Amy's Blog

This is is a bit late but here is everything I read in October: Mrs Dalloway , Virginia Woolf - 3 Stars This was the first Virginia Woolf book that I've read and while I loved the writing style, I wasn't that interested in the book. I plan on reading more Virginia Woolf to see if I find a book that I connect with more. The Tommyknockers, Stephen King - 2 Stars Oh boy. I forced myself to skim to the end of this one. It started off so well, the first part was the Stephen King we know and love. Then the second part was where it all went downhill. There were too many characters introduced that were not interesting in the slightest. This is not a Stephen King book I would recommend unless you really want to read them all. The Secret Commonwealth , Philip Pullman - 3 Stars I'll start this with the classic"I really wanted to enjoy this one", I really wanted to enjoy this one. We've waited for a long time to find out what happened to Lyra after "The A...

September was a very hard month for me and I relied a lot on my books to help distract me. During hard times, I either find myself unable to read at all or I take comfort in worlds that are far away from my own. I want to keep up with this blog to help give me something else to focus on. This was everything that I read in September 2019: Queen Anne:  The Politics of Passion , Anne Somerset, 2 Stars There was definitely an emphasis on the politics in this one. I found it hard going as, while I understand the importance of politics in Anne's life, I just got stuck on all the politics in this book. I enjoyed getting to know more about Queen Anne, but it felt more like a reference book. Life and Death , Stephenie Meyer, 3 Stars It's been nearly 10 years since I first read Twilight so it was time to revisit the world, although in a slightly different way. The concept was interesting, flipping the genders, which led to a few funny moments. I liked seeing how Stephenie woul...

It's been a while. I started a new job a few months ago and it has taken me a while to get round to blogging again. These are the books I'd like to get to this autumn. The Tommy Knockers, Stephen King Is it even autumn without a spooky book, in particular, a Stephen King novel? I don't know too much about this one, I just know it has been too long since I've read anything by Stephen King. I picked this up along with "The Stand" a few months ago and I'm hoping to read it in the next few months. The Bloody Chamber, Angela Carter I studied one of the stories from this book for A-Level and wasn't a fan. I thought I would give the whole book a go this time and hopefully, I will enjoy it more this time. Life and Death, Stephenie Meyer It will be 10 years in January since I first read/watched Twilight, so I thought I should probably get round to trying the gender-bent version of Twilight before then. I watched Christine's book vlog of this one...

A lot happened this month so I didn't read quite as much as I did in February. I did try to include some poetry again this month but not as much as I'd planned to. I managed to fit in two nonfiction books, the first history book in a while and one on natural disasters, I always loved volcanoes at school which prompted me to pick it up. Hope you enjoy finding out my thoughts! Young and Damned and Fair: The Life of Catherine Howard, Fifth Wife of King Henry VIII, Gareth Russell, 3.75 Stars This was one of the better biographies on Catherine Howard, some struggle to balance the little that we have on Catherine with the world around her. A little hard to get into a first, opening with the fall of Thomas Cromwell, after a while, it reads fairly easily. It charts Catherine's life from her childhood to her execution, using several sources as it goes. A useful introduction to Catherine Howard but can be a little dry in places. Becoming, Michelle Obama, 5 Stars A really inte...

I love charity shops. They're a great resource for books, whether you're an occasional reader or a prolific reader. You can find books on everything for really cheap, the books I found this month ranged from 10p to maximum £1.50. I thought I'd share some of the charity shop book bargains I've found this month. Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte : I don't actually own my own paper copy of " Wuthering Heights ", so when I decided to pick one up when I next saw one in a charity. I'm also a sucker for a nice cover. The Silk Roads, by Peter Frankopan : I read some of Frankopan's work for university assignments and wanted to give this one a go. It was the first time I'd seen it in a charity shop and for £1.50 I thought I'd give it a try. America's Queen, by Sarah Bradford: I've always been fascinated by the Kennedy assassination and Jacky Kennedy. This was the first book I've seen on Jacky and I'm excited to give it a go. Pe...

Classics can be intimidating. They sit in their section in the bookshop/library/charity shop and you don't know if you're wise enough to approach them. However, over the last few years, I have endeavoured to tame these wordy monsters and make my way through them. Being brought up in a house full of books and BBC adaptations, it was inevitable I was going to pick up a classic one day, although it can be daunting choosing where to start. Hopefully, by sharing my adventures in the land of classics and a couple of tips, you might be able to give them a go too. Classics Journey My journey into classics started when I was around 14 years old. For an English class, I had to read a book, preferably a classic and give a presentation on my book of choice. I went for " Pride and Prejudice " by Jane Austen, being familiar with the story from a young age having watched the BBC adaptation. I didn't touch a classic again until I was 17, I was too busy with YA to give the cla...