My Christmas day 2015 was spent getting lost in Berlin. My friend and I walked for a good few hours through the centre of Berlin and out to the neighbourhood of Friedrichshain, which we had heard was the ‘cool area’. We were just starting to feel tired and in need of a pit-stop when what should we find around the next corner? A sign displaying the heavenly words, ‘WOW! Fine BOOKS…’
I can confirm that we did indeed see some very ‘fine books’!
May 2016 be filled with plot twists, superb writing and great bookish conversation! But first, a quick look back at last year.
I may not have been all that active on the blog in 2015, but behind the scenes I’ve read some brilliant books and had some lovely bookish experiences. Here are just a few… Continue reading
I’ve booked flights and topped up my vaccinations, so I guess it’s official – I’m escaping my London life for a couple of months at the beginning of 2016. Although I don’t have any concrete plans, I’ll be arriving in Bali and hope to explore the rest of Indonesia. Then I’ll probably hop over to Vietnam for a week or two – but who knows where my feet will take me!
Thanks to Tereza at Miss Travel Fairy for letting me use this photo taken at one of the Gili Islands. Check out her Instagram for amazing pictures and travel inspiration!
I still have a couple of months until I leave, but I’ve already started a vague packing list in my mind. And what’s more important than deciding on an appropriate book or two?
So readers, this is where you come in! Please comment below with recommendations for books to get me in the mood for my trip. Any books set in Indonesia or Vietnam, or books that might teach me a bit about the culture and history before I go. Also, feel free to recommend places to visit too!
I doubt I could have entered into Michel Faber’s world with a better book. I started at the very beginning (and what a début!) with Under the Skin. It really was like entering a different world. It’s the type of book that you have to put down at intervals, to have a stunned couple of recovery breaths.
Isserley, the unusual anti-heroine/ heroine, is introduced in the first paragraph as a driver sizing up hitch-hikers. She’s “looking for big muscles: a hunk on legs. Puny, scrawny specimens were no use to her”.
Less than a page in and the reader is already feeling uncomfortable. There’s something unsettling about this book. And this feeling intensifies as the book progresses. With each new hitch-hiker, another piece of the puzzle is revealed. Continue reading
We Should All Be Feminists is a modified version of Adichie’s 2012 TEDx talk fit into a small, slim book. Like the straight talking title suggests, this is a clear, simple exploration of feminism.
Everyone seems to be talking about feminism at the moment. So many women (and men) are doing their bit to change attitudes. I can’t log on to Twitter or turn on the radio without hearing yet another debate about feminist issues. And that’s great – young girls and boys should be brought up to think and talk about this, but all these discussions can often be overwhelming. Should I be a Hot Feminist like Polly Vernon? Do I want to be told How to be a Woman by Caitlin Moran? Well Adichie’s essay is the perfect starting point and in my opinion should be read by everyone. Continue reading
Like many others, I was enticed into joining Audible by the promise of a three month half price membership, no strings attached. There are a number of ‘membership plans’ that you can choose between:
Esther Freud’s first book is (hopefully) bringing me out of my book blogging slump. Since my last blog post in November 2014 (yes, it’s been ages!) I have read some awe inspiring books. But unfortunately other things in life got in the way, and so I turned my back on Bundle of Books for a little while.
Recently I’ve been feeling restless. I feel I am in need of an adventure. Luckily for me I came across Hideous Kinky in my local Oxfam bookshop and was soon whisked off to Morocco with the unnamed young narrator, her older sister Bea and their mother. Continue reading
This Tuesday The Broke and the Bookish would like to talk about characters that they wish had their own book. There is often a side character with an interesting back story that I would like to learn more about. Here are just a few of them…
This Tuesday The Broke and the Bookish are discussing books they would like to reread. There are certain books, such as The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, that I like to read over and over again because I enjoy the familiarity of the storyline, setting and characters. It’s also interesting to experience books at a different age and stage in your life. My younger self had very different feelings towards Pride and Prejudice compared to myself as a twenty-something.
Here are some books that I have only read once and would like to pick up again sometime…
Paul Gallico tells a simple tale in this novella about friendship, love and loss. In the opening pages we are introduced to the ‘desolate and utterly lonely’ Great Marsh on the Essex coast. Like an artist, Gallico paints a picture of the scenery, making it seem both beautiful and sad; ‘Greys and blues and soft greens are the colours, for when the skies are dark in the long winters, the many waters of the beaches and marshes reflect the cold and sombre colour. But sometimes, with the sunrise and sunset, sky and land are aflame with red and golden fire’.
It’s not a great surprise to learn that the protagonist of The Snow Goose is a painter living and working quietly in an abandoned lighthouse. Rhayader, who shies away from public life because of his hunched back and clawed hand, lives a solitary life but is not alone – he is surrounded by nature, and the birds are his friends. Continue reading
Bundle of Books 