Where Have We Been?

You know that moment when you say you’ll do something tomorrow because you’re too busy today and then all of a sudden that ‘tomorrow’ you kept talking about is 3 years later? Well, that seems to be where we are now.

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‘The Colonel and the Bee’ by Patrick Canning

We are so excited to have once again on the blog today a review requested by an author who very kindly sent us his book. The Colonel and the Bee is a short novel bursting with energy and excitement. The author, Patrick Canning seems to have pulled from many references and genres, ranging from Charles Dickens, Angela Carter and Jules Verne. More than anything, I was left with the feeling that this was the tale I wish I had had as a young girl myself. The novel follows thirteen-year-old Beatrix as she runs away from the circus with a man,…

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Canongate Myth Series: The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood

Margaret Atwood is one author whose name every Canadian child will hear about growing up; I am no exception. She is frequently touted in schools, dinner parties and every bookshop you walk into will be sure to have her books in prominent view. Probably best known for her dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale, Atwood’s writing has always taken on topics of complexity and import, and The Penelopiad is no different. From the previous Canongate Myth Series novellas, I have read, I had begun to recognise a pattern. They were not, as is their most usual identifiers, simple retellings of Greek…

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“If Beale Street Could Talk” by James Baldwin: Mini-Review

The hype of African-American author James Baldwin has been rejuvenated in recent years, particularly as his 1974 novel If Beale Street Could Talk was adapted into a movie of the same name in 2019. Dealing with the young love between Tish and Fonny that must learn to survive in spite of the racist politics that keeps them apart, the novel feels very relevant to the current Black Lives Matter politics in the United States. Set in Harlem, NY in the early 1970s, Tish and Fonny have grown up together and have developed an intimate relationship between them. However, before they…

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How to Pick a Book in a Bookstore

5 Tips to help you to avoid overspending on books All book-lovers know the feeling of intense panic that comes over them in the middle of a bookshop. You’re overwhelmed by all the choices and would much rather buy everything in the entire store than make a decision. I can definitely relate. In fact, at the time of writing this post, I am hiding out from my responsibilities in a cafe inside a bookstore. And while here, I was confronted with the typical desire to buy every book I see. For book lovers, it’s so easy to come up with…

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‘After The Green Withered’ by Kristin Ward

The Importance of EcoLiterature Today’s post is an incredibly exciting one as I am reviewing a book part of a massive book tour organised by Twitter’sThe_WriteReads, a forum where book bloggers can support other bloggers through retweeting and commenting. Not only is this a great way to increase one’s exposure in the blogging world, TheWriteReads has created a community in which bloggers can exchange opinions and ideas freely and get recognition for the hard work they put in. And now, they can even take part in this #UltimateBlogTour and get to experience reading some amazing books they perhaps would not…

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