B3THANY READS

'I can feel myself being slotted into place, a cog in a massive ticking clock, propelling a mechanism I'm too small to understand.' Title: The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle Author: Stuart Turton Rating: 5/5 I bought this book from the tiny English language section of a book shop here in Genova, Italy. I moved here back in August and have since exhausted the supply of books I brought with me, and so I needed to find something new to feed my addiction. I'm not usually one for murder mysteries or crime fiction, but I saw The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle on the shelf and remember hearing great things back when it was published a few years ago. This relatively spontaneous purchase has become one of my favourite books I have ever read. I found myself wanting to read "one more chapter" every night. I fell in love with the setting straight away. A grand manor in the woods and a madman on the loose, what more could you want? It took me right back to my A Level...

Title: Illuminae Author: Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff Rating: 5/5 Illuminae isn't a book. It's an experience . I could sum up the plot to try and sell it to you, but that wouldn't do it justice. What makes the story special is the way it is told; the way it puts you in the driving seat of this massive spaceship and guides you through it, rather than just telling you. Illuminae is a quasi-graphic novel, but with an emphasis on the 'novel' part. We don't get the detailed illustrations of characters and settings you would normally expect from a regular graphic novel, but it's certainly still 'graphic' in other ways. Every time I picked the book up, I was excited to explore all the different types of documents it uses to tell the story - emails, text messages, transcripts of announcements, conversations ... you name it. You truly feel like a detective sifting through these documents to find out what really happened. I particularly liked how the writer...

Tomi Adeyemi has said many times before that  Children of Blood and Bone was written in response to cases of racism and police brutality in America. Now, almost 6 weeks after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, I want to analyse Adeyemi's debut novel in light of this tragedy, and how it made a mark on the Black Lives Matter movement. 'Children of Blood and Bone was written during a time where I kept turning on the news and seeing stories of unarmed black men, women and children being shot by the police. I felt afraid and angry and helpless, but this book was the one thing that made me feel like I could do something about it.' (Tomi Adeyemi, 2018) I read this book back in 2018 when it was first published, and instantly knew it was one of my favourite books I had ever read. I decided to re-read it the day after George Floyd was murdered, and was overwhelmed by just how powerful the story is to the BLM movement. As a privileged white girl, I felt like Childr...

Have you ever started a book, got a few chapters in, and then decided to put it down? There are many, many reasons for doing this. Maybe you're too busy with work, maybe you're not in the mood for ______ right now, or maybe you simply don't like it. But have you ever put down a book because it's affecting your mental health? I recently had to stop reading The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe for this exact reason. The Librarian of Auschwitz has been on my TBR for quite some time, and lock down seemed to be the perfect time to get some reading done - it's one of those books I've been meaning to read but never got round to it. Back in 2018 I read The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris and found it heartbreaking, don't get me wrong, but also enjoyed learning more about that period in history. So, when I got Iturbe's book from my bookshelf last week, I thought I was ready to read it. Turns out, I was wrong. Lock down is not a ...

Recently, Philip Jones, editor of The Bookseller , said: what we see in the charts now is a glimpse into a world without bookshops. This got me thinking. What impact will COVID19 have on the publishing industry long term? Shopping culture At the moment, gone are the days you could make a day of strolling around your favourite bookshop, carefully choosing what to buy. This is what I have been missing most recently, just being able to go into town and mill about for a while. Instead, Amazon's sales have increased by a staggering 27% in the first quarter of 2020 alone. It's not like Amazon wasn't a retail giant before corona, but Jeff Bezos has certainly asserted his dominance now. Everyone has been forced to temporarily change their shopping habits, but this raises the question of will shopping culture ever return to what it once was? Will people choose convenience over experience more than they already do? Bestsellers Especially for the first few weeks of lock down...

You know that feeling when you start a new book that's 600+ pages long, part of a trilogy and you fall in love with it from the first chapter? That was The Name of the Wind for me. Even though it took me nearly four months (!!!) to read it, it definitely consumed my life for the past few weeks. Let's just say it was the perfect lock down companion. First off, the medieval vibe was incredibly refreshing. (I say medieval even though Rothfuss has never confirmed this but it's what feels right to me.) The medieval trope can sometimes be overdone and repetitive, especially in fantasy for adults, but not this one. It was medieval enough for my brain to place it in time and space pretty easily, but Rothfuss has put his own interesting twist on details such as money, clothing style, languages etc. It could literally be anywhere in the world at any point in time. Title: The Name of the Wind Author: Patrick Rothfuss Rating: 5/5 You can buy it here Kvothe may just be one...

Lock down is in full swing and like many, I'm going to read everything I've been meaning to read for the past few months. I'm coming to the end of my studies at university, so this is the perfect time to catch up on my reading! Edgar Allan Poe's Tales of Horror First off, I have Edgar Allan Poe's Tales of Horror. I picked this up at my university bookshop as I had a gift card and wanted to make the most of it before I graduated. I had briefly studied Poe in my first year back in 2016 and really enjoyed it, so I thought I would delve a bit deeper and read some more! The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss Last week I finished the first book in this series, The Name of the Wind, and REALLY enjoyed it (read my review here ). It's quite a chunky one with almost 1000 pages, so this will probably be a whole summer read in itself... I should probably stop the TBR here, but I'm an optimistic person. ...

Hi, my name's Beth and I miss reading for fun. Almost four years ago I made the decision to study Comparative Literature and French at degree level, and I have loved it every step of the way. I got to study  Heidi , Catcher in the Rye , The Iliad, Dracula ... to name a few. I felt truly academically challenged and pushed myself to achieve my absolute best work. Without a doubt, my course is my favourite part of being at university. But I really, REALLY miss reading for fun. What's that you say? Why not read for fun in your spare time?  I wish I could. By the time I get home from a full day's work in the library, it feels like my eyes will fall out of my head if I have to read any more. I would much rather watch something mind-numbing on Netflix just to give my brain a little bit of a break before doing it all over again the next day. (I just finished season 4 of Jane the Virgin and ... oh my god, that show is so! good! ). That's not to say that I ...

I have been reading for as long as I can remember. It almost feels as if I was never actually taught how to read, I was just born knowing how and haven't put a book down since. But now, as the grand old age of 21 draws nearer, I realised I have never read the same book twice. Sure, there's the exception of compulsory reading for school (I'm pretty sure I've read Jane Eyre at least 4 times by now) but that's it. So why don't I like re-reading books? Where's the suspense? Whenever I consider re-reading a book, I quickly dismiss the idea because of the obvious ... I already know what's going to happen. Wouldn't that be boring? I don't think I would enjoy it as much the second time round if I knew what the big plot twist is going to be. It's not like I will be on the edge of my seat, hanging on to every last word. This is especially true with plot-driven stories that have a lack of world building and character development (like We Were L...

Title: The Book of M Author: Peng Shepherd Rating: 3/5 I finished 'The Book of M' about a week ago now and have had enough time to fully form all my mixed feelings about it, so here's my (spoiler-y) review! I fell in love with the book as soon as I started reading it, but it got progressively harder to enjoy the more I stuck with it. And here's why. There wasn't nearly enough world building. I would have actually preferred 'The Book of M' to be split into two books if it meant we would get more world building in the first. There just wasn't enough explaining - the whole way through I felt like there were gaps in my knowledge about the world when characters would mention something I was expected to have figured out on my own. It was kinda confusing. I know it's not good to spell everything out but at least give us a chance maybe ??? For example, I never understood how Ursula managed to get them out of the cage and into this new and i...

The world of audiobooks is one I have only recently delved into - and I never expected it to be with this book. I have only read a handful of romance novels, maybe even not that. It's not a genre that I ever find myself fancying. That was until I watched To All the Boys I've Loved Before on Netflix. TATBILB (wow that's such a long abbreviation it's almost not worth abbreviating) low key changed my life. I had seen all the hype about it on Twitter and YouTube and thought to myself, "you're never gonna read it so you might as well just watch it". So I did. And I absolutely loved it. It became my 'guilty pleasure' and now I've seen it at least three times. I loved the characters, the cheesy plot line and the soundtrack. Fast forward a couple of months... I had made an Audible account out of curiosity - I wanted to see if audiobooks were for me. The first audiobook I bought was Stephen Fry's Mythos, which I am still listening to because...

Dear Santa, So, it's Christmas Eve. I imagine you're pretty busy right now but... You know I'm your favourite earthling so you won't mind making some time in your hectic schedule to read this, right? Here on my blog I have already written about the bookish things I want for Christmas, but there's something else. There's a few more presents that would make me super happy on Christmas day, but there's a catch. They're not things you can buy. They are Christmas wishes. Here they are: Please may you help me learn how to properly dress myself? I'm fed up of wearing clothes I don't particularly like just because it's something to wear. I want to look nice and feel myself. I need to be way less awkward over the phone. Can't stand it. Please can I have some more confidence? Can you help me get a hold of my anxiety? Yes, it's gotten better in the past year but it's still very, very prominent in my life. Pretty please? I...

I did this post last year so I thought I would keep up the tradition and do it again this year! 1. Read 10 books Last year, my goal was to read 15 books (which I managed!), but I don't think I will be able to achieve in 2019. I will be in my last year of university, working on my dissertation, playing lots of badminton and doing exams... So I would be happy if I read 10!! 2. Reach C1 level in French I'm currently on my year abroad in Switzerland in order to improve my French for my degree. At the moment, I'm probably a strong B2 but I would really love to gain confidence and proficiency before I go back to uni in September. Fingers crossed! 3. Dissertation  I mentioned this before, but I will be starting my dissertation when I go back to uni in September. All I ask of myself is that I get a really good start, decide on my topic and work really hard. I'm actually looking forward to going back to uni and uni work so hopefully I can do this one! 4. Trav...

Inspired by Spotify's 'Your Top Songs of 2018' feature, I thought I would go through the soundtrack to my year. In total, I listened to 101,410 minutes of music on Spotify this year... So, I'm going to try to whittle it down to my top 10 songs I had on repeat for the past 12 months! 10. From Now On, The Greatest Showman This film was super popular this year so it's no surprise that this song is in my top songs of 2018.  I saw the film in the cinema with my sisters and absolutely loved it! I especially loved this song - it made me cry! (Unpopular opinion: this song is ever so slightly better than This Is Me). 9. Love Will Tear Us Apart, Joy Division Obviously I had heard this song way before 2018 but it has a special place in my hear this year. I was working at Next over the summer for some extra money before my year abroad. One day, my dad gave me a lift to work in our convertible Mini Cooper - we had the roof down, sun shining and blasting this song ...

Following on from yesterday's post, I thought I would come up with what presents I would give to my favourite characters from the Shades of Magic series! Well, the characters that are still alive... *sobs* Lila Firstly, I would give her 'Great Women Who Changed the World' by Kate Pankurst. Yes, I know this is a children's book but I just feel like Lila would really enjoy it. Also means she can use it to brush up on her English! Then I would give her a really good map and compass. At the end of the last book she sets out to sea with Kell (which I love), so she needs the best equipment she can get. I thought about giving her a new pocket watch but realised it would only be a disappointment and remind her of what she lost... Not very festive. Kell Kell definitely needs something to remind him of Maxim and Emira while he's travelling. So, I would give him a photo frame for him to put photos of his family into. We know Ke...

The Shades of Magic series is the first series I've read in its entirety in a really long time. I think the last time I read a series from beginning to end was when I read the Percy Jackson series at age 11ish. So, I thought I would dedicate today's Blogmas post to all my thoughts and feelings about V.E. Schwab's trilogy! (Be warned - major spoilers). I found out about this series through Hannah's ( A Clockwork Reader ) YouTube channel, and I always like the books she recommends so I trusted her on this one as well. It took me almost 5 months to read the entire series because I like to space things out and give myself variety in between books. What's cool is that you can see the seasons changing in the photos of the books I took! A Darker Shade of Magic Photo taken on Totland Bay, Isle of Wight First up, 'A Darker Shade of Magic'. When I first started reading this book I really liked the mad King George character from Grey London. I thought he wa...

I'm pretty sure everyone's favourite thing about Christmas is the food. Or at least it has to be in your top 5 favourite things, otherwise that's just illegal. So, as I'm spending the run up to Christmas in another country, I thought I would talk about what I like about Swiss Christmas food in today's Blogmas post! Crepes I know, I know. Crepes in Europe are basically an all year round thing. But there's something extra special about them when you get them at a Christmas market. There are so many choices, there's always a long queue of people excitedly waiting for their treat, and it warms you up in a very sugary way! I always get the chocolate crepes (NOT Nutella), and here's one I had at Bulle's Christmas market. Churros Here's another Christmas market speciality. Churros! I know they are originally from Spain but for some reason Christmas markets in Switzerland are littered with churro stalls. Every time you turn a...

This is the last instalment in my mini-series, so here are my family's Boxing Day traditions! Boxing Day is dedicated to our extended family. We have a very relaxed morning and then usually go over to our cousin's house just after lunch time. We sit around, chat and play games for a few hours until it's time for dinner. Dinner is usually left over turkey and all the left over extras from the day before which is dreamy. After dinner we play more games and then we do presents! Boxing Day is a very relaxed day, so that's all the traditions we have in our family! ***** What are your Boxing Day traditions?

Here are my family's Christmas Day traditions! Even though my sisters and I are all in our 20s, we still always wake up super early. Well, 9am is still 'early' to me. We also still look through our stockings in our parents' bedroom like children. Don't judge us. Then we come downstairs and have breakfast! In our family, Christmas Day breakfast is always croissants and pain au chocolat with jam, marmalade, chocolate spread and everything else delicious i the continental breakfast world. The Christmas grocery shop is the only time my dad will buy the branded fruit juice for breakfast. The ONLY time. He knows how to treat us. While we eat breakfast we listen to Junior Choice on BBC radio 2 - they play lots of old school songs that we all love, especially my dad. After breakfast, we move into the living room where we open our presents! We open one each, starting with the eldest and finishing with me, the youngest. You can imagine the suffering I endured as a ...

I thought I would do a mini-series within Blogmas about what my family Christmas traditions are, starting with Christmas Eve! So here is what my family and I get up to on Christmas Eve. To be honest, nothing much happens on Christmas Eve until the evening.  Both last year and the year before I was working at Next over the Christmas period. As Christmas staff, this meant I was obligated to work on Christmas Eve to get the shop ready for Boxing Day sales - so I was busy for most of the day. From what I can remember, Christmas Eve when I was younger was just full of excitement and bouncing around the house with my sisters. What we do do every year is go to church in the evening for the Christingle service! For those of you who don't know, Christingle is a Christian (shock) church service to celebrate Jesus, God and everything to do with Christmas. It's like a normal carol service, but everyone is given a Christingle - an orange with a red ribbon tied round it, a cand...