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A space octopus, witchcraft, and talking to George A space octopus, witchcraft, and talking to George Orwell via a medium: Old Babes in the Wood is Margaret Atwood’s newest short story collection, and I was thrilled to have the privilege of spending an evening in the same room as her as she delved into how she pieced it all together with @pandorasykes.

I wrote/rambled out some of her wonderful and wise musings over the evening on my blog, from ageing and 'writing routines' to receiving spam addressed to Melvin. 

Witty, wise, and wonderfully engaged with the world, at 83, Margaret Atwood is still publishing a book every year and will never cease to inspire me. She also had the best possible answer to the question of how to become a prolific writer: don’t die too early.

Very much looking forward to reading this collection! Does anyone else have a copy yet?
Hello! I'm back, dipping my toe into the big blogg Hello! I'm back, dipping my toe into the big blogging bookstagram ocean once again. 

Over the past year, I've realised how much I need a creative outlet to stay afloat. While I've scribbled in my journals, I miss talking about the books I'm reading, shows I'm watching, podcasts I've found interesting, or albums I've had on repeat. 

On my blog, I've shared a roundup of some bits and bobs I've enjoyed recently, including Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson. I'm 200 pages in, and already I'm tempted to buy the Mistborn trilogy.

Bear with me while I remember how to take decent photos. Otherwise, hello again! I missed you ✨️
"leaving the house not knowing what the day might "leaving the house not knowing what the day might bring you, where possibilities seem infinite, where beauty and joy, too, can be endless." summer summed up ⛅️

I read Open Water in a breezy 24 hours, back home in Liverpool, where I did little else but eat and have an obligatory heatwave barbecue. Although the entire book is brimming with quotable snippets and meditations, these two paragraphs stood out to me; they summarise summer stunningly. 

This summer has breezed by, finding little time to be absorbed in the joy of books but equally having a wonderful whirlwind of a few months. Worries feel trivial, laughter and music an escape, yet the thick nights and desire to do nothing but sloth around have been real. 'Where has the summer gone?' has become as frequent a conversation starter as us Brits commenting on the weather. Yet after 2 years of being in and out of lockdown, it's been a special one. 

That's all to say I loved this book and it was one of the few I soaked up this summer. And yes, I know I'm late to the party 🤠
covers so pretty I even used my crappy reel skills covers so pretty I even used my crappy reel skills to capture them ✨️

@harpercollinsuk were running a 40% discount sale over my birthday so, of course, I treated myself to these beauties.

• A River Enchanted by @beccajross: a debut fantasy with Celtic tones set on the magical isle of Cadence where two childhood enemies must team up to discover why girls are going missing from their clan.

• Watching Women & Girls by @daniellepender: a short story collection which explores how women and girls are looked at, look at one another, and look at themselves, and how living as an object can shape their passions, fears, and joys.

• Still Life by @sarahwinman: a story of strangers brought together by love, war, art, flood, and the ghost of E. M. Forster.

Have you read any of these?
spent my 24th browsing books and eating italian fo spent my 24th browsing books and eating italian food ~ nothing better 🧁🐷

Visited the ✨️beautiful✨️ @dauntbooks for the first time yesterday and fell in love, I could easily have spent hours in there. Browsing the creative writing section I found a book by queen Atwood on writing which I never knew existed, so that's straight on the wishlist. Also how cute is the little free library I spotted on my street this week? Books really are happiness aren't they 🤍🤍
A month of music, travelling and mayhem. Very much A month of music, travelling and mayhem. Very much looking forward to a more chilled August and make more time for reading - Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, And Tomorrow and Beasts of a Little Land are up next ✨️

What are your plans for August?
#54321challenge 📚 Five books I love: ➀ Pachi #54321challenge 📚

Five books I love:
➀ Pachinko, Min-jin Lee
➁ Shuggie Bain, Douglas Stuart
➂ East of Eden, John Steinbeck
➃ One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
➄ Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë

Four auto-buy authors:
➀ Margaret Atwood
➁ Donna Tartt
➂ Dolly Alderton
➃ Douglas Stuart

Three favourite genres:
➀ literary fiction
➁ multi-gen historical fiction
➂ magical realism

Two places I love to read:
➀ in bed x
➁ lazing in the sun

One book I promise to read:
➀ The Waves by Virginia Woolf!

Taking part in this tag to take my mind off this unbearable heat. Spot any similarities?

Join in on the tag if you haven't already 💗
Circe is a book that needs no introduction and aft Circe is a book that needs no introduction and after all the love it's received, I finally picked it up (on a Greek island, of course). I fell in love with Madeline Miller's rich, compelling writing instantly. 

Being a goddess banished to an enchanted island, secluded from society, and unreachable by other humans doesn't sound so bad. Singing hymns, tending to animals, skin glowing in the moonlight, with 300 years passing and not a single sign of aging; where can I sign up? 

"But in a solitary life, there are rare moments when another soul dips near yours, as stars once a year brush the earth. Such a constellation was he to me."

Beyond her banishment, Circe is a fascinating character. She's curious, aware of her limitations and differences between herself and her family. During her long years on loneliness on Aeaea, she evolves from being a naive child to a cautious, defensive enchantress with ever-growing powers. 

And with any Greek Mythology comes magic, violence, backstabbing - I'm glad I dared myself to read The Iliad back in lockdown as Miller gave us a glimse into the lives of other famous characters from the Greek epic. 

Overall, I loved being inside Circe's head for 400 pages and I can't wait to read The Song of Achilles soon 🏹
spring snippets 🌺🍊🌿⛅️ Lots of eating spring snippets 🌺🍊🌿⛅️

Lots of eating, dancing, travelling, and very little reading. Book Lovers was one of my holiday reads and despite the hype, I found it a bit cringe. I'd read One Day by David Nicholls, another rom com, a week earlier and I couldn't put down, but I'm a little confused by the hype around this one? That said, it was an easy breezy read for sitting by the pool - anyone else read Book Lovers?
From getting through 3 books in a week on holiday From getting through 3 books in a week on holiday to just about reading 50 pages in 2 weeks back home 🤠

The Island of Missing Trees is the first book in a long while that I flew through. It swept me up, held me in its grasp, and blew me away. I was sceptical knowing that this book was, in part, narrated by a fig tree. But what a breathtakingly beautiful story. Elif Shafak covers the destruction if the natural world, Greek and Cypriot families and communities torn apart by civil war, handling grief, but finding strength and love amid it all.

I ashamedly knew little about the turbulent history of Cyprus, but this book gives an informative and compassionate account of its past. 
The fig tree describes the comings and goings of our Romeo and Juliet, one Greek Cypriot and one Turk Cypriot. They meet secretly in the tavern where the fig tree winds its way through the roof. From the tree, we learn about the devastating war, the tragic disappearances, and the sorrow and struggles of young Ada in London 40 years later. Her homework is to interview an older family member, and from here, she fills in the missing pieces of her identity. 

I didn't love 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World, but The Island of Missing Trees blew me away. Despite the grief and heartache, there are heaps of hope and healing. It's profound, moving, and one of the best books I've read in the past year. Have you read this one? 🌴
@evangelxne
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  • Little Things
  • 15th July 2019

Little Things 17

How are we halfway through July already? Given that it’s been a wet and chilly week here in Liverpool you wouldn’t think it. My sandals are longing for a crack of sunshine. Despite the grey clouds, I’m still relishing a...

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Liverpool Mountain Ugo Rondinone
  • Little Things
  • 30th June 2019

Little Things 16

Brunch, Banana Bread and a Mid-Year Reflection Summer is here! June has come to an end and the sun has finally made an appearance. This weekend I’ve alternated between working on my blog, soaking up the sun and having my...

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Evie's bookshelf: read

Persuasion
it was amazing
Persuasion
by Jane Austen
“I hate to hear you talk about all women as if they were fine ladies instead of rational creatures. None of us want to be in calm waters all our lives.” I’ve only read two of her novels, but after reading Persuasion, I’ve fallen irr...
tagged: classics, favourites, fiction, and romance
Autumn
really liked it
Autumn
by Ali Smith
2019 seems to have become the year I read strikingly unique works of fiction that take the art of writing to new extremes. From Max Porter’s Lanny to Ocean Vuong’s On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, Ali Smith’s Autumn is another novel to w...
tagged: contemporary, cover-appreciation, fiction, library, and series
Legend
liked it
Legend
by Marie Lu
2.5 stars YA dystopian novels were my favourites to read while I was in school, so I was intrigued to see if this would live up to my 15-year-old self’s standards. I’m not sure whether it’s because I’m older, or because the book is ...
tagged: dystopian, fiction, romance, series, and young-adult

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A space octopus, witchcraft, and talking to George A space octopus, witchcraft, and talking to George Orwell via a medium: Old Babes in the Wood is Margaret Atwood’s newest short story collection, and I was thrilled to have the privilege of spending an evening in the same room as her as she delved into how she pieced it all together with @pandorasykes.

I wrote/rambled out some of her wonderful and wise musings over the evening on my blog, from ageing and 'writing routines' to receiving spam addressed to Melvin. 

Witty, wise, and wonderfully engaged with the world, at 83, Margaret Atwood is still publishing a book every year and will never cease to inspire me. She also had the best possible answer to the question of how to become a prolific writer: don’t die too early.

Very much looking forward to reading this collection! Does anyone else have a copy yet?
Hello! I'm back, dipping my toe into the big blogg Hello! I'm back, dipping my toe into the big blogging bookstagram ocean once again. 

Over the past year, I've realised how much I need a creative outlet to stay afloat. While I've scribbled in my journals, I miss talking about the books I'm reading, shows I'm watching, podcasts I've found interesting, or albums I've had on repeat. 

On my blog, I've shared a roundup of some bits and bobs I've enjoyed recently, including Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson. I'm 200 pages in, and already I'm tempted to buy the Mistborn trilogy.

Bear with me while I remember how to take decent photos. Otherwise, hello again! I missed you ✨️
"leaving the house not knowing what the day might "leaving the house not knowing what the day might bring you, where possibilities seem infinite, where beauty and joy, too, can be endless." summer summed up ⛅️

I read Open Water in a breezy 24 hours, back home in Liverpool, where I did little else but eat and have an obligatory heatwave barbecue. Although the entire book is brimming with quotable snippets and meditations, these two paragraphs stood out to me; they summarise summer stunningly. 

This summer has breezed by, finding little time to be absorbed in the joy of books but equally having a wonderful whirlwind of a few months. Worries feel trivial, laughter and music an escape, yet the thick nights and desire to do nothing but sloth around have been real. 'Where has the summer gone?' has become as frequent a conversation starter as us Brits commenting on the weather. Yet after 2 years of being in and out of lockdown, it's been a special one. 

That's all to say I loved this book and it was one of the few I soaked up this summer. And yes, I know I'm late to the party 🤠
covers so pretty I even used my crappy reel skills covers so pretty I even used my crappy reel skills to capture them ✨️

@harpercollinsuk were running a 40% discount sale over my birthday so, of course, I treated myself to these beauties.

• A River Enchanted by @beccajross: a debut fantasy with Celtic tones set on the magical isle of Cadence where two childhood enemies must team up to discover why girls are going missing from their clan.

• Watching Women & Girls by @daniellepender: a short story collection which explores how women and girls are looked at, look at one another, and look at themselves, and how living as an object can shape their passions, fears, and joys.

• Still Life by @sarahwinman: a story of strangers brought together by love, war, art, flood, and the ghost of E. M. Forster.

Have you read any of these?
spent my 24th browsing books and eating italian fo spent my 24th browsing books and eating italian food ~ nothing better 🧁🐷

Visited the ✨️beautiful✨️ @dauntbooks for the first time yesterday and fell in love, I could easily have spent hours in there. Browsing the creative writing section I found a book by queen Atwood on writing which I never knew existed, so that's straight on the wishlist. Also how cute is the little free library I spotted on my street this week? Books really are happiness aren't they 🤍🤍
A month of music, travelling and mayhem. Very much A month of music, travelling and mayhem. Very much looking forward to a more chilled August and make more time for reading - Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, And Tomorrow and Beasts of a Little Land are up next ✨️

What are your plans for August?
#54321challenge 📚 Five books I love: ➀ Pachi #54321challenge 📚

Five books I love:
➀ Pachinko, Min-jin Lee
➁ Shuggie Bain, Douglas Stuart
➂ East of Eden, John Steinbeck
➃ One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
➄ Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë

Four auto-buy authors:
➀ Margaret Atwood
➁ Donna Tartt
➂ Dolly Alderton
➃ Douglas Stuart

Three favourite genres:
➀ literary fiction
➁ multi-gen historical fiction
➂ magical realism

Two places I love to read:
➀ in bed x
➁ lazing in the sun

One book I promise to read:
➀ The Waves by Virginia Woolf!

Taking part in this tag to take my mind off this unbearable heat. Spot any similarities?

Join in on the tag if you haven't already 💗
Circe is a book that needs no introduction and aft Circe is a book that needs no introduction and after all the love it's received, I finally picked it up (on a Greek island, of course). I fell in love with Madeline Miller's rich, compelling writing instantly. 

Being a goddess banished to an enchanted island, secluded from society, and unreachable by other humans doesn't sound so bad. Singing hymns, tending to animals, skin glowing in the moonlight, with 300 years passing and not a single sign of aging; where can I sign up? 

"But in a solitary life, there are rare moments when another soul dips near yours, as stars once a year brush the earth. Such a constellation was he to me."

Beyond her banishment, Circe is a fascinating character. She's curious, aware of her limitations and differences between herself and her family. During her long years on loneliness on Aeaea, she evolves from being a naive child to a cautious, defensive enchantress with ever-growing powers. 

And with any Greek Mythology comes magic, violence, backstabbing - I'm glad I dared myself to read The Iliad back in lockdown as Miller gave us a glimse into the lives of other famous characters from the Greek epic. 

Overall, I loved being inside Circe's head for 400 pages and I can't wait to read The Song of Achilles soon 🏹
spring snippets 🌺🍊🌿⛅️ Lots of eating spring snippets 🌺🍊🌿⛅️

Lots of eating, dancing, travelling, and very little reading. Book Lovers was one of my holiday reads and despite the hype, I found it a bit cringe. I'd read One Day by David Nicholls, another rom com, a week earlier and I couldn't put down, but I'm a little confused by the hype around this one? That said, it was an easy breezy read for sitting by the pool - anyone else read Book Lovers?
From getting through 3 books in a week on holiday From getting through 3 books in a week on holiday to just about reading 50 pages in 2 weeks back home 🤠

The Island of Missing Trees is the first book in a long while that I flew through. It swept me up, held me in its grasp, and blew me away. I was sceptical knowing that this book was, in part, narrated by a fig tree. But what a breathtakingly beautiful story. Elif Shafak covers the destruction if the natural world, Greek and Cypriot families and communities torn apart by civil war, handling grief, but finding strength and love amid it all.

I ashamedly knew little about the turbulent history of Cyprus, but this book gives an informative and compassionate account of its past. 
The fig tree describes the comings and goings of our Romeo and Juliet, one Greek Cypriot and one Turk Cypriot. They meet secretly in the tavern where the fig tree winds its way through the roof. From the tree, we learn about the devastating war, the tragic disappearances, and the sorrow and struggles of young Ada in London 40 years later. Her homework is to interview an older family member, and from here, she fills in the missing pieces of her identity. 

I didn't love 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World, but The Island of Missing Trees blew me away. Despite the grief and heartache, there are heaps of hope and healing. It's profound, moving, and one of the best books I've read in the past year. Have you read this one? 🌴
Your reminder to visit your local charity shops! Y Your reminder to visit your local charity shops! You'll find sone absolute gems ✨️

Have you read any of these?
"They acted as if once you understood what was tor "They acted as if once you understood what was tormenting you, you could get rid of the memories. But you couldn’t. The memories always would be there, hurting you."

After months of turbulent reading amid moving to London and starting a new job, The Love Songs of W. E. B. Du Bois is complete, and what a ride. The scope of Honoree Fanonne Jeffers' debut is astounding, chronicling several generations, what it is to be a woman, American history, and how one girl honours her ancestors.

Multi-generational, character-driven novels are my bag, and I found this family history profoundly moving. Jeffers intersperses poetic 'Songs' throughout Ailey's story, which reveal the complicated inter-generational heritage of her Black American ancestry through centuries of a troubling and all too real American history.

I loved Ailey. She carries her sass and feistiness from childhood to her thirties while searching for a sense of belonging and identity. However, her stubborness acts as a blanket covering her internal struggle with her traumatic past. Literature, specifically The Color Purple, is her comfort blanket, as Aretha Franklin is for her mom.

Meanwhile, Ailey's great Uncle Root may be one of my all-time favourite characters, always primed with a story to tell, true or from the depths of his swirling imagination.

Rife with lush descriptions of food, this book will make you peckish. From Mrs. Garfield's collard greens and grits, morning pancakes and banana bread to Christmas dinner and a blueberry muffin and sandwich for school lunches, the ritual of eating unites family in the face of unbearable repression, grief, loss, abuse and other life challenges. 

Unfortunately, I found the last quarter to dip. We lose the drama around Ailey's love life and her family and step into pages upon pages of history. Wow it took me a while. Nevertheless, it wrapped up perfectly. Love Songs is a book that demands committment from the reader - it's a big mountain to climb - but it's a rewarding journey and a true literary triumph.
@evangelxne

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