontation and competition. Maybe surviving something is the point.’
✨ ‘Brute, raw masculinity contrasted with gentleness is the most attractive thing on earth.’
✨ ‘You look like a hot virginal dork who’s been defiled in the backseat of my car.’
✨ ‘You love him. You love him. You always have. More than you’ve ever hated him. Every day, staring at this man, knowing every color and expression and nuance. Every game you’ve ever played has been to engage with him. Talk to him. Feel his eyes on you. To try to make him notice you.’
✨ ‘I always thought you’d live underground somewhere, near the earth’s core.’ / ‘Uncle Satan didn’t have any apartments available in my price range.’
It’s no secret to anybody that I’m a big old bookworm! From murder mysteries and thrillers to romances and fantasy – plonk a tome down in front of me, and I’m a happy little munchkin!
And, 2024 brings some brand new books to the market – from stories that I haven’t yet explored such as The Concierge, to continuations of character stories in a series like Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice… there are so many books that I am eagerly anticipating this year, which I thought I would share with you – just in case any of you are anticipating them too! Let’s anticipate them together!
Argylle by Elly Conway
If you’ve been on TikTok over the last few months, hopefully this book comes as no surprise to you. With speculation that it’s written by Taylor Swift (something which I have yet to make my mind up on), this is perhaps the most anticipated book of the year for readers and non-readers alike. With its companion film – Argylle – also being released this year, this spy novel is one which I am ready to unravel – TS easter eggs (if there are any) and all!
Though, I’m not the biggest fan of spy novels I am still very excited to dive into this book, mainly because I’m curious as to whether all the hype surrounding it is worth it. I think that regardless of whether it is written by Taylor or not, it’s going to be a twisty, suspenseful thriller – and I also look forward to making my own judgments about the film too!
Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice by Elle Cosmiano
Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice is the fourth book in the series, and I am literally bursting at the seams to read this one, ever since I finished the third installment in September.
The series follows an author, Finlay Donovan, who finds herself in a sticky situation when she is mistaken for a contract killer. It’s witty, twisty, and suspenseful and has become one of my favourite series of all time.
I absolutely fly through these books because they’re the kind of easy reading page turners you need when you’re sick of reading everything else! Every single book is better than the previous, and I cannot wait to see where Finlay and Vero’s journey takes them next, because I’m almost certain it’s going to be packed full of dead bodies, thrills, car chases, and cliffhangers!
The Rule Book by Sarah Adams
If you’ve seen my Instagram then this book, too, will not come as a surprise to you. Sarah Adams is one of my favourite authors ever, and I absolutely adore her books. They’re light, fluffy, romantic fun and I could honestly rave about them until the cows come home. She knows how to write banter, and she knows how to write men that women fall in love with, and boy do I fall for her characters.
One of my favourite things though are that her books are never standalones – as in characters from her other books in the same universes will often appear – but they can also stand alone as single narratives should you wish them to be!
I also have to mention that I recently sent her some friendship bracelets all the way from the UK, (because YES, she’s a Swiftie!!!) and she confirmed that we’re basically besties now…
The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson
18-year-old Bel has lived her whole life in the shadow of her mom’s mysterious disappearance. Sixteen years ago, Rachel Price vanished and young Bel was the only witness. Rachel is gone, presumed dead. The case is dragged up from the past when the Price family agree to a true crime documentary.
Holly Jackson knows how to write suspenseful YA thrillers. After reading A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder I picked up FiveSurvive and I binged it in a single day! (I kid you not when I say that I was up until 3am reading because I had to know how it finished!)
So, when she announced this book, I was practically giddy with glee! I know that if it’s anything like her other thrillers than I am going to absolutely devour it…
The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren
And yet another book that will probably not surprise anybody – The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren.
I absolutely adore books by this duo. In fact, The Unhoneymooners is probably one of my favourite romance novels of all time – reminding me of a cross between The Proposal and Just Go With It. They know how to write witty and hilarious novels that are also intertwined with tender, heartfelt, and emotional moments, and I can honestly say that I will read anything and everything they write.
I didn’t even need to read the blurb of this book to put it on this list, because the minute I found it, it was automatically going to be on here anyway.
And also, this cover is beautiful….
How To Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin
Are we sensing a little bit of a theme with this list?
Frances spends a lifetime trying to solve a crime that hasn’t happened yet, compiling dirt on every person who crosses her path in an effort to prevent her own demise. For decades, no one takes Frances seriously, until nearly sixty years later, when Frances is found murdered, like she always said she would be.
I mean… what a blurb!!! I want to read this book already! I love murder mysteries because to me they’re like puzzles, and I love attempting to piece all of the parts together before the answer is revealed.
I think this is going to be a super interesting and suspenseful read, and I can’t wait to get my hands on it and write a review!
The Concierge by Abby Corson
Oh look… another murder mystery…
The peaceful setting of Cavengreen Hotel has been shattered by a shocking murder. Hector Harrow, the hotel’s concierge, has been accused and is determined to clear his name. Hector enlists the aid of Helen, a retired publisher, to document the shocking crime that has unfolded, with the intention of publishing a truthful account.
A murder mystery, a hotel, and shocking (and hilarious) shenanigans…. what’s not to love?
I hope this book is as good and well-written as it sounds because I love stories of suspected guilty parties trying to clear their own names… seeing things through their eyes makes for such good mystery and suspense… and I feel like Hector has seen everything.
The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown
A debut novel full of magic, adventure, and romance, The Book of Doors opens up a thrilling world of contemporary fantasy for readers of The Midnight Library, The Invisible Life of Addie Larue, The Night Circus, and any modern story that mixes the wonder of the unknown with just a tinge of darkness.
Well, doesn’t this sound like something you want to read? I read The Midnight Library and loved it (find my review here), so I’m very excited to see what I make of this one! If feel like it might be somewhat similar to The Portable Door – a film that I watched last year and really enjoyed, so I hope that it gives off similar vibes! I’m also hoping for a few twists and turns… and if the cover is anything to go by then my wish might come true!
Of course, this is not an extensive list as if I were to list all of the books I’m anticipating this year, this post would take you three hours to read. But, these are ones that are currently on my radar – and I’m sure there are many more that haven’t been announced, or which I have yet to discover.
What are your most anticipated releases of this year – anything notable or worth recommending? Are any of these books on it, or are you going to add any of these to your list?
This book was… okay. It was a quick read, but if I’m being totally honest, I wasn’t blown away by it.
I feel like the best stories are ones where you can suspend your disbelief enough to make it feel realistic – in the way that millions of children reading Harry Potter for the first time fully believe that their Hogwarts letter will be arriving on their doorstep the moment they turn eleven. The same also goes for stories not set in fantasy worlds. When the narrative of a fiction book removes you from the story just enough to look at the characters from an outside perspective, but also not so much that it feels like they’re fiction – that’s the sweet spot. And perhaps it’s because the action in this book takes place over the course of a single day, but I just found it to be too unrealistic and unbelievable that it didn’t resonate with me as much as I would have liked it to.
That being said, I liked the fact that this book has short chapters – some only one or two pages long. It makes for a quicker pace, both physically reading and with the action, and I think for this story it is definitely necessary to prevent it fizzling out. I also managed to read this book in a single day because the writing is easy to follow and not overly complicated.
I also enjoyed the dual perspectives of Daniel and Natasha. The two led nicely in to one another eg. if Daniel was describing Natasha walking into a shop then Natasha’s perspective would pick up directly from the moment that she enters. It was very seamless in transition, and worked well with the overall plot.
Moreover, I also quite liked the ending. It was certainly unexpected for me as I was utterly convinced that she was going to get what she wanted and those last few pages took me by surprise.
I feel like I know a book is really good (worthy of at least four or five stars), when: a) I cry at the ending. b) Go on thinking about the book for days after I’ve finished it. c) Tell everybody I know to read it.
Unfortunately, while this book is a lovely, heartwarming story, it just didn’t impact me very much. However, as this written with young adults in mind, I am not the target audience (as I’m closer to 30 than 20!), and perhaps it might resonate more with a different audience.
Favourite quotes:
✨ ‘Maybe part of falling in love with someone else is also falling in love with yourself.’
✨ ‘We are capable of big lives. A big history. Why settle? Why choose the practical thing, the mundane thing? We are born to dream and make the things we dream about.’
✨ ‘According to multiverse theory, every version of our past and future histories exist, just in an alternate universe. For every event at the quantum level, the current universe splits into multiple universes. This means that for every choice you make, an infinite number of universes exist in which you made a different choice. In this way we get to live multiple lives.’
✨ ‘I don’t believe in love.’ ‘It’s not a religion,’ he says. ‘It exists whether you believe in it or not.’
✨ ‘Sometimes your world shakes so hard, it’s difficult to imagine that everyone else isn’t feeling it too.’
✨ ‘The sun is also a star, and it’s our most important one. That alone should be worth a poem or two.’
✨ ‘Growing up and seeing your parent’s flaws is like losing your religion. I don’t believe in God anymore. I don’t believe in my father either.’
✨ ‘Thing about falling is you don’t have any control on your way down.’
✨ ‘People just want to believe. Otherwise they would have to admit that life is just a random series of good and bad things that happen until one day you die.’
✨ ‘We have big, beautiful brains. We invent things that fly. We write poetry. You probably hate poetry, but it’s hard to argue with ‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate’ in terms of sheer beauty. We are capable of big lives. A big history. Why settle? Why choose the practical thing, the mundane thing? We are born to dream and make the things we dream about.’
✨ I think all the good parts of us are connected on some level. The part that shares the last double chocolate chip cookie or donates to charity or gives a dollar to a street musician or becomes a candy striper or cries at Apple commercials or says I love you or I forgive you. I think that’s God. God is the connection of the very best parts of us.
✨ ’Observable fact: People aren’t logical.’
✨ ‘People spend their whole lives looking for love. Poems and songs and entire novels are written about it. But how can you trust something that can end as suddenly as it begins?’
✨ ‘You’re just looking for someone to save you. Save yourself.’
✨ ‘Human beings are not reasonable creatures. Instead of being ruled by logic, we are ruled by emotions. The world would be a happier place if the opposite were true.’
✨ ‘It is better to see life as it is, not as you wish it to be.’
✨ ‘Names are powerful things. They act as an identity marker and a kind of map, locating you in time and geography. More than that, they can be a compass.’
✨ ‘Life is just a series of dumb decisions and indecisions and coincidences that we choose to ascribe meaning to.’
✨ ‘But he’s no planet, just the final fading light of an already dead star.’
✨ ‘Tragedy is funny.’ / ‘Are we in a tragedy?’ he asks, smiling broadly now’ / ‘Of course. Isn’t that what life is? We all die at the end.’
✨ ‘Love always changes everything.’
✨ ‘I think we’re all connected, everyone on Earth.’
✨ ‘Because everything looks like chaos up close. Daniel thinks it’s a matter of scale. If you pull back far enough and wait for long enough, then order emerges. Maybe their universe is just taking longer to form.’
I always believe that the first book in a series is the most important, because if you’re not completely hooked by the first, then you are unlikely to read the rest. The first book is the foundation upon which the following are built, allowing for stories and characters to develop. Can you imagine a series like Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings without the first in the series?
I’ll admit that this is not the type of book I usually pick up. With crime novels, I’m extremely fussy. I like murder mysteries being told in a specific way, otherwise I find they don’t capture my attention. I don’t like it when a novel takes too long to get to the action (ie. when I have to wait 200 pages for someone to be killed), or when the story is good but the detectives investigating the murder are so unlikeable that I can’t continue. So, when this was recommended to me, I wasn’t sure as to what I was going to make of it. But, wanting to read more detective fiction, I decided that all I could do was give it a go…
And holy cannoli with a side of pepperoni! This book is an absolute page-turner! Eating? Goodbye. Sleeping? Don’t be ridiculous—I have a book to read!
My primary reservation was that it was going to be too cliche or predictable; that the story was going to be easy to guess, and thus become boring. But, folks and friends, this novel is anything but! I literally had no idea who did it until it was revealed towards the very end!
I have to admit that I’m usually not a fan of stories that contain dual timelines. They’re often messy, details get forgotten, and sometimes they can completely veer off on tangents that have absolutely no relevance to the plot or characters whatsoever. And to make it doubly difficult – the murder in the present connected to the murder in the past? Well, that sounds like a recipe for disaster, doesn’t it?
But folks and friends, this book is exquisite. The two narratives – one set in war-time and the other set in present day, interlink perfectly with one another; the breadcrumbs you’re fed throughout are all connected at the end; and the mystery gets tied up in a nice little bow. It’s like a modern day Agatha Christie novel that reminds us that in order to understand the present, we must first understand the past.
Of course, I cannot write this review without mentioning our two main characters – Bryant and May. Loveable octogenarians with weird quirks and a friendship that’s more like a married couple… what’s not to like? Also, their banter was hilarious and had me laughing from the beginning to the very end—especially with the quote about the fork in the toaster! I am interested in seeing and exploring how their relationship changes in future books, and I hope they keep the same level of humour.
Ultimately, if you’re looking to start a new detective fiction series that has octogenarian shenanigans, hilarity, suspense, and thrill, then I cannot recommend this book enough!
Favourite quotes:
✨ ‘Plastic carrier bags floated around the traffic lights at the end of the Strand like predatory jellyfish.’
✨ ‘It was a violent place in which to discover a purpose. It was a good place to forge a friendship.’
✨ ‘The world will need sceptics after the war is over. Too many people are ready to believe anything they’re told.’
✨ ‘Throughout history, human nature remains unchanged. The world’s oldest questions are still being asked. Medea, Oedipus, we’re not adding anything that the Greeks didn’t already know.’
✨ ‘We’re the police, we don’t thump people.’
✨ ‘The city survived in fragments, as though it had been painted on glass and the glass had shattered.’
Where do I even begin? There are so many thoughts and feelings I have about this book that trying to condense them into a post is very difficult. But, I shall start by saying: I urge every human being on the planet to read this.
Nora, the protagonist, has depression. And, feeling as though she has nothing else to live for, she chooses to take her own life. But, between life and death, there is a library. The Midnight Library – where every book is a chance to live another life that you could have lived, had you made different choices.
This book is not to be taken lightly. It covers deep, sensitive subjects. As per the synopsis, suicide and depression are two major themes, so do not expect to open this book and expect it to be a ‘light’ read. It’s an easy read, yes. But you must be in the right frame of mind to enter this book.
With sensitive subjects, as a reader, you can only hope that the author handles them sensitively. You do not want them to make light of these, brushing them off as though they are not genuine issues or pretending that they don’t affect as many people as they do throughout the world. While I don’t think they needed to be handled like they’re fragile, walking on eggshells or never overtly stating they are what they are, I do believe they need to be handled with care. Perhaps it’s because Matt Haig has been in Nora’s shoes, coming close to taking his own life more than once (something which he is very open about on his Instagram), but he approaches such issues beautifully and really puts life into perspective. Some things we think matter most, do not matter at all. And, some things we think matter least, are actually the most important.
I adored the concept of this book. It was so well written and thought out, and each chapter connects seamlessly to the one before. It is a book that will make you think and wonder, but it will also make you feel.
You may be hesitant to pick it up because you think it will be gut-wrenching and emotional. And yes, it is. But it’s also full of hope. I closed the book feeling more positive than I had done in a long time, and had the overwhelming feeling that I wanted to start living – truly living – because ultimately, that is what this book is about. Yes, it’s about depression and suicide, and all the other things in between. But more importantly, it’s about wanting, and choosing, to live.
✨ ‘It is easy to mourn the lives we aren’t living. Easy to wish we’d developed other talents, said yes to different offers. Easy to wish we’d worked harder, loved better, handled our finances more astutely, been more popular, stayed in the band, gone to Australia, said yes to the coffee or done more bloody yoga. It takes no effort to miss the friends we didn’t make and the work we didn’t do, the people we didn’t go and the people we didn’t marry and the children we didn’t have. It is not difficult to see yourself through the lens of other people, and to wish you were all different kaleidoscopic versions of you they wanted you to be. It is easy to regret, and keep regretting, ad infinitum, until our time runs out. But it is not lives we regret not living that are the real problem. It is the regret itself. It’s the regret that makes us shrivel and wither and feel like our own and other people’s worst enemy. We can’t tell if any of those other versions would have been better or worse. Those lives are happening, it is true, but you are happening as well, and that is the happening we have to focus on.’
✨ ‘It is quite a revelation to discover that the place you wanted to escape to is the exact same place you escaped from. that the prison wasn’t the place, but the perspective.’
✨ ‘The only way to learn is to live.’
✨ ‘If you aim to be something you are not, you will always fail. Aim to be you. Aim to look and act and think like you. Aim to be the truest version of you. Embrace that you-ness. Endorse it. Love it. Work hard at it. And don’t give a second thought when people mock it or ridicule it. Most gossip is envy in disguise.’
✨ ‘Between life and death there is a library,’ she said. ‘And within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices…. would you have done anything differe,t if you had the chance to undo your regrets?’
✨ ‘I don’t think your problem was stage fright. Or wedding fright. I think your problem was life fright.’
✨ “What do I do now?’ ‘You open the book and turn to the first page.’
✨ ‘Never underestimate the big importance of small things.’
✨ ‘Because a pawn is never just a pawn. A pawn is a queen-in-waiting. All you need to do is find a way to keep moving forward. One square after another. And you can get to the other side and unlock all kinds of power.’
✨ ‘Three simple words containing the power and potential of a multiverse. I AM ALIVE.’
✨ ‘A person was like a city. You couldn’t let a few less desirable parts put you off the whole. There may be bits you don’t like, a few dodgy side streets and suburbs, but the good stuff makes it worthwhile.’
✨ ’We only need to be one person. We only need to feel one existence. We don’t have to do everything in order to be everything, because we are already infinite. While we are alive we always contain a future of multifarious possibility.’
✨ You don’t have to understand life. You just have to live it.’
✨ ’You’re overthinking it.’ “I have anxiety. I have no other type of thinking available.’
✨ ’And that sadness is intrinsically part of the fabric of happiness. You can’t have one without the other. Of course, they come in different degrees and quantities. But there is no life where you can be in a state of sheer happiness for ever. And imagining there is just breeds more unhappiness in the life you’re in.’
✨ ’Sometimes just to say your own truth out loud is enough to find others like you.’
✨ ‘Of course, we can’t visit every place or meet every person or do every job, yet most of what we’d feel in any life is still available. We don’t have to play every game to know what winning feels like. We don’t have to hear every piece of music in the world to understand music. We don’t have to have tried every variety of grape from every vineyard to know the pleasure of wine. Love and laughter and fear and pain are universal currencies. We just have to close our eyes and savour the taste of the drink in front of us and listen to the song as it plays. We are as completely and utterly alive as we are in any other life and have access to the same emotional spectrum.’
✨ ‘The thing that looks the most ordinary might end up being the thing that leads you to victory.’
✨ ‘It was interesting, she mused to herself, how life sometimes simply gave you a whole new perspective by waiting around long enough for you to see it.’
Cheap books. We all love it when books are on sale, or there are amazing deals meaning we can consume more of what we love. But what is it actually costing us in the process, aside from saving a few pennies?
We all know that (most) books are fundamentally good for us. They allow us to be progressive, lending so much to the development of both individuals and society – to our morals, our understanding of the world around us, and our entertainment. They provide spaces to approach taboo topics, to have deep and meaningful discussions with our peers, and an escape from difficult situations.
If you’re a book lover, I also don’t need to remind you of the joy of walking into a bookstore and browsing for hours, flicking through pages, smelling the paper, or being drawn to an extremely pretty cover as you’re passing the shelves.
I recently read this post on medium.com, which reports that Amazon is on track to own 85% of the publishing/book market by 2025. This is absolutely astonishing and needless to say harmful to all of the well-established and indie bookstores that we know and love.
In 2021, Amazon’s profits from book sales reached $280 billion dollars, and every year their book-based profits increase by 8%. This doesn’t sound like much, does it? But what if I told you that 8 percent is equivalent $22.4 billion dollars? Scary, right?
Not only is this bad for the physical bookstores because their entire livelihood depends upon people purchasing books from them, but this is also catastrophic for authors.
‘Authors and publishers need to worry. Once Amazon dominates 80% of the book market, who are authors working for? Authors will effectively be producing content for Amazon to sell on commission, and Amazon will have control over the terms.’
Of course, we’re also all aware that authors rely on their readers in order to make a living, as without readers their entire purpose becomes obsolete. However, it’s very easy to underestimate the power that bookstores have in growing an author’s fanbase and helping them to acquire new audiences. From book signings, Q&A events, interviews, and even the promotional tables such as ‘our bookseller’s favourites’ that you see when you enter the doors… all of it is essential to the author’s livelihood.
And, it is also vital to us as readers. How many events have you attended at a bookstore where you’ve made friends with somebody whilst waiting in line? How many times have you recommended a book to somebody else whilst you’re browsing the shelves? How many times have you been recommended a book by the booksellers because they think you might enjoy based on the pile of books that you’ve brought to their till?
Bookstores are crucial in shaping the communities of readers and non-readers alike.
‘Every bookstore is an activist for the importance of books in our culture; they are fertile grounds where all kinds of wild narratives are nurtured and grow.’
I will admit, that I am no saint. I have spent more than my fair share of pennies buying books on Amazon. It’s relatively easy to do when you have the app right there and you can get Prime delivery so the book will be on your doorstep the next day. It’s easy to do when they offer great deals or the prices are so cheap that you can’t believe how many books you can get –’you’d never get this many in a bookstore,’ you think to yourself. And you’re right. But in saving even just a tiny bit of money, you’re sacrificing your experience.
So, how can we save our beloved bookstores and everything they represent?
Shop small. Shop indie. Shop physically. Buy secondhand books. Thrift them from your local charity shops. Even purchasing them from your local supermarket makes a world of difference!
I’m not saying to boycott Amazon, because I know that most people have e-readers like a Kindle (I do!), and of course, Kindle is an Amazon-owned company, so I would be an utter hypocrite if I told you to avoid it completely. But where you can, when it comes to physical books, use Amazon as your last and final resort.
In order to help you, I have compiled a list of shops and websites that you can use as an alternative to Amazon! I have also included the websites for the physical bookshops if they have them (the exception being places like 66 books)
With its flagship store at the heart of Central London on Shaftesbury Avenue, the cult TV megastore sells not only merchandise from a million and one-hit television shows and films, but also carries an enormous selection of books!
If you’re looking for books that are specifically science-fiction, fantasy or horror, then this is 10/10 the place to shop! In fact, this is always my go-to before venturing to other places such as Waterstones.
Not only are the prices great in here because they tend to run quite a few offers but they also carry signed editions too!
Though, I will say that my favourite reason to venture to Forbidden Planet for some books is purely the fact that I’m a floppy paperback girl through and through, and the majority of the books on the shelves (if not hardbacks) are floppy paperbacks! (If you’re a reader, and I’m assuming you are, you’ll know how exciting and appealing this is!).
Blackwell’s is an independent bookshop (now owned by Waterstones), offering a wide variety of books from mainstream fiction, to more indie publications that are perhaps harder to find. Its flagship store is located in Oxford, Oxfordshire, but there are also 17 other locations throughout the UK, including Cambridge, Edinburgh, Exeter and London.
One of the things I love most about Blackwell’s is that they often stock international editions of books which is wonderful for a bibliophile like me if I’m looking for a specific (or very pretty) cover, that all of my international Bookstagram friends have (such as Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren).
Generic trade paperback cover.
Galley Books US cover.
It’s also handy because even though their prices are slightly higher than some other independent bookshops, it means that I don’t have to sell an organ in order to be able to afford the extortionate costs incurred from shipping the book from overseas.
Heffers is an independent Blackwell’s-owned bookshop located in the heart of Cambridge. Interestingly, there is no online site for Heffers through which you can buy books, meaning that if you’re after a copy of something from this bookstore, then you’re going to have to venture out in person!
In some respects, I love and admire this because it’s all too easy to forget how wonderful in-person book shopping can be; but then again, with life sometimes being so chaotic and barely finding the time to do all of the things I need to do, let alone want to do, being able to purchase books with the click of a button and have them delivered straight to my doorstep is utterly convenient.
For me, The Works is always a top priority when it comes to finding books at bargain prices, and it seems like it’s hard not to find a store these days as they are seemingly popping up everywhere! Of course, it isn’t actually a bookstore, but a discount retailer, so alongside the wonderful reads lining the shelves, you’ll also find arts, crafts, and stationery supplies.
But, perhaps the major perk about shopping for books in the The Works is the 3 for £6 offer (used to be 3 for £5… bloody inflation!). A lot of the books included also tend to be popular reads circulating through BookTok – such as those by Colleen Hoover, Lauren Asher, and Hannah Grace. So, if you’re after something that it seems like everybody else is reading and you don’t want to spend a fortune on it, then The Works would be my top recommendation!
66 Book Club
66 Book Club (also known as 66 Books) is an independent book wholesaler operating out of Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire. It is only open to the general public for one weekend every month, but covers two floors, and you’ll find hundred upon hundreds of books at super cheap prices! Even allotting three hours to browse the books is not nearly enough time, because of the sheer magnitude of stock that they have – but it’s well worth a visit if you’re looking for some amazing, hot-off-the-press reads!
Oxfam Bookshops
So, we all love a charity shop bargain, don’t we? While you can find books on the shelves in most regular bookstores, Oxfam has specifically opened branches dedicated to stocking books and music, which is why it’s one of my go-to places. It’s hard to tell what books you’ll find, as a lot of it is down to trends and the likes of individuals discarding what they no longer need or want. But, that’s not to say that you won’t find any current books. It really just depends on what bookstore you visit, and when. In my local Oxfam bookstore, there were dozens of Colleen Hoover books on the shelf, tucked in between authors that I was unfamiliar with, so it sometimes is simply a case of thoroughly scavenging the shelves to see if you can find what you’re after. And of course, as this is is a charity shop, most books will be priced between 50p and £1 (sometimes more), so you can know that your money is going to a worthwhile cause… not to mention feeling less guilty about adding two (or ten) more books to your shelf!
Daunt Books
If you’ve ever scrolled through Instagram, you’ll probably have seen this bookstore appear in your feed once or twice, and when you visit, it’s clear to see why. It’s perhaps one of the most aesthetically pleasing and beautiful bookstores I have ever seen, and if I had an infinite amount of time, I would spend it all browsing the shelves.
Though this is more of a high-end bookstore, and the prices can be a little steeper compared to chain bookstores like Waterstones or Foyles etc, it is certainly worth it if you’re looking for something in particular. One of the fantastic things about Daunt Books is that it tends to carry a lot of special and signed editions, so if you’re hunting down a present for somebody (or yourself) and you can’t seem to find what you’re looking for, this is certainly a good point of call.
And, to be honest, even if you don’t end up purchasing anything, the aesthetic and instagrammable interior is worth it on its own!
Online bookshopping:
Of course, we all know how convenient Amazon is. With Prime, you can order a book online and have it delivered the following day, or even the same evening if you’re lucky! And, you can do it all from the comfort of your sofa while binge watching your favourite show. There’s no need to spend hours in a painful queue, or even step outside at all (which is utterly wonderful when it comes to buying books as presents as Christmastime, because who needs that chaos?!)
So, for those of you who like the ease of shopping online and don’t feel like venturing into physical bookstores, here are some alternatives to Amazon where you can purchase your books online (and often even with better deals and discounts too!)
I know that the majority of this post is probably wishful thinking as Amazon is multi-billion conglomerate, and the ease of which you can purchase millions of items – including books – is appealing to everybody. People are not going to stop shopping on Amazon, no matter how much you tell them to and I think I would be a bit of a hypocrite if I stated that, because I continue to shop on Amazon on a frequent basis, especially if I need something urgently. Not to mention the discounts there are too good to turn down on days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
But this post is not about boycotting Amazon completely. It’s about trying to fuel us as book lovers and buyers to make the conscious decision to shop for books in the physical world – whether it be in Waterstones, Foyles, independent bookshops, or through thrifting secondhand. It’s about using Amazon as they very last resort if you cannot find what you’re looking for at a reasonable price and good quality elsewhere. It’s about preserving physical bookshopping so that the joy and nostalgia of walking into a store and smelling the pages, meeting others in the book community through events and signings, or seeing a title glimmering on the shelf that catches your eye, is felt by generations to come.
Well, it’s official. I did not manage to complete NaNoWriMo this year, for the second year in a row.
Back in January, I did set myself the goal of writing a whole novel… which I did do, just not in the month of November. In fact, I’ve been working on it for the better part of a year and a half, and it’s almost finished, with just some tiny edits needed.
My second aim was then to have the final draft of the novel finished by November, which also didn’t happen. Work and other commitments got in the way, and it was just one of those things that never materialised. But that’s okay. It happens.
When it comes to something like NaNoWriMo, I think it’s very easy to use the term ‘failed’, as I originally included in the opening pargraph of this post, instead of the world ‘complete.’ But is it true? Have you actually failed simply because you haven’t completed something during a specific amount of time?
Well, firstly, it depends on the context. If in the context of an school test or exam that is being marked by somebody and awarded a grade, then yes, this is a very likely scenario.
But when it comes to challenges like NaNoWriMo and examining failure or success in terms of creativity and art… I think it depends how you define both of those things.
For me, I don’t believe the term ‘failing’ or ‘failure’ should be used when it comes to writing. So you haven’t written a specific word count during the time specific, or you’ve spent more time thinking than putting pen to paper. Both are important parts of the creative process, and feeling like there is some standard or goal that you have to acheive during a certain timeframe can really hinder the process of producing good, interesting, and exciting work. Of course, there are deadlines in the publishing industry which you have to meet… but when it comes to the starting-out writers, the finding-their-voices writers, or the ones who simply write for fun… failure should not exist.
If you’re writing in your spare time, you’re succeeding. If you’re writing full time, you’re succeeding. If you’ve only written ten words instead of ten thousand, you’re still succeeding. If you’ve gone back to the drawing board because something isn’t working in your narrative, you’re succeeding. If you’ve had to start the whole process over again because you hate what you’ve written, you’re succeeding. Every little step you take towards the end goal – of a finished product that you can be proud of, show off to the world, and tell people that you created that – is a step towards success.
As I said, it has taken me a year and a half to write the first draft of my book. I’m not a full time writer. I spend most of my time writing after work, or on the weekends, and sometimes in my lunch break at work if the inspiration strikes. But, I do not force it. I do not force myself to write something just because I feel like I have to get to a certain point in a specific number of days. My creativity doesn’t work like that, and if I try and write when I’m not excited about it, or I don’t have the ideas there and ready to go, then I know that what I am going to produce will not be an example of my best work.
That being said, if you know me, you’ll know that I am a perfectionist. You’ll also know that I can be pretty hard on myself when it comes to my own work. There are days when I’ll designate three hours for writing, but will instead spend those three staring at my screen, doodling in my notebook or watching TikToks that have no productive or inspirational value to my work. And it’s easy for me to penalise myself for this – to tell myself off for not getting anything done. But I’ve learnt that you have to learn to be okay with this, because it’s going to happen whether you like it or not. Some days you’re going to end up writing like your life depends on it because the ideas are so good, and you know exactly what you want to say. Other days, you’ll spend most of your time avoiding the task at hand and produce little to nothing of use to yourself.
As I sit here and write this, I’m tempted to make statements like ‘I’ll try harder next year,’ or ‘next year I will complete NaNoWriMo’… but I’m not going to do that. If I have an idea and end up writing it during the month of November, great. If I don’t… then who the hell cares!
I don’t know if I can speak for everybody, but I can certainly speak for myself when I say that I write for no other reason other than I love it. I’m not writing with the intention of making it to the top of the New York Times Bestseller list. I’m not writing with the intention of becoming a millionaire. I’m writing because I have something I want to say, a story I want to tell, and I want to tell it my way.
So the next time you feel like you’ve failed NaNoWriMo or another similiar challenge, try and remind yourself, that ultimately it doesn’t matter. Creativity is a process, not a deadline. You’ll create your best work when you feel inspired and free. And, on the days when it feels like a chore, sit back and remind yourself the very reason why you started creating art in the first place.
Most Shelved Book: The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
Longest Book: A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness (720 pages)
Shortest Book: So You Want To Build a Library by Lindsay Leslie (32 pages)
Highest Rated Book (with other users): The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid (4.54)
Book List:
January:
The FlatShare by Beth O’Leary
The Day the World Sneezed by Eddie Jones
A Heart so Fierce and Broken by Brigid Kemmerer
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
Rules for Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
Hideous Beauty by William Hussey
Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner
Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell
Where the Crawdads Sing by Deliah Owens
Animal Farm by George Orwell
February:
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Dramarama by E. Lockhart
With Malice by Eileen Cook
Beach Read by Emily Henry
Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz
The House at the Edge of Magic by Amy Sparkes
Caraval by Stephanie Garber
March:
You Only Live Once by Jess Vallance
Faceless by Alyssa Sheinmel
Beauty Sleep by Kathryn Evans
April:
A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
The Dog Share by Fiona Gibson
The Match by Sarah Adams
The Off Limits Rule by Sarah Adams
The Enemy by Sarah Adams
Up Close and Personal by Kathryn Freeman
Uncoupling by Lorraine Brown
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
May:
Am I Normal Yet? by Holly Bourne
How Hard Can Love Be? by Holly Bourne
Here is the Beehive by Sarah Crosan
The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren
The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune
That Night in Paris by Sandy Barker
June:
The Water Room by Christopher Fowler
Shipped by Angie Hockman
… And A Happy New Year? by Holly Bourne
What’s a Girl Gotta Do? by Holly Bourne
The Road Trip by Beth O’Leary
The Lucky Escape by Laura Jane Williams
So You Want to Build a Library by Lindsay
Are We All Lemmings and Snowflakes? by Holly Bourne
JohnnyBe Good by Paige Toon
July:
31 Days of Wonder by Tom Winter
The Temporary Roomie by Sarah Adams
The Train to Impossible Places by P. G. Bell
The Last Bear by Hannah Gold
The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner
Nothing Ever Happens Here by Sarah Hagger-Holt
The Comfort Book by Matt Haig
Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid
The Haunting of Aveline Jones by Phil Hickes
The Cheat Sheet by Sarah Adams
Coraline by Neil Gaiman
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
The Sun Will Rise and So Will We by Jennae Cecelia
August:
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
The Yearbook by Holly Bourne
A Good Girls Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson
Pages & Co: Tilly and the Bookwanders by Anna James
The Art of War by Sun Tzu [Penguin Great Ideas]
Untamed by Glennon Doyle
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
The Switch by Beth O’Leary
The Phone Box at the Edge of the World by Laura Imai Messina
September:
Pretending by Holly Bourne
First Day of my Life by Lisa Williamson
The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd
October:
Celebrations at the Chateau by Jo Thomas
The Bewitching of Aveline Jones by Phil Hickes
Gangsta Granny by David Walliams
The Chalk Man by C. J. Tudor
Carrie by Stephen King
Two Night Stand by Portia Macintosh
Just Haven’t Met You Yet by Sophie Cousens
The Danger Gang by Tom Fletcher
It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey
I’m A Therapist And My Patient Is Going To Be The Next School Shooter by Dr. Harper
I’m A Therapist And My Patient Is In Love With A Pedophile by Dr. Harper
I’m A Therapist And My Patient Is A Vegan Terrorist by Dr. Harper
November:
Finlay Donovan is Killing It by Elle Cosimano
The Twelve Holidates by Emma St. Clair
My Fake Christmas Fiance by Julie Kriss
The Sun Down Motel by Simon St James
The Holiday Switch by Tif Marcelo
The Great Escape from Woodlands Nursing Home by Joanna Nell
December:
The Christmas Pig by J. K. Rowling
In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren
Sugar and Spices by Monica Meyers
The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling
Christmas Crush by Brynn North
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
The Merry Christmas Project by Cathy Bramley
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
Wild Embers by Nikita Gill
Tinsel by Sibeal Pounder
Well, that’s it. My official reading wrap-up for 2021. Overall, I’m absolutely ecstatic about these end of year stats – and especially with the number of books read! Last year was my first year taking part in a reading challenge (aside from the summer ones you used to get back in primary school which I absolutely LOVED), and its encouraged me to read far more than I ever usually would. Now, I don’t even have to think twice about doing it every year!
2022 was a year of great change for me (which I’ll explain in another post), so I can’t wait to see what my reading wrap-up looks like at the end of it. At this point, I can’t predict what any of the stats are going to look like, but I am excited to be able to compare them with each month last year to see not only what genres of books I was really into reading, but also my progress!
That being said, there is still one more month to go until the end of the year, so I have a few more book goals left to complete. I’d like to make it to at least 70 books if I can (as my reading goal for this year was 50 books), but there are also a few new releases and proof copies I own that I would like to complete before 2023!
How has your reading been this year? Are there any books on this list that you haven’t read but would like to? Have you started making your reading goals for 2023?
I realise that it’s also bizarre to be posting this in November of 2022, but if you hadn’t read my welcome post pinned to my homepage, I started this blog back in 2018 and fell out of love with it. I couldn’t think of fresh, exciting, interesting, intriguing ideas that I wanted to write about and share, and so I ended up neglecting this blog for the longest time, focusing my attentions more on Bookstagram from the end of 2020. During that time I’ve graduated from University, we’ve lived through a pandemic, and I left my job in retail after nearly 8 years… so a lot has been going on! Needless to say, it just felt like time to restart this blog – in a brand new headspace, with brand new content. And so, I am re-vamping and re-uploading a few of my older posts (this being one of them)!
So, recently I was looking for a new series to watch during the autumn months as I have practically exhausted every series I could think of, and so all of my friends (who know me so well know exactly the kind of shows I like), recommended Gilmore Girls to me. They said I would love it, and it’s safe to say that they were 100% correct.
Though I’ve heard her character is controversial, I absolutely love Rory. I think it’s so wonderful to have a smart and bookish female character at the forefront of a TV show, and I identify with her in so many ways. I wish that I had discovered the show earlier, because I feel like it would have be wonderful to have seen it during my own teenage years.
Anyway, as I said, Rory is a big old bookworm and there are a total of 518 books featured throughout the course of the show. Considering this show takes place over 7 years this is both a marvellous feat, but also not entirely unobtainable (as Rory probably read most of them for her classes etc.)
To be perfectly honest, I should have read at least half of these as I gained a degree in English Literature at University, and the majority of these I can distinctly remember being on my readings lists (marked by a *). But, I feel like at university you have no time to properly read and really appreciate them, and so I barely read any books at all during the three years of my course. (Shameful to admit, but true. I ended up skim reading most books to find important and notable information rather than actually reading them cover to cover.)
Thus, for the same reason as my reading backlists, I have complied a list of every single book Rory reads/mentions throughout the entirety of Gilmore Girls so that I can not only attempt to read them all and update my progress with you, but share them here in case you would like to read them also!
Books that I have no interest in read (ie. textbooks) will be marked with a ❌. Books that I DNF will be marked with a 🚫. Any comments in [-] note a specific edition or abridgement I read.
1984 by George Orwell *
Absolute Rage by Robert Tanenbaum
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
All the President’s Men by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward
All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
American Steel by Robert Preston
An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
The Andy Warhol Diaries by Pat Hackett
Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
Angels in America by Tony Kushner *
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
The Apocalyptics – Cancer and the Big Lie by Edith Efron ❌
The Archidamian War by Donald Kagan
The Armies of the Night by Norman Mailer
The Art of Eating by M. F. K. FIsher
The Art of Fiction by Henry James
The Art of Living by Epictetus
The Art of War by Sun Tzu [Edition – Penguin Great Ideas]
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner *
Atonement by Ian McEwan
Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
Babe by Dick King-Smith
Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women by Susan Faludi
Bad Dirt by Annie Proulx
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie
Bambi: A Life in the Wood by Felix Salten
Basic Writings of Nietzsche by Freidrich Nietzche
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Beloved by Toni Morrison*
Beowolf by Anonymous
The Best of Martha Stewart Living: Holidays by Martha Stewart ❌
The Bhagavad Gita by Anon
The Big Love by Sarah Dunn
The Bielski Brothers by Peter Duffy
Billy Budd & Other Tales by Melville
Bitch: In Praise of Difficult Women by Elizabeth Wurtzel
A Bolt from the Blue and Other Essays by Mary McCarthy
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley *
Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote
Brick Lane by Monica Ali
The Bridges of Madison Country by Robert James Waller
Bridget Jones’ Diary by Helen Fielding
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawkng
Brigadoon by Alan Jay Lerner
Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx
The Brontes by Juliet Barker
Call of the Wild by Jack London
Candide by Voltaire
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres
Carrie by Stephen King
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
The Catcher in the Rye by J D Salinger
The Celebrated Jumping Frog by Mark Twain
Charlie & the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
Charlotte’s Web by E B White
The Children’s Hour by Lillian Hellman
Christine by Stephen King
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens *
Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes
Cinderella by Brothers Grimm
Clifford the Big Red Dog by Normal Bridwell
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess * 🚫
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
The Code of the Woosters by P G Wodehouse
The Collected Stories by Eudora Welty
A Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare
Complete Novels by Dawn Powell
The Complete Poems by Anne Sexton
Complete Stories by Dorothy Parker
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain
Considerthe Lobster: And Other Essays by David Foster Wallace
Contact by Carl Sagan
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Cousin Bette by Honore de Balzac
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Crimson Petal and the Whire by Michel faber
The Crisis by David Harris
The Crucible by Arthur Miller
Cujo by Stephen King
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
Cyrano De Bergerac by Edmond Rostand
Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende
David and Lisa by Dr. Theodore Issac Rubin
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
Deenie by Judy Blume
Delta of Venus by Anais Nin
Demons by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
Diary of Virginia Woolf by Anne Olivier Bell
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
The Dirt by Tommy Lee, Vince Neil, Mick Mars and Nikki Sixx
The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri
The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K Dick *
Don Quixote by Cervantes
Downpour by Nick Holmes
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Driving Miss Daisy by Alfred Uhrv
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Tales & Poems by Edgar Allan Poe
Eleanor Roosevelt by Blanche Wiesen Cook
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe
Elements by Euclid
Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters by Mark Dunn
Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis
Eloise at the Plaza by Kay Thompson
Emily the Strange by Roger Reger
Emma by Jane Austen
EmpireFalls by Richard Russo
EncyclopediaBrown: Boy Detective by Donald J. Sobol
Essential of Economics, 3rd Edition by Bradley R Schiller ❌
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
Ethics by Spinoza
Europe through the Back Door: The Travel Skills Handbook by Rick Steves
Eva Luna by Isabel Allende
Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
The Executioner’s Song by Norman Mailer
Extravagance by Gary Kristy
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury *
Fahrenheit 9/11 by Michael Moore
The Fall of the Athenian Empire by Donald Kagan ❌
Fat Land by Greg Critser ❌
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson
The Fellowship of the Ring by J R. R. Tolkein
Fiddler on the Roof by Joseph Stein
Finnegan’s Wake by James Joyce
Firewall by Lawrence Walsh
First Folio by William Shakespeare
The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
Flavor of the Month by Olivia Goldsmith
Fletch by Gregory McDonald
Flowers of Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Fodor’s Selected Hotels of Europe ❌
The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Franny and Zooey by J D Salinger
Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers
Frida by Hayden Herrera
Galapagos by Kurt Bonnegut
Gender Trouble by Judith Butler
George W Bushism by Jacob Weisberg ❌
Gidget by Fredrick Kohner
Gigi by Collette
A Girl from Yamhill by Beverly Cleary
Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen
The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams
Glengarry Glen Ross by David Marmet
The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels
The Godfather by Mario Puzo
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
Goldilocks and the Three Bears by Alvin Granoswsky
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Goodnight Spoon by Keith Richards
The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford
TheGospel According to Jesus Christ by Jose Saramago ❌
The Graduate by Charles Web
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens *
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Group by Mary McCarthy
Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
Guys and Dolls by Damon Runyon
Haiku, Volume 2: Spring by R. H. Blyth
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Harrold & the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Philosophers/Sorcerers Stone by J.K. Rowling
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave eggers
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Hell’s Angels by Hunter S. Thompson ❌
Helter Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry
Henry IV, part I by William Shakespeare
Henry IV, part II by William Shakespeare
Henry V by William Shakespeare
Henry VI by William Shakespeare
He’s Just Not That Into You by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo
High Fidelity by Nick hornby
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon ❌
History of the Pelopennesian War by Thucydides ❌
The History of Tom Thumb by Anon
Hockey for Dummies by John Davidson and John Steinbreder ❌
Holidays on Ice: Stories by David Sedaris
The Holy Barbarians by Lawrence Lipton
Horton Hears a Who! by Dr Seuss
House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
Howl and Other Poems by Allen Ginsberg
How to Breathe Underwater by Julie Orringer
How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss
How the Light Gets in by M. J. Hyland
How We Are Hungry by Dave Eggers
The Human Factor by Graham Greene
The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron
The Iliad by Homer *
I’m With the Band by Pamela des Barres
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Indiana by George Sand
The Inferno by Dante Alighieri
In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower by Marcel Proust
Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee
The Invitation by Oriah
Ironweed by William J. Kennedy
It Takes a Village by Hillary Rodham Clinton
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
Just a Couple of Days by Tony Vigorito
The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar by Robert Alexander
Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain ❌
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D. H. Lawrence
Larousse Wine by David Cobbold
The Last Empire: Essays 1992-2000 ❌
The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Volume I: Visions of Glory, 1874-1932 by William Manchester ❌
The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Volume II: Alone, 1932-1940 by William Manchester
The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Volume III: Defender of the Realm, 1940-1965 by William Manchester
The Last Word by Graham Greene
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
The Legend of Bagger Vance by Steven Pressfield
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis
Letters of Ayn Rand by Ayn Rand
Letters of Edith Wharton by R. W. B. Lewis
Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke
The Libation Bearers by Aeschylus
Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them by Al Franken
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell
Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
Lisa and David by Dr. Theodore Isaac Rubin
Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens
Little House in the Big Wood by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Little Locksmith by Katharine Butler Hathaway
The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Living History by Hillary Rodham Clinton
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Lord Jim by Joseph Conard
The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkein
The Lottery: And Other Stories by Shirley Jackson
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
Love Story by Erich Segal
Macbeth by William Shakespeare
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans
The Manticore by Robertson Davies
Marathon Man by William Goldman
Mary Poppins by P. L. Travers and Mary Shepard
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy by Isaac Newton ❌
Mattise the Master: A Life of Mattise by Hilary Spurling
The Meaning of Consuelo by Judith Ortiz Cofer
The Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter by Simon de Beauvoir
Memoirs of General William T. Sherman by William Tecumseh Sherman
Men Are from Mars, Women are from Venus by John Gray, PhD
A Mencken Chrestomathy by H.L Mencken
The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare
The Miracle Worker by William Gibson
Misery by Stephen King
Mistress of Mellyn by Victoria Holt
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
The Mojo Collection: The Greatest Albums of All Time by Jim Irvine ❌
Moliere: A Biography by Hobart Chatfield Taylor
Molloy by Samuel Beckett
Mommie Dearest by Christina Crawford
A Monetary History of the United States by Milton Friedman ❌
Monseiur Proust by Celeste Albaret
A Month of Sundays: Searching forThe Spirit and My Sister by Julie Mars ❌
Motley Crue by Seamus Craic
The Mourning Bride by William Congreve
A Movable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf *
Mutiny on the Bounty by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall
My First Summer in Sierra by John Muir
My Lai 4: A Report on the Massacre and Its Aftermath by Seymour M. Hersh ❌
My Life as Author and Editor by H. L. Mencken
My Life in Orange: Growing Up with the Guru
Myra Waldo’s Travel and Motoring Guide to Europe by Myra Waldo ❌
My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult
My Struggle by Karl Ove Knausgaard
The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer
Naked Lunch by Willliam S. Burroughs
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
Nancy Drew and the Witch Tree Symbol by Carolyn Keene
The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin
Native Son by Richard Wright
Nature’s Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West by William Cronon
Nervous System: Or, Losing My Mind in Literature by Jan Lars Jensen
New Poems of Emily Dickinson by Emily Dickinson
The New Way Things Work by David Macaulay
Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich
Night by Elie Wiesel
No Man is an Island by John Donne
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism by William E. Cain, et al. ❌
Notes of a Dirty Old Man by Charles Bukowski
Novels, 1930-1942: Dance Night/Come Back to Sorrento, Turn, Magic Wheel/Angels on Toast/A Time to be Born by Dawn Powell
November of the Heart by La Vyrle Spenser
The Odyssey by Homer *
Oedipus Rex by Sophocles
Of Human Bondage by W Somerset Maugham
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
Old School by Tobias Wolff
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens *
On The Contrary by Mary McCarthy
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
The Opposite of Fate: Memories of a Writing Life by Amy Tan
Oracle Night by Paul Auster
Orations by American Orators
The Orestia: Agamemnon: The Libation Bearers; The Eumenides by W. B. Stanford ❌
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood *
Othello by William Shakespeare
Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War by Donald Kagan ❌
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
Out of Africa by Isak Dineson
The Outsiders by Se. E. Hinton
The Oxford Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
A Passage to India by E M Forster
The Peace of Nicias and the Sicilian Expedition by Donald Kagan ❌
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
The Persian Puzzle by Kenneth M. Pollack
Personal History by Katherine Graham
Peyton Place by Grace Metalious
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Pigs at the Trough by Arianna Huffington
Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain ❌
Plutarch’s Lives by Plutarch
Poems by Alfred Lord Tennyson
Points of View by W. Somerset Maugham
The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby
Pomeranian: An Owner’s Guide to a Happy Healthy Pet by Happeth A Jones. ❌
The Portably Dorothy Parker by Dorothy Parker
The Portable Nietzsche by Fredrich nietzsche
The Price of Loyalty by Ron Suskind ❌
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Primary Colours by Joe Klein
The Princess Bride by William Goldman
Property by Valerie Martin
The Pump House Gang by Tom Wolfe
Punk: The Definitive Record of a Revolution by Stephen Colegrave and Chris Sullivan ❌
The Pursuit of Love & Love in a Cold Climate: Two Novels by Nancy Mitford
Pushkin: A Biography by T. J. Binyon
Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw
Quattrocento by James McKean
A Quiet Storm by Rachel Howzell Hall
Quiller Bamboo by Adam Hall
Rapunzel by Brothers Grimm
The Raven by Edgar Allan Poew
The Razor’s Edge by W Somersert Maugham
Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Douglas Wiggin
The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane *
The Red Tent by Antia Diamant
Rescuing Patty Hearst: Memories From a Decade Gone Mad by Virginia Holman
The Return of the King by J R R Tolkein
Revolution from Within by Gloria Steinem
Richard III by William Shakespeare
Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King
Robert’s Rules of Order by Henry Robert
Roman Fever by Edith Wharton
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf *
A Room with a View by E M Forster
Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin
The Rough Guide to Europe by Various Authors ❌
Sacred Time by Ursula Hegi
Sailing Alone Around the Room: New and Selected Poems by Billy Collins
Sanctuary by William Faulkner
The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
Savage Beauty: The life of Edna St. Vincent Millay by Nancy Milford
Say Goodbye to Daisy Miller by Henry James
The Scarecrow of Oz by Frank L. Baum
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne *
Schindler’s List by Thomas Keneally
Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand
The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette by Judith Thurman
Selected Letters of Dawn Powell: 1913-1965 by Dawn Powell
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
A Separate Peace by John Knowles
Sex and the City by Candace Bushnell
Sexus by Henry Miller
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Shane by Jack Shaefer
SherlockHolmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Shining by Stephen King *
Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
S Is for Silence by Sue Grafton
The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family by Mary S. Lovell
The Skin of Our Teeth by Thornton Wilder
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Sleeping Beauty by the Brothers Grimm
Small Island by Andrea Levy *
Snows of Klimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway
Snow White and Rose Red by Brothers Grimm
Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy by Barrington Moore ❌
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
Songbook by Nick Hornby
A Song of Ice and Fire by George R R Martin
The Song of Names by Norman Lebrecht
The Song Reader by Lisa Tucker
Song of the Simple Truth: The Complete Poems of Julia de Burgos by Julia de Burgos
Sonnet 43 by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
The Sonnets by William Shakespeare *
Sonnets from the Portuguese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Sophie’s Choice by William Styron
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
Speak, Memory by Vladimir Nabokov
Stalin: A Biography by Robert Service
The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
The Story of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting
The Story of My Life by Helen Keller
Story of O by Pauline Reage
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
Stuart Little by E. B. White
Summer of Fear by T. Jefferson Parker
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway *
Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust
Swimming with Giants: My Encounters with Whales, Dolphins and Seals by Anne Collett
Sybil by Flora Rheta Schreiber
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe
Tender is the Night by F Scoot Fitzgerald
Terms of Endearment by Larry McMurty
Tevya The Dairyman and the Railroad Stories by Sholem Aleichem
Theatre by W Somerset Maugham
They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? by Horace McCoy
The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett
Thunder by James Grady
Time and Again by Jack Finney
Timeline by Michael Crichton
The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
To Have and Have Not by Ernest Hemingway
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Town and the City by Jack Kerouac
The Tragedy of Richard III by William Shakespeare
Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
The Trial by Franz Kafka
Trouble in Our Backyard by Martin Diskin
The True Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters by Elisabeth Robinson
Truth & Beauty: A Friendship by Ann Patchett
The Two Towers by J R. R. Tolkien
Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
Ulysses by James Joyce
The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath by Sylvia Plath
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Understanding Power by Noam Chomsky
Unless by Carol Shields
U.S Foreign Policy and the Iran Hostage Crisis by David Patrick Houghton ❌
Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann
The Vanishing Newspaper by Philip Meyers
Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
Velvet Underground’s The Velvet Underground and Nico by Joe Harvard ❌
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eudenides
Visions of Cody by Jack Kerouac
Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
Walden by henry David Thoreau
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
We Owe You Nothing: Punk Planet: The Collected Interviews by Daniel Sinker ❌
What Color is Your Parachute? by Richard Nelson Bolles
What Happened to Baby Jane? by Henry Farrell
When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka
When Everything Changed by Gail Collins
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee *
Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire
Wild by Cheryl Strayed
The Wine Bible by Karen MacNeil
The Witches of Eastwick by John Updike
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by Frank L. Baum
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
Yoga for Dummies by Georg Feuerstein by Larry Payne
thebecksedit.co.uk 