my favourite reads of summer 2019

For the majority of these past few summer weeks, I have been filling my days reading glorious novels in the sun, staring at pages of exquisite text for hours on end. I have found myself engrossed in an extraordinary number of fictitious worlds, ranging from eerily uncanny dystopian universes to the realms of an American…

my thoughts on.. the handmaid’s tale

The first time I read this book, I didn't understand why it was so integral to so many women's lives. I flicked through the pages and skimmed sentences, hoping for a thrilling and decisive ending, and was majorly disappointed, feeling such hatred towards the ambiguity of the final pages. 3 years (and many many many…

my thoughts on… promising young women by caroline o’donoghue

I first came across the Irish writer Caroline O'Donoghue when I was listening to one of my favourite podcasts on a morning run. For a brilliant episode titled 'How to Write That Novel', O'Donoghue was a guest on the sensational 'Nobody Panic', a light-hearted audio guidebook to adulthood hosted by the hilarious comedians Stevie Martin…

my holiday reads for summer 2019

There is no doubt about it, summer is the most perfect, delicious, blissful time to read. Whether you are reading late in the evening in your bedroom as the sun sets or spending a carefree afternoon by the beach with a book in your hands, it can be dazzling. With these extra special moments in mind,…

my thoughts on… crudo by olivia laing

This was the first novel that I have read in a long time where I have put down the book and thought 'Wow. It was really really important that I read that.'  I sped through the pages, engrossed in Kathy Acker's world and fully captivated by the intensity of Laing's writing. The tone was just…

the intimacy of literature

It has been too long! Oh my, I've missed writing on this blog so so much. I've been so busy these past few weeks with schoolwork that I've just not had the time to sit down and write my thoughts on the two wonderful books, 'Three Poems' and 'The Diary of an Ordinary Woman', that…

what I’ve read recently

I picked these books up around November - December time. They were engrossing and marvellous and shocking and bewildering and I adored them all. Right now, I'm suffering through mock exams for my a levels (help!) so I don't have too much time to read but, when I can, I'm making my way through the…

nineteen books I want to read in twenty nineteen

2018 has been the year of reading. I discovered my taste. Beautiful, brilliant books. Heartbreaking poems and shocking novels. Contemporary as well as some pretty ancient literature. I loved it all. I dived into Shakespeare and Milton and the Romantics and my head spun. Modernism became my calling and I absorbed T.S. Eliot and Katherine…

my thoughts on… the wasp factory by iain banks

Like Everything Under by Daisy Johnson, The Wasp Factory is twisted, abnormal and deranged. It follows the life of the rather disturbed Frank Cauldhame, a teenager who lives alone on a secluded island in Scotland with his manic father. In the attic of his home, he has built a Wasp Factory. This is a strange device,…

Rory Gilmore’s Reading List

I recently stumbled across a list when aimlessly scrolling through the internet that named all of the 339 books that Rory Gilmore had read on 'Gilmore Girls'. As an avid reader and as a literature student, I thought it would be fun to share which books I have read, what I thought of them and…