Fellow readers, I have something to admit: I once again judged a book by it’s cover. When I was browsing NetGalley I came across the artwork for Mother Country by Irina Reyn and was mesmerized by its beauty. After staring at the cover for a few minutes, I decided to read over the blurb, and immediately requested a copy. The story was as beautifully written as the cover looked, but wasn’t exactly my cup of tea.
I love it when September is almost over. The end of September means October (the best month) is right around the corner, along with beautiful fall weather, 100 shades of orange, pumpkin-flavoured everything, and long evenings filled with reading.
Fall has always been my favourite time of the year to read in. There’s nothing better than curling up with a good book once the days start to get shorter.
July is finally here, which means it’s time to kick off my summer reading! I know it’s felt like summer for a few weeks already, but to me, summer will always be July and August; it’s one of those things from being a student that I just can’t shake. And making summer reading lists has always been something I’ve loved doing.
Gail Honeyman’s debut novel, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, has been the best book I’ve read so far this summer. No joke. This is a book I would never have picked for myself, but it came in my July box from Novel Editions, so I gave it a go, and now I can’t thank Alex (the founder/curator of Novel Editions) enough for sharing such a wonderful story.
April showers bring May flowers, and amazing book mail! I received my April Novel Editions box almost a month ago, and I’m still not over it.
My Octobers are always filled with scary books: suspenseful, invoking terror, haunting, and often filled with ghosts, goblins, headless horsemen, and other unexplained phenomenons. Reading scary books is not something that I really enjoy doing, but I make myself do it. It keeps me on my toes, allows me to experience new authors and writing styles, and exposes me to new sub-genres of horror that I might not have otherwise read. There are a lot of great things about reading new types of stories, but, on the flip side, scary stories are scary.
It’s been a few months since I’ve blogged, but being an adult is hard work and very time consuming. Especially during the summer when all you want to do is sit in the park and read, or sit in your backyard and read, or sit on the beach and read… you get the idea.
But, I’m back at it! I promise. For real.
I buy a lot of used books. Used bookstores are my kryptonite; I can’t go into one without buying at least five new books. Sometimes people try to tell me that buying brand new books is better than getting someone’s run-down, beat up, second-hand book, but I disagree and I’m going to tell you why.
Can you guess which ones were purchased as brand-new versus used?
National Library Week ends today, but I think that every week should be National Library Week; libraries are totally awesome and should always be celebrated!
Libraries are full of shelves and stacks and little nooks and crannies of books that you are allowed to borrow and read FOR FREE! This is especially awesome for a bookworm like myself, because there’s no way I could afford to buy all the books I want to read. So really, what is better than an entire building filled with books just waiting to be read, that also actively encourages you to come hang out and feed your mind with adventures and imagination and general amazingness? Nothing.
I could go on forever about how much I love libraries. I’ve been frequenting them for as long as I can remember. My local library growing up, which was a converted old railway station, hosted story-time for young children, summer reading programs for tweens and teens, and is still pretty awesome to this day. Back in the ‘90s, it also had computers that you could use to access the internet! Way cool.
In university, I practically lived in my school’s library. Since I double majored in History and English Literature, I pretty much read all day until my eyes started bleeding; it was fantastic.
Now, being a young, hip twenty-something, I still hang out at my city’s local library. It was recently renovated, and is now full of beautiful artwork, high ceilings, tech-labs, performance rooms, and of course, more than enough books to fill my tiny apartment with. It also has a wicked coffee shop inside, which is great for fuelling my brain during those afternoons when I just need to finish the last 100 pages of a totally awesome story.
But I often feel like libraries don’t get enough love. How many of you hang out at them regularly? Or, if you do, how many of your friends or family go with you?
I understand that not everyone loves to read, and most people associate libraries with a love of reading. However, that’s not necessarily true. Take a look at this year’s theme for National Library Week: Libraries Transform.
What does that mean? Well, I like to think that it means libraries, and their programs, transform those traditional ideas and notions of their very own institutions.
Traditionally, libraries have been a place where the general public can go to educate themselves (typically for free) through written text. Now, though, we’ve started to gravitate away from only learning from books, which is a great thing.
You can now go to libraries and access the internet (which might still be a big thing for some people), you can take courses, watch performances, join clubs, meet up with friends, or even learn how to 3D print something. 3D printing in libraries! Who would have ever thought?
Libraries are spaces for thinking, creating, collaborating, and sharing ideas. They now transcend physical books, and offer so much more. You can access digital archives, see special collections, and learn more fun facts than you ever thought even existed. Libraries are bursting with free knowledge.
So what are you waiting for? Go get your library card.
Yes, I realize that it is actually January, but I’ve been so busy for the past month working and drinking egg nog that I haven’t been able to write about all my literary romps! So, fellow book nerds, feel free to check out these short reviews about some of the books I read in the past few weeks!
Room, by Emma Donoghue
This book starts off like an episode of Criminal Minds, but better. Why? Because 1) it’s a book (duh) and 2) it gets into the minds of the victims: a young mother and her five year old son who are being held in a single room. Jack was born and raised in the room, has never left, and is content with his life; he has no idea what is outside the four walls he knows so well. His mother, on the other hand, remembers everything about her former life and wants nothing more to escape. I wasn’t sure about whether or not I would enjoy Room, but I did. It was a beautiful, powerful story about survival and love, and it’s told from Jack’s point-of-view, which is both heartwarming and frustrating. I’d recommend Room to almost anyone.
The Girl With All The Gifts, by M.R. Carey
Have you ever heard of Ophiocordyceps unilateralis? It’s this weird fungal disease that more or less turns ants into zombies. The fungus attacks the ant’s brain, and begins to manipulate its behaviour. Once the ant dies, it releases a disgusting looking spore from its head, which then later infects more ants. What makes this disease even more interesting is that it only infects certain hosts.
What does this have to do with a book? Well, imagine if this disease evolved into a form that was able to infect humans, because that’s the setting of The Girl With All The Gifts.
In this post-apocalyptic tale, humans that have become infected with the new strain of ophiocordyceps are referred to as “hungries,” and they attack and eat other people. Those that have gone unaffected live in heavily protected areas. A few military personnel, however, live at a base and conduct experiments on children who have been infected but do not display typical “hungry” behaviour.
What sets these children apart? Why are they able to (sometimes) resist the desire to attack and eat humans? Do they hold the cure to this infectious disease? You’ll have to read the book to find out!
Yes Please, by Amy Poehler
I’m going to be honest and admit that I am not familiar with any of Amy Poehler’s work (other than her role as “the cool mom” in Mean Girls). I saw her book on a lot of “You Need To Read These Books” lists and decided to give it a go.
Best. Decision. Ever.
Amy Poehler is a queen. Her book is filled with solid advice that will also make you a queen. She spills a lot of tough truths while simultaneously making you laugh. Read this book. Just do it.
PS — if you want to see everything I’ve been reading, check out my Goodreads account.
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