It's been a while since I posted about the Baileys Fiction Prize challenge, but I am still reading them, although some other books, like my bookclub reads, have got in the way. Regardless, here are my thoughts on The Bees, How To Be Both (winner!) and The Shore... The Bees - Laline Paull You should definitely read this book. Even if you don’t...
I'm a female, English graduate who until last year has never read Jane Austen. I knew the Pride and Prejudice premise, obviously, and I'd seen adaptations of Sense and Sensibility on TV but reading them had never appealed. I do most of my reading on the train at either 8am or 5.30pm both of which I'm usually tired so classics like Austen are...
It's so easy to talk about what you're reading but I think it's just as important to talk about why you're reading a book. Isn't that the fascinating part? Finding out what made someone pick up a book and read it just as much as what they thought of it. So I want to take some time and write a little post about...
First stop on our adventures was to Vienna. Mark and his choir had the amazing opportunity of performing Mozart's Requiem in St Stephan's Cathedral. They only allow 3-4 performances a year and 1,300 people turned up to see them!! So proud! Then we had the rest of the weekend to explore the city. There was lots of strudel... He made it while we...
So I feel I probably come across as pretty hard to please when it comes to books but I really loved A Spool of Blue Thread. I read this is one weekend in two sittings, partly because I hadn't got round to reading it on my holiday for book club, but also because it was that good. Our bookclub (Much Ado About Books...
Before embarking on this challenge I have already read 3 of these books. In a moment of potential madness, 3 out of 20 seemed an optimistic number to inspire me to venture on with the remaining 17. I then found I Am China in the charity shop and apparently it was a sign! It may be a slow progress through the year but...
Can I read all 20 books on the Baileys Women's Fiction prize long list? Confession time: I'm not very good at reading challenges. Reading a specific list of obligatory books feels a bit like being back in school. I revel in the freedom to pick whatever I want to read. Although picking what book I'm going to read next is a similar process...
Do you know what I've learned in the past year? Life is busy. I love it so much but I'm terrible for being one of those people who says "I need to blog about this...I will blog about that..." and then suddenly I realised it's been about 9 months since my last post! So I have kicked myself into gear and I've given...
Originally published over on the SYP blog, Press Forward A review by Emily Finn, Book Club attendee and SYP Inprint Editor On 14 March, the SYP book club had the opportunity to meet and chat with Emily St. John Mandel to discuss her latest novel Station Eleven. In a lovely hotel in Bloomsbury we sat down to a wonderful afternoon tea courtesy of Picador and...
