I don’t know how it happened, but on the 17th December, my boyfriend wagered that I couldn't go three months without buying a new book. I should have been filled with horror, but I wasn’t. When I have my mind set on something, I am stubborn and my mind can’t be changed. If I was [...]
Holly by Stephen King
I don’t know where to start with this book. Except to say that there may be some spoilers ahead. Holly Gibney is a character that Stephen King has held onto. She began her career in the Bill Hodges series, made a cameo in The Outsider, which is where I first encountered her. I love strong, [...]
The Outsider by Stephen King
Stephen King is an author I have started reading with more seriousness of late. All throughout my university career, I had convinced myself that I had to limit myself to the classics, to ‘good’, high quality, or high brow literature. But King’s writing is good, he is a master storyteller, weaving stories so expertly by [...]
We’ll Prescribe You a Cat by Isyou Ishida
A cat a day keeps the doctor away should be a proverb entwined in everyone’s lives. I had a cat growing up, and the idea that a cat has the power to heal is one that is all too familiar. I had, or should I say have, anxiety. It is something that has plagued me [...]
Yellowface by Rebecca F Kuang
I picked this book up alongside A.K Blakemore’s Glutton, as part of a buy one half price offer in Waterstones. I hadn’t heard of it before, but the book's cool cover pulled me in and after a quick Google search, I decided I would give it a go. The book itself possesses magical powers that [...]
Why Be Happy When You Could be Normal?
I never felt very good at anything when I was in school. I was good at school, but I struggled to excel at anything. I was plagued by low confidence, that beyond passing exams and writing good assignments, I froze. I could focus, but I didn't believe in myself. Teacher’s gave me the praise you [...]
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Have you ever felt like you have been on the outside, fighting so hard to fit in that you can no longer find yourself when you look in the mirror? That the person staring back at you is a stranger that can’t be reconciled with the inner voice, the inner longing, the inner turmoil. I [...]
Vladimir by Julia May Jonas
This book is why you shouldn’t believe everything you read online. My book-slanted Instagram algorithm kept pushing this book and the accompanying raving reviews towards me. This was enough to set my curious mind racing, I obtained a copy. However, I was frustratingly disappointed by the copy posted through my letterbox on the cold November [...]
The Lord of the Rings (trilogy) by J.R.R Tolkein
I don’t really know where to start. Is it appropriate to review a trilogy of books with such critical acclaim as these? I will do it anyway, and I will start at the very beginning, which is 2001. As part of the weekends I spent with my Dad, who had left my Mum alone with [...]
The Discomfort of Evening by Lucas Rijneveld
I found this book snooping around a Dutch bookshop on a cold, wet night in Amsterdam in December. Its title appealed to me, after suffering many lonely nights awake, battling anxiety and depression, trying to make sense of a world around me that didn’t make any sense. But the book quickly spirals and, aside from [...]
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