The Hate U Give tells the story of Starr as she navigates life after witnessing her friend Khalil being shot by police. Set in Garden Heights, a predominantly black neighbourhood, the book follow Starr's turn to activism. I listened the the audiobook version of The Hate U Give, brilliantly narrated by Bahni Turpin. Turpin really…
Did I draw this? Frame or bed, hole could be window, flesh could be flat, nobody looking, One body prostrate, another attending. Another beautiful poetic prose book by Max Porter, The Death of Francis Bacon is a brief tale of Bacon's final days. In April 1992, Bacon fell ill in Madrid, taken to a convent…
As we head into what might be another lockdown, I thought I would share my favourite books I read in the OG lockdown. I was very lucky to be furloughed from March-July and had nothing to do but read all day everyday. There were some strong contenders, but I tried to narrow it down to…
Alas, it seems like Covid is here to stay. Travelling may be a bit quiet for now. In the meantime, entertain yourself with my book reviews and poetry.
Be warned, then: the collected volumes of this series will contain frozen mountains, foetid swamps, hostile foreigners, hostile fellow countrymen, the occasional hostile family member, bad decisions, misadventures in orienteering, diseases of an unromantic sort, and a plenitude of mud. A book that gripped me from page one, A Natural History of Dragons is the…
Veronica Roth's latest novel is the start of a contemporary fantasy series set 10 years after the defeat of the 'Dark One'. The story begins with Sloane, one of the five Chosen Ones, struggling to cope with normal life and unfolds to reveal a greater plot at work. I was first drawn to this book…
This is a book I've been eager to read ever since I first heard of it. There is always a slight worry when someone comes to adapting Shakespeare's work or his life for a modern audience. Sometimes it can work brilliantly - see the film Shakespeare in Love is lighthearted, bawdy and completely in tune…
The Winter Ghosts is a mysterious story of Freddie, still grieving the loss of his brother in the Great War, finding himself stranded in a French village. Visiting the village Ostal, he meets Fabrissa. Yet, come morning, it seems as if it might have all been a dream. The story follows Freddie as he fights…
What should have been a moment of triumph for me, standing up for myself and even settling the matter without blows, turned oddly sour as I realised that the kids around me were now afraid of me. By so daringly stepping away from my role as victim, I was to be feared, or at least…
A boy at the beginning of a story has no way of knowing that the story has begun. Erin Morgenstern's long awaited second book explores the very idea of stories. We follow Zachary, a video game player and book nerd, on his journey to get to the Starless Sea and submit to fate. From a…
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