Tag: non fiction

Books for International Women’s Day!

08/03/2017

Watercolor texture background

Happy International Women’s Day! In honor of today, I thought I’d share with you some great books written by women, all with a feminist theme. Feminism is a pretty nebulous term, so I’m by no means saying that these books entirely encompass it. In fact, they probably barely scratch the surface. There are a few here that I’ve read and highly recommend, and a few that are on my radar and I hope to get to soon. So let’s get into it!

Just as a warning, some of the books featured mention rape and sexual assault.

Continue reading “Books for International Women’s Day!”

RECENT READS | #6-10

27/02/2017

books-5-9

Hello! This is a new feature on my blog where I’ll be briefly talking about the books I’ve read this year. I did quarterly wrap up posts last year, but I decided that I wanted to do these wrap up posts with a little more frequency. Really, I’d just like to get into the habit of saying something about every book that I read, and I don’t always have enough to say about a book to warrant a full length review.

I’ve read 11 books so far this year — if you’re wondering why this post is starting at #6, it’s because I talked about the first four books I read this year in my #DAReadathon Wrap Up post back in January, and I’ve also written a full length review of Heartless by Marissa Meyer. I’ve had a great reading year so far, I honestly don’t know that I’ve ever read over ten books before the end of February before. Plus, I’ve given every book I’ve read a pretty good rating, so let’s get into it!

Covers = Goodreads.

Continue reading “RECENT READS | #6-10”

OCTOBER – DECEMBER READING WRAP UP

13/01/2017

octdec-wrap-up

Here’s my (slightly belated) wrap up of all the books I read in the last three months of the year! You can read my January-March wrap up here, my April-June wrap up here, and my July-September wrap up here.

As always, let’s talk about the books I’m currently reading before getting into what I have read. I had the very lofty ambition that I would completely clear my currently reading shelf. It’s really no surprise that I wasn’t successful in doing this. So, once again, I am still reading House of Leaves. It’s such a commitment, so I’ve just been prioritising other books. I’m also about halfway through I Am Malala, which I’d hoped to read for the #DAReadathon, but will probably finish up in January regardless. I also got approved for two ARCs, those being Heartless by Marissa Meyer and Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo. While these are both sitting on my currently reading shelf on Goodreads, I’m only actively reading Heartless at the moment.

Now, here are the books I have read!

Continue reading “OCTOBER – DECEMBER READING WRAP UP”

Ten Books I’ve Added to my TBR Lately

08/11/2016

Watercolor texture background

I’m back with another Top Ten Tuesday. Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, and this week’s theme is ten books that you’ve added to your TBR recently. Today, I’m going to share with you ten recent additions to my wishlist, rather than ten books I’ve actually bought. Until Saturday, when I bought three books, I’d been doing quite well at slowing down my book buying! I consider my wishlist my eventual TBR, so here they are in no particular order! As always, the covers will take you to the Goodreads pages.

1. EVERFAIR BY NISI SHAWL

26114130Everfair is an alternate history novel set in the Congo, exploring what it would have been like if the native populations had discovered steam technologies prior to the arrival of the Belgians, who colonised the area. This is neo-Victorian fiction, which I have read some of, but I do enjoy Victorian literature more generally. The premise of this sounds absolutely fascinating. After reading Homegoing I’ve been very keen to read more historical fiction from a non-white perspective, and I’ve really been wanting to read more books set in African countries. I’m sure curiosity will get the better of me and I’ll end up buying this soon.

 

2. INVISIBLE PLANETS BY KEN LIU (ED.)

30626608 Invisible Planets is a collection of translated Chinese science fiction short stories both edited and translated by Ken Liu. I actually eyed this up in Waterstones recently, and I have no idea what stopped me from buying it. Not only does it have a beautiful cover, it sounds really interesting, too. I’m admittedly not very well read when it comes to science fiction, but I though it would be really interesting seeing how the future is imagined in a different culture.

 

 

 

3. DIFFICULT WOMEN BY ROXANE GAY

30644520I read Roxane Gay’s essay collection Bad Feminist earlier this year and completely loved it. I was a huge fan of the style and tone of her writing, and I already own her novel An Untamed State. Difficult Women is a short story collection that I believe discusses a variety of women of different backgrounds and experiences. It isn’t released until January, so I’m hoping to have read her novel by then, and I’m sure I’ll love her fiction just as much as I enjoyed her essays.

 

 

4. THE GOOD IMMIGRANT BY NIKESH SHUKLA (ED.)

28668534The Good Immigrant is an anthology edited by Nikesh Shukla, focusing on what it’s like to be part of a minority ethnic group in Britain today. I was pretty much sold on this from the start, but after reading Riz Ahmed’s essay titled Typecast as a Terrorist, which features in the collection, it jumped straight to the top of my wishlist. As this focuses on Britain, I’m very excited to eventually read it, and hopefully I’ll discover some new writers in the process. (By the way, I’d highly recommend you read Riz Ahmed’s essay regardless!)

 

5. ANOTHER DAY IN THE DEATH OF AMERICA BY GARY YOUNGE

31819463This is a non-fiction book focused on one day in America when ten young people, aged between nine and nineteen, are killed by guns. None of these deaths made the national news. It is, essentially, about the consequences of the lack of gun control in America. Younge focuses on children as, on average, seven children and teens are killed by guns in America every day. I did a little research on gun violence for my dissertation, and I’m interested in taking that research a little further. While I’m sure that this will be a depressing read, I don’t doubt that it will be an important one.

 

6. THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD BY COLSON WHITEHEAD

30555488This book has been getting a lot of interest lately, and I’m very intrigued by the premise. The Underground Railroad is a slavery narrative wherein the historical Underground Railroad is an actual railroad. I’ve read some reviews saying that the content is brutal, and others saying the same, but that the writing was quite detached. If anything, this has made me more interested to read it. Especially since, as I said before, my background in historical fiction is very lacking.

 

 

7. THE KILLING MOON BY N.K. JEMISIN 

11774272After reading The Name of the Wind last month, I’ve really been in the mood to read more fantasy novels. I’ve heard so many amazing things about N.K. Jemisin, particularly about her novel The Fifth Season, and I’m desperate to read some of her work. However, I think the book of hers I’ll start with is The Killing Moon (though, if you think I’m better off starting with The Fifth Season, let me know!). This is, I think, loosely based on Ancient Egyptian mythology. It’s about a group of priests in service of the dream goddess, and their job is to harvest the magic of the sleeping mind. Again, this is another one with a really cool concept that I’m sure I’ll pick up soon.

 

8. THE GOLDFINCH BY DONNA TARTT

18692995My reasoning behind this one is pretty simple: I loved Donna Tartt’s writing when I read The Secret History and I’d really like to read more of her books. I’m not sure whether I want to read this or The Little Friend next. The Goldfinch is huge and generally well-loved, but people seem less fond of The Little Friend. If you’ve read either, or both of them, let me know which one you think I should read first!

 

 

 

9. THE WOODS, VOL. 1. BY JAMES TYNION IV & MICHAEL DIALYNAS

21412023I saw this over on Lauren’s blog, as she read it as part of her Halloween readathon, and I thought it sounded amazing! Honestly, I don’t know very much about it, but from what I do know it sounds like it’ll be right up my street! I’m so keen to read more comics and graphic novels, so I’m always happy to learn about a series I’d never heard of before.

 

 

 

 

10. VASSA IN THE NIGHT BY SARAH PORTER

28220892I feel like I’ve been seeing this book everywhere lately, so I know I’m eventually going to cave and end up buying it! So many reviews are saying that it’s really weird, so that’s honestly just making me more curious, and more likely to buy it. All I know about it, really, is that it’s set in New York, where the night is slowly getting longer. I also know that it’s inspired by a fairy tale, so I’ll have to make sure I read up on that if I ever end up buying it!

 

 

 

So there you are! There’s a glimpse into my frankly exhaustive wishlist. This probably covers less than 10% of the books that I have sorted into various wishlists on Amazon. I know I’ll never get around to buying or reading them all, but a girl can dream!! Though really, I do think I’ll eventually get around to buying these ones as I’m really interested in all of them.

If you’ve read any of these books I’d love to hear your thoughts on them! That way, it might make it easier for me to decide which ones I’d like to buy first 😉

sig

JULY – SEPTEMBER READING WRAP UP

18/10/2016

jul-to-sep

It’s time for me to do mini-reviews of all the books I’ve read over the last three months! You can read my January-March wrap-up here, and my April-June wrap-up here. My reading definitely slowed down over the summer, owing to writing the bulk of my dissertation during July and August, so the only reason I’ve actually been able to keep on track with my goal of reading 50 books this year is because I read a lot of comics/graphic novels over the last few months.

I started the last post by discussing the books that I said I was currently reading in the last one, and yes, I’m still not finished with either The Lies of Locke Lamora or House of Leaves. I’ve only recently picked up The Lies of Locke Lamora again, and I am really enjoying it, it’s just that I’ve been getting distracted by wanting to read other things. Hopefully I’ll definitely get around to finishing House of Leaves this month, as it’s on my TBR for Lauren’s Halloween Read-a-thon.

Now onto the few books I have read!

Continue reading “JULY – SEPTEMBER READING WRAP UP”