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A short religious commentary on Lesson In Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

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Dear Reader, It has to be said that I had a prejudice towards this book before I read it. This is mainly because in my local waterstones, Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus greeted me with its bold flying colours every time I walked in the door on the notorious bedside table book stand. These bedside table books (named as such because they are always put on a small side table at the front of the shop, with a sign that -like a lamp- hovers over the book, displaying the critics’ 5* review of said read), I tend to avoid as I usually find that they are put there directly to cater to the ‘all’ audience. All meaning: those who will buy the book which will then sit on their own bedside table for eons. Call me Elizabeth Bennet because my pride and prejudice almost blocked me from reading my favourite book this far this 2023, and perhaps my favourite protagonist of all time. Meet Elizabeth Zott. This book is such a testament to great fiction and even greater authors. For a relatively compact...
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7 Songs that...

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snow-dance-alana-tousignant.jpg (900×675) (fineartamerica.com) Dear Reader,  This is a book blog, with a strange amount of Taylor Swift references sure, but a book blog still.  Today, I choose to write about music!  These songs, the 7 favourites and 3 honourable mentions I have picked are unexplainably attached to my mind. In this blog, I try to explain.  Let's get started:  1. "Heroes" by David Bowie  Despite my adoration of Bowie, who I own 1/2 of his discography on vinyl,  several vintage collectors magazines of, and 4 thrifted posters hung up in my room of- my attachment to this song, funnily enough sprung from my love of a book- so I would say is a great number one for easing my regular readers into this change of brand (don't worry this is a one time thing). To those who have digested the novel/film: The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, you will know the scene where these characters, some of my all time favourites, drive through a ...
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Just for December by Laura Jane Williams

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Just for December by Laura Jane Williams: review Dear reader,  To Start with, thank you so much for the lovely girls at Avon Harper Collins for gifting me this proof around the holidays! This book was absolutely delightful, and extremely well timed. I cracked open this book on the same day the skies decided to comply with Michael Bublé and while it might not be a white Christmas, as the rain seems to have washed it away now, it made to be pretty idyllic conditions to read this book. I went into this book feeling festive and ready for something to give me all the fuzzy Christmas feelings, which it provided along with a lot more feelings than I predicted. Williams manages to craft cliches and worn-out tropes to make them seem like nothing of the sort and in fact- revive them. Enemies to lovers has not been done so humanly in a very long time, and all you have to do to see that statement holds meaning is scroll through my other reviews and see that the enemies to lover’s trope...
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The name of the wind by Patrick Rothfuss

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Dear Reader, Today I will be discussing and delving into the hysteria curating roots of the world building book. Victim: Patrick Ruthfoss The Name Of The Wind. Prosecution: the underqualified (me). This blog will not be an attack of the Name of the wind, because it is not Kvothe and his apparently interesting life that I care to stab needles into, slowly. It is the premise of this book, the books usually to the far far left of the similar covered thick-spined fantasy series lining the sci-fi and other section of the bookshop. The ones right at the kick off point, that when you ask the waterstones bookseller, which book do I start this series with, they point to. These books. These books, that I despise. Because they are not books, they are slightly arrogant guidemaps that should come free with the second book in the series, where the story actually begins. I picked up this book, under the impression from several sources, that I was picking up a ridiculously well-paced, well-plo...
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Before the coffee gets cold a book talk (Non-spoiler! You're welcome)

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Before the Coffee Gets Cold: Amazon.co.uk: Kawaguchi, Toshikazu, Trousselot, Geoffrey: 9781529029581: Books Dear Reader,  This review will not contain spoilers, so feel free to read if you haven't yet read the book, and with that let's begin:  These stories definitely build in intensity as you plough on, with subtly building engagement. The first two stories for me provided little interest, a point at which usually I would choose to DNF and call my loses. However, something about the writing, simple but almost translucent into the lives of these individuals, gave me the impression that it had more to give despite the seemingly stagnant story endings.  I think the best way to describe my growth to loving this book is recognising the beauty within its simplicity. As a predominantly YA reader myself, I couldn't help but expect this book to tie up in a perfect interloping knot at the end. My hope of this, I see now, may have blinded me to the crystal  humanity being bare...
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Family of liars -book talk (By E. Lockhart: author of We Were Liars)

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Family of Liars, E Lockhart ( hardback,May 2022) – Books Paper Scissors (This blog is safe to read if you’ve not read the book, whilst containing discussions of characters it is spoiler free! However, contains minor spoilers to we were liars, as does the book. Read with cation…) Dear Reader,  Right no need to throw things, I know it's been a minute.  What a joyous and horrific four months this has been! I sat exams, that will ultimately determine my success in life, spent a month being subject to hypnotherapy and developed an obsessively religious relationship with my water bottle, believing it would somehow-someway- fix all my problems.  Spoiler alert:  It did!  The reels gurus stand true, doubt them not: happiness spouts from your filtered fridge tap and the good skin it inflicts on the true disciple. Re-filling water bottles and books of course, what you're all here for.   If you’re new here (no way did you make it through that waffle if you're new)...
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Dálvi- Six years in the Arctic Tundra By Laura Galloway

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A huge thank you to  Midas (@midaspr) / Twitter  for sending me this read! Part memoir, part travelogue, Dálvi follows Laura’s journey to finding herself. After she did an ancestry test showing she shared DNA with Sámi people; had an affair with a Sámi reindeer herder and began to discover her history – she packed her bags and left her busy media job and life in New York for the tiny town of Kautokeino, Norway. When her affair with the reindeer herder unexpectedly ended, Laura thought her journey finding herself in the Arctic may have been over – but it had only just begun, as she stayed for six years and forged a new solitary life, in one of the most unknowable cultures on earth.   Laura’s astonishing story is a real page turner and throughout she explores the trials and tribulations of love, loss, ‘alonement’ and the feeling of truly belonging. Laura throughout the book details the beautiful sights and culture found in the Arctic from the northern lights to th...
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